what would you say is the average lifespan of a headphone?

[jackbroke]

2-3 years?

[Fitz]

Many of my phones are 30+ years old, and with some occasional parts replacement (like earpads) they still look and sound perfect.

[Shahrose]

2-3 years? even my ipod nano stock earbuds survived for that long. a good high end headphone can remain functional for decades. depends also on how well u take care of it. 2-3 years is nothing, with the way a lot of head-fi'ers maintain their equipment, sometimes it can be hard to tell how old something really is since it looks almost new throughout it's life pretty much.

[blessingx]

I've ordered phones from the 80s and 90s last week.

[Uncle Erik]

My oldest pair is around 25-30 years old. They still sound wonderful.

[vvanrij]

The headphone I'm currently wearing is older than meself

[Corbet]

I would be severely disappointed if any headphones I bought for > $100 didn't last 10+ years.

[m11a1]

Investing in High-end audio equipment doesn't only bring you high sound quality, but also the long-lasting reliability.

[Kees]

I have two pairs of HD414 in perfect condition and sounding really good that are forty years old.

[funkadelic]

It depends entirely on build quality and how well you treat them. When headpones 'wear out' it's the physical/mechanical things like headbands and pads that wear out, there is little evidence that the Audio components wear out.

I too have headphones that are 20+ years old, including a pair of HD480's that (after replacing the ear pads) are in absolutuley mint condition and (apart from the retro design) could be mistaken for new.

Simon

[Oliver :)]

On average, they last 'till you sit on them. If you bought quality you can then replace whatever part you just broke.

[tfarney]

I'm on my second headband pad, my third set of earpads on my Senn HD580s. They are 8 or 10 years old, I'm not exactly sure. They work great. They're certainly burnt-in at this point.

Tim

[wicker_man]

My Sennheiser CX300's lasted me just under 2 years of daily use before the left side stopped working.

My Panasonic RP-HJE50's lasted me 6 months before the right side stopped working (although this is due to the stupid length of the right side cable).

I have some Sony earbuds (can't remember model, possibly MDR-E811) which are at least 6 years old and work fine, although the L plug did need to be repaired and is now covered with tape.

[spritzer]

The headphone and amp I'm using now are both 39 years old and in perfect condition. Some parts need changing such as earpads and coupling caps in the amp but they are otherwise just like new.

[gp_hebert]

I have 30-years-old headphones on my head right now that put a lot of recent headphones to shame.