Cable Burn In

[brucew268]

Insulated with cotton, PVC, rubber, air, or teflon, the same wire sounds different. So we should be able to deduce even without measuring that the electrical field in the wire interacts with the dielectric and is affected by it.

[icehockeyboy]

Gazjam mentions how an inferior ( my word) connection affected the sound of his system resulting in him re-terminating with quality z plugs, anyone else been through a similar scenario?
I must admit I’d never, possibly stupidly, thought about the effect of inferior banana type plugs.

[ABCaudio]

We find that running in a cable has much to do with 1) getting used to the sound, and 2) temperature. It can be demonstrated quite well with an experiment.

Take a new cable, freeze it properly. Then dunk it into hot water. What just happened?

While frozen everything contracted, became as small as it physically could. When rapidly heated, everything will become as large as physically possible very quickly. You require a large temperature range.

Certain materials, principally the metallic core in the wire will expand most, causing some stretching of the insulators and therefore the dielectric. As everything settles back to its standard temperature, you'll have cable with air dielectric gaps in the insulation. This is broadly a run in cable.

This happens slowly over general use by virtue of electrical current, although it's unlikely to ever get wire as far electrically as it would via drastic temperature change.

A high current burn in machine gets a cable there as well, and also deals with the modest effects of electron transfer between different metals (eg copper>solder>gold), but if something sensible like gold plated plugs are used then this is a quick process even in everyday use. Other plating metals not so much.

Finally, Z plugs are a great idea. Low mass is always desirable, and the sprung plate creates a solid, large area surface contact. We suggest berrylium copper (springy and strong), with nickel then gold plated. You won't get better.

[icehockeyboy]

Thanks Colin,
A few people mentioned about getting used to the sound, but what about when you know that a certain aspect of the sound that you are used to isn’t there when you plumb in new cables, and after a week of ‘burning in’ isn’t there?
As in missing a sparkly crystal clear top end?
No amount of listening is likely to help you get used to the ‘new’ sound, if it isn’t there.

[ABCaudio]

Thanks Colin,
A few people mentioned about getting used to the sound, but what about when you know that a certain aspect of the sound that you are used to isn’t there when you plumb in new cables, and after a week of ‘burning in’ isn’t there?
As in missing a sparkly crystal clear top end?
No amount of listening is likely to help you get used to the ‘new’ sound, if it isn’t there.

We haven't ever made a cable where something is missing in that way... But in my personal experience things don't go missing. They hide in the mix, are presented differently, uplit or in shadow. In other words it is a matter of presentation and balance, rather than being there or not. Adjusting to that new balance does take some time and perception.

Best regards,

Alan

[icehockeyboy]

Sorry!
Thanks Alan!
Just mentioning a Colin Wonfor product, I remember getting some TQ blue from a member here, obviously run in, and they ‘sparkled’
A set of TQ Black replaced them, and I wasn’t that impressed, nothing wrong with them, they just didn’t do it for me.
Another set of Blues came my way, but they just didn’t ‘sparkle’ up top like the first set.
Why on earth would that be?

[ABCaudio]

Sorry!
Thanks Alan!
Just mentioning a Colin Wonfor product, I remember getting some TQ blue from a member here, obviously run in, and they ‘sparkled’
A set of TQ Black replaced them, and I wasn’t that impressed, nothing wrong with them, they just didn’t do it for me.
Another set of Blues came my way, but they just didn’t ‘sparkle’ up top like the first set.
Why on earth would that be?

I haven't any idea! It's either the product or your perception, can't be anything else.

As I remember the story, Blue was intended as a test, a proof of concept to run the extrusion tooling and insulation materials through their paces. It wasn't 'designed' in that sense, unlike the Black. I can't speak for material consistency throughout production.

[icehockeyboy]

Others on here echoed the sentiments about the Blue and Black in a similar way to me, so I’m thinking it’s not just my perception.

[Swann36]

Interesting thread

....i've today received my 1m Custom Lynx Neutrik 6.35mm TRS (stereo) Jack to 2x male XLR, which came in timely fashion for my MrSpeakers Ethers as the original cable has worn badly so i got Oidio cables to make me replacements which i had terminted with XLRs to go into the back of a BenchMark HP amp, but then i found that i wanted to use them with other amps hence the "adapter" ...

back to the thread ...with the 'new' adapter cable i can hear a difference from the direct XLR outs using the same BM amp but of course the 6.35mm out ....in that the sound is much "brighter" sounds like i've put the trebble up ... so i'm thinking does this new adapter cable need burning in or is it just the different outs i'm using ? then i come across this thread and the answer is probably ..... well i'm going to watch some movies through this set up before any critical music listening and by then my ears will of adjusted of course so i won't be able to tell the difference ..........or will i ??

[icehockeyboy]

I’ve removed the banana plugs I was using from the equation.