What Is Headphone Burn-In?
The aural equivalent of breaking in a new pair of shoes is headphone burn-in. You play a wide range of different frequencies and tones to wear the drivers and diaphragm in before using new headphones to listen to music or for any other purpose.
These physical elements and how they create sound are fundamental to the burn-in theory. According to the theory, if continuous sound is played into the headphones for a long time, the constant movement and heat will relax the stiffness of the diaphragm and the inner parts of the headset. According to some, this improves performance since harsher and less appealing sound signatures are produced by components that are excessively stiff.
The voice coil and the diaphragm are two essential components of a headphone with a typical dynamic driver. This part produces an electromagnetic field that causes the tiny diaphragm to vibrate or be dragged back and forth when an electric signal is pumped into the headphones and reaches the coil. This movement disturbs the air, which results in the formation of sound waves and the sound that we perceive.
Is Headphone Burn-In Real?
No.
Call it an urban legend, myth or down right scam.
There will undoubtedly be a sizable group of audiophiles who really believe that this is a crucial component of the headphone experience because it is undoubtedly one of the most widely spread audio myths of all time. It’s not true, but like every good myth, it is based on some element of reality. a very little, almost invisible grain of truth.
There is currently no hard evidence to back up the claim that headphone guts do, in fact, alter audibly over time, despite numerous testing conducted by web publications. Many manufacturers will not address this issue, or if they do, they will not correct audiophiles when they are in the wrong.
The Science of Sound
Before diving into the topic of burn-in, it is important to understand the basic science of sound and how it is perceived by the human ear. Sound is a form of energy that travels through the air in the form of waves. These waves are picked up by the ear and translated into electrical signals that are sent to the brain, where they are perceived as sound.
The human ear is highly sensitive to certain frequencies, and different headphones will have varying responses to these frequencies. The frequency response of a pair of headphones refers to the way in which they reproduce different frequencies of sound. Some headphones may have a flatter frequency response, meaning that they reproduce all frequencies equally, while others may have a more pronounced response to certain frequencies.
The Theory of Burn-in
The theory behind headphone burn-in is that playing music through a new pair of headphones for an extended period of time will cause the drivers, or the speakers inside the headphones, to become more flexible and better able to reproduce sound. This is said to result in a more balanced frequency response and improved overall sound quality.
Proponents of burn-in argue that the process can be compared to breaking in a new pair of shoes. Just as a new pair of shoes may feel stiff and uncomfortable at first, but will become more comfortable over time as they are worn in, a new pair of headphones may also require some time to reach their optimal sound quality.
Evidence for Burn-in
There are several pieces of evidence that are often cited as proof of headphone burn-in. One of the most commonly cited is the “A/B test,” in which a listener is asked to compare the sound quality of a new pair of headphones with the same pair of headphones after they have been played for an extended period of time.
In many cases, listeners report that the headphones sound better after they have been burned in. They may describe the sound as being more balanced, with improved bass and treble response.
Evidence Against Burn-in
While there are many anecdotal reports of headphone burn-in, there is also a significant amount of scientific evidence that suggests the phenomenon is not real.
One of the main arguments against burn-in is that the human ear is highly adaptable and can quickly become accustomed to new sounds. This means that any perceived improvement in sound quality may simply be the result of the listener becoming more accustomed to the sound of the headphones over time.
Another argument against burn-in is that any changes in sound quality are likely to be caused by physical changes in the headphones, such as a loosening of the drivers or a change in the shape of the earpads, rather than a change in the way the headphones reproduce sound.
Additionally, many experts have conducted controlled experiments and found no evidence of burn-in effect.
