Want Your Headphones to Sound Better For Free? Burn ‘Em In.
Did you know that there is a way to improve the audio quality of your headphones? Sure you could buy devices such as headphone amplifiers to do the trick, but could you believe that there is a way to do it without buying any extra gadgets or paying any extra money? Well there is a way, and it’s called burning in your headphones. Many audiophiles around the world believe that by burning in your headphones, you can noticeably improve the quality of their sound output. Now don’t worry, it does not have anything to do with literally burning your headphones, and it’s much simpler than you might think. The concept of burning in headphones is the same as breaking in a new pair of shoes, a baseball glove, or pretty much anything that is new. What’s the best way to do this? Well, by using them! Unfortunately, if you’ve had your headphones for a while and they have already been used frequently (like hundreds or even thousands of hours) you may have already burned them in enough through their repeated use, and that’s about as good as you’re going to get them. However, if your headphones are fairly new, and of somewhat good quality (a pair of headphones that they give away on airplanes probably won’t work), then they can possibly benefit from a burn in process.
There is more than one method to burn in your headphones, and which one you choose is ultimately up to you. There is no concrete evidence that one method is better than the other, so feel free to pick whichever you like. The suggested time to burn in headphones is approximately 100-200 hours, but many people notice an improvement even with a considerably less amount of burn in time. It is also suggested to play the sounds at your normal listening level or slightly higher than your normal listening level. Do not play them at extremely high levels however, unless you want to risk damaging your headphones.
Method 1 : Noise
One popular way to burn in headphones is through the use of playing different types of noises through them. By noise, I mean sine wave sweeps, pink noise, white noise, AM/FM static, etc. You can get a bunch of these noise files here. Pick a file and play it on repeat (with your headphones connected of course) through your iPod, computer, or whatever you use to listen to music. You can also download multiple files and have those play on repeat, or combine them into one audio track and loop it. You can use a free program such as Audacity to combine and loop these audio files.
Method 2 : Music
Another way to burn in your headphones is simply through playing music. You can really use any music to burn in your headphones, but ideally you would want to use something that covers all of the frequencies from high to low. The best way to do this in my opinion would be to create a playlist of different types of songs. Find some songs with heavy bass, find some songs with high pitched notes, and find some songs that are prominent in the mid-range frequencies to balance it out.
Method 3 : Just use them!
Any time you use your headphones, you are technically burning them in. This means that simply by listening to music or any other audio source through your headphones, you are improving their audio quality! It is a gradual process, and it would take much longer than the previous two, but it is still a valid method.
Ultimately, there really are no rules to burning in your headphones. There also aren’t any rules as to what your headphones are supposed to sound like. It all depends on you, the person listening to them. If you’re happy with how your headphones sound after only a few hours of burning them in, then that’s the best way to do it. If you’re happy with how they sound now, then that’s fine! However, if you feel like your headphones could use a bit of an improvement, try burning them in. It won’t cost you a cent, so why not give it a try?
Have you already tried burning in your headphones? If so, how did it work out for you?