Hey, why do WE have to break-in cables???


With the prices the cable manufacturers charge for some cables, why don't they break em in? Especially the ones that need mega hours. Why leave it to us to listen through the frequently nasty experience of the break-in process. And while we're at it how about pre-amps and amplifiers? Especially the $6,000-$10,000+++ models. For that kind of dough you'd think they could give us a break ;<) and do some of the break-in for us. All the discussion about break-in and it dawned on me, why do WE have to do it? We should get PO'd!
128x128rja
If break-in and burn-in are two different things, as Robert at RSAD suggests, then break-in is system specific, and therefore can be completed optimally only in the end user's own system; burn-in, by contrast, is not system specific, and is in fact beyond the capabilities of most consumers (except for maybe someone really high powered like Albert Porter, who may purchase his own "burner"). Burn-in would therefore have to be completed at the cable factory for almost all audiophiles, even the pretty hardcore ones.

Some contend that burn-in and/or break-in are psychoacoustic phenomena, not true electromagnetic events. Dakiom makes this contention with respect to their own feedback stabilizers, and the designer of that product holds a PhD in "electronics" (or something like that). However, I DID notice an apparent break-in process, at least with the second generation feedback stabilizers. So my own belief is closer to that of Robert at RSAD, assuming I understood his intended explanation correctly.
You have to break-in all audio equipment. I consider cables to be a "component." Even if the cables are "pre-broke" once they are coiled-up and shipped, they need to broken-in to some degree. I can see Nordost charging a $500 fee to break-in a Valhalla pair to add to the price. :)
I agree with C5150. As a dedicated tweeker I wouldn't buy any piece of gear unless I could burn it in. Heaven forbid I would have to listen to a full genre spread of vinyl over a two month period to hear any noticible difference. And then I might have to buy new tubes and burn those in! Oh noooooo...

Party on.
Eddykali, if every piece of equipment has to be broken in, would that apply to vinyl discs? How many times do I have to play my vinyl before the vinyl groves are broken in?
There is probably more truth to vinyl being broken in than cables, but nobody talks about breaking in discs. Also, wouldn't that apply to CDs themselves. Not any more farfetched than breaking in cables!
Salut, Bob P.