Break In Question?

@jasonbourne71 I agree 100%. The sound changes are related to our own hearing making adjustments IMHO. I've seen reviewers riding that thin line of not wanting to offend people by not saying break in is nonsense! I think we have many people in the industry not believing in break-in and being dishonest to people!

The Break In Debate has been going on for many years. Choose your sides..

Many pieces of equipment, and not just in the Audio World break in over time. Can it be measured? I doubt it. Does it occur? yes. IMHO.

I truly believe it is a real change condition, not just imagined. As has been stated before, perhaps we do not have the proper equipment to measure it. But I can hear it, feel it, recognize it, etc.

If you don’t experience it, or don’t believe it, I guess count yourself lucky to not have to chase this dragon.

ozzy

This is the silliest thing to argue over. It makes no difference what your position on the matter is because it will resolve itself automatically. If a manufacturer recommends 100 hours break in, for example, once the 100 hours are up, that's it. What difference does it make? Its not like you have to do some type of active process that can be screwed up if you don't get it right. 

xmbw4, it makes a difference psychologically and materially. Break in is used by many dealers as an encouragement to either accept a product which is not impressive in demo and/or to hold a purchased product longer in the hopes that you get used to it and like it. 

In my book The Audiophile Laws I discuss the many issues/problems of break in and how to avoid it all. Giving credence to break in is an impediment to advancing a system. 

If break-in was simply brains adjusting to a changing sonic signature, how could we discern the effect of any change in a system with constancy? In other words, to be able to discern any change in our environment, we must have a reasonable constant–which is our brain. If the brain was adapting to every alteration in the environment, we would lose points of sense reference and end up in an amorphous stew of uncertainty.