[mbamg]

So I bought a pair of RE252s off someone a few weeks ago, and everything up until now was fine.
 
The problem started when my left earpiece started to drop in volume. When I took it out, the music disappeared altogether. Within a few minutes, the music also disappeared from the right earpiece. The strange thing is that they still make that clicking sound when I plug the jack in, but no music would come out. Right now both earpieces have music coming out of them at the same volume, but that immediately changes when I try to move them.
 
What can I do and what should I do?

 

[Mooses9]

  So I bought a pair of RE252s off someone a few weeks ago, and everything up until now was fine.
 
The problem started when my left earpiece started to drop in volume. When I took it out, the music disappeared altogether. Within a few minutes, the music also disappeared from the right earpiece. The strange thing is that they still make that clicking sound when I plug the jack in, but no music would come out. Right now both earpieces have music coming out of them at the same volume, but that immediately changes when I try to move them.
 
What can I do and what should I do?

i would ask for a refund, something tells me this might have been a already known problem

 

[powasky]

Buying used products comes with risk - you don't have grounds for a refund.  

 

[Mooses9]

  Buying used products comes with risk - you don't have grounds for a refund.  

well that really depends. if this was a intermittent problem, and it was sold under a context that they were in good working order. 

 

[powasky]

  well that really depends. if this was a intermittent problem, and it was sold under a context that they were in good working order. 

There's no real way to prove this if the seller will not admit it.  There's also no real way to prove that mbamg didn't yank the cord or otherwise damage the phones.  
 
You can ask the seller if there were any issues prior to the sale, but again, if they say that the 262's were operating properly, you don't have grounds for a refund regardless of the current problems.

 

[Mooses9]

You are right and its unfortunate that if they did already have this issie the op got taken for headphones.

But I definitly agree with you its hard to tell

 

[jekostas]

  Buying used products comes with risk - you don't have grounds for a refund.  

 
Knowingly selling a defective item and representing it as in working order is grounds for wire fraud.
 
OP, if you payed via Paypal you can file a claim.  I would contact the seller first, however.

 

[mbamg]

I bought these off a friend for a good price and paid him in cash. He's already had these reshelled once by sending them back to hifiman, as the earpieces are not the typical hard black ones, but rather soft gray translucent silicone with the hifiman logo. Does anyone know how much it would cost to get these fixed?
 
I haven't dropped them, nor have I yanked on the cable. I was wondering whether this was a recurring issue for RE252s, or that this is an isolated case.
 
Update: I think the problem is the cable connection to the earpieces, and not the connection to the jack. So could it be the strain relief?

 

[davidcotton]

Could send them into BTG audio and ask them to have a look at it.  I had a similar problem with a pair of customs that had fixed cables.  The strain relief was a little too heavy for the cable and kept getting a loose connection.  If I held the strain relief gently then I would get music, let go and the music cut out.

 

[Mooses9]

  Could send them into BTG audio and ask them to have a look at it.  I had a similar problem with a pair of customs that had fixed cables.  The strain relief was a little too heavy for the cable and kept getting a loose connection.  If I held the strain relief gently then I would get music, let go and the music cut out.

i agree if its a  cable problem he can fix it with a recable, as long as its not a mechanical issue.

 

[mbamg]

  Could send them into BTG audio and ask them to have a look at it.  I had a similar problem with a pair of customs that had fixed cables.  The strain relief was a little too heavy for the cable and kept getting a loose connection.  If I held the strain relief gently then I would get music, let go and the music cut out.

 
 

  i agree if its a  cable problem he can fix it with a recable, as long as its not a mechanical issue.

 
I went on BTG Audio's site, but found this:
 
Headphones Not serviable:
ALL Etymotic, ALL Klipsch (save S4 and Custom 3), ALL Jays, ALL Ortophone, ALL Hifiman In ear headphones (not to be confused with their Planar magnetics., UE TF10, HD380. Bose, Beats'
Note: I can perform a retermination on all headphones, regardless of make, if only the jack is broken.
 
So I guess they're a no-go? Are there other services that can deal with the 252s?
 
I've sent an email to Hifiman's customer service support, but I'm afraid that they're just going to give me a replacement cost instead of actually fixing the earphones themselves.

 

[Mooses9]

   
 
 
I went on BTG Audio's site, but found this:
 
Headphones Not serviable:
ALL Etymotic, ALL Klipsch (save S4 and Custom 3), ALL Jays, ALL Ortophone, ALL Hifiman In ear headphones (not to be confused with their Planar magnetics., UE TF10, HD380. Bose, Beats'
Note: I can perform a retermination on all headphones, regardless of make, if only the jack is broken.
 
So I guess they're a no-go? Are there other services that can deal with the 252s?
 
I've sent an email to Hifiman's customer service support, but I'm afraid that they're just going to give me a replacement cost instead of actually fixing the earphones themselves.

well he's my go to if he cant do it, i donno anyone else....

 

[mbamg]

Well I've received a reply from hifiman, and the prospects aren't encouraging.
 

Thank you for contacting us. But RE-252s have been discontinued for a long period of time. We do not have any materials for it now in our factory. 
 
I'm not sure if we can repair it. And as for repair, you'd have to send it back to our factory in China. And the whole process will cost about one month. 
 
Would you like to consider try a new earphone, like RE-400? RE-400 is an earphone of great value.

 
So I guess that's the end of it? Anyone got more ideas?

 

[TwinQY]

If all else fails, you might just want to reshell the drivers again, since you're convinced it's a cable thing, and you can't find anyone with the know-how to fix it (a lazy fix I say). Not sure if that's an investment you'd want to be looking towards though. Of course they wouldn't be guaranteed to sound the same despite the resheller's best efforts (it's a dynamic after all so housing is even more of a factor). Actually come to think of it that's a horrible suggestion, what was I thinking.
 
I've managed to score an used RE-252 myself (though not a lot of time to deal with the shipping, etc, so dealing put on hold) - a reshell was one of the plans in the future...it's a bummer to see that BTG won't handle them so I guess that's the only option left if I decide that the cable isn't for me.

 

[mbamg]

  If all else fails, you might just want to reshell the drivers again, since you're convinced it's a cable thing, and you can't find anyone with the know-how to fix it (a lazy fix I say). Not sure if that's an investment you'd want to be looking towards though. Of course they wouldn't be guaranteed to sound the same despite the resheller's best efforts (it's a dynamic after all so housing is even more of a factor). Actually come to think of it that's a horrible suggestion, what was I thinking.
 
I've managed to score an used RE-252 myself (though not a lot of time to deal with the shipping, etc, so dealing put on hold) - a reshell was one of the plans in the future...it's a bummer to see that BTG won't handle them so I guess that's the only option left if I decide that the cable isn't for me.

 
I'm not even sure anymore... but PM me when you've gotten them reshelled and tell me what they're like. I'll have to put this on hold for a while.
 
Update: So apparently my left earpiece has another issue. Music only starts coming out when I turn the volume up to almost max, and sometimes it's still a fraction of the volume on the right earpiece. So it's not just a cable issue...
 
I've only started to like these too T_T