Top Tips : Burning-In your Cables

Burning-in cables can be a very useful process to help optimize your cables to their maximum capacity. Here at FutureShop, we use a Nordost Vidar Cable Burning Machine to improve this process.

The Nordost Vidar is a professional tool designed to condition audio and video cables for optimum performance. The phenomenon of cable burn-in is well known, as cables sound better when used in a system for a period of time. This is due to changes which occur in the conductor and the insulation material. The VIDAR uses some well-known scientific principles to derive the best possible performance both technically and sonically, from any cable.

New cables often have very high levels of electrical charge caused by the production process. In addition, gases are often trapped between the insulation and the conductor during manufacture. This can often result in new cables sounding brittle, bright and lacking detail. These charges must be neutralised if the cable is to ever achieve maximum performance.

The Nordost VIDAR uniquely combines three different functions all in one operation:

• It neutralises charges that build up around the cables and the insulation.
• It provides a wideband and deep conditioning into the conductor core, which produces changes in the way signals pass through the metal.
• It ultrasonically conditions the surface of the conductors.

The VIDAR is constructed using the highest quality parts. Each conductor is fed by a bridge mode amplifier. It uses a total of 44 amplifiers in its circuitry. Each amplifier is held at a very precise voltage. The circuit is designed so that there is no difference in voltages between any of the amplifiers is zero.

The VIDAR uses a proprietary combination of composite and complex signals to condition the cables. Parts of the signal oscillate at ultralow frequencies, while other parts are in ultrahigh ranges which extend beyond the range of video frequencies. The signal bounces in a ping-ping ball-like fashion from one end of the cable to the other.

During the burn-in process, ultra-low frequencies penetrate deep into the core of the cable. The ultra-high frequencies zip along the surface. This method of signal transmission a setup beat harmonics, or heterodynes, between the two complex waveforms. In the digital domain, this would be referred to as aliasing products. These beat frequencies penetrate all layers of the cable.

The design of the circuitry also has a unique feature which drives electrons above the conductor into the dielectric (or insulation) area. The VIDAR not only sends ping pong signals along the cable, but it also sends a similar signal from the centre core to the outer shield in the case of interconnect cables. This function neutralizes the electrical charges discussed above.

So what does that all mean?

The end result of conditioning cables with the Nordost VIDAR has improved sound staging, increased detail, and an overall more musical presentation. The VIDAR can burn in any digital audio, analogue audio, or video interconnect with an RCA, XLR, or BNC connector, speaker cable, and tonearm cable.

FutureShop is proud to offer a free burn-in service on selected cables purchased from us directly. The following cables are ideal for treatment on the Nordost VIDAR cable burning machine:

• Speaker cables
• Analogue interconnects with RCA or XLR termination
• Tonearm cables that use a 5-pin DIN connector to RCA or XLR termination
• Digital interconnects with RCA, XLR, or BNC termination
• USB and Ethernet
• Power cables

The following cables cannot be treated:

• XLR interconnects with non-standard pin-outs
• Headphone cables (any cable with a 1/4″ or 3.5mm headphone jack at one end)
• Interconnects with special terminations such as RCA to XLR
• Video or computer cables such as component video, HDMI, DVI