MOMOMO67890's HeadPhone Shootout

[Andrew LB]

burn in huh. metallica is what burn in with i burn in at about 15%-20% louder then i would use them at. i put like 500 hours on my d7000s didn't really do anything as far as i could tell but some would say otherwise.

^^^ Which is why the whole concept of "burning in" headphones is a very controversial subject among those of us in the world of audiophile headgear.

Over the years, I've heard people recommend burn in times of anywhere from 24 hours all the way to over 500 hours. And the type of music is also as varied as the time frames they're burned in for.

A few years ago a friend who is one of the top audio techs @ Sony Pictures gave me some "sound" advice on the burn in process which was confirmed through countless tests and computer analysis of the sound production throughout the process.

The best results were achieved while being powered using a quality tube based amplifier, while playing classical music at a level slightly above that of what you'd normally listen to. The added power of the amplifier was crucial to properly breaking in the drivers, the classical music was ideal for bringing a very dynamic, yet smooth range of harmonics... and keeping the volume above the norm is to ensure the excursion of each driver is broken in at any tonal range that you may listen to music.

Harsh music like metal does not typically bring a frequency range to the drivers that covers everything from 20dbA to 20,000dbA... the typical range of hearing for humans.

He also noted that tubes are better for burning in new cans specifically because they give a much warmer tone to music and are not nearly as harsh on the new drivers.

But like any theory regarding headphones... no two people are the same.

As for my audio setup... here is what I run: (see avatar for pic)

- Main: Sennheiser HD580's
- Portable: Shure SE420
- Antique Sound Labs MG-Head OTL w/ vintage black plate sylvania gold pin tubes.
- Optical: Samsung BD2500
- PC: X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
- Cardas 10ft headphone cable
- ALL Outlaw Audio interconnects
- Panamax MAX 5400-PM (power regulator, conditioner, and protector)
- Harman Kardon AVR-354 Receiver
- JBL Studio L Series (S310's, LC1-Center, L820 surrounds)
- Mirage Audio OMNI S10 subwoofer
- AudioQuest G2 Speaker Wire