Do Soundcards Need Running In?

[admin_exported]

Subject line says it all really. Just installed an ASUS Xonar D2....playback through my phones sounds a bit raw and not very refined. Detail is all there and bass is very punchy but its just a bit too raw for my taste

 

[Anonymous]

I've mentioned this before, but various scientific experiments have shown that our ears adjust to whatever we listen to without us realising it. This presents us with a dilemma because it can mean that we have as much trouble adapting to something that is a big improvement as something that is actually rough and nasty.

I'd be vary wary of anything that doesn't seem right when you first hear it, because if it is wrong, you might get used to it after "running in" and then almost certainly something will happen and you'll realise you've been fooling yourself and it was rubbish all along.

A good plan is to ask wives or girlfriends because their hearing tends to be more sensitive and they don't like hi fi anyway, so often notice something when we don't. We never ever trust our own judgement, we do numerous A/B tests and we've a collection of "golden eared" friends and experts who we invite round to hear anything we need independently assessed.

Ash

 

[Johnno2]

I was a disbeliever in burn in,but something does change over time,dont know if any electronics enginneers here can expilan exactly what goes on,perhaps the di electric in capacitors charge fully over time or the silicon in transistors change slightly in voltage,or its just your hearing getting accustomed. I have a dacmagic that sounded so so at first then seemed to sound more liquid and involving after being left on for a week or two,then I had to return it because the channels reversed when you selected different inputs,they gave me a new one ,when I got it home it sounded less involving again,bear in mind that you think I would be accustomed to the dacmagic sound by now and that the new one should have sounded the same if 'its your ears that burn in' theory is to believed....yet the new one sounded different again,So I do now believe equipment changes slightly over time.

BTW I do think women in general like music as much as men,so they must like hifi if it makes it sound better,I think its all the paraphanalia that goes with it they hate

 

[Anonymous]

Ashley James: This presents us with a dilemma because it can mean that we have as much trouble adapting to something that is a big improvement as something that is actually rough and nasty.

I'd be vary wary of anything that doesn't seem right when you first hear it, because if it is wrong, you might get used to it after "running in" and then almost certainly something will happen and you'll realise you've been fooling yourself and it was rubbish all along. .

Ash

Not wanting to stir the doodoo but that sounds like whatever we do there will be some sort of learning curve and there is only an evens chance that we will be happy with what we have got. I suppose its all guess work anyway......

 

[idc]

Ashley James: A good plan is to ask wives or girlfriends because their hearing tends to be more sensitive and they don't like hi fi anyway, so often notice something when we don't. We never ever trust our own judgement, we do numerous A/B tests and we've a collection of "golden eared" friends and experts who we invite round to hear anything we need independently assessed. Ash

My wife appears to have these golden ears. I have blind tested her with music at different bit rates and she got all bar one right. With regards to burn in, I think that it is a combination of the product and the ear. I remember particularly with my Kimber speaker cable at first I noticed no great difference over the QED cable it replaced, though my wife stated it clearly sounded better to her. We then went away for a week or so, so the hifi was not touched. On returning I switched it on and both of us noticed a clear improvement in sound, both on how that cable had sounded at first and over the original QED cable. I would suggest that that is down to the cable as well as the ears.