The Theory of Inverse Headphone Durability

[BartyMae]

You guys all spend way more on earphones than I do. I bought an £8 set that have lasted me for about a year now and still going strong. The pair I had before that was also about a tenner and lasted the previous year or so.

I would never pay £80-£100+ that some people here seem to have done. That just sounds insane to me.

Some of us actually enjoy listening to our music. [/superiorness]

They also tend to be useful in FPS for figuring out where sounds are coming from - my previous pair, sounds never really had 'positions'. With my newer pair, they do and it very much helps to figure out where, eg. walk sounds are coming from.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

The non usb razer headphones have very long lives too, i've only had 2 so far and even the one i abandoned was not because it died

 

[MetalMagpie]

I've paid thirty or forty US for decently good earbuds with the rubber tips and some pretty excellent passive noise cancelling and had them break on me after three or four months consistently, but when I paid like 10 bucks for a pair of cheap Sonys, they've now lasted me almost six.

Well, one reason I can suggest is that the expensive ones have more in them that can break (noise cancelling, etc.) whereas the cheaper ones are a lot more simple (and thus less likely to break).

My old, cheap, rubbish phone was almost bullet-proof and lasted for years. My new smartphone is one step above being made of bone china.

In general: Less Complex = More Robust
And often: Less Complex = Less Expensive

But the sound may not be as good.

Fwiw, I use a £10 pair of Sony ear-buds for being out-and-about, and a nice pair of full headphones (also Sony, but they were a present so I don't know the price) for playing keyboard, gaming when I don't want to disturb my boyfriend, and other "at home" activities.

 

[R1ou]

Best 10 bucks that I've ever spent on an earphones.

I bought some Monster turbines for like 15 bucks, didn't last a month.

 

[Mr Fixit]

I've got a $15 pair of sony earbuds that are still going strong about a year after i bought them & my cat has even chewed on the wires.

 

[Exocet]

On headphones, I bought Creative headphones, and they broke after a good 8 month run.
Then I bought a Razer, and I'm very optimistic, since the cable protection isn't plastic, it's braided fiber.

On ear-buds, I just buy the cheapest ones that actually stay inside your ears. They aren't made for perfect sound, so you can cheap out and not notice the difference between a 5 euro pair, and a 30 euro one. I found that 10 euro Sony ear-buds with little plastic noise cancellation thingamabobs work damn well. I'm actually surprised that Sony makes cheap, durable items to be honest, but best not ask question, or I'll risk jinxing it!

 

[R1ou]

Since most of you are complaining about how some earphones /headphones constantly break because of cord damage, are you suggesting that cordless ones (Bluetooth headsets) last longer?

 

[CyanideSandwich]

I had a pair of Apple ones I got with my iPod. They broke about 2 years in, so I went out to buy new ones. Apple earphones were about $45-50, so screw that, I'm getting another brand. Got a pair of Sennheiser earphones. They were about 10 bucks cheaper, were far superior quality and have lasted longer. I'm confused but not disappointed.

 

[teebeeohh]

my headphones last about a year until one side just dies and they cost 12?.
i do however treat my headphones like shit and the moment they die usually after one of the wires get's under a chair i happen to sitting on, my friend bought the same headphones and his still work after 3 years

 

[Surpheal]

I really don't use headphones/ earbuds that much.

However I do still have a pair from a trip that I took with my family from an airline.

From about a year ago.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Earbuds are crap. But then my iPod earbuds from like 6 years ago still function, still exist in perfect form. It also helps to learn that headphones/earbuds are for intermittent usage not constant usage as that can damage the ears.
So they're designed to be used infrequently... thus a shorter lifespan.

 

[Hoplon]

I've noticed that the less I pay for earbuds, the longer they last. I've paid thirty or forty US for decently good earbuds with the rubber tips and some pretty excellent passive noise cancelling and had them break on me after three or four months consistently, but when I paid like 10 bucks for a pair of cheap Sonys, they've now lasted me almost six. Therefore, I propose that the durability of a pair of headphones be defined as inversely proportional to their price. Thoughts?

My £80 ($125 US) Sennheiser's ear buds have lasted me about 2 years so far of near daily useage, so I would say no, the same goes for the over ear ones too that tend to last me 2 years for the same sort of price.

 

[BringBackBuck]

I kind of agree. Official iPod headphones fall apart in your ears if it starts to rain a bit too much, or at least that happened to me -.- I then purchased £10 headphones that were better in quality and the manufacturers actually saw the benefit of not making their product out of sugar paper.

I also have my own theory about headphone cables. That is, the level of neatness of which you put them away at is directly proportional to the magnitude of the huge clusterfuck of tangled cables that come out. Also the magnitude of this clusterfuckage is affected by the amount of time you leave them, and how much the cables are moved while stored.

This gives:
Cable Clusterfuckage α Initial Neatness
Cable Clusterfuckage α Time stored
Cable Clusterfuckage α Distance Traveled while stored.

Giving:
CCF = k*IN*t*d
Where k is the nonsensical string constant, that allows cables or strings to tangle themselves without a living soul touching them.

I lay my headphones in my drawer with the steady hand and meticulous nature that would make one of those old dudes who spends 4 hours laying the rigging in a ship in a bottle look like a chimpanzee with no thumbs trying to open a coconut. I return hours later and I find something resembling a birdsnest of twisted and tortured cables that takes 25 minutes to untangle. How the fuck did it end up with a knot in the cable? How is that even possible? I am a calm and reasonable man, and I don't so mich mind the untangling process itself I am just genuinely baffled as to what sorcery goes on that causes a beautifully laid coil of plastic coated copper to turn into a flying spaghetti monster effigy.

 

[Strazdas]

I've noticed that the less I pay for earbuds, the longer they last. I've paid thirty or forty US for decently good earbuds with the rubber tips and some pretty excellent passive noise cancelling and had them break on me after three or four months consistently, but when I paid like 10 bucks for a pair of cheap Sonys, they've now lasted me almost six. Therefore, I propose that the durability of a pair of headphones be defined as inversely proportional to their price. Thoughts?

The whole difference is in cable, and the cable is hardly pricy. The price really doesnt matter, what you need is a cable and the plugs that dont bend much/often in order for it to last long. Yes mechanical problems in the headphones exist, but i have seen 0 of them in over 6 years, whole the cables i broke 9.

 

[shrekfan246]

I've noticed that the less I pay for earbuds, the longer they last. I've paid thirty or forty US for decently good earbuds with the rubber tips and some pretty excellent passive noise cancelling and had them break on me after three or four months consistently, but when I paid like 10 bucks for a pair of cheap Sonys, they've now lasted me almost six. Therefore, I propose that the durability of a pair of headphones be defined as inversely proportional to their price. Thoughts?

Same thing happens with sunglasses. Buy a pair that costs you more than $50? They're gone in a week. Buy a pair for under $10? You can't get rid of those things even if you toss them out your window and into a lake while driving 60 MPH. They'll boomerang right back into your car without you even noticing.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You said you bought a cheap pair of Sony earbuds, OP? That may be the difference. They may not make much of anything else durable, but Sony earbuds last forever. I had one pair of $10 cheapies last, like, 3 years once, and even then they only died because they got left in the floor and crushed. I'm currently using a pair of $15 Sony's that has similarly lasted longer than any of the other brands I've tried recently[footnote]You may ask why I left Sony at all if I like them so much. The answer is while they're durable as all get out, after in ear noise reducing earbuds hit, it took them a few years to put out a pair on the lower end, while other companies didn't really wait. I'm glad they've got a pair for $15 now; best $15 I've ever spent.[/footnote]. I can't remember the exact date I bought them, but it's easily been six months, probably longer, and they show absolutely no sins of wear.

You guys all spend way more on earphones than I do. I bought an £8 set that have lasted me for about a year now and still going strong. The pair I had before that was also about a tenner and lasted the previous year or so.

I would never pay £80-£100+ that some people here seem to have done. That just sounds insane to me.

Also, this. I can't fathom paying more than $15 or $20 on a pair of earbuds, and really anything over $10 is pushing it, because of how easily they break. It's not even a design flaw, it comes part and parcel with product class. They have to be flimsy, or they won't fit in your pocket. Now a big pair of over the ear cans, sure. If I had that kind of money, I probably would drop $100 or so on a pair of monitoring headphones. But those things aren't really designed to be portable, taking up more backpack space than your average text book. That's why they're so much more durable, they have room to use heavier duty materials.

 

[AnarchistFish]

My £95 earphones are pretty strong

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You guys all spend way more on earphones than I do. I bought an £8 set that have lasted me for about a year now and still going strong. The pair I had before that was also about a tenner and lasted the previous year or so.

I would never pay £80-£100+ that some people here seem to have done. That just sounds insane to me.

Some of us actually enjoy listening to our music. [/superiorness]

They also tend to be useful in FPS for figuring out where sounds are coming from - my previous pair, sounds never really had 'positions'. With my newer pair, they do and it very much helps to figure out where, eg. walk sounds are coming from.

Not sure what pair you're looking at. Sub $30 headphones may have had terrible sound five or six years ago, but ever since the in ear ones with the rubber tips came out, the sound quality on the lower end of the market has improved markedly. My current pair of $15 earbuds has better sound quality than a giant pair of KLH cans ($50 retail, less because they were thrown in with the purchase of a guitar at Guitar Center) that I had in high school.

Also, even 10 years ago, a $10 pair of earuds had perfectly good directionality. I used to play an FPS online that had a form of headphone surround built in (and it came out in 1998, no less. Why are they now selling us special soundcards just to get that, again?), and I used a $10 pair of sony's. I could tell exactly where anyone near me was by the sound of their footsteps. Even in games that don't have headphone surround, just stereo or Dolby Surround (as in Proligic I/II, not Dolby headphone), I can do that with low end headphones. Heck, with the way the electronics function, I'd be surprised if even a pair from the dollar store had weak directionality, although I'm sure everything else about them would be weak.

 

[JochemHippie]

It's usually the brand.

If you go with stuff like Skull Candy you're asking to get screwed over, same goes for Turtle Beaches and assorted "gaming" audio equipment.

If you want quality go with Sennheiser, Shure and the likes.