Is HiFi Audio Gear Burn in REAL? My take.

Is HiFi Audio Gear Burn in REAL? My take.

By Steve Huff

While I have been an audio nut for close to 40 years now it was not until the last 20-25 years or so that I have learned of component or speaker burn in or break in. This is said to improve the sound of your new gear as it burns in and settles down. I always thought that if burn in can change the sound for the better than it surely could change it for the worse, if this were a real thing. This would not be good!

How many times have you purchased a pricey piece of audio gear from your local dealer and they were sure to tell you “Be sure to burn it in for 100-300 hours for it to sound its best”! I remember the first time I heard this and thought “really, this is a thing?” but away I went, with my new $5000 integrated amp in hand. I never noticed any change in sound over the time I owned it.

Two decades later I still hear conflicting opinions on this controversial topic. 

Some say this idea of burn in changing the sound of gear is made up by dealers and even manufactures to avoid mass returns of gear. This may be and it also may not be the case. I know of some dealers who 100% believe with all of their heart that burin in is real and state this to customers to let them know about it.

BUT! 

The truth is a piece you hear in a dealers system will usually almost never sound the same in your space and it is not due to burn in. It’s due to the fact that the dealer showroom is not your room. It most likely is a different size, shape and dealers almost always have room treatment in place. They also have other equipment in place that you do not have in your system, like streamers, dacs, cables, power conditioning, etc.

One dealer I know of has $200k worth of gear in the main showroom system. When I audition a $7k preamp there I am also hearing the amp, speakers and cable that they have set up. Gear that I will not be buying nor is it gear I own, so it is obvious to me the gear I listen to there will not sound like it does in my system.

Long story short, unless you can demo the gear in your system and space forget about what you hear at the dealer as it will never sound quite the same in your own system.

Let’s get back to burn in. 

I owned a pair of Klispch Heresy IV speakers for over 3 years and when they first arrived, the first couple of days, I thought they sounded a bit rough in the treble and a bit flat in the lower midrange. The dealer said “they need to be burned in for a few hundred hours to mellow out”.

Over the months as time went on I no longer noticed these rough or ragged things and I thought too myself “That’s it! Burn in is REAL”! Well, I then had a brand spanking new set of Heresy IV’s arrive in a new SE finish/color. I expected them to sound a bit rough again but that is not what happened.

I moved my OG pair out and placed the new pair in and they sounded 100% exactly the same. No difference at all. I tried my best to hear a change but with everything else in the system exactly the same, the two pairs of speakers sounded 100% the same. I then realized it was my ears and brain that got used to the sound of these speakers.

I had the same thing happen with Triangle Duetto 40th speakers. I had a well reviewed loaner review pair here that I fell in love with. I ordered a new set for myself and they sounded the same. Exactly the same right out of the new sealed box.

Some manufactures do burn in and I believe Triangle does this with their speakers (50 hours) but I bet they do this to ensure quality control and to make sure what they are sending out has no issues or problems. Testing drivers more so than burning them in. Just a guess here but if so that is amazing quality control. Then again, these 40th speakers are quite amazing. If I sold speakers that cost $7k+ I would run them to ensure they were perfect before boxing them up, makes sense but not all do this.

What about cables?

I once bought a brand new pair of $5k+ speaker cables. Used them for a few days and then had my dealer burn them in for a while on his specialized cable burn in machine. When they went back in the system I noticed no change at all. Nada. None. I kept hearing how this brand of cables need hundreds or even thousands of hours of burn in to be their best. If true that would be nuts, crazy and a product I would not want to buy. I love this brand of cables and yes, they do make a nice difference in a well planned out system (but at a hefty cost) but why would I pay thousands to have to wait months for them to sound their best? Sounds strange to me but what doesn’t sound strange is that this time period between brand new and the hundreds of hours of use needed to “burn them in” may stop a lot of instant buyers remorse and returns.

Digital?

Also, just recently I replaced my HiFi Rose RS130 in silver with a black unit. The silver was run for months and when the new black one showed up I was ready to hear something different. Nope, sounded 100% the same. No difference. No burn in required. I’ve now used this streamer in my system for a year and love it more than when I reviewed it.

I have done this with two other pieces just this year in 2024. A DAC that had about 400 hours on it vs a brand new one, sounded 100% the same. Also, an integrated amplifier was here for review and it was a well used demo model, review unit. I had it here and loved it so much I wanted a new one for myself. I bought a new one and before I sent the old one back I had them side by side and there was zero change in sound. They sounded the same. Exactly.

Today I have to go with what my eyes, ears and brain tell me. Burn in, at least in my world of audio, may be a myth when it comes to it changing the sound of a piece.

I feel it is indeed our ears that get used to the sound, and accept it more and more as time goes. I used to believe in burn in but not these days as I can not find any true evidence of it other than people like me stating opinions.

One thing to keep in mind as well. Our systems can change in sound from day to day, hour to hour depending on the power grid. Many know about this phenomenon where some systems sound their best at 2am or early morning when less gunk is polluting the lines. I used to notice this all the time but since using quality power conditioning, this never happens. Some may attribute this to burn in as well. You hear of people talk about burn in as a roller coaster of ups and downs, thin bright to full throated sound with 300 hours.

These are just my observations. 

Yes, this is my take and it is based on having new and old, side by side, testing them for differences in sound. Never heard one. If there are changes they are minuscule and will not really alter the sound of the piece when burned in. If you get a new audio piece and you hate it, it will not improve to where you will love it later. This doesn’t happen within audio. If the sound is off, usually there is something in the chain not jiving well with the rest of the gear (the weakest link). Synergy is real within HiFi and when all is playing nice together, this is when the magic happens.

I do feel speaker surrounds break in some but this happens within minutes IMO. Even so, with those speakers I tried I did not hear one thing that was different from old vs new. Sure, parts may indeed burn in as they are being used but how much does that translate to audible differences? In my eyes, burn in may be real but changing the sound, not so much.

Anyway, this is my experience with burn in, as always. If it is not yours that is OK! Let’s just enjoy the music and stop worrying about things that take our mind away from the music : )

Steve