If you’ve spent any time on audiophile forums (I’m so sorry) you’ve probably run into the idea of headphone “burn-in” or “breaking in” a new set of headphones like a new pair of shoes or something. Many audio enthusiasts swear by this and will leave their headphones playing music for hundreds of hours in the belief that it will make them sound better.
Unfortunately, there’s just no evidence that breaking in your headphones has any effect whatsoever, other than wasting time you could have spent enjoying your new set of cans.
What “Burn-In” Is Supposed to Be
The premise of “burn-in” is that the physical components of your headphones need to settle in the same way a pair of shows will conform to your feet and stretch out a bit with use.
The claim is that headphones start sounding significantly better the longer they’re used, and so the perceived value of vintage headphones with lots of hours on the clock also goes up. You can find suggested playlists of songs that supposedly put your headphones through their paces, so they’ll reach their full potential.
The Science of Headphone Drivers
The problem here is that headphone drivers are precision-engineered devices, not a pair of leather shoes cobbled together by some craftsmen in a quaint little workshop. They are tested, calibrated, and designed to perform consistently from the moment they leave the factory. Materials like mylar, bio-cellulose, and metal-coated diaphragms don’t “loosen up” in ways that affect audio quality after long play.
Yes, there really is a bit of mechanical settling when a driver first plays sound, mainly in the suspension, but this happens in just a few minutes, not after hundreds and hundreds of hours.
Why People Think They Hear a Difference
There’s no physical evidence or plausible mechanism for burn-in to do what people claim it does, but that doesn’t take away the testimonials of people who say they hear a big difference. So if the headphones aren’t any different, why the perceived difference?
The first and most obvious answer is that your brain has adapted to how the new headphones sound. They sound better over time, because you learn to like how they sound. It’s as simple as that. Then there’s the good old placebo effect, and the simple mechanism of expectation. You’ve been told the headphones will sound better after you burnt them in, and so they sound better because you expect them to and believe they will.
After all, it’s not like most people buy two sets of headphones, burn one, and then compare them directly to hear if there’s a real change.
What Actually Changes Over Time
That’s not to say that there are things in a pair of headphones that don’t change at all. Some components other than the drivers do change with use. Earpads, for example, can change shape or become compressed. For example, when I swap between earpads on my AirPods Max, it makes a noticeable difference to how the headphones sound depending on the density of the pads or how good the seal is. The clamping force of the headphones will likely get weaker with age, and, of course, head and humidity can affect all your components. This is just one reason you should replace your earpads when they are worn.
However, none of these changes are generally positive, and they definitely don’t unlock some higher level of quality that the headphones didn’t ship with from the factory.
Tests and Measurements Say Otherwise
There have been some relatively thorough looks at what if any difference breaking in a pair of headphones makes, if any. One of the most comprehensive was a test by RTINGS.com which measured both objective things like frequency response. The testers weren’t able to find any differences that would be humanly possible to detect, and these changes were mainly down to things like earpad compression or clamp force changes over time. Nothing to do with the drivers.
The Folklore Factor
So if it makes no measurable difference, why won’t the folklore around burning-in headphones die? You still see this “advice” all over audiophile forums to this day. Part of it is cultural. Rituals like burn-in help build community among audiophiles, providing a shared experience and something to do while you wait to fall in love with your purchase.
There’s also a psychological benefit to it. If you don’t like the way your headphones sound at first, then the hope and belief that they will magically improve with use can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. It reframes buyer’s remorse into optimism. Unfortunately, this also opens the door for snake oil, but just like gold-plated optical audio cables, that’s just a fact of life in the AV world.
- Brand
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Sony
- Battery Life
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30 hours
- Bluetooth
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Yes
- Noise Cancellation
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Yes
- Foldable
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Yes
- Charging type
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USB-C
This pair of headphones has gained popularity for its noise-cancelling abilities, but it also has excellent sound quality and other premium features.
