Burning In

From my experience…all good mate!
Also from my experience, some gear burns in…some doesn’t.
Costs nothing to form your own opinion. I found with my Naim/Spendor/A23 gear that a couple of months made a significant improvement on an already impressively satisfying result. Previous gear I’ve found CDP’s and Cartridges and Speakers reflect burn in more consistently. Have a go…

I bought recently a brand new Cisco PD switch. The sound was very average the first day. It improved after around 30 hours continuous music, the system was let on radio.
The same for my 3 different vodka cables I had before, which all sounded bad during the 2 first days on continuous working.
The BJ cat 6a improved also after many hours.
So personally I don’t believe, just experiment burn in of Ethernet switches and cables.

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Most Naim fans are programmed to believe that the electronics “burn in” or “improve” over time. As we add cables and other peripherals to these systems we tend to apply the same philosophy. I, too, am extremely sceptical that an Ethernet cable can “burn in” over time. My AQ vodka seemed to make the presentation more involving than the cinnamon wire it replaced but, again, I suspect this was simply because it cost a bit more so I wanted it to be better. It certainly hasn’t changed over time.

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:small_blue_diamond:This is so accepted today in serious high-end audio,.so I’m surprised someone even questions this.
This discussion that JosquinDesPrez chooses to open,.about theoretical scientific evidence feels to me completely uninteresting.
With my experience,.I use my ears…As Simply As That.

/Peder🎅🏻

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:small_blue_diamond:Very strange,.almost feels like something needs to be optimized in your installation.

Although a burn-in AQ Vodka has not been connected to the system,.and is put back into the system again.
So it takes a while before it performs optimally,.this is heard so clearly that no one can miss it.

/Peder🎅🏻

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Thanks Peder but it all sounds great :+1:t2:

If cables burn in this implies that there is some progressive change in their behaviour over time. Given this you might expect that burn out also occurs in some cables - it isn’t plausible that change will always be beneficial - yet you don’t seem to get people replacing cables on a like-for-like basis as the performance declines.

I think the Hi-Fi industry is missing a trick here!

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Audioquest cable servicing… :upside_down_face:

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So your new, more expensive cable sounds exactly the same as your previous cheaper cable.

But you’re keeping it anyway because it makes you feel good because it cost more.

No. It sounded more involving than the cinnamon. All I’m saying is I didn’t notice it getting better as time went on.

Ah, yes - I see.

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That’s fine, except you very blatantly claimed I’m “Wrong” with a basis on nothing more than opinion, speculation and anecdote. As you seem fit to call me out, then I’ll point out that not only do I find that completely uninteresting as well, but also disrespectful.

Further, I said nothing about cables in general, but referred to ethernet cables specifically. I’m not arguing about burn in for analog and digital audio cables; however, ethernet cables don’t transmit audio.

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Ethernet cables transmit 2 things:

  1. Binary data coded as analog waves of electricity.
  2. EM noise - which degrades the SQ of the music played on your hifi.
    It’s the latter which is changed as the cable warms up and responds to the first flow of electricity thru the cable which changes the electrochemical activity in the dialectric and the metal conductor surface.

All this is has been discussed in detail on other threads, inc the one Peder mentions.
And IIRC the thread on Blue Jeans Cables - where Yeti made a more detailed description of these processes.

I agree. This is total nonsense about needing to burn in Ethernet cable. I also doubt seriously that you can hear any difference between Ethernet cables.

However Ethernet itself is not bit perfect. It’s the protocol built on top of it that makes it bit perfect. The physical layer is susceptible to all kinds of noise and reflection problems. The cleaner the physical layer is the less work the protocol has to do increasing the data throughput.

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That’s why I believe it’s worth having a reliable switch (like the Cisco 2960 discussed elsewhere, which doesn’t cost much – used/refurbished – than a new consumer unmanaged switch), and making sure the ethernet cable is built to spec (like a tested Blue Jeans cable), which costs a fraction of fancy boutique ethernet cables that may or may not even pass spec.

:small_blue_diamond:The difference between you and me is,.that I don’t need “doubt seriously”,because I have tested this,.in addition for several years.

With lots of different ethernet/streaming-cables. So I know.!!

/Peder :santa:t2:

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It’s still anecdotal, and that’s not reliable evidence for anything factual, so don’t take offense when people aren’t willing to just take your word for it. I have no doubt the differences are real to you, but that doesn’t make it so, so maybe cut the skeptics some slack when they don’t buy all the claims and “explanations.”

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You can’t fool me. It’s turtles all the way down.

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I hope you are not burning Peder :star_struck:

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Can we all just get along; getting tired of the snark around here.