Burning-in is just an expression because “we” used to use tubes for everything. And tubes were well, literally burning in. We’re not literally “putting the carts before the horses” either.
Burn in, break in, wear in, etc., while they don’t technically mean the same thing at this point in this case they mostly are used interchangeably
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Tubes… burn in.
Speakers, break in.
I tried to burn in my pair of DT 177X GO, instead they burned my hearing 
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Do believe in “break in” when it comes to certian drivers. For example anything Bio-cellulose and all of Dan Clark Audio’s headphones that I have tried benefited/improved sonically after a break in period. On the other hand, Audeze headphones as well as Sennheiser headphones that I have tried/owned did not change anything sonically after a break in period.
Hmm your experience with the Senns is much different from mine. My HD600 took a month to have any semblance of bass.
No when headphones sound amazing to me they do from the first song when they sound like sheet they will even after a month, the only thing that changes for me is that I get used to the sound and with time it’s not as special anymore, so if I don’t use that headphone for like a week when I use it again I remember how special they are.
From my experience and from what I hear, a properly bad headphone will not become a great headphone from break in. Even in the most noticeable example I have (the TR-X00 PH) the changes where subtle. The bass got a touch cleaner and maybe the highs a smoother. The frequency responce didn’t really change but the technicalities improved a bit. In general break in is not really a big concern. Like you said, if you don’t like it then chances are break in won’t help.
Every speaker that I owned new that had mylar membranes certainly did have a break-in.
Every woofer/subwoofer + cabinet I built had break-in.
The only new can I ever tested did. The HE6se. Ran it with fairly loud program music for 10 hours. Listen to HE-500 for an hour, the 6se for an hour, then HEX v2 for an hour, take notes, run the 6se for 10 more hours - w/o listening, then repeat the interlude. Found some changes at 30 and 40 hours, notable one at 90.
If I had just listened to the 6se all the way, I wouldn’t have anything to anchor my opinion on, and the fact is, its a better can then the other two, and fairly high chance if I heard a difference, it would have been muted due to familiarity - unless it was an epic, and it wasn’t.
Maggie MG 1, II, 3.3; ML CLS IIz, Aerius i, SL-3, Vantage
12 woofer/subwoofer boxes w/ driver(s), some ported, some push pull, some slave driver - all of them had significant increase in excursion, and change in sound, and measured output over time.
Capacitors too, but lets not overload the topic.
Almost all cans have mylar or an excursion. Maybe we ought to test that when we can.
Every mechanical thing breaks in over time. Your car, your speakers, your headphones. Hell, clothes and shoes aren’t even mechanical and they break in.
It’s a physical thing that moves and/or interacts with the world in any way, therefore it will break in. This is how a driver will eventually fail once it’s “broken in” too much.
The only question when it comes to audio is whether or not a difference in sound can be heard due to the break in. This depends on the headphones and the listener’s ability to critically listen. When all is said and done it is a case by case sort of thing.
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IEM-wise the Moondrop Starfield got more treble in the 2 days I had these. Did not fit in my ears… NDH20 not that much I’d say but back then I was still looking for a portable dac/amp so audio was worse but actually using the full potential of the driver still changed some. Ear pads need to be used and change that is a common thing with Sennheiser open back and beyerdynamic. NDH20 changed the pads actually and now I am so confused by the new sound xD. Some companies burn-in the devices, many do not do it.
I can’t say if there is a change in sound quality after burn in, wearing hearing protection 8h a day at work and need at least one or two weeks holiday until my ears getting more sensetiv again, but I had to change one driver of my dt880 some time ago and the new one was less efficient/quieter… After maybe 10h burn in, don’t remember, didn’t take days, there where equally loud again…
Definitely do, but depends on the headphones. For my nighthawks there was a veeeeeeery noticeable difference and it got waaaaay better (though if you didn’t like the headphones in the first place, you wouldn’t like it even after burn in), but on my dt 990s, it still didn’t get much different even after 150hrs of use.
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Do I believe in burn? Yes, but it is effects of burn in is very dependent on the pair of headphones from what I have experienced. All the headphones I have tried that use bio cellulose drivers benefit from burn in. Same thing goes for Dan Clark Audio headphones. They also benefit from burn in. Audeze on the other hand. Does not benefit/change after burn in.