Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)

Threads like this make me yearn for a much simpler time. Like many years ago when we had tone controls. Everyone’s looking for a way to tweak their system these days.  it was so much easier back in the day when you turn knob or push a slider.

while reading through all this, I had a couple questions that came to mind. Let’s say it’s 1969 and you are an astronaut sitting on top of a rocket ship heading for the moon. Do you think any of the astronauts asked Houston if they had completed the burn in of the electronics inside the capsule? You would think something that important if burn in was some thing they would’ve known about it back then. Does anyone know? Was it something back then?

@decooney thank you sir! For sharing that with me. I think the world would be a simpler place if we all let each other touch each others tone controls.

@invalid absolutely, I’m sure that they ran tests. But burn in as I understand, it claims that things get better after hundreds of hours of usage of the circuit. If that holds true for audio electronics, why wouldn’t it hold true for any other kind of electronics? My point was that back then everything was analog and you would think that if it makes a difference in audio electronics that it would make some kind of a difference and all kind of electronics especially something as important as some thing like an Apollo mission. 

@invalid i’m sure that everything was thoroughly tested, but I never heard the term burnt in until around 2020 when I got on this forum. I’ve been around, electricians my whole life, and I never heard them say that the lighting would look better after the wires burned in. I’ve heard the term used when speaking of a new clutch, motor or drag racing rear tires. Those all make sense, but electronics. I always thought once they were wired and tested they were complete. If something requires burning in to be  at its best doesn’t that imply that it changes when voltage is applied multiplied by some amount of time? How do the cables know when to stop burning in? If they change after 100 hours of voltage is applied wouldn’t they continue to change?? at some point wouldn’t that mean that they would go beyond their ideal, sweet spot and start going bad? Or do they only go to the good and then burn on into infinite perfection?

@kenjit thanks for the response. I’m not sure all your metaphors work… so you’re saying that the cables stay the same but it’s my ears that are actually doing the burn in? Or do the cables burn in and your ears burn in and your sneakers burn in? What about your feet? Do your feet burn in like your ears? Or only your sneakers burn in like the cables? I’m going to have to ask one of the electricians out there if it’s true that the lighting burns in your house after it’s wired? How long does it take for the electrical wiring in your house to stabilize? I totally agree with you that you need to put your speakers in the appropriate place and that your room possibly could need a tweak or two because of what it’s constructed of but are you saying that this also is a form of burn in?

What ever happened to high Fidelity cables? That guy all of a sudden just shut his doors and stop making product. Nobody has stepped in to fill his void. I wonder why? He probably had one of the best sales pitches out there for Trine his cables. I really wonder if the magnets made a difference. I’m skeptical and he was the only one that I considered trying. I spoke to him on the phone one day and he wanted me to buy used sad that he had that was near the top of his offerings. I think he wanted to thousand dollars for the cable  But would not take them back if I didn’t like them. It was either I took the deal with no return or no deal. That in itself made me skeptical so I didn’t do it. I really wonder why nobody has started making cables with magnets, now that he’s out of business .