[Marbles]

I have a digital cable that needs breaking in.

I really don't want to listen to it until it's broken in.  About one of the few ways I can think of would be to have it from my tuner to my int. amp in my billiard room.

Would an analog signal break in a digicable?

Thanks

[Red Dragon Audio]

Why not just send your cable over to this http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?accstwek&1103213153">fellow?

[Marbles]

A:  I'm too cheap, and B: I don't want to chance shippers losing them.

Thanks for the link though.

Actually the cable maker ought to buy a cable cooker and pre-burn them in.

[Wayne1]

Rob,

The Cable Cooker and the Hagerman FryKleaner both use analog signals for cable break-in. Both use very wide band, higher amplitude signals than most home audio gear will produce.

You can use your tuner set to interstation noise and that will work. It will take a lot longer than the Cable Cooker will.

If you want to send it to me, I will be happy to put it on the Cooker for you.

[eico1]

or if you're not c: too lazy:), connect a 75Ohm resister via clip leads to one end of the cable and the other to your cable box or dvd player digital out.

steve

[Marbles]

Thanks Wayne, it's appreciated, but I really don't want to ship if I can help it.

That info on the interstation is what I needed to hear.

Steve, I really didn't want my DVDP to work for an extra 100-300 hours  

but thanks for the info.

Looks like it will go on my tuner....

[JoshK]

Well there is a very simple way to tell if the change is merely pyschoacoustic or other, that is to take two identical cables, burn one in and the other leave unused and then to a blind A/B.  Boring process but it'll satisfy the question. Myself, I don't need to convince myself anymore.

[Dan Banquer]

Personally I find it hard to believe that this is a forum called "The Lab". I would have expected (hoped?) technical discussions on circuits, parts quality, applications, etc.etc. I think it speaks volumes that we now get debates on physcological issues as opposed to technical issues.
                   d.b.

[Marbles]

Dan, since you have no useful info that will help answer my question, please stay out of this thread.

[PhilNYC]

Marbles,

A "digital signal" is still an electrical signal...just because the waveform can be interpreted as zeros and ones doesn't make it any less analog.  You should be fine burning it in with an analog signal.  If there was any chance of damaging the cable, I'd suspect that the industry would have selected something other than an RCA plug to terminate it...

Phil

[Mudcat]

Cable Vendor Claim

"'Breaking in' a cable has everything to do with the insulation - not the wire itself. The insulation (or dielectric) will absorb energy from the conductor when a current is flowing (i.e. when music is playing). This energy-absorption causes the dielectric's molecules to re-arrange themselves from a random order into a uniform order. When the molecules have been rearranged, the dielectric will absorb less energy & consequently cause less distortion." Audioquest

 

Scientific Community's Response:

Thus their conclusion is the dielectric, not the wire causes distortion! Claims regarding insulation molecules "aligning" with a signal, skin effect, strand jumping, etc, are anecdotal at best. Let's not forget that an audio signal is AC, and effectively random from a physical perspective. Nothing can align to a random signal by being anything other than random - exactly the state they claim is "cured" by injecting a signal.

 

"Break In" is not a proven audible or measurable phenomenon. The perception of changes in sound quality with time is likely attributable to the classical placebo effect, i.e., a listener anticipating a possible audible difference is predisposed to hear one whether or not it exists. Note that Audioquest isn't the only exotic cable vendor that claims cables "Break In". This is actually quite a popular myth touted by many other exotic cable vendors and cable forum cult hobbyists alike.

"So is cable break in just a ploy for getting people to keep the cables beyond the return period, or perhaps long enough that their desire to do anything about the lack of any improvement is gone?"


When you change to new cables, there may appear to be an audible difference. If this seems to be for the better, well and good - you'll keep the cables. If the cables seem marginally worse than the old ones, the 'break in improvement' claim will encourage you to persevere with them for a while. Over this time your auditory system will habituate to the new sound balance, resulting in a perceived improvement. If you then swap back to the old cables for a 'fair' comparison, they will probably sound worse, as you are now adjusted to the new ones.

The second effect that comes into play is our suggestibility. Some people are more suggestible than others, but most of us are surprisingly open to persuasion. Expensive audio cables are an almost ideal example: we are persuaded to get them because they will improve the sound, and will get better over time, they cost a lot of money so they ought to be 'special', we've gone to some to get them because we want a change for the better, we'd hate our choice to be a failure, it would be a hassle to return them and start again, and most importantly, the judgment is purely subjective and very susceptible to emotional influence.

Interestingly, the New Scientists recently commented on the London Heathrow Hi Fi Show, saying that among the cables selling for up to £30,000 for 6 metres, they found Quad demonstrating their latest speakers to great enthusiasm. The orange cable to the speakers looked oddly familiar. When asked about it, Tony Faulkner, the recording engineer demonstrating them (who'd used the speakers as monitors while recording Saint-Saen's complete works for piano & orchestra, Gramophone's Record of the Year), said of the cables:

"Yes, they would look familiar if you have a garden. Before the show opened we went over the road to the DIY superstore and bought one of those £20 extension leads that Black & Decker sells for electric hedge-cutters. They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me. The show's been running for three days and no one in the audience has noticed..."  - New Scientist Magazine


All of the above is available at Audioholics.com

[Dan Banquer]

Quite frankly, Rob and others , traditionally a lab is where technical discussions happen, and physcological discussions happen elswhere. I think you are in the wrong forum and your discussion on wire break in belongs elswhere. If that's not the case then you really should rename this forum, and offer a real "Lab" forum for the technical discussions.
                 d.b.

[Marbles]

Thomas

First, thank you for your Coast Guard Service.

Second, I think we can sum up you thoughts with this article and your followup comments.

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=cables&n=99331&

Lastly I didn't ask about how I couldn't hear break in, I asked how I could break in the cables.  Since I beleive in break in, and you don't, your thoughts do not help me.

If you want to start a new thread on why you don't beleive in break in, go ahead, but stay out of this one please.

Dan, I don't care what you think........

[nathanm]

Use gaffer tape to adhere the cable to the side of your pant leg.  Every two hours adjust its position so that the entire length passes over the knee joint.  Go for a 5 mile walk or run daily. Repeat this process for a good 2-3 weeks and not only will your cable be broken in, but you will have gotten some exercise too.

[Occam]

Dan,

Its my second day as 'facilitator' of the Lab, and I walk into this nekk'd mud rassl'n contretemps. It was not me who exocised the posts to the Fight Club. But I will say this - While I highly value your technical expetise and experience, It is not YOUR place to determine what does or does not belong in the Lab forum. It is MY place to make such determinations. If you wish to discuss this, please feel free to PM me.

And the nature of subjective testing is very much within the definition of the Lab, though I will admit I am considering making the Lab a 'DBT free' zone, as there is little hope of resolution or coming to any sort of consensus.

Certainly, there are posts that inevitably 'pull our pizzle strings', and they vary. For me, its folks to are unwilling to use high school algebra. But the denizens of these boards vary tremendously in background and discipline. Such is life...

[Mudcat]

Since I beleive in break in...

But the denizens of these boards vary tremendously in background and discipline.

And obviously intelligence

http://members.comics.com/members/common/affiliateArchive.do;jsessionid=a1yEQoYaF83a?site=washpost&comic=dilbert&stripId=204649