Cable burn-in questions.
1971gto455ho24 posts I had a 64, 389, with a muncie 4 speed, and a factory 4 barrel I tricked all out (quadrajet). One serious tire boiling, go fast machine. Took a little Nova with a seriously built SB to finally beat that car in an 1/8 mile. Never could in a true 1/4. But the population in the town was 3800.. 1969 long time ago. GOAT power.. |
Cable burn in, what a load of crap....turn it on it's on !! Does it get better with time ? perhaps, will you hear a difference ? perhaps...is it cable burn in ? NO.. because audible cable/wire burn in does not exist.You don't have to believe in science or someone with multiple engineering degrees, heck if you hear it it's there ! Be happy, and if you paid for it...really happy !! Cooking or conditioning works VERY well, but you can overdo it. It takes less time to settle back in from an overcook than, undercook. It also starts the breakin in a given direction if one is not been marked on a cable. (reverse an IC, RCA) BRIGHT ear bleeding NOISE comes to mind, Bass dynamics, GONE, there, but muddy. I use planars, you don't make cable reversals, IC, RCAs. I did a few time about 20 years ago, no more. ANYONE can hear that difference, My 84 year old FIL could tell the difference, when he was around..Old mechanic, just like me. GOOD ears though. This was in a CAR stereo, We both got out and swapped an RCA end to end from headset to amp NIGHT and DAY. Question: does it actually work or make everything sound MUCH better. Answer: Yes and No. If the cables are already broke in so to speak, and you recondition the cables you may or may not hear a difference, the changes are a lot more subtle, and YOUR handling of the cables, MAKES a HUGE difference also. Handle with care!!!! Simple... NEW raw cables, speaker, IC and PC ALL sound different after a 3-7 day cook. VERY DIFFERENT. PC 4-7 days, Speaker Cable without a network (the ones I use) 3-5 days, with networks add a day. IC 2-5 days. COVER THE ENDS of your cables, when not in use or after a cook. When you hook up, GROUND yourself on the piece your working on. THEN Remove the protection at the junction, and plug in. I've overcook a few XLR, hee hee, like listening with cotton in your ears but you HAVE VOLUME. Within a few hours (not days) they become much more dynamic, sharper, cleaner. The HF that boils my ears, lack of or bloated bass, MIDs way forward and just sounds BAD before, is just not there. I prefer over conditioning than under if I'm montering. If you'll take the time to listen, and you have a decent simi-trained ear. THE differences are HUGE. If you have hearing loss, or a BASS head the change won't matter, because you probably can't hear them. Sorry as an OLD mechanic, I really protected my ears through the years, I run from NOISE and towards sound, yea that's me..Every show I ever went to in Las Vegas, I had to use COTTON for the first 2 days. THEN they settle in a bit..Cotton out, sometimes.. LOL Hard Domes, keep walkin' Cryo, OH YEA, another "I don't believe it" wake up call. Cooking and CRYO aren't at all completely understood, but NIGHT and DAY when it comes to serious reproduction of "THE SOUND". Breakin CDs work very well for new components and reduce total breakin time, by a pretty good margin. Amazing STUFF for sure.. Otherwise just turn up the ol' Transistor radio in the back yard, no cables there.. Respectfully |
Cable burn in, what a load of crap....turn it on it's on !! Does it get better with time ? perhaps, will you hear a difference ? perhaps...is it cable burn in ? NO.. because audible cable/wire burn in does not exist.You don't have to believe in science or someone with multiple engineering degrees, heck if you hear it it's there ! Be happy, and if you paid for it...really happy !! |
For interconnects you can make a simple DIY cable cooker. Make an adapter so you can hook up your interconnects from the amp to the speakers. Then play it at low volume ~40-50 dB’s overnight to a couple days. You will put more energy thru them in one night than having them in your system for weeks. Just don’t crank it to max volume or you can fry a small gauge interconnect, they are not speaker cables. |
Volume from the pre does not matter but I don’t think the circuit is completed if the preamp/ amp is turned off (depends on how it is wired). If you are handy it is easy to make a dummy load with a spare RCA plug from your junk bin and a couple resistors. https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/breaking-in-cables-and-components/ The bigger question is if you can really burn in an interconnect with a DAC. Any idea of the output voltage? If it is a lot lower than a CD line level output it will take forever. It not enough power to do anything. |
true. a signal needs to be passed for the dialectric and conductors to enjoy 'run in' meaning as was said, a complete circuit must occur. sorry. this is why its nice to have auxilliary gear for ICs and Spkr cables. adapters can be used to chain up power cords so several cords can be run in easier. actually with female RCA connectors so can single ended ICs. enjoy. |
