[Berndt]

hang on while I get some popcorn

[Dan Kolton]

I've had to leave a new piece of gear plugged in and turned on overnight for new capacitors to form.  Other than that, I can't say I've experienced great changes with use of electronics or wires.

[AudioSoul]

Because I thought your assumption was in error. I do believe that mechanical things have a break in period, like phono cartridges and speakers. I've yet to ever witness any electronics that "breaks-in".

I really think the listener's brain "breaks-in" as he/she becomes more sonically familiar with the equipment when it is new. IMHO, sonic memory is piss poor and needs constant reminders of a sonic signature of a particular system.

Sorry, George.

Wayner

WOW Wayner! that the best explanation I have ever heard regarding breakin. It not the equipment, its us that breaks in

[Fido2]

(snip)

I really think the listener's brain "breaks-in" as he/she becomes more sonically familiar with the equipment when it is new.

(snip)

I have heard this arguement / explanation many times.  I don't buy it.  Here is why.

Ever get a pair of speakers (used and fully broken in) that just don't sound "right" to you?  I have.  And no matter how much I listen to them.....sometimes for many months, giving them every chance to succeed...they still don't sound "right".  They still bother me in the same way as they did initially.

Why did my brain not adjust and become accustomed to them?

On the other hand, I have experienced cables that sounded "off" when new, but after several hundred hours they don't sound "off" anymore.   They actually sound much much better.

If my brain is adjusting with the cables, why does it not adjust in the case of the speakers?  Why would cables sound better after much listening, yet speakers don't?

It makes no logical sense that the brain is selective like that.

It has happened to me many times over where a speaker that I was predisposed to like, that I really wanted to like,  just never sounded right to me from the outset.  And it never got better no matter how much I listened to it.  Yet cables improve as they log hours of play time.

Another arguement I can present against the "brain adjustment" theory is this.
I often burn in cables quietly in a separate system.  I give them a quick sneek listen when new,  but nothing more till several hundred hours later.  They often go from sounding pretty bad, to sounding very nice.  There is no listening over a period of time, so how can the brain be adjusting?

I can't expain why it happens, but I trust what I hear.  And to all the scientists and nay sayers, I don't care if the science can support it or not.  Human hearing and the brain are very complicated.  Maybe science has not yet figured out how to test and measure the correct thing.  Isn't that possible?

After all, there was a time once when there were no scientific instruments or devices yet developed to determine that the earth was round.  Does this mean that it wasn't?  I don't think so.    It just means that science had not yet caught up to reality.

Awesome Tooblu! I concur! Logical, reasonable thinking...I love it! It's a rare thing nowadays. Most just yell "superstition" or some such and that's supposed to be that...lol. Obviously there is a LOT of stuff going on in this life that can't be seen or measured but it's there if you're looking.

[Listens2tubes]

Hmm...just wondering how many in the Yankee organization spin vinyl for relaxation? Would be interesting, no? aa Just a thought.