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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
mitch2
3,728 posts
 
Any of you who,
  • are in the process of building/improving/evolving your audio system,
  • believe there are significant sonic differences between cables, 
  • plan to try multiple audio cables in the future,
  • are likely to spend serious money on audio cables, and/or
  • plan to build your own cables, 
should give serious consideration to purchasing the audiodharma Cable Cooker from audio excellence az, or another type of cable conditioner. 

By conditioning your cables on the Cable Cooker you will take (most of?) the guesswork out of this whole burn-in discussion.  Even if you hear little to no difference after conditioning, you should at least have a level of confidence that you are actually hearing what the cables sound like.  By conditioning your new cables, you get to hear what they sound like shortly after you install them, instead of waiting days or months and wondering whether the cables are changing their presentation or whether it is actually your ears that are adjusting.  You can also "touch-up" the conditioning of your existing cables to remove burn-in concerns when comparing cables in your system.

Considering all the money some here spend on cables and other stuff, the $1-2K cost of the Cable Cooker (depending on the model you select) seems like money well spent.  I have no interest in the product or company, other than being a Cable Cooker owner since 2004.

ebm
9,311 posts
 
Its both bass takes 200 hours to fully come in however this being said these cables should sound great after 50 hours.
ddrave44
124 posts
 
dcpillai, It seems pretty evident from this thread that break in matters in Siltech cable performance. I use Siltech's and have found that even used ones need a good 50 hours to settle in after they've been moved /shipped.

I'm curious what you have seen with these in the past two months. Did they break in to your satisfaction? Did you decide to keep the Legends?

ghdprentice
6,491 posts
 
@mitch2

You are absolutely correct… but no matter how hard I have tried over the decades I just cannot get myself to spend that much money on something that does not directly improve the performance of my system. I ended up getting a extra DAC, and amp for experimental purposes (just Schiit) that I attach stuff for breakin.

But you are absolutely right, one should buy one… when as young as possible so you can amortize the cost over as long a period as possible.
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