Is it me or..

[Wrong Forum Bud]

Headphones and earphones are really low in quality. I've stopped buying earphones because they would always break or malfunction in less than a month. And I've stopped buying cheap headphones because they don't seem to last very long I didn't see a problem with that; you get what you pay for and in the case of earphones it wasn't much. Now, I bought this 40$ pair of headphones about a year ago thinking they would last me a few years or so if I kept them in perfect condition.


Believe me when I say that I have kept them in perfect condition. I've never tried to force it into any clustered bags or left it lying around to collect dust. Recently my headphones have started having problems similar to the ones my old ones have had: the sound isn't fully being transmitted and at times only parts of the sound are heard.


Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone know a quality brand?
I don't mind paying fifty dollars for a pair of headphones, but if they won't last me a good year or two then what's the point?

[Mareeps]

My earphones are alright, but sometimes i need to smack the left one on something to get it to work better, or I'll have a static sound in the background.

[Dudebro]

I've run into lots of bad headphones but surprisingly I found a great pair really cheap. I forget how much they were but they had to be under 15$(because I wouldn't pay more for something like that). They pump out huge sound and with good quality. In fact before I got them I thought something was wrong with my mp3 player, nope just horrible headphones came with them.

I couldn't find the exact kind I got but it was something like this from Koss
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^eb^KE5

[Slime Slayer]

These are a good bang for your buck:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Yp1DZ3WIGkY/SOMsm7bqb0I/AAAAAAAAAAM/6j7cHWU3-Cs/s320/headphones.jpg
They are less than 20$, and I've had mine for about 3-4 years.

[Blue Shoe 2]

Mostly this problem supposedly occurs from the wires tangling and tearing on the inside, so maybe wireless headphones can avert this problem.

[Mareeps]

@sc13

I had those headphones, and they worked great, but somebody broke them on me, so one of the earpieces hangs off.

[Slime Slayer]

@sc13

I had those headphones, and they worked great, but somebody broke them on me, so one of the earpieces hangs off.
Yeah, they arn't indestructable, but they are good for 20 bucks.

[KATZ]

ive always liked the skullcandys but i had a smaller brand company called 2XL or 2XR i cant remember right now but i had them for 4 years and didnt go bad till i messed one side up myself :(
it was a sad day

[Orphan]

I am agreeant! I hate my headphones. I just use an ihome and call it a day.

[RU Joe]

Hi Wrong Forum Bud, and welcome to RU, the best site on the net!

Headphones are doomed to die, no matter how active or accident - prone you happen to be.
Overall for on - the - go purposes I recommend the cheapest ones you can find, and the best and cheapest I've come across are Phillips brand earbuds.
They don't have much bass capability but the overall sound quality is exceptional.
This is the exact pair I'm talking about:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/cm/goodhousekeeping/images/Philips-Bubble-green-fb-27307419.jpg

If you happen to be an audiophile like myself and really enjoy a quality pair of headphones I recommend either going whole hog and getting a pair of studio/ recording industry standard quality or if you want to save a couple hundred dollars get Bose.
They use 'bone conduction' so the bass is unmatched {compared with other common variety headphones}, and mids and highs are clean and crisp.

http://news.cnet.com/i/tim/2010/09/15/Bose-QuietComfort_15.jpg

I had gotten the top of the line Sony DJ headphones but took them back and got the Bose, which sound much better in my opinion.

[Demon-Mask]

I've bought fairly expensive earphones, and they always end up malfunctioning for no good reason. One of the ears may just stop working out of nowhere, they may start sounding like white-noise, whatever. Only once has one of my problems with them had a reason, my cat cut through the cord leading to one of the ear-pieces, and then got bored of them.

I bought really cheap headphones for maybe ten dollars, and they've lasted me almost four years just fine.

[Slime Slayer]

I lost my set just before getting on a 3 hour bus ride, so I ran into the dollar store/dollarama/buck or two and picked up a set for one dollar. 1 headphone was not working at all, and the other was really feint, and then died 10 minutes into the trip, lulz.

[RU Joe]

^
... and that's typical of 'dollar store' electronics from China - cheap, yet barely functional.
You would have been better off doing what this guy did:

Click for a larger picture.
2042

You would think someone would test those items before they stock them in the dollar stores.
It makes me sad to think that the Earth's resources are wasted on such useless garbage.
:sidefrown::weep: