[viperrepiv]

Hi everyone,

First I just want to say hello, as I am new here (1st post), although I have been lurking for a little while. I will be attempting to replace my iphone earbuds with sony ex71's, according to this tutorial:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/05/d...ud-replacement

Basically, opening up the iphone earphones, de-soldering the buds, and re-soldering on headphones of my choice. Since I really like the ex71s, I'd like to make the swap with these.

The only problem is that I'm not sure how to gain access to the wiring on the sony earbuds without destroying them....I heard you can access the solder points by taking off the silver plating on the back of the earbuds, but I also heard that it was glued on...so I'm not sure how to go about this without cracking the plastic piece as I try to pry it off.

Does anyone have any experience opening these suckers up? What is the best way to go about it? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[viperrepiv]

anyone...?

 

[zhefei]

sounds tough. why not just use the ex71s?

 

[Eagleboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhefei /img/forum/go_quote.gif sounds tough. why not just use the ex71s?

Probably because he wants to be able to plug the headphones into the ridiculous jack that the iPhone has, and to also use the microphone and the music controls that are in the iPhone's stock earbuds.

Wish I could help

 

[viperrepiv]

okay, well i gave it a go anyway, and failed, but i figure i'll share the results:

The ex71 are glued shut, so I couldn't find a way of opening them without completely destroying them. I cam really close, but luckily, they remained intact (i broke apart part of plastic around the back of the bud, but it was just superficial).

Essentially you need to slip off the soft plastic casing to access the actual bud (which is glued shut). It is possible to remove the casing at the ridge just behind where the rubbery earbud piece ends. The only thing is that the casing at this point is glued to a metal ring that is in a ridge around the bud. Since it is in a ridge, it is very difficult to take it off. Even if you manage to remove it, the shiny black back piece is ultimately glued to the actual bud, so there is no way, unless you have a dremel...in which case, good luck getting it back together (and being precise with the dremel)

From what I have read, the older ex71s aren't glued shut, but the casing is still attached to the metal ring. At this point, I wasn't going to try to ruin my old pair, so I gave up and went with the JVC marshmallow earphones that were used in the tutorial video.

These were easier to take apart, but the sound quality is pretty ******. Better than the apple earbuds, as they block much more ambient noise, but the bass is pathetic. So now i have an extra pair of ex7s that I have no need for....oh well i guess it may be time to retire my 7 year old pair....

here is the end result:

 

[ShinyFalcon]

When you mean "pathetic bass" did you make sure you had a good seal? The Marshmallows are quite bassy.

 

[viperrepiv]

The seal in my ear is fine...as snug as it's going to get...is that what you were referring to? The low end is very faint....maybe this has to do with the ipod's (and iphone's) notoriously low levels of bass?

Maybe I am just a bass fanatic