Do electrolytic caps need burn in?


I tried swapping a pair of amp/preamp line output coupling capacitors (DC blocking).  The stock units were run of the mill Panasonic electrolytic.  I put in Mundorf Mlytic AG.  I know this particular Mundorf (and most large electrolytics) are for power supply use, but the application calls for a large 6800uF so that the system can be used as a small amp or preamp.  Since I'm using the unit mostly as a preamp, I guess I could go about 1/10 the size and try to use a film cap.. but anyways, that is besides the point.

The question here is, do electrolytics (specifically this Mundorf) need burn in?  I ask because I'm hearing the opposite of what most people hear on caps that are not adequately burned in.  The usual complaints with caps without proper burn in are lack of bass, shrill highs, etc.  The Mundorfs have increased the bass output and possibly added some texture to the mids (the good), but the highs have disappeared.  I'm wondering if the highs will come back over time?  I wouldn't say the top is rolled off, but it is just shelved.  Any details that are carried in the upper frequencies is obscured and recessed.  The life of the sound has been sucked out.  Hopefully this doesn't qualify as "audiophile" tuned warm sound.

I have considered putting a small Russian teflon cap in parallel to the Mundorf, but the values I have are too small to probably make a difference (820pF).  I also don't think this bypass should be required to get nominal levels of treble in the first place.

I've got about 5hrs on the caps now, and they sound exactly the same as time 0.  So are the Mundorf's going to open up the highs with time, or should I just move on to another cap?  I will try the bypass before I throw in the towel on the Mundorf.  The point of reference is the stock Panasonic caps, which are fairly neutral, with good top end extension and detail.
manthik
Hi @atmasphere , the cap I was discussing was actually being used for output coupling in an amp/preamp.  Stock value is very large, because the circuit is meant to drive a speaker load.  I noticed the Mundorf EL cap in this location was inherently dark sounding (no highs).  Anyways, thanks for the comments.  Im currently happy with the large polypropylene film caps that are in use (havent touched them).  At 1000uF and high voltage rating, they are as big as the chassis for the amp haha
Once the electrolytic has formed up, it should work about as well as the film caps in a coupling cap situation, so long as its biased correctly. To this end, whatever AC voltage is being sent through it as an audio signal should never exceed the DC voltage on the cap.
I don't know how a coupling cap in a traditional solid state output could do that- The DC on the cap would be 1/2 of the power supply voltage and the output swing of the amplifier could be nearly rail to rail. So in such a circumstance the cap would make considerable distortion. I think this is one of the ways electrolytics have gotten a bad rap in audio as coupling caps.
That is true.  My preamp puts out about 6v DC, and the AC signal component would have to exceed 2Vrms to cause the polarity to flip on the cap.  That kind of level would exceed my amplifier sensitivity by 2x.  Needless to say, I dont listen very loud, so in my application, I could safely say the polarity of the EL cap was never dynamically reverse biasing.  Thus, it had no bearing on the sound I was hearing.  All of the EL caps I tried (after lots of hours to form) were all lacking detail and lacking HF content.  This was a common theme, although some fared better than others.