Thursday, October 14, 2010

Headphones always die for me.


Ugh, this always happens. I don't even treat my headphones like crap. I don't crumple them in my pocket, or yank them out the socket, or anything like that. My current set of earbuds are dying. The left bud occasionally fades in and out if I move around a little with it on. I already know from many deaths that this will eventually get worse until it gets to the point that it won't work anymore. If anyone is curious, the headphones are these guys. I got them after getting tired of the cheaper headphones always breaking 2 weeks or so after I purchase them, and reading some reviews to get a durable pair, but they're dying after about a month of purchase.  I really tried to make sure this wouldn't happen again, and it still does regardless. I was hesitant about spending so much money on a pair, but just thought that it'd work out since it's better than spending $20 every 2 weeks for a new pair when they die out on me. But no, these still ended up dying. I expected them to at least last me a year, I would have been fine with that. Now I feel like in order to get real durability I have to go for those $60+ pairs, but I don't want to risk buying those and having the same exact problem with them as well.

I don't know, is it because I listen to music all the time? I always have my headphones on because I'm always listening to something. When I'm at home, I'm listening to radio streams, when I'm outside I'm listening to my MP3 player. When I'm reading or something, I usually put some piano music or something to keep my ears entertained as I read.

I think one of the more annoying things about all my headphones dying is the fact that I have a pair of free headphones that came with my cellphone. Y'know, the cheap headset they include just so they can promote safe driving or something? The ones that aren't meant to really be about sound quality? Those dudes. Yeah, I have one that I've had for about 3 years that I treat like absolute shit, but they still work just fine. I don't understand, I hate those headphones. They not only have horrible quality, but they also cut up the inside of my ear because the designers thought it'd be a smart idea to make the edges hard and the buds so huge that you have to force them in. Yet this is always the pair I have to resort to while in between the deaths of my headphones.

I've also read that if I want durability, I should stick with over the ear headphones, but I hate those because of how much sound they leak out. I'd rather not have my music blasting through the speakers for everyone to hear, feel that kinda defeats the whole purpose.

Not really frustrating, just annoying since it's burning through my cash all the time. It's either dish out cash for new headphones all the time, or stick with my shitty pair and enjoy my bloody ears (they do quite literally scrape the insides of my ears until they become so sore and tender that they draw blood). Fucking irony, how does that work?

~ Kirari ミ★

18 posts:

TaeYang said...

I have Sony ones (can't tell you which model though) and they're still kicking after 3 years of good services.

Most earbuds are easily repaired though if you're good with a soldering iron.

Kirari Star said...

I'm not good with a soldering iron though, sadly. I don't even know where they're getting loose at either.

Anonymous said...

Bad luck I guess.

My old earphones that came with my CD player are still going strong.

link said...

Yes, this always happens. I too prefer earbuds, and I never treat them like shit either. Still they keep dying.
I've had two good pairs, the Sony ones which I had a year ago and the Sennheiser ones I have now.

Light Weight Baby! said...

my sennheiser ones have lasted for 3 years :)

Anonymous said...

Oops, sorry about that.

Sorry to hear about that, sucks throwing money away on them.
The last decent pair of headphones I had came with my walkman (a tape player), so I don't know much about quality. But I just ended up buying twenty pairs at the dollar store and I've yet to run out. Although I don't use them much as my hearing got pretty bad when I started using earbuds, so I mostly stick to speakers at home.

Tohno said...

I also had this problem.
I've gone though more headphones/buds then I can remember.
I got one wireless pair I paid something like $80 for, that still mostly works, but they've physically deteriorated over time, namely the padding which has fallen apart just from age.

I just don't really use any anymore, I feel like I'm cursed when it comes to them.

Anonymous said...

It happens quite a bit for me as well. The last pair I replaced wound up lasting for a good amount of time at least.

Emanuel said...

i had some awesome skullcandys, but they broke after a month. Now i bought some cheap 5$ ones that have lasted me half a year so far.

Hip-Hop Hikikomori said...

I've only tried three different earbud models that weren't dollar store trash. The longest-lasting were a pair of Sony MDR-EX56LP that lasted around 3 months before I gave them to my brother (who lost them). I wasn't too gentle with them, either. Slept with them on a few times.

Also had some Sennheisers that died within 3 weeks. I believe they were CX300's. Now I avoid Sennheiser.

Now I'm using MEElectronics M6's. I've only had them for about a month and a half, but I'm pretty happy with them. The cable, in particular, seems durable. They'll probably last longer than the Sony buds.

>Skullcandy

No.

Jerry said...

>Now I avoid Sennheiser.
That's an unfair statement, try using their expensive studio headphones. They last forever.

I know cuz I use them.

Hip-Hop Hikikomori said...

@Jerry

I know Sennheiser makes decent high-end headphones, but I'd still rather go with Audio Technica, AKG, or Denon for expensive 'phones.

I use JVC HA-RX900 as my full-size headphones. They're great for what they cost.

Discerning Gentleman said...

i'd go with high quality... they last

Cpt.Awesome said...

I used to use a pair from AKG but I eventually sold them. Using a gaming headset right now which sounds surprisingly good. Not as good as my old AKG headset but that's reasonable.

Jimmy Volmer said...

I have seinheiser ones, and they work like a charm

McRohanheim said...

My headphones always die on me! To avoid the problem in future, I've decided to become deaf.

Light Weight Baby! said...

did you decide which ones you want to get?

Anonymous said...

I'd say that you are extremely unlucky, or are subjugating them to greater wear and tear than you suspect. I try to treat mine well, but as I use them while riding my bike around town and while doing yard work, they are accidentally yanked out of my ears on occasion. Thus, after 6 months to a year after I purchased them, I start having problems with the output, with the connection issue typically located near the jack.
Over-ear headphones might be more durable, if they have a thicker cable, but you're also sacrificing portability. This may or may not be relevant to you, but it sounds like it is a concern. I'd reevaluate my environment to see if there's anything you overlooked that might be causing this. Some obvious examples would be sleeping with them or damage caused by pets.

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