My Sundaras were a bit underwhelming at first. So I ran a FryBaby into them for 5 days straight while I was away to California. Very noticeable difference when I got back. The change wan’t really tonal as much as it was openness; far more ambiance and spaciousness to the presentation.
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This is pretty much my experience, the difference isn’t tonal.
My Ether CX sounded very compressed out of the box, about the only headphones I’ve ever left playing for an extended period, they opened up a great deal over about a week.
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Only headphone I notice was on the Hedd. It didn’t have good bass until a week went by of listening for few hours per day and now it has slam. I have 10 headphones total but I haven’t put the recommended amount of time as I’m always jumping between cans.
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For me, this is an unequivocal “yes,” but I think it impacts some models more than others, and there are a number of factors. But I am not an expert, just an enthusiast, so I can only speak to my personal experience without any amount of science lol.
If the manufacturer recommends a burn-in period, I recommend always allowing it. My first entry into the planar magnetic field was a HifiMan 400s (not a great headphone, I’m aware, but again, it was one of my first that cost over $200). Now, HifiMan did recommend a break-in, but I figured, what the heck, I’ll play it first just to see how it sounded.
And it sounded TERRIBLE, so terrible that I decided if it would not improve after that break-in period, I would return them on the grounds of being defective. There was absolutely no bass, there seemed to be gaps in the mid-spectrum, and the highs were overtly tinny and flat. I plugged them into my iPod, set them on a shelf, and played some music for several days before trying them again. There was a marked difference, and I ended up keeping them for a couple years.
Based on that experience, my answer has to be a firm “yes” that break-in is real, because what I heard was absolute. The difference between before and after some break-in time was black and white. Whether it’s the pads (I can’t imagine pads making THAT much of a difference over the course of a few days, during which I hadn’t even worn them), drivers, housing, etc, I don’t know, but break-in is real.
I’ve since upgraded to an HE400i (Not a huge upgrade, but one day I’ll hopefully be able to drop some money on a nice pair), and for that model the difference was not very apparent, if there was a difference at all.
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This is always interesting for me. Yes, I do believe there is a certain about of burn in with headphones, but I find my brain also burns in as well. We have to listen to headphones for more than a few minutes to really be able to hear their characteristics. For me, that can translate to while I may not find a particular headset or speakers particularly interesting when I first hear it, I can grow to like it over time.
Of course, if I really want a critical view, I have my wife listen to it. Getting her opinion when I bought my home system, we, the store owners and I soon learned that her abilities were far more acute than my own.