"Burning In" New Head Phones...

[derek123]

I just ordered a new pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50 head phones. I read quite a few reviews on these before buying them, and found out that these, and other head phones, need "burning in". Which I guess just means some hours of playing time before they sound their best. So, anyway, I read in another review, that a guy had downloaded a few hours of "pink noise", and played it through the M50's while he went out, to burn them in. Does anyone know where I can download anything like this? Or another good way of burning them in? I could just listen to music to do the job, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to pump something through them for a bit while i'm out of the house.

[rtw88]

Burning in is a bunch of bullshit that 'audiophiles' invented so they have shit to talk about on the internet and something to feel superior about.

[swoopdog]

I know a guy doing this with his brand new car stereo speakers because the guy at the shop told him it was best to do.

So you paid how much? And you can only play it how loud? for how long? :

almost as stupid as buying monster cables or filtering your electricity through a special power conditioner box.

[trower]

"Burn in" is real, but most of the time people don't use source components that will show any difference, as they are low quality. Granted most of the time its craziness, but with Voice Coils (Speakers, headphones) its quite evident.

ATH-M50's are quite nice and do sound better with a few hours on them. At first I found them to be quite bright and harsh, but the bottom end came in within a couple hours and they smoothed out considerably. As far as the pink noise treatment, don't bother, just listen to them, its kinda fun hearing the differences once you replay a very well known to you piece. But if you must burn them in with some noise, just tune in some FM static and leave them for a few hours at low to moderate volume. That will break them in a bit, but don't leave them like that for more than 6 hours and don't leave them to loud, the drives will heat up and you might damage them and get some weird distortion.

Enjoy your new headphones!

[derek123]

I've heard its bull shit and i've heard the opposite. I do think its real, but less apparent in some headphones. I have heard that with the ATH-M50's, you can tell quite a bit of difference.

[bathroommonkey]

I have a pair of sennheiser headphones and I think I burned them in but then I put them away and didn't use them for years. a couple weeks back I decided to take them out again. I do think it's taken some time for them to get back up the speed, but I could just be an idiot.

[pjaicomo]

I heard that whenever you buy a new record, you are supposed to rub crushed glass all over your girlfriend's cat before you can really get the deepest, richest tones. I don't know. I have been doing this for a while (until my girlfriend's cat died), and I think it makes a difference.

I got her a new one for Xmas. You don't even want to know what you're supposed to do to break those things in. Yeesh.

[Derek™]

Amidst some research on quality headphones, I read about a site created just to play white noise endlessly. I'm struggling to find it, but I imagine that'd be the way to go. I'll update this post if I can find it.

[derek123]

Thanks. I'll probably try to listen to them as often as I can, just to see what its all about, and if there is any difference at all.

[Derek™]

Try Simply Noise. I'd be interested to hear whether or not you can hear a noticeable difference, after the supposed burn-in.

[sugarballs]

Just play some Agoraphobic Nosebleed, White Mice, Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck, etc. That's all the noise you'll need

I actually got a new pair of headphones for Christmas also (Sennheiser RS 170) that are currently charging. I can't wait to try them out.

[Guest markovianprocess]

Try Simply Noise. I'd be interested to hear whether or not you can hear a noticeable difference, after the supposed burn-in.

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