I never noticed any burn-in with my stock 701's. They sounded shrill to these (at the time) 49 year-old ears, which is scary. They never lost that "edge" after some long burn-in sessions and a lot of painful listening sessions. I almost gave up on them until I read some threads on recabled 701's so I gave it a try and they are now my second favorite phone. They sounded immediately better in the top-end and also in the bottom end. They haven't changed much to these ears and I am sure (but I'm not anal enough to really keep track) they have 500+ hours since the recable, So I am as bemused as the rest of you by the burn-in bandwagon with the 701's. I have experienced burn-in (or acclimation or a combination thereof) with both of my recabled AKG K340's so I am not burn-in "non-believer".