bandit1200
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2003
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I hesitate to write about this.
Edit: No one has reported a similar problem, so this failure is "just one of those things" not an indication of any kind of quality problem. /Edit
I really like my E3's. I stepped up from E2's, and really like the improved high end and punchier sound of the E3's. I think they are fantastic earphones.
That being said, I though it would be fair to let folks know what happened to my 1st pair of E3's.
About 1 month after buying them, I was flying cross country, enjoying the E3's and (plugged into a Zen, playing Hillary Hahn's Barber Violin Concerto.)
I was still listenening during descent into DFW (the earphones are stealthy enough to keep listening even though the flight attendants usually tell folks to remove headphones...) I noticed that the sound in the right driver got progressively weaker. By the time we landed, there was no sound at all in the right earphone. My first thought was that is was my ear was plugged from the pressure change. But that wasn't it.
Later that day, in the quiet of my hotel, I could hear only very faint sound from the right driver. I gave up.
A couple of days later, I tried them again, and, voila, they were working again. Hmmm. Maybe it couldn't handle the pressure change --something about the driver operating during pressure changes? Maybe it needed some time for the driver to re-equalize?
So I went about using them again. Unfortunately, with time, the right driver became more and more distorted and eventually sounded blown (crunchy sound, grattle).
I sent the pair in to Shure for a replacement. (Shure quickly sent me a new pair -- great service!)
My current pair are working fine, but I have not flown with them yet.
I am assuming this was a rare hidden defect that only appeared after a time, and isn't a common problem with the earphones.
(Unfortunately, after the production problem that Shure had with the E2's, I am a bit wary. Shure has done a good job of dealing with these problems.)
Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Is it bad to use these earphones during descent/ascent in a plane? (Matt? Should I not do this?)
-Bandit
Edit: No one has reported a similar problem, so this failure is "just one of those things" not an indication of any kind of quality problem. /Edit
I really like my E3's. I stepped up from E2's, and really like the improved high end and punchier sound of the E3's. I think they are fantastic earphones.
That being said, I though it would be fair to let folks know what happened to my 1st pair of E3's.
About 1 month after buying them, I was flying cross country, enjoying the E3's and (plugged into a Zen, playing Hillary Hahn's Barber Violin Concerto.)
I was still listenening during descent into DFW (the earphones are stealthy enough to keep listening even though the flight attendants usually tell folks to remove headphones...) I noticed that the sound in the right driver got progressively weaker. By the time we landed, there was no sound at all in the right earphone. My first thought was that is was my ear was plugged from the pressure change. But that wasn't it.
Later that day, in the quiet of my hotel, I could hear only very faint sound from the right driver. I gave up.
A couple of days later, I tried them again, and, voila, they were working again. Hmmm. Maybe it couldn't handle the pressure change --something about the driver operating during pressure changes? Maybe it needed some time for the driver to re-equalize?
So I went about using them again. Unfortunately, with time, the right driver became more and more distorted and eventually sounded blown (crunchy sound, grattle).
I sent the pair in to Shure for a replacement. (Shure quickly sent me a new pair -- great service!)
My current pair are working fine, but I have not flown with them yet.
I am assuming this was a rare hidden defect that only appeared after a time, and isn't a common problem with the earphones.
(Unfortunately, after the production problem that Shure had with the E2's, I am a bit wary. Shure has done a good job of dealing with these problems.)
Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Is it bad to use these earphones during descent/ascent in a plane? (Matt? Should I not do this?)
-Bandit