Rant Why can't anyone make a decent pair of headphones?

Just broken my 7th pair or something.

On a side note how easy it it to fit a new jack plug?

 

I've got a pair of Sony MDR-V700 cans that I've had for over 4 years, nearest to breaking they've done is a hairline crack on one of the swivel brackets and the rubberized coating on the headband is wearing away.. and to be fair those cans have been thrashed to hell. Been DJ'd, Gig'd, thrown in my bags (with many other things), dropped on the floor, chucked around... generally ... well.. thrashed.

And the second point, how good's your soldering, the wires in standard headphones tend to be very high guage and evil to solder, better off taking the side that holds the connection to bits and installing some kind of jack socket, either a 3.5mm jack or maybe some kind of locking jack similar to an XLR or such and then just make patch cables tailored to your individual needs.

 

I thinks its the user, not the product thats at fault.

 

Two wires and some solder, so no not really

 

Live in mono?

 

I've had a pair of logitech headphones for about 4 years now, and use a pair of STAX gamma's for my hi-fi which are arround 12 - 14 years old, both work perfectly. The Logitech's get LAN'd with too.

RwD

 

I'm generally very carefull about my handheld electronics but my earphones/headphones all seem to die on me. To be fair I did stand on the cable by accident although not with any large amount of force. Anyway, the point is that sometimes the buggers come out of the pocket and bam, one of the earphones makes no sound.

EDIT: What I'm really pissed is that I now have about 7 or 8 unusable sets of earphones/headphones lying around the place in various stages of decay.

 

Left and right, thats it right?

 

Well if you're going down the repair route it really will depend a lot on what type of headphones they are; cans for instance will usually be a lot easier than say over ear type things, which in turn are waaaaay easier than in ear which are satan. Bluntly..

And ground... there are 3 poles on your standard stereo jack. Tip, Ring and Ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector

 

I stand corrected

 

Well it looks like a good soldering iron and a steady hand could fix it except I have neither.

 

just out of interest, what brand/make were these 7/8 pairs of headphones you speak of?!

I had a pair of sony mdr-ex71sl's for a few years, and they've had a LOT of abuse and they're still going strong, just been replaced with a pair of sennheisers though

a decent pair of good quality headphones will last you a while!

 

Most of them were crap including about 3 pairs of bundled Creative ones (Zen/Stone). One pair was a decent pair of Sennheisser earphones and this pair was a pair of Sennheisser PX100 earphones, only £25 or so but I only got them this christmas.

 

I'd personally consider buying some cans tbh, even quite cheap sennis sound pretty decent plus most come with a changeable lead and replaceable parts..

I paid about £80 for my Sony cans back in the day and they're still going strong now, that only equates to £20 a year thus far and considering the rate you're going through them you've probably spent that or more comparatively..

 

solder them.

 

Buy a replacement stereo plug and solder it onto the end of the cable. Just remember to thread the plastic shroud onto the cable before soldering on the plug. It doesn't say it in the link, but the plug and shroud screw together rather than clip.

Maplin: 3.5mm Stereo Plug:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1182

 

+1. I've got some Grado SR80's atm, £88 four years ago and they're still awesome.

Sennheiser do a good range of cheap headphones too - I had some HD212 Pro's for ~£30 which were great. Indestructible.

 

Asked and answered for the past fifteen years! Someone needs to visit Head-fi.

You sound as if you want earbuds or isolating earphones -- something that doesn't look like a helmet. I've used the same pair of Etymotic ER-6is for the past five years and they have yet to break or short. You have to change the filters every other year, but they're cheap and the sound quality is as detailed and accurate as $80 can buy.

The Shure series is good as well (though perhaps too intricate if you're feeling clumsy).

Lots of other brands and models are said to be good, but I've had no reason to buy new earphones. Both sets are holding up well.

Current Inventory:

Grado HF-1
Grado RS-1
Alessandro MS-2i
Sennheiser 600
Sennheiser 580
Etymotic ER4s
Etymotic ER6i
Shure e4c
Sony MDR-V6 (two vintage pair for work with clients)

 

I'm using Shure e2c as my portables. They have a bunch of different tips so you can find one that's the best for your ears. The cable is flexible, but it seems way more durable than, say, iBuds or those other cheap ones. Generally can be found for under $100 USD.

 

My e2cs are slowly dying at the jack connection I've only had them for 18 months.