Cable Break In for the Naysayers

The most common thing I would note from them is that cable break-in is real.  And it is always longer than the return period.

@bigtwin  First of all, how’s your giant sub doing? Second, I didn’t leave the power on 24/7, so maybe it takes a longer time to finally break in. For example, my DH Labs HDMI 2.1 / I²S cable took more than a week to settle in. I usually listen to music about six hours a day during the week (and much longer on weekends), while the manufacturer recommends about 40 hours. The Mirage USB cable is supposed to take even longer (60–80 hours), but I’ll admit — with the Mirage, I felt the sound opened up after two to three days and stayed that way. Maybe my system isn’t quite revealing enough to discern the Mirage’s ultimate performance. But with the I²S cable, I could testify (in court!) that the transformation during the break-in period was dramatic.

Usually, a cable won’t take long but electronics usually take much longer — sometimes three to four times longer than cables. And if you don’t have enough listening hours behind you, it’s possible the component will remain unbroken-in before the return period expires.

Train your ears to adapt to the sound and perception changes. I used to be in the nonbeliever camp until one day my Harmony Micro DAC suddenly transformed into a sweet-sounding DAC.  Before that, I almost initiated the RMA process to return it and take a $120 hit for the non-warranty repair return.

Lastly, some people say it could simply be a new sound sensation rather than an actual change. I respectfully disagree. The changes include tighter and more present bass, a transformation from a dry or edgy sound to one that is sweet and smooth, and an expanded soundstage. These effects are definitely more than just a new sound perception.

You know about those atoms in the wire,that's where some cable companies cryo thier wire to rid impurities and put atoms in thier lattice structure.now why is borresen doing it to thier speakers? One thing for sure is larger gauge less resistance and the closer the amp to speaker yields shorter speaker wire less resistance.i have fun making 4 gauge speaker wire and spinning the 2 with the drill then put ptfe or Teflon over it. I run xlr because it's Microsoft between pre and amp. But my kw amps put out alot of amps like the krell 700 cx.they also like 220volts cuz power is volts x amps. Anybody pick up on why dan calls his new amps mxv.its mass x velocity.oh well there goes 4 years of chemistry and physics in colledge.enjoy the science and experience and music. Never thought about breakin when I put cochlear implants in but we did have to program them.

@lanx0003 

Do you have any hard data to back up these claims?

Human perception is notoriously fickle. Someone else could feel just the opposite to how you did. There's no arbiter. That's a big problem.

Need cold, hard data.

I'm not quibbling with your observations. You've got a right to your own opinions.

But stating your opinions as facts and conveying these opinions to others requires hard facts, i.e. data.

@lanx0003 "Cables and equipment break-in is real. It’s just that the electronics—especially the capacitor components—take much longer (three to four times longer) than cables."

the only problem is a capacitors with time degrade performance (ESR goes up, capacitance down), tubes and semiconductors weaken drive strength, resistors accuracy degrade, overall noise increase..

are you saying sound quality improves with usage time? LOL

@westcoastaudiophile  the only problem is a capacitors with time degrade performance (ESR goes up, capacitance down), tubes and semiconductors weaken drive strength, resistors accuracy degrade, overall noise increase..

That is why you want to use higher class film cap (instead of electrolytic cap), extremely stable capacitance and ESR and low dielectric loss.  Same thing with resistors.  You want to buy products such as R2R DAC with not only high precision resistors (like 0.05% used in Harmony DAC), low TCR, long term drift resistance, but also matched and cased in the protective housing like Harmony and MSB DACs, which provide thermal stability, electrical isolation, etc.

You must know in R2R DAC, the resistor ratio matching is more critical than the absolute tolerance, right?  MSB, in particular, takes extreme care and time to screen/select the matched resistors and that is part of the reason why it is so expensive.  Okay, need to take a break.  Let me know if you have other questions.