New cables - To judge now or after burn in period?


I am in the midst of auditioning a host of Siltech speaker cables (Siltech Legend 380i & 680i) and interconnects (XLR and RCA - Siltech Legend 380i). Needless to say, they are quite a bit more costly than my existing QED cables (QED Genesis Silver Spiral Bi-wire & QED Signature 40 interconnects).

The Siltech cables are highly recommended by my distributor and seem to be well received by the audiophile press. However, doubts arise as upon trying them at home they do not sound as dynamic as my existing QED cables. While the highs are more resolving and I am hearing things that I have not heard before, the bass seems constricted and the music does not make my feet tap anymore.

Is that because the cables are brand new and have not been burnt in as yet? Or is it because there is no synergy between the cables and my particular system? Or is it a bit of both? If it is a burn in issue, how many hours of burn in is required before I should make a judgment as to whether I prefer the sound of the interconnects and speaker cables?

All inputs or observations are welcome.

128x128dcpillai

Showing 4 responses by lowrider57

More break-in time. My Siltech IC's are very revealing and dynamic.
Even cable manufacturers say to allow time for breakin.

I think break-in is a more appropriate term for cables. George Cardas uses the term run-in. IMO, burn-in applies to electrical parts such as tubes and capacitors where voltage is actually causing a physical change to the internal structure.


installed new 4s11 canare speaker cables with double wiring to fit my recently acquired PBN speakers. I got about 30 hours on the cables and they have been all over the map so far, specially the first 25 hours. Sometime bass lacking, sometimes piercing highs, sometimes opposite. For real. The last few hours they seem to be stabilizing and I can start seeing their potential but it will take a lot longer to achieve it. So yeah, speaker cables do get better with use, not a single doubt in my mind.
Same issue as when I installed Canare 4S11. I allowed them to break in for 200 hours during which the sonics were  changing all over the place. After I had given them what I thought was enough time, the highs sounded harsh and brittle. I gave up and put them in the closet. 
A few years later after a major system upgrade, I tried them again due to all the good user reviews. After another 200 hours they settled in and presented a smooth top-end, very good dynamics, and a level of transparency that was an additional upgrade to my system.


The question is why do so many cable designers believe in a cable break-in period, some call it setting-in?

Talk to Chris at VH Audio, he'll recommend the different break-in periods of the many cables he sells and assembles. He also uses a cable cooker on select cables.