Headphone Burn-In

[RedSprites]

What do you think? I just bought some Grado SR-80's and have been "Burning" them for 8 hours now by playing my iTunes library at a good level. It could be me but I do notice the sound changing from a little harsh in the mids and highs to sounding more balanced. It could be me adjusting to listening to them. I am going to do this for two more days.

The question is this.... Burning in Headphones? Is there such a thing? I don't see any tubes hanging out the sides;)

Ray Gun

[jkerr]

I really love my Grado's. I've got SR-60's for the office & travel. And for home I've got the RS-1's. But I never bothered to "Burn-in" either of them. Personally I don't take much stock in the burning in of components. I can see that tubes may need a few minutes to get ideal operating conditions. But if there's any significant change to any component over time I've never really noticed.

Of course others will have the exact oppisite opinion. I won't argue the point, I'd just chalk it up to personal differences in observation .

[Jamie Tate]

Originally posted by RedSprites
I just bought some Grado SR-80's and have been "Burning" them for 8 hours now by playing my iTunes library at a good level.

Uh oh:eek: If you burn these phones in with MP3's you'll never get full resolution sound out of them. They'll be stuck with gritty, MP3 sound... It's kinda like being hit on the back when making a face, say, a gookie for example. Your face will freeze that way.

What's next for your phones, Bob Norberg no-noised Sinatra? :rolleyes: Sheesh! Some people just abuse their stuff.


(:D :) ;) :p )

[Jamie Tate]

Actually, I just listened to some new headphones here at the studio. We use Fostex T-20s. They're great. Nice and loud and sound decent but most important, they don't blow up. Well, Fostex isn't making them anymore in leu of the more expensive and harsher T-40s.

Anyway, our replacements are AKG 240s. They lowered the impedance of this model a few years ago and it really hurt their sound. I was totally underwhelmed. They've been used here at the studio for the last few weeks and their sound has opened up quite a bit and a lot of the harshness has gone away. I guess a few sessions on the drummer's head gave them a workout.

[RedSprites]

How's the bleed factor with those AKG phones? I know the Fostex's are closed. Do you get some bleed into the overhead mics? I get problems with 240M's sometimes with just a vocal mic.

BTW, I can't wait for the Norberg hiss repair phones to hit the market. It replaces the hiss along with all of the other stuff that he takes away from the mix.;)

Ray Gun:goodie: :shfrog:

[Jamie Tate]

The bleed is a lot worse. The Fostex aren't totally closed but they aren't as open as the AKG's.

[RedSprites]

You know those Sony 7506's Are really good for not having any leakage but they tend to fall apart after 2 months.
Ray Gun

[Jamie Tate]

Originally posted by RedSprites
You know those Sony 7506's Are really good for not having any leakage but they tend to fall apart after 2 months.
Ray Gun

That's a perfect description of my ex-girlfriend's augmentations!:D

[RedSprites]

You're tweezing my ears man....I don't know what it is but your mix is tweezing my ears!!!

Ray Gun