Equipment Break-in: Fact or Fiction

Since I'm now about the 350 hour mark on my Sony SACD machine I thought I'd get back with MY findings.
I have had previously felt that I had experienced components breaking in without really analysing it.
This time I took notes and more importantly in my opinion did not listen to SACD outwith about 4 sessions over the break in period.
This meant I hadn't the chance to get used to the SACD sound.
I have to say I didn't find what others have,the gradual change wasn't there,at 250 hours I could hear no real difference from my intial listening.
Nearer the 300 hour mark I felt perhaps there was a bit more weight and maybe focus but I would need to say it was marginal,if so it hasn't changed since.
I don't think this proves or disproves anything but I was surprised because obviously more knowledgeable and experienced audiophilles here and elsewhere have commented on Sony break in.
I have to say now I have doubts about break in but continue to keep an open mind.
I'll continue to monitor my unit and report back if anything changes...............

I know this topic has been done to death, but I can at least make mention of my thoughts/ experiences.

I have not noticed much in terms of break-in for electronic devices such as cd players, amps, preamps etc. They do, however, have changes in sound characteristics once they are warmed up, which is a comment on which I'm sure most would agree. (without a doubt, tube equipment is THE most noticeable in terms of change of sound quality with warmup).

Speakers, on the other hand, are a different issue. I made a purchase of a pair of speakers, but the store did not have any NIB models in stock. They gave me the store's floor models to use temporarily until my new ones arrived. The floor models had been used in the store for quite some time. When I brought them home they sounded full, coherent, deep and dynamic.

The store called to inform me that the NIB models had arrived. When I set the new ones up at home, I noticed a big, no not big - HUGE difference in sound quality. The depth was gone. The sound collapsed. The treble was harsh and the bass was non-existent (monitor speakers). I'm talking about a day and night difference here, so much so that I called the store to ask them what the story was. They (semi-laughingly) told me to relax and assured me that the speakers would break in. And sure enough they did. It was gradual at first, but the more they were used, the better they sounded (they still sound good).

Now, I am not an engineer so I cannot quantify exactly why this is so, but I suspect that it has to do with the fact that speakers mechanical devices much like a piston. While at first they are 'rigid', one they 'wear in' to their motion, so to speak, they move more readily.

Maybe I don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but I can tell you, with ears the size of mine, I notice EVERYTHING when it comes to sound. :P

I've noticed that on pieces of aircraft electronics there is a sticker saying:'burn-in completed'. Would the likes of Boeing bother if it didn't matter? I think that electronic components may work and sound better after break-in because the prototypes were evaluated by the manufacturer after break-in. So, in order to hear what they heard, you need to break it in. Another thing I have noticed is that an amp I once built needed recalibrating after having been used for a while. So apparently something had changed.

Being a true scientist, I do not need a scientific explanation in order to observe something happening. Here's a little experience I had with a cable, from which you can draw any darn conclusion you like.

I was putting a new system together and using Alpha Core MI2 Python Speaker Cable. I perceived the system too sound a little too warm and lacking immediacy. I then bought a pair of used Coincident TRS speaker cable, in the expectation that it would eliminate the problem. The TRS was put in the system on a Thursday, and immediately I perceived the sound to be thick and lumpy in the bass, with some thickness in the mids too. This was directly after listening with the Alpha Core in place. So the sound seemed to go noticeably in the wrong direction when the TRS was hooked up.

By Saturday I was perceiving the sound to be opening up and beginning to provide much more detail and more articulation. Round about Saturday evening the I perceived the sound had gone too far and that the upper mids were etched and dry. I persisted with the cable through to the following Thursday but was getting frustrated at how I was enjoying none of the music. The TRS was now consistently irritating me with an apparent harshness in the upper mids, almost unlistenable. I was not surprised at the change in apparent sound since I have experienced it before with second-hand cables that had travelled thousands of miles but I was hating it so much, and had hated it every day for 5 days, that I took the TRS out and put the Alpha Core back in. The Alpha Core sounded to me exactly as I remembered it - nice but a little too warm and lacking immediacy - but mercifully musical and very welcome after the horrid experience with the TRS.

About a week or so later I put the TRS back in the system. It sounded pretty good to me immediately - more detail than the Alpha Core and just as musical - and it seemed to get better over the next three days. After a week I was very satisfied with it and felt the system was sounding just right - which it has continued to do over the months since then. So I had to try the Alpha Core again - sure enough the Alpha Core sounded to me exactly as before. But going back to the TRS, the perceived improvements in detail, immediacy, etc were noticeable, and really made the system boogie. No perception of harsh upper mids at all - totally gone.

So how come the perceived sound of the TRS moved about so much? It appeared to go in one direction, then another, then wound up on the button! Yet the Alpha Core, despite being stored did not seem to change at all.

Funny thing though, my wife observed the exact same phenomena that I did - noticing each change that I described above. She wanted me to ditch the TRS but now agrees it is better. Yet she listened only about 25% of the time that I listened for. So if the effect is psychological, then either; my wife needs 75% less time to get used to the sound of a new component than I do; or elapsed time is the factor not listening time; or my wife senses how I feel about a component and, unprompted, manages to state what I think (could be true, these females are perplexing indeed "life Jim, but... " thinks... maybe she fakes in bed too..); or, perhaps something about the sound really did change. Each of these explanations is quite fantastic given what we know. Hence, perhaps, the answer lies in something that what we do not know.

Just like anything in life, everything have a settling time
before it stabilizes. This include our phychological mind
as well as the components itself.