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Cable Burn In

I'm new here and new to the audiophile world. I recently acquired what seems to be a really high end system that is about 15 years old. Love it. Starting to head down the audiophile rabbit hole I'm afraid.

But, I have to laugh (quietly) at some of what I'm learning and hearing about high fidelity.

The system has really nice cables throughout but I needed another set of RCA cables. I bit the bullet and bought what seems to be a good pair from World's Best Cables. I'm sure they're not the best you can get and don't look as beefy as the Transparent RCA cables that were also with this system. But, no sense bringing a nice system down to save $10 on a set of RCA cables, I guess.

Anyway, in a big white card on the front of the package there was this note: In big red letters "Attention!". Below that "Please Allow 175 hours of Burn-in Time for optimal performance."

I know I'm showing my ignorance but this struck me as funny. I could just see one audiophile showing off his new $15k system to another audiophile and saying "Well, I know it sounds like crap now but its just that my RCA cables aren't burned-in yet. Just come back in 7.29 days and it will sound awesome."
n80
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
If you are a "measurer" then so be it.  You will be happy in your paradigm and that is absolutely fine!

My organic listening mechanism is more important to me than a man-made measuring device.👂👂

The decision?  Which listening mechanism do you want to trust to deliver the truth of your system to you?
+1 @hifiman5 .

First of all, going to the people who seem to be making dubious or controversial claims for products they sell might not be the best place to get objective information on cables. I don't know about you, but I try not to derive a true picture of the world form advertisements ;)
OK @prof , point well taken.
That's why the consumer should be reading the user reviews of said cables.


Second of all, note in those links to Nordost and Cardas simply bring you to claims made by those manufactures, wherein they supply no objective/measured results to support their technical claims of burn in (or that it is audible even if something does change over time in the cable).
It is implied by the manufacturer's info that the listener will experience an audible change in sonics after a run-in period. In some cases they are answering queries regarding break-in.





analogluvr
859 posts
 
Excellent post prof! And it has been shown that the measuring devices can measure things small enough that the ear of most likely cannot detect. So I find it funny that people Scoff at measuring device list.
 N80 if you’re interested read up on confirmation bias and expectation bias. This is the reason for all the folks claiming that things sound wildly better when they’ve spent 1000s on a cable.
clearthink
1,421 posts
 

prof"going to the people who seem to be making dubious or controversial claims for products they sell might not be the best place to get objective information on cables. I don't know about you, but I try not to derive a true picture of the world form advertisements ;)"

I don't know about you but I would be reluctant to accept technical judgements from anonymous forum posters about things they admit they don't even understand especially when the claims, assertions and doubts they promulgate lack any basis in science, engineering or even common sense and from people who dismiss, disregard and reject the data, observations, and conclusions made by those who have actually listened, experimented, and documented they're testing:) <grin> <grin>
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
n80, I appreciate your articulate comments and willingness to learn.

Plus, I'll give them the recommended 175 hours of burn-in.....which is kind of a given right? What else could I do?
I hope your tongue is planted firmly in cheek. You will be able to judge the cables' characteristics after a few hours.

Then there is "my ear"....which seems to be the gold standard for some...and by default has to be..
Now you're talking.

clearthink
1,421 posts
 
prof"Again, my position on cable burn in is not that I know it doesn’t occur. "

Then why don’t you buy some actual audio cable and conduct some experiments for yourself you seem to be a vocal advocate and promoter of what you seem to think is the "scientific" method you could acquire your own set of verifiable data rather than just to continue to challenge, question and oppose those who have actually acquired, installed and evaluated what they discuss rather than just imagine, theorize, and speculate what might happen were they to actually measure, listen and verify. Of course if you did that you would be subject to the same sort of criticism and ridicule you heap on other's here with disregard for actual data.

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