From what I have read and my own experiences with two different burn in devices, it is the dielectric you are exercising, not the wire. There is a symbiotic relationship between the two for noise suppression and durability, yadda yadda. I believe the stress relief offered by running signals through the cable (bad word) relaxes the dielectric. Someone jump in here and help us understand if perhaps the million volts applied by some cable manufacturers in their factories isn't the same approach.

Regardless, I have really enjoyed the Hagermans I have now and after 3 to 5 days on those devices the sound is very enlightening.

Happy listening guys.

@stager Generally, I agree a cable will reveal its true nature almost immediately. I have had quite a few cables through here in 5 years and some of the designs do sound much better after "burning in"

@ddrave44 I don't believe the companies like SR and Shunyata apply current as much as they do voltage. Quantum tunneling is what SR calls it and I believe others do this 

Quantum Tunneling

SRX XL High Voltage Conditioning

The new SRX XL High Voltage Conditioning is our most advanced process for treating cables with 1,000,000 volts of electricity at specific frequencies and pulse modulations for long durations, creating a canal in the conductor material and contact points at the molecular level that allows electrons to flow more freely. This new process improves upon the SRX High Voltage Conditioning process by employing new extended duration sweeping frequency plots and advancements to our Tesla Coil, resulting in SRX XL cables to sound even more open and accurate than the cables before them.

Interestingly, I just bought my first set of SR cables (used Euphoria x SC’s) and find them quite compelling. I have not dabbled in SC’s of any great length after having used Fideliums for almost 4 years.

I realized I do like a little more analytical sound (had to admit to myself that I do - first step to recovery, ha). I like having the details I have strived for come through smooth and musical. And I was quite surprised that the SR SC’s gave me so much more than the Cerious Matrix I have been using for 6 months.

I should listen to you folks more because someone recommended SR to me over a year ago and I was just not able to zero in on one of their levels and understand it enough so moved on.

I recently changed my IC’s to Siltech and they did deliver even quieter backgrounds as promised and are very smooth. But when I tried Siltech SC’s they veiled the music. That was odd but enough for me to finally research the top brands again for something commensurate with the Siltechs. I splurged and grabbed a deal on some Euphoria X’s and, while still exploring them, I find them shaking my paradigm about how good I THOUGHT my sound WAS.

Live and learn. Check my Tennessee system page for my cable journey.