Recent. Rigorously tested unbiasedly. Take a look and form your opinion.
Feel free to post comments that prove this study wrong
The fact that we have to keep having these debates is by itself reason enough for me to conclude that, whether burn-in is “real” or not, it’s not substantial enough that I should give a damn.
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Isn’t it humanity’s sole purpose for existence to continuously debate inconclusive hypothesis?
Insanity - (adverb): “doing the same thing over and over expecting different results”
It’s hard to say just based on that. Some controversial beliefs never go away because they’re so vague that any time one interpretation is conclusively disproved the believers can “retreat” to a different interpretation or invent some new interpretation (moving the goalposts). One example of this is the “we only use 10% of our brains” myth.
But others persist because the claim simply hasn’t been given the most charitable interpretation possible and consequently hasn’t been conclusively disproven by anyone - all experiments have been too superficial/negligent to really settle the issue once and for all. Even worse is when some experiments disprove the phenomenon but others confirm it, because then it’s the disbelievers who have some explaining to do, and they don’t always know this because they don’t know about all the experiments.
I think headphone break-in falls in this second category. 
And as partial evidence all you need to look for are Tyll’s articles about it on InnerFidelity: every single time he tried it he got non-zero measurable differences. 
Maybe it can be heard, maybe it can’t, depends on what headphones you’re doing the test with, but it’s a real phenomenon, this shouldn’t even be a question anymore.
Ah, just looked at the Rtings results. SMH
Typical mistake, also made by Tyll: they tested relatively expensive models from well-known manufacturers, likely to have already been broken in during manufacturing. You want a generalizable conclusion, you test cheap headphones made with possibly weaker materials and less testing at the factory, e.g. the Superlux HD668B - another model famous for its audible changes due to break-in.
I’d like to disagree with their analysis (criteria) paragraph. The writer of the article state that differences must be measurable and cumulative over time. I am having heart burn with the cumulative over time as changes to material properties would not necessarily need to be cumulative or additive as they imply.
I also have general questions about “re-seats” as the method of testing states a sealed enclosure was utilized. The test equipment used to generate the sine wave was not specified nor was calibration information given. Also, they do state this in the limitations, but the environment was not designed to be controlled or recorded. Finally, why so few data samples and testing units? This is essentially four parallel N of 1 tests for headphones that may or may not have burn-in requirements in build/test prior to shipping which I view as a possible fatal flaw of experimental design.
I think this study is weak and I still do not have a good idea of what they hoped to do as there isn’t a clear, falsifiable hypothesis.
Also, I agree again with abm0.
Z believes headphones have to be burned in.
Headphones are all made from different materials and different constructions. Some headphones I’ve owned sounded about the same from the first day I owned them and years later. Others have seemed to change over time.
I wouldn’t get hung up on this break-in thing. Use your headphones and just enjoy them. If they break in, great! If they don’t, great! If you eventually end up not enjoying the sound of a headphone and want to try something different, go ahead.
I’d give everyone this bit of advise… I wouldn’t worry too much about burn-in unless the manufacturer of the headphones state that their product requires a burn-in period. If they do, expect the headphone’s sound to mature over time.
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agree with PE, they’ll break in with use.
Headphones break-in is a GHOST 
It cannot be measured and it’s not a “brain” issue. BUT if you leave a set of earphones or headphones, with minor sound drawbacks, in a closet to play for 25-150, let’s say, hours they’re going to improve 99.99% of the cases. That’s a fact, I’ve personally seen happening many times. Hence, I agree that countless discussions about it are vain. PEACE!
The one time I can say I had burn in really happen, it was with a set of IEMs. The iBasso IT01 changed several times over the initial first few days of use. After a week or two of use a couple of hours each day, they finally settled down into a consistent “sound”. As far as everything else I’ve owned, I could say that it’s been more a case of me getting used to them rather then burn in.
Yup… but if you’d let play in the closet or in a drawer for tens of hours, it’d not be a matter of “getting used to it”. That’s the point!
I really do not like the term “Bun-in” in audio. in cables or amps or speakers or power cords them all. To me its nothing like what i would think actual burn-in would be like in a system or component testing prior to being placed in service.
Like a pair of 400i planar headphones. if the “softening of pad” is burn-in… it’s just dumm to me. They still sound the same out of the box and after like ~200h of listening, if you take them out just a tad so the pads are in full form.
They kinda lacked the bass at start but by pushing pads little closer it was much better. But now the pads are little softer, they get a little bit closer to ears and the bass is ok.
Many times it’s just our brains are "getting used to it”.
Same with HD6XX no changes in sense of drivers function or overall sound BUT pads maybe have gotten bit softer, maybe tiny changes like when pushing the pads at new. I have a brand new pair waiting so after few years i will do a test between them.
I love people that tell about their “burn-in” in use and it has made the audio sound way better… specially when that particular product manufacturer has tested the gear like 150h before the gear even leaves the factory, like in earlier mentioned testing & actual component testing “burn-in” so it will not brake or change in or at customer usage.
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