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

You don't. It's your nervous system that gets broken in.

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

Problem with break-in is you are not always sure if they will actually sound 'better' after the designated period....

Getting them raw ,is cool. I like to go through all the phases of hi-fi. It is after all a hobby. Plug and play is not the same. Babies without the crawl or the teething,the first walk or laugh.

especially at mega $$$$$

Nrchy,
You have a valid point. But still, 80-100 hours of break-in by the manufacturer would go a long way toward making life easier for the consumer. I feel that more companies should offer this service, especially the high buck guys.

Hi Rja.

This topic has been discussed before. Do a search. Meantime, we've posted a bit before on this topic. Here are the Links. Hope it helps.

BURN-IN vs. BREAK-IN and HERE

Cheers!

Robert
RSAD

I think it's best to break-in ICs in the system. And as most people seem to agree, if you remove them from your system for any length of time, or change their orientation, you'll have to break them in again anyway. I think maybe PCs can be broken in before sale, I'm not positive on that one.

Components, SS and especially tube, should be broken in by the manufacturer, I agree. It would not only improve sonics out of the box, but quality control/reliability as well. It will add to the price, so it can't be provided for modestly priced components.

I agree wholeheartedly. If I have to run my system for a month solid everytime I get a new component, I'm going to wear a lot of stuff out (especially tubes, cd drive mechanisms).
I also agree w/ Nrchy, as I've noticed that if I don't play my system for a while, it takes some time to sound good again. But not a very long time - just a couple hours.
It may have to do with marketing. If you get a 30 day home trial of something that takes 800 hours of breakin-you won't get there til 3 days too late, even if you keep them running 24/7. Also, they want you to get used to listening to the product. I wonder if much of the break-in process is US breaking in to accept the new sound as valid.

because by the time you get them home after they sat in a package for months and were rolled into a ball they will loose all the benefits of the break-in process.

We do break them in for you.

Best Regards,
Michael Wolff