I once needed a microphone but with none to hand I used a headphone capsule (quality was not important).
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The old story about a mix engineer getting a musician’s attention by sending TalkBack output through their instrument mic does work too (the story was about an orchestral musician), but I wouldn’t want to try it with an expensive (or condenser) mic
My experience as well. Pretty minor change. The XLO disc was best for component and, especially, speaker break-in.
Hi,
I tried the CASCADE Noise Burn in track this weekend on a new interconnect that had about 125 hours on it. Running the Cascade for about 10 hours, I noticed afterward that the sound was significantly changed. All glare and harshness is gone, to the point where I miss some of it. My ears are struggling to get used to the change. I am not sure if I like the effect it had on my system. I assume it’s effects wear off. Can you say about how long that takes, in your experience?
I can’t say for sure. I usually run it when I have a new cable or new piece of gear in the analog signal path. I’ve never had the results you’re having. Just curious… What interconnect did you play it through?
Nordost White Lightning.
I got the sound to come back to “normal” by running the Densen DeMagic once.
When you run in a cable for x number of hours, do you do them all in a row or do you find it beneficial to take breaks with no signall going through the cable (overnight, a few hours, etc.)
I completely forgot about demaging the system. Just broke out the XLO CD and played tracks 6 and 7 twice. System sounds smoother with improved clarity.
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I’ve used more recently the Purist Audio Design “Luminist System Enhancer” CD with good results, but honestly no better results than the Tara Labs Cascade. I’ve experienced no harm from either, and I’ve often wondered if any results I’m hearing are placebo effect. From your use of the Tara too, now I know it’s not just my aging ears. In a cable related way, I’ve always wondered about cable cookers, but never invested in one. I also thought about tossing cables in an empty rack in our cryo tank at work for a nice cool polar plunge to see if that really works… ya know, run the experiment and analyze the data. Now I’m rambling 
I’m also reminded of a thread I read somewhere about an audiophile who swears his system sounds better if he occasionally powers it down and then back on. There was a claim of demag or degauss or something like that. I’m a “leave it on” kinda guy, and I’ve only experienced the on/off phenomena, if we can call it that, with my streamer and DAC. It reminds me of one of our graduate students who didn’t power cycle her Macbook for the 5 years she was in grad school. Now I’m really rambling.
I’m curious about the XLO sweep. I’ll get this one day and see what happens.
I bought a Gryphon Black Exorcist 10000 years ago, when I still have vinyl. Does anyone still use it? I had it buried for the past 9000 years but I don’t think it works on digital.