Breaking in new headphones

[Thundernotes]

I just got a new set of Shure SRH440 headphones for my home recording projects, etc.

When I first put them on, the highs were like an icepick through the head, and the low end wasn't very good. I put my iTunes on and cranked them up for the day while I was at work. Got home tonight and they're MUCH better. Very clear and detailed sound. I'd recommend them

Worked good for me. Any other methods you guys like to use? Should I hit them with some heavy low-end stuff?

[specialk]

I have no idea if the following site is a recommended way of breaking in headphones or not, but I bookmarked it for some reason:

http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/Headphonebreakin.htm

[atquinn]

Would you want to break in monitors the same way? I recently got 2 Rokit6's that sound great to me, but if doing something like this would make them sound even better, I'd be up for it.

-

Austin

[kizanski]

It's not your headphones "breaking in," it's your ears breaking.

Be careful with that.

Signed,

Half Deaf in Both Ears

[Disturber]

It's not your headphones "breaking in," it's your ears breaking.

Be careful with that.

Signed,

Half Deaf in Both Ears

Sorry, take that again will you..?

[veatch]

I did something similar to a set of phones i had. Opened up the bass response quite a bit. Not sure why - something about what the elements in the smaller style phones are made out of - they're too rigid and this process "breaks them in". Same thing will happen if you just use them normally, but it will take longer.

I had white/pink noise running for about a week after a good day each on each separate frequency.

And Kiz - they were not on my head at the time...

I tried it with my monitors, too, but didn't really notice a difference. My monitors have a lot of hours on them already, though.

[JohnnyB]

Break-in is pure mechanics. The diaphragms have flexible surrounds, but the surrounds are stiff when new and have to be flexed until they reach the level of pliability the transducer was designed for. If the diaphragms were all broken in at the factory headphones and speakers would cost a lot more. For the buyer it's a short period of compromised performance that goes away.

Some speakers take quite awhile to break in. My Mirages had a factory requirement of 100 hrs. I played an iPod through them on infinite repeat until the four days were past. It definitely opened up the speakers significantly, but damned if they didn't keep sounding a little lusher and more detailed over the next 6 months.

Some people recommend loud and violent music (or other sounds) to break in speakers and diaphragms, but Mirage warns against that with their speakers. They recommend a gentle break-in period before playing them loud. The reason to not force the diaphragm to full excursion before the suspension has loosened up because this could cause the voice coil to go out of alignment. That certainly makes sense to me. It may vary with the speaker or headphone, but to be safe I'd plug in an iPod or FM tuner at medium volume and let it run 24 hrs a day for at least 4 days. Then gradually introduce louder music and stronger transients as you listen to them for about a week and you're confident they're ready to go.

[jwhitcomb3]

Start with Enya, and slowly work up to Twisted Sister.

[Toadroller]

Start with Enya, and slowly work up to Twisted Sister.

Well now, that's unique advice when taken out of context.