Headphones Burn-in

Hello. I had to change the driver in my Focal Utopias headphones and now I need to do some burn-in. Questions: 1) is it safe to leave my Bartok on 24 hours for a few days? 2) can I use the pink noise of the Bartok to burn in the hps? Thanks. Franco

It is better to play music with high dynamic swings and lots of various frequencies, like a live classical recording of high SQ, containing sufficient bass and percussion.

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This album will do:

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Thanks Erno!!

Hi Erno. How long did it take you to burn in the utopias? As I said, I broke a driver and had to send them back to Focal who replaced it. Problem is that they now sound very closed and recessed. Thanks. Franco

I have burnt them in for 2 weeks, 24 hours a day. And even after that they became better over time.

Thanks Erno. I’m scared of leaving it playing so long!

What are you afraid of that could happen?

That it messes up my Bartok or the headphones.

They are both made to play, so I do not think something bad will happen. But you could pause every day for an hour, to let them cool down, and then go on burning in the Utopias.

You could also just continue to listen, and over time will notice improvement. Or something inbetween.

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Gotta admit I never understood the angst about burn-in/brain-in. Unless one is getting paid to write critical comparative reviews, or is trying to make a precise in-home demo decision with a “before/after” sonic quarantine, why not just play the thing, whatever that thing is?

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Agreed Greg!

I get it that caps/analogue output stages/other components settle in with continuous power over a period beyond warm up

An expensive item should surely already sound very good out of the box

If burn-in or brain-in improves it over time so much the better, the anticipation can be enjoyable

Unless or until it dawns on you that you just bought the wrong item :thinking:

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