Power Cable Break In - Such a Change!


I installed a new AudioQuest Dragon Source power cord from my Lumin X1 to my Niagara 7000. The power cord from the wall to the Niagara 7000 is also a Dragon but the High Current version. I bought that cord used.

So, when I first started using the new power cord everything sounded great. However, after a couple of days I started hearing a strident sound. Especially in the upper mid/ treble region. The bass was also constricted. I started blaming the sound change on another piece of equipment that was installed concurrently.

Now, I was under the impression that the Dragon power cord with its DBS system required no break in. But I did inquire about it to AudioQuest who responded that it would still need about 150 hours to break in. It's been close to that now and sure enough yesterday I started hearing the glorious sound that I heard from day one with the power cord only perhaps better.

I must say the difference during break in and now is quite remarkable, I don't remember any other power cord going through this amount of dramatic change.

ozzy

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Showing 3 responses by carlsbad

@rodman99999 for a speaker cable or interconnect to "burn it" the copper (or silver) in it must change with time with this small current flowing throught it. That is all I was saying.  I left room in my post for semiconductors and SS amps to burn in.  They fall between copper wires and tubes. 

Everyone will form their own opinion.   I posted mine.  You posted yours.  People will read both and form their own.  That's how America works and I hope you enjoy your system today just as much as I am enjoying mine. 

Jerry

If someone selling the item points out why it works then it isn't snake oil.  (just pointing a a common flaw in logic here). --Jerry

I’m not going to say there is no such thing as "burn in" but there is no physics that says a copper wire will change with low levels of current flowing through it for 300 hours. Hot things, such as tubes, will certainly change. Anything that glows is undergoing metalurgical changes that hopefully will mostly stabilize, hopefully for a long period of time.

But if you were a seller and had a buyer thinking about returning an item, any item, even a rock or a nail that he just bought, if you could convince him that it will get better if he sits with it for 300 hours, that will greatly reduce the risk that he will return it.

And "audiophiles" have pretty much posted all over the internet that they will believe the "burn in" theory for any and all components.

Make your own decisions but I will suggest that you don’t believe eveything you see on the internet. Make sure you read the last line:

Jerry