An article to understand the principle and method of earphone burn-in

Burn-in principle

The process of burning in headphones is mainly to make the mechanical system of the headphones age quickly and reach a level of running-in. The sound system of dynamic headphones is driven by the voice coil to drive the diaphragm, and the diaphragm is fixed on the headphone frame. In theory, the movement of the diaphragm should be a piston (vertical) movement, which requires the edge of the diaphragm to have greater compliance, and burning in is here. The sound of new headphones will be obviously felt (dry, cold, hard), with burrs in the high frequency, and loose and non-condensed low frequency with obvious back noise. The main reason is that the edge of the diaphragm of the new headphones is relatively tight, with high elasticity and low compliance. After a period of burning in, the diaphragm fold will become more elastic under the impact of sound and air pressure. Due to the better elasticity of the diaphragm fold, the direct effect is that the sound details are richer, the sound transition is smoother, the human voice is more mellow, the high-frequency burrs will be significantly reduced or directly reach a burr-free state, and the low frequency will be significantly converged, becoming more elastic and condensed. Reduce back noise and improve the purity of low frequency. These are the obvious changes in the sound of the headphones after they have been burned in. Some components in the newly purchased headphones, such as transistors, integrated circuits, and capacitors, have unstable electrical parameters when they are brand new, and they will gradually stabilize after a period of use.

General burn-in method

"Burn-in" means that the sound quality needs to be stabilized after a period of use. If you listen to it for 1 hour every day, the sound will basically stabilize after about 4 or 5 months. Then these 4 or 5 months are the "burn-in" period. Proper burn-in will not damage the headphones, but will only accelerate the stabilization of the sound quality. The word "stabilize" is used here, not "improve". Some headphones (speakers) may not be better than new ones after being burned in.

For headphones, you can use the following burn-in method:

1. Use pink noise or white noise as the signal source

2. Initially, cook at normal volume for 24 hours

3. Stop for 4 hours

4. Use high volume (just too much for the ears to bear) for 8 to 12 hours

5. Stop for 4 hours

6. Burn in at normal volume for 24 hours

7. Repeat the above steps for about a week, and the earphones will be "familiar" with the user.

Pay attention when burning in the headphones. If you are not sure whether the volume is too loud, have someone listen for you. If you cannot wear the headphones for 10 seconds (not for preference reasons), then the volume is too loud.

Professional burn-in method

Burn-in requires sound software and relevant CDs, so that the burn-in process can begin. If you can find a pink noise full-frequency scan CD track, it would be great. If you really can't find one, you need to download a frequency generator to do it on your computer. This frequency generator can manually set the frequency range and scan time, and you can choose the type of sound waveform, whether it is a square wave, a sine wave or a triangle wave, etc. In short, the frequency range of the sound must naturally be guaranteed to be between 20Hz and 20KHz. When scanning the full frequency once, you need to extend the full frequency scan cycle as much as possible. It is recommended that the full channel scan time be set to at least 30-40 seconds. If you use a full-frequency scan CD, it is best. After inserting the CD disc, select the track and play it repeatedly. If there is no repeat play function, you need to press Repeat repeatedly to play it repeatedly. Generally, the total volume adjustment knob is adjusted to between 40% and 60%. Considering that everyone's ears have different sensitivity to the spectrum, it is recommended that the volume be based on the best and most comfortable hearing for the human ear. It should not be too large or too small, which is not good. From the perspective of the safety of headphones or speakers, you can listen to the highest and lowest frequency points to see if the speakers or headphones are overloaded before playing, so as to avoid damage to the equipment. After confirmation, you can proceed.

Generally, we do not advocate the deliberate burn-in theory or professional burn-in method. We hope that users can adopt the natural listening burn-in method used by non-professional users, because the music played by non-professional users is often of various styles and types, so the natural listening burn-in method is a more appropriate method. The natural listening burn-in method means that after getting a new headset, you can keep the volume below 60% and above 30% and listen slowly (the specific volume matching is based on the best comfortable hearing for the human ear in a quiet or noisy environment). In such a natural listening environment, the headset or speaker will be in a better state after being honed for about a month. The natural listening burn-in method also allows the headset or speaker hardware to be in the best and safest state for burn-in, which will not only not damage the hardware of your device, but also extend the life of your device.