What is the directionality - what causes it, what changes to establish it? How do you describe or define the directionality in what is, basically, AC current (as in Mains cables, for instance)? What physical changes take place?
You mentioned ‘trapped gases’ - what gases are these, and where are they - and how do they escape? How do impurities act like a diode which changes its direction with time? Which impurites act like diodes, and how is it that all these diodes (presumably one for each bit or cluster of impurities) happen to align in one direction? What charges get neutralized - how do these charges occur? What, exactly, does “ultrasonically conditions the surface” mean? What physical changes occur?
Beachcomber, it was a paste of Nordost view as for burn in cables process. It would be difficult for a non scientist as me to comment.
However I am curious if someone knows what these gas trapped are.
Fair enough
But your questions seem to be accurate…
I don’t recall reading a single case where anyone has reported “burn in” as negative in the end. All I have read have said it improves, although sometimes with an even more inexplicable ‘yoyo’ type effect before settling better.
Interestingly, quite aside from memory of sound over the medium or longer term, and quite unrelated to psychological effects as the brain adapts, I know I certainly don’t hear things exactly the same every day. And I am not thinking hifi, but general sounds like birds or people talking etc, sometimes sound different. A prime, if extreme, example is when you have a cold and are a bit “bunged up”, or are anywhere experiencing pressure changes (plane, tunnel etc), and yawn causing an equalisation through the eustation tubes - suddenly everything sounds clearer. Physiological effects like that can very easily explain yoyo-ing from day to day (eventually ignored by the brain because it is no longer thinking about whether the item sounds better).
Changes to wires not even running enough current to make them heat up above the warmest temperature of normal room variability is a far less likely explanation than the result of known physiological and psychological effects that can affect hearing or the peception of sound.
@OldSai lives in Siberian Taiga. +45 in summer, - 45 in winter. I guess the cables are burning quicker in such extremes reverses of temperature…?
In other words marketing-speak for “if you start wondering if you’ve wasted your money, don’t worry because your brain will adjust and justify itself”…
Beachcomer omitted to ask about the direction of current with an AC signal, and the effect on that AC signal if the cable becomes a diode…
Maybe marketing, maybe scientific. Can’t say.
Here’s the result of burning in a mains cable
Almost sufficient temperature extremes for alternating cryogenic treatment and burn-in - if the cables run outside the house.
No, thst’s the process of burning in, not the result!
Many cable companies make a lot of effort to reduce the oxygen levels in copper cables.
Perhaps the direction of the cables is established after a certain time of burn in the cables in the Nordost or other labs. The following burn in is in personal systems.
Floyd Toole covers the effects of bias from non auditory factors very well in his book and talks about loudspeaker, he also covers burn in. His principles apply here to. If you’ve not read or seen his talk I urge you to do so it’s incredibly informative.
The oxygen in copper isn’t a gas, it’s present as a mixture of Copper(I) Oxide and Copper(II) Oxide. Copper(I) Oxide is a semiconductor and has substantial detrimental effects on the electrical properties of the cable when used for signal transmission, particularly for small signals.
I released some trapped gases last night during a listening session and dident notice any improvement.
I can’t explain why after switching to BJCs the sound continued to improve for over a week after installing them. And I used specific tracks for reference. It’s not my ears adjusting to the characteristics of the cables b/c I noted specific tracks that lacked bass and cohesion that came alive after a week or more of “burn in”.
Personally I feel better after, so the listening improves too.
Don’t let Peder see that!
Specially if he is travelling on ice roads…