Sound of cables breaking in?

Right-O! Not only that but these burn-in CDs like XLO and Purist demonstrate that cables never actually burn in completely without using the burn-in discs, you know, since using the burn-in discs on what are assumed to be very well burned in cables, even ones in everyday use for years, improves them significantly. Sha-zam!! So, how much do cables burn in listening to music? Well, you tell me. My guess is 75% max.

I will limit my comments to quality build cables, because cheap budget cables that I personally experienced max out very early in the process and don’t follow the same observations following

I disagree that any proper or definitive audio performance evaluation can be gleaned from any fast first plug -in /swap-in bake off . It won’t give you any proper gauge of ultimate performance.

It took 350+ hours for my high-end model NORDOST cables loom to break in substantially (90-odd %) of peak performance , and it was not any linear pathway to OZ.

Rather it was an ad-hoc series of incremental steps . There were numerous flat plateau periods, and then I would be pleasantly surprised with another "new" improvement that made it all sound better.

This phenomenon isn't restricted to just cables, new phono cartridges, tube amps, digital equipment, headphones and I can go on and on. 

If you do this long enough, you can tell if a cable will sound good in your system upon a first listen. A more complicated cable design will take longer to settle in than simple one (think multi strand cables of various gauges, some plated, some not, and a single, solid core wire in a loose jacket with air as the primary dielectric). 

Recently, I added some short jumpers to my new speakers dual binding posts and the speed of their breaking in is noticeable, compared to my speaker cables journey. It's all fun.

All the best,
Nonoise

I've never believed in break-in until now. I'm currently going through cable break-in with my Clarus Crimson speaker cables, so this thread is perfect timing. I've had the Crimson cables for a couple of weeks. A couple of days ago my highs(cymbals) had a very subdued sound to them. As a matter of fact, details seemed to have disappeared to the point where I panicked and put the Crimsons for sale. Today everything returned to normal and I realize I need to be patient. I've never had cables that has put me on a roller coaster like Clarus has. The good news is I don't feel the need to sell them and take a big loss anymore.