Just to be clear, I didn't decide to change my cables because I wanted to do a hearing test for "burn-in".
My primary motivation was simply to see if I could hear any difference between my extensively used Mogami 2534 cable and a freshly built and assembled Mogami 2549 cable. In other words, if I put in a cable with less shielding from RF and EM into my system, will I hear any difference (i.e. is my system affected by interference of this nature and if so, will switching to a cable with significantly less shielding ability make these interferences audible?)
Info from Mogami's website on my original cable:
- Mogami 2534 should also be used where intense RFI interference is a problem. Mogami 2534 provides an improvement in signal to noise of 10-20db over equivalent twisted pair cables. Double conductors quad cables are more effective in cancelling noise that can get past even the best of shields and is critical in an environment of high RF and EM interference.
The conclusion to my question was, no, I could not hear any difference between the two cables after having used the new cable over an extensive time. Therefore, I surmised that my system was not being affected by any audible (to me) interference from RF or EM.
However, and this is what I talked about it in my previous post, is when I first swapped in the new and freshly made Mogami 2549 cable, I immediately noticed that something sounded very wrong/strange (as compared to the original cable) - I'm sorry that I can't explain this any better. Surprised at this, I let the system play with the new cable for another few hours and when I came back to listen again, everything sounded normal, or as expected again (i.e. same as with the other cable).
Therefore, I attributed the strange and unexpected sound I initially heard from the new cable as perhaps being caused due to lack of burn-in, because when I came back a few hours later to listen again, everything sounded as expected again. Since I didn't change any other part of the system during that time, this was the only explanation that fit for me. Whether my interpretation is correct or not, I'm not sure, but burn-in is a theory that could fit this phenomenon.