New Headphone Break-In Period?

Hello all, just got me a pair of the new A&H Xone XD2-53 headphones and these are my first pair of higher end DJing headphones. I was using a crappy pair of behringers before. Now I have quite a bit of knowledge in speakers but not these bad boys. Anyone know if the whole breaking in your new set of headphones idea really applies? Even if there is a break-in period I'm not sure if it would even make much of a difference with drivers this size... Anyways if anyone has any info that'd be great and I'll also post a review on these things as soon as I get some more play on them seeing that they just came out.

No, break in periods are for engines, not for speakers (or headphones of mic's or...)

I always break in bigger speaker drivers when new or after a recone, usually 15 inch and above and i'd say its good practice but with headphones theres not really a need.

That's what I assumed....thanks.

I have been working with higher end Hi-Fi for a year and before that studied to be sound engineer and just in general interested in music.
For sure, alot of headphones have break in time, although it's usually not as long as some speakers.
It's very different from headphone to headphone, not regarding price. Some budget phones for 40 dollars might take 5h to break in,
some phones for 100 dollars might not change at all meanwhile a phone costing 70 dollar takes 15h to break in.
See where i'm going?
Let them play at normal level over the night and see what result you get.
Good luck!

In car audio subwoofers have a breakin period. Due to long excursions. Didnt think cans had that too. But it would make sense.

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Originally Posted by rgtb

could you please explain the physics that makes the break-in necessary? once we have established that a break-in is indeed required, we should ask why good manufacturers do not do it immediately following the production of a unit.

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Well, if they was to play every headphone they create for 24 hours in a mass producing fabrique I guess it would take time&space and might cause wear&tear to their products. Now I don't know for sure thats the reason, but it seems easier to me for the individual who purchase the item to break them in by himself.
The physics? Well I don't know but it's like many other things, a engine needs to be heated up to be real efficient, your muscles need to be warm and tense to perform the best.
its the same way with the elements in headphones, if my room is really cold my speakers will sound different compared to when its warm and they played for 30min, same with my amplifier.

I think its down to the rubber seal used to attach the cone to the speaker frame. It needs use to become more supple, as mentioned before, this is necessary on long throw speakers such as subwoofers more than short throw, e.g. headphones/hifi speakers/etc.

Breakin periods for long throw speakers are usually accomanied with a notice advising not to push the speaker too hard to avoid damage whilst the rubber is breaking in. Kind of like a car. If you buy a new one, there is usually a recommendation to not push the engine past a certain mph/rev limit for a specified amount of time, to allow for break-in without damage.