Skeptic or just plain hard headed


So I purchased a pair of Morrow Audio phono cables. These are the PH3 with the Eichmann connectors. Wanted to start there to see if MA cables will be a viable option for my system.I think my story is not so unique to others who have purchased MA cables. So no need to go into the hu hum of burn-in in regards to MA cables, and how things sound bad at first, then gets better,  then excellent...yada yada yada. I know the story about this product.  I simply am one who is not a believer in electronics break in periods, or battery packs on cables, etc... Regardless of what side of the fence you are on in regards to that Im NOT trying to start that debate again please.. Anyway. After reading several reviews of the MA cables and understanding that most agreed that the cables needed a substantial burn-in time, and that the cables would not sound its best until this happens I decided to give them a try. Thinking ok lets get a jump on the burn-in period (if the concept is true). I paid for the 2 day burn-in service from MA. What I didn't expect is that when I got the cable it would sound as bad as it did in comparison to my existing name brand cable (not getting into that either, not relevant). I thought well the cable might not quite be up to snuff with all this talk about burn-in (if its true) but not that much of a difference.  I mean as soon as I dropped the needle on the record I immediately heard a profound difference in sound stage and clarity degridation. Needless to say this cable was destined to be returned to MA for a full refund and my thinking was "they are crazy if I am going to trade my cable for this cable" So I decided to give MA a call to setup the return. Talked with Mike Morrow (very nice guy by the way) and we had our differences in what I should expect out of his product. Now my Mother always told me that I have a hard head.. I heard that growing up all my life, and when you couple that with skepticism it makes a pretty, well lets just say not a very fun person to have a debate with lol. However Mike insisted that if I return the cable that I would be missing out on the fruit they would bare after 400 hours of break in. 400 hours??? really!. Oh at that point I was really ready to return them. I told all my friends "Mike must be nuts" (no offense Mike) no way am I going to wait a year to hear what this cable is capable of, AND I do not have any way to expedite the process...at least I thought I didn't until I found an old sound bar I don't use anymore with analog inputs. Ok I know you pro MA and  pro cable burn-in folks are chomping at the bit. Im almost done. Take your hands off the keyboard for just a few more lines. 

So here is the deal to be fair I am going to be open minded about this because Mike really made me feel like I would be missing out if I return the cable without a proper burn-in (great salesman), and since he had such conviction I now think I have to test this thing out right??. Now I know that there are testimonials out there about how the MA cable improved over 100s of hours in their system, and that they are now "blown away". However can you really hear a profound difference in a cable you play in your system over 170 hours or so?  I would think a gradual difference would be harder to detect. I mean my system seems to sound better to me everyday without making any changes. Is it because of  continued cable and electronics burn in?? maybe. Or maybe its just my brain becoming more intimate with the sound of my system. Well this test I'm doing should reveal a night and day difference from what the system sounds like today with the cable pre burn-in if there is any merit to the notion. In regards to does it sound better than my existing cable that is yet to be determined. I think my goal now is to prove or dis-prove if cable burn-in is a real thing. This whole idea has evolved from if it's an improvement or not over what I use today. We can discuss that later.

I now have the cable connected between a cd player , and a sound bar with a CD playing on repeat. The disc of choice for this burn-in is rather dynamic so it should be a good test. At the end of 16 days (384 hours) I will move the cables to my reference system and do about another 20 hours of additional burn-in to compensate for moving the cable. This will put a total of 452 hours of burn-in on the PH3. When I put this cable back in my system I sure hope it sings because this is a lot to go through to add a cable to your system. Mike if you are right I will eat crow and will preach from the highest mountain top that you are right, and that cable burn-in is REAL.  For me anyway the myth will be considered busted or reinforce my belief that cable burn-in is a bunch of BS. 

For those who will argue the point of cable burn-in I fully understand the concept, and I don't plan to get sucked down that rat hole and I won't argue that....yet because at the end of this test I may be in your camp and I don't want to have a steady diet of crow so for now I will remain neutral on the subject until the test is complete.  However I will be totally transparent and honest about the results. So not trying to make anyone angry as I know beliefs about audio are sensitive subjects, and rightfully so this hobby is expensive and I like you have a substancial investment in this. Just trying to get to the truth. I also understand that cable burn-in may actually happen when you consider it from a scientific perspective, but the real question is can you actually hear the difference.  

I will report back to this thread in 17 days from today (need at least one day to evaluate) with the results. 

happy listening!!

-Keith
barnettk
What if I told you power cables make tremendous differences in sq, and require burn in / break in time. All products require it. Lots of articles / threads about that. Enjoy ! MrD.
@mrdecibel. MR D. I feel that power cables do indeed make a difference I SQ. It would be difficult for me to believe interconnects make a difference after burn in and not believe the same thing about a power csble. Unless you suggest otherwise. The components power supply is exteeemly important to SQ so it would make sense that what goes into it matters. I’m sure there are others on this forum with more knowledge in this subject than me but that’s my $0.2
@barnettk Thanks for a fun ride! I'm not quite sure why a cable could burn in. One thought I seem to gravitate to is that a new cable has grain boundaries that are rough and jagged and after you run electrical current through them for long enough, "smoother" paths form similar to a river smoothing out a riverbed. This should be measurable with the right tools. Who has a scanning electron microscope we can borrow in the name of cable science?
@mkgus haha. Actually not sure why I’m laughing because I actually thought about that and I wondered why no one has gone to those lengths to prove/disprove if anything physical actually does happen with cables after a long time use (at least I have not found that published anyplace yet). Perhaps that much research from the scientific community either A. Thinks its to expensive to invest the time and effort on the subject, B. Cable manufactures don’t want to because they might be afraid of the results. Even if they can prove a physical change happens to a cable or its dielectric during “burn in” then you would have to prove that change directly affects SQ, or C It’s just not that important of a thing to prove from the scientific communites point of view. Could be a little of all 3 among other things I guess. At any rate. In my case I can actually say there was a difference. What changed or how it changed, or if that change reverses or gets worst even is a possibility. After all according to MA after 50 hours of burn in the cable is supposed to get worst before it gets better. I mean it’s entirely possible that cables get better then worst then better then worst again during their life cycle. If it’s true at 50 hours it does beg the question. What’s so special about 50 hours?? What happens at 600 hours?? Does a cable have an end of life in regards to SQ? Shelf life? Like I said in my conclusion more questions than before. It’s an interesting subject but at this point for me anyway I’m just going to enjoy the system how it sounds now and enjoy the music. It is fun to talk about tho.