Best way to burn in headphones?

[volcanogeorge]

I'm in need of some advice on this one.

I've got some new Sennheiser headphones in the post, going to be here in a couple of days, and I'm probably going to want to burn them in before doing any serious work with them, all the reviews I've seen say that out of the box the bass response is pretty weak until you've run them for a good few hours.

I've never done this before, so is there a preferred way of doing it, say a frequency sweep etc? I've seen a few websites that suggest just playing music on them as you normally would, some suggesting pink noise and some suggestions of using a detuned radio.

Does anyone have any personal recommendations? What I'm planning on doing at the moment is just setting a dubstep playlist up of deeper stuff in the hope the sub will give the speakers a good work out.

Thanks in advance

[alex_l]

My way is:

Hook them up in the evening, load itunes, set it to shuffle, press play. Set the volume to the kind of level you would use to produce loud. Then leave it running overnight.

[prisoner]

i wouldn't worry to much about it.

if you've never done this before, then you probably don't work in the studio full time, and you probably do this as a hobby like most people. and you probably wont notice the difference.

just being honest.

if you do notice that dramatic of a difference a couple hours (which i doubt will take place) into a tune it's pretty easy to go back and adjust the levels accordingly...

[volcanogeorge]

My way is:

Hook them up in the evening, load itunes, set it to shuffle, press play. Set the volume to the kind of level you would use to produce loud. Then leave it running overnight.

I might give this a go, get them used to the music that I usually listen to, cheers.

i wouldn't worry to much about it.

if you've never done this before, then you probably don't work in the studio full time, and you probably do this as a hobby like most people. and you probably wont notice the difference.

just being honest.

if you do notice that dramatic of a difference a couple hours (which i doubt will take place) into a tune it's pretty easy to go back and adjust the levels accordingly...

Thats true, I don't spend all my time in the studio, but I am pretty much constantly listening to something and notice a massive difference between tracks when I've got them playing on different headphones. I might run them in for a few hours, maybe a day or so, an d if they change after that I'll change it accordingly. Thanks

[SunkLo]

Dip them in bacon grease and light them on fire, then blow them out immediately. Massive increase in sound quality!

Also you probably already know this but it's worth mentioning; Don't burn them in with music in another language for whatever reason, as they'll sound indistinct when playing English music. Standard frequency balance varies from region to region.

[Capture pt]

[quote="SunkLo"

Also you probably already know this but it's worth mentioning; Don't burn them in with music in another language for whatever reason, as they'll sound indistinct when playing English music. Standard frequency balance varies from region to region.[/quote]

[skimpi]

My way is:

Hook them up in the evening, load itunes, set it to shuffle, press play. Set the volume to the kind of level you would use to produce loud. Then leave it running overnight.

I might give this a go, get them used to the music that I usually listen to, cheers.

i wouldn't worry to much about it.

if you've never done this before, then you probably don't work in the studio full time, and you probably do this as a hobby like most people. and you probably wont notice the difference.

just being honest.

if you do notice that dramatic of a difference a couple hours (which i doubt will take place) into a tune it's pretty easy to go back and adjust the levels accordingly...

Thats true, I don't spend all my time in the studio, but I am pretty much constantly listening to something and notice a massive difference between tracks when I've got them playing on different headphones. I might run them in for a few hours, maybe a day or so, an d if they change after that I'll change it accordingly. Thanks

different headphones are different though, i dont think it matters how much you burn them in or whatever, if some headphones have a better bass response, then a tune will sound more bassy and probably less crisp, than with ones that dont.

[volcanogeorge]

Dip them in bacon grease and light them on fire, then blow them out immediately. Massive increase in sound quality!

Also you probably already know this but it's worth mentioning; Don't burn them in with music in another language for whatever reason, as they'll sound indistinct when playing English music. Standard frequency balance varies from region to region.

Well yeah, I'm not a total idiot

Its the same thing when you play music through headphones backwards to burn them in, any music you play through them after that will be backwards. I did this once so I could find all the hidden messages in The Beatles' discography.

[SunkLo]

The fact that you believe in burn-in contradicts your first statement there.

I should mention, there actually is a burn-in period on speakers and headphones but it lasts around 1 second (and it happens at the factory). If any possible mechanical wear beyond that occurred just by playing sound through them, their life would degrade very quickly.

[volcanogeorge]

The fact that you believe in burn in contradicts your first statement there.

I believe in it because it's what I've been told by an audiophile friend, I was obliged to believe him (although audiophiles do have a bit of a stereotype for believing some weird shit, see http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3429.asp).

Should I believe different? I've never owned a (decent) pair of headphones or speakers from new before so I've never witnessed it, and something like this being very subjective makes it difficult to judge from a person in my position.

[SunkLo]

Yeah it's a complete placebo. You could play someone the same exact thing twice but tell them one is played through strands of Zeus' golden pubic hairs and they'll claim they hear a difference.

Like I said, if speakers could be so adversely affected by short time wear, they would die very quickly. They're made to be durable and static in their performance. It's like claiming your TV looks better after watching 50 hours of porno on it. It only subjectively 'looks' better afterwards because the memory of tits you watched 50 hours ago isn't as clear as the tits on the screen now.

[Capture pt]

Like I said, if speakers could be so adversely affected by short time wear, they would die very quickly. They're made to be durable and static in their performance. It's like claiming your TV looks better after watching 50 hours of porno on it. It only subjectively 'looks' better afterwards because the memory of tits you watched 50 hours ago isn't as clear as the tits on the screen now.

best analogy ever.

[volcanogeorge]

Yeah it's a complete placebo. You could play someone the same exact thing twice but tell them one is played through strands of Zeus' golden pubic hairs and they'll claim they hear a difference.

Like I said, if speakers could be so adversely affected by short time wear, they would die very quickly. They're made to be durable and static in their performance. It's like claiming your TV looks better after watching 50 hours of porno on it. It only subjectively 'looks' better afterwards because the memory of tits you watched 50 hours ago isn't as clear as the tits on the screen now.

Excellent, cheers for the explanation. I guess it's another ploy to flog shit to idiots then, I'll just dive straight in

[abZ]

Glad it's been covered already but most audiophiles are retards that believe in every myth that exists. Burn-in is one of them. If anything, your ears need to be burnt in so playing pink noise into them for two weeks is a complete waste of time.

[deadly_habit]

you need to play 24 hours of merzbow to burn in any speaker or pair of cans at full blast

[macc]

Burn in isn't a myth. It's a simple mechanical fact. Whether you need to do it can vary - not all companies do their own burn-in - some (Beyer, I believe) do, and some (Sennheiser) don't. But it still gets done at some point (with speakers as well as cans, FWIW).

There's no mistaking that the HD600s I bought sound *massively* diferent to the cans I have now. They are the same cans - as in, the same pair of headphones - but they do not sound like those I first tried. Switching back to the HD270 after months on the HD600 showed how much things had changed. That is, the first time I tried them they sounded way different. A few months later they sounded much more similar. HD600 imaging = another level though, amongst other things. I gave them about 100 hours or so before listening again. They seemed to settle down after 150-200 (?) hours, but there is no doubt the sound changed in that initial time. I was severely disappointed in that first listen.

IMO/IME - leave them in a drawer and play a wide variety of tunes, but errring towards lots of bass and dynamics. Start them at a normal volume, and over the course of a week, nudge the level up a touch every morning before you go to work or whatever. By the end of the week they will be silly loud. See tip and tricks here;

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

Then get them on your head at a normal level and get listening.

Since having this pair of cans I have tried them with different DACs, different amps, different cables, and none of them made as big a difference as time. Perhaps I'm just a audiophile buffoon falling for placebo, but if you hear it and it helps you work, then I'm all for it.

[volcanogeorge]

Thats a very good point that I hadn't even considered macc, even if it is a placebo, it still means that it's affecting the way you're hearing the music, if only psychologically.

Thanks for the input, I'll decide what to do when they get here and I've had a listen, it's worth noting though that even out of the box they'll be a huge improvement on what I'm currently using, so it might not matter all that much anyway. I'm upgrading from some cheap ass £10 sony's to HD280 Pro's, so the difference will be substantial right away

[macc]

The 280s are a very good choice, very solid cans indeed Enjoy em!

If it helps you work it's good, but there are limits... I'm not one for cable suspension, magic rocks in the room and all that shit. Even I draw the line there!

I check stuff out from a scientific/theoretical POV first. I test the arse off it. If I can hear it, it helps, and isn't unreasonably expensive, I buy it.

[volcanogeorge]

The 280s are a very good choice, very solid cans indeed Enjoy em!

If it helps you work it's good, but there are limits... I'm not one for cable suspension, magic rocks in the room and all that shit. Even I draw the line there!

I check stuff out from a scientific/theoretical POV first. I test the arse off it. If I can hear it, it helps, and isn't unreasonably expensive, I buy it.

I saw the website trying to sell the magic pebbles a year or so ago, couldn't believe it. That and the so called "system" of putting bowls of water in certain points of the room to improve the acoustics

I went with the 280's partly on your recommendation and when I tried a pair of them on they were dead comfy so i'm pretty pleased with them

[jobbanaught]

i wouldn't worry to much about it.

if you've never done this before, then you probably don't work in the studio full time, and you probably do this as a hobby like most people. and you probably wont notice the difference.

just being honest.

if you do notice that dramatic of a difference a couple hours (which i doubt will take place) into a tune it's pretty easy to go back and adjust the levels accordingly...

totally ot, but damn i love "the prisoner" its just brilliant