Burn in vs perception

I postulate, however fatuously, that "noise" in audio systems can be akin to "noise" in wetware, and that an audio system in all its total parts talks back and forth to itself until an improved unity and flow is achieved... or not.

People Who Affect Electronics

I honestly just put FM on or hit repeat for a while and consider it good to go.   I'm sitting here listening to a pair of well broken in Sonus Faber with my new Cyrus i7XR. Amp.     

Sure it sounds better than day 1.  I'm using a pair of speakers  better suited than when I unboxed it.   Speakers are more or less in the proper position now .... and my ears have grown more accustomed to the change in sound.  I really don't think the amp changed ...  it was clear and detailed right out of the box 

Okay, well, I am experiencing burn in / settling in a speaker cable. Cardas Cygnus long run, 6m. Replaced Wireworld Equinox. Mc to SF speakers.
 

When I first installed the cable, I was so excited to hear my improved system. It sounded awful (closed, dull, grainy treble), and I wanted to send the cables back, but that wasn’t even an option because they were a custom length. I was assured by Cardas to give it time 200-300 hours. I was skeptical. 
 

Well, I’m probably at 100-150 hrs now, and the system is sounding pretty extraordinary (great sound stage, smooth treble, dynamic). So have I just gotten used to the change—perhaps, but I’m pretty sensitive to any change in my system, and it sounds very good now. And getting noticeably better each day. I’ve read that cables need a settling period to charge the dialects surrounding the copper, so maybe there is a real reason for this, or maybe it is my changed perspective, but I don’t thinks so. Perhaps, with this cable settling in, I’m for the first time understanding what good PRaT is. 

"We're excited about our burn-in process. Since adding it as part of the manufacturing process, our 60-day satisfaction guarantee refunds have gone from roughly 6% to less than 2%. The comments from customers went from, “They're good, but a bit restricted sounding,” to, “Man, these things rock!”

No, we’re not kidding, the difference is night and day. That’s how we hear it, and that’s what end users are telling from all over the world."

Zu Audio On Their Burn-In Process

Capacitor Burn-In

"This description may be leading many to wonder if they’ve been buying scrap? But the picture isn’t that bad. The capacitors are generally OK from a correct (or near correct) value point of view. It’s just that the quality of dielectric is wanting at switch on. The quality of dielectric affects the leakage performance, and although the circuit will function correctly, by which I mean it will establish the correct voltages, the sound quality at switch on clearly isn't that which the product gives after a number of weeks use.

Therefore a piece of high performance hand built equipment simply will not sound as intended at first. It may not sound as intended for a number of weeks. The sound can go through changes as one capacitor comes on-stream while the others are still getting there