Audiophiles: Burn-in for earbuds?

[el-John-o]

Hey all,

Okay so I've been using my iPad/iPhone 4 (I know this is the iPod section but I figured it's more relevant here as they have been iPod buds much longer than they have been iPhone buds!) to listen to music alot lately. I cannot stand the earbuds. I can't really call myself an "audiophile", because although A/V interests me, I pale in comparison to what most of these guys know. I do know I really enjoy listening to the Audio in my car, with Alpine MRP amps, and Alpine IDA-X200 head unit, and some decent Kicker speakers and tweeters, and I know I am VERY picky when it comes to audio quality. These earbuds make me cringe, I'm not kidding. I can't listen to them, they sound SO AWFUL unless at a very low volume. I'm wondering if this is just terrible distortion, or if anyone has found that burning in particularly helps? If so, any particular techniques/tutorials that will give me better results?

I'm not really in the market to replace them for the time being. I use headphones so little, I am usually using either my car audio via the Alpines iPod/iPhone integration, or at home on my sound system (Pioneer VSH-819K Amp with Sherwood 5.1 sattelite system and powered Sub, sounds spectacular), so I can't justify purchasing good headphones, but if I can make these tolerable, all the better!

-John

 

[SchneiderMan]

Get yourself some Jays t-Jays Three. Big headphones sound in a small package.

 

[el-John-o]

Get yourself some Jays t-Jays Three. Big headphones sound in a small package.

Quote: I'm not really in the market to replace them for the time being. I use headphones so little,

I was asking about burning in current headphones, not suggestions for purchasing new ones. CERTAINLY not near $100 ones. Thanks for the effort, but does anyone have an aswer to my actual question?

 

[SchneiderMan]

Quote: I'm not really in the market to replace them for the time being. I use headphones so little,

I was asking about burning in current headphones, not suggestions for purchasing new ones. CERTAINLY not near $100 ones. Thanks for the effort, but does anyone have an aswer to my actual question?

Didn't really understand your question.. Not every headphone or earphone will benefit from burn-in time. To burn-in, use an app like Whitenoise and play white noise at a medium sound level or until you can hear the sound coming through without wearing them for two days straight. It does help improve the sound quality depending on the headphone/earphone.

 

[labman]

nothing can save earbuds they are so cheap it's not funny. since you don't want to upgrade then nothing else needs to be said! except maybe grin and bear it.

 

[el-John-o]

nothing can save earbuds they are so cheap it's not funny. since you don't want to upgrade then nothing else needs to be said! except maybe grin and bear it.

Sorry I'm too frugal for you, lol. The poster above answered my question, using the app Whitenoise to see if there is some benefit. It's one of those things where I may be able to improve them enough to make them bearable, or just not use them at all. I absolutely cannot warrant a $100 headphone purchase for something I won't use much.

Thanks!

-John

 

[labman]

$10 skullcandys would produce better sound you don't have to spend a $100. I think having other nice equipment makes it more difficult. earbuds are at the bottom imo almost anything is better. including not using earbuds lol.

 

[el-John-o]

$10 skullcandys would produce better sound you don't have to spend a $100. I think having other nice equipment makes it more difficult. earbuds are at the bottom imo almost anything is better. including not using earbuds lol.

I think part of it is having the nice car audio and the nice home audio, your right, having that nice gear makes these suck even more. But right now, I have a variety of other expenses and I RARELY use headphones. But, you'd think since it's such a music-oriented brand (iPod/iPhone) they would come with better headphones, especially since the replacements are $29!!

 

[oakie]

I think part of it is having the nice car audio and the nice home audio, your right, having that nice gear makes these suck even more. But right now, I have a variety of other expenses and I RARELY use headphones. But, you'd think since it's such a music-oriented brand (iPod/iPhone) they would come with better headphones, especially since the replacements are $29!!

it's the item people will replace, regardless of the quality. even with other music players in the past that have come with excellent listening devices, the owners replaced them anyways, ignorant to the quality of the pack-in headphones. besides, even if they included great buds with the iPod, 9 out of 10 people would still dump them because they just wont sound great to THEM. but for the casual listener, average iPod owner with 128kbit AAC music files on their device, the pack-ins are considered just fine by them.

as far as iPod buds, nothing will fix them other than replacing them. burning them in is not going to magically tone down their painfully bright profile, reduce their signature high volume distortion, fill out their anorexic midrange, or create a magical seal to hear the lowest frequencies it's incapable of recreating.

the only thing you'll end up with after a burn-in is a very shiny turd.