HI Dave- several things about burn in. These are GENERAL terms - there ARE exceptions.
Actual conductor burn in is generally accomplished in 24-40 hours depending on length, termination gauge and voltage/current. After that, the performance WILL continue to change because ( again for the most part) you are burning in (or more accurately burnishing) the dielectric where it contacts the conductors. That length of time is dependent on the material used as a dielectric. Cables like Tara with AIR as a dielectric obviously are burned in with the first 24-40 hours.
I doubt if anyone has ever done an empirical study of learned vs actual hearing of the changes. On THIS forum, there are still a lot of non-believers that cables in general make any difference, so that is a HUGE can of worms to open. Audio memory is short- at best about 15-20 minutes at best, so it would be HUGELY difficult to do even a rudimentary "yesterday's sound vs todays sound" test. I suppose the best practical way to do that would be to record the intervening sound and then listen to day 1 then day 1+24 hours then day 1+48 hours, but even that plan has flaws. Best I can do however....
Actual conductor burn in is generally accomplished in 24-40 hours depending on length, termination gauge and voltage/current. After that, the performance WILL continue to change because ( again for the most part) you are burning in (or more accurately burnishing) the dielectric where it contacts the conductors. That length of time is dependent on the material used as a dielectric. Cables like Tara with AIR as a dielectric obviously are burned in with the first 24-40 hours.
I doubt if anyone has ever done an empirical study of learned vs actual hearing of the changes. On THIS forum, there are still a lot of non-believers that cables in general make any difference, so that is a HUGE can of worms to open. Audio memory is short- at best about 15-20 minutes at best, so it would be HUGELY difficult to do even a rudimentary "yesterday's sound vs todays sound" test. I suppose the best practical way to do that would be to record the intervening sound and then listen to day 1 then day 1+24 hours then day 1+48 hours, but even that plan has flaws. Best I can do however....