How long do cables take to break-in?

marty

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,025
4,173
2,520
United States
A power cable is not fundamentally different from a signal cable. Looking from a spectral perspective we do not expect the difference due to burn-in in power cables to be related to the 50 or 60 Hz component, so all we will have are differences due to how it handles noise. The same for signal cables - if the differences due to burn-in showed in the audio band - 20 - 20KHz - they would be easily measurable. So probably we are mainly dealing with something going from the hundred of kilohertz to a few gigahertz when addressing burn-in. A real nightmare!
Perhaps. But it reminds me of a favorite adage I often cite about what we learned in med school.
"Half of what we learned in med school isn't true. The problem is that we don't know which half" :eek:
 
  • Like
Reactions: microstrip

Cellcbern

VIP/Donor
Jul 30, 2015
1,222
726
585
70
Washington, DC
Some cables can take as long as 700-1200 hours to fully break in.

Among those cables from Furutech, Argento and Lessloss, Furutech being the worst.
Cryo-treatment seems to prolong the break in time.

Meaningless to share these opinions in an online forum, but sometimes we do meaningless things;)
Not if you use the Cable Cooker.
 

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
10,517
1,774
1,850
Metro DC
Perhaps. But it reminds me of a favorite adage I often cite about what we learned in med school.
"Half of what we learned in med school isn't true. The problem is that we don't know which half" :eek:
I hope no medical malpractice lawyer heard that.
Of course in law school nothing was true.
 
  • Like
Reactions: marty

Geir

Member
Nov 13, 2021
63
56
23
49
Much quicker with the Cable Cooker, and better performance than you can achieve just playing music, even after hundreds of hours. I've done comparative tests.
Thank you for this information. I have not used a cable cooker myself before, but once I got a cable treated with the Nordost Vidar cable burner. I have used three different digital cables from the same brand, and the one that was cooked had a different sound quality to it. It sounded more smooth in the top end than the others. I am not sure this was because it was cooked. Even so I liked that particular cable more than the more expensive cable that was not cooked.
 

270kkms

New Member
Apr 5, 2023
6
5
3
39
I don’t understand why people would invest time in this hobby if all they want to do is look at frequency graphs. I can understand why manufacturers and designers do it. They need to test their equipment and so they use their measurement tools to help design their final product.

let’s talk about these manufacturers of say ‘an amplifier. Amplifier manufacturers carry out listening tests as part of their R&D of their products. Take Naim for example. They are an advocate of cable dressing, cable burn in and so on. They state in their manuals that their equipment takes a matter of months to burn in. It’s no secret that all amplifiers have internal wiring and soldering. What are transformers made of? Why does Audio Note use silver wiring in their premium transformers? Why do some speaker manufacturers design their speakers with certain cables.

yet somehow all of this exhaustive research is rubbished by a guy who says I have studied physics 101 or engineering 101. If you’re so successful and you care that much, perhaps you should apply for a position in an amplifier or cable manufacturing company and you may learn something.
But having said all of that if there is one thing I have learnt in life it’s that people can be very ignorant, arrogant and stubborn. I don’t question my taste buds when I’m tasting food, I don’t check the weather to see if it’s cold if I’m feeling cold. Our senses can be manipulated but they are still a very handy tool that have served us very well. I’m not suddenly going to dispel them when I perceive differences in a sighted hifi test.
If all of this is in our heads then two different people wouldn’t report the same results. Or the same result wouldn’t be documented amongst people that are far apart with no contact with one another without any prior interaction. But that is exactly what has happened in my experience, in hifi magazines etc.
 
Last edited:

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,347
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
Welcome to WBF, 270kkms!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 270kkms

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing