[tintin47]

This is absolutely ridiculous. I have now had two, count them TWO pairs of HE-5 crack withing ONE WEEK of receiving them. I got my first pair on december 11, and they cracked on the 19th, and then I got my second pair last week, on the 20th, so this one actually lasted 12 days! At this rate, the next one may last two weeks!

I have waited for my broken headphones to return longer than I have owned them, and I am not about to be without them for another three weeks.

/rant

That aside, I like head-direct and I love the HE-5, but this is too much. I know that it is most likely simply terrible luck, as the vast majority have had no problems at all, but this off chance phenomenon is making me extremely upset. Come on.

 

[francisdemarte]

Could the cracking issue be due to low humidty levels in winter? I recall buying wood furniture from southern china, they lastest well until a winter when our humidifier broke down. Pretty much all the larger pieces had some type of cracking.

 

[tintin47]

if that is the case, then the he-5 is poorly designed and needs to be taken back to the drawing board.

 

[mrarroyo]

tintin47, sorry to hear of your problems. I have owned classical and acoustic guitars for years. I can tell you that wood in general is very finicky when the humidity goes way high or way low (look it up on Google or similar). I say this because if your house humidity is outside of the wood's comfort zone it will warp or split and this would happen to articles made here or in China.

Another thing that could have happened is they were left by the carrier in a van outside and thus got very cold. If they arrived cold and you took them right out into a warm environment the wood could have cracked.

Hope Head Direct replaces them soon. Good luck.

 

[francisdemarte]

I believe this is the case of the wrong wood for the wrong environment.

Hopefully Head Direct will do the right thing and redesign these headphones with a different materials and make matters right for all the early adopters.

 

[ujamerstand]

Does anyone have an idea on how to prevent the cracks in the wood? Where I live, the temperature varies a lot, none of the wooden furnitures in the house have retained their shape. (some shrunk, some warped, it makes me sad.) I really want to get a pair of these headphones, and I don't want the wood cracking issue to deter me from buying them; so if there is some way of protecting the wood from cracking, please tell!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ujamerstand /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone have an idea on how to prevent the cracks in the wood? Where I live, the temperature varies a lot, none of the wooden furnitures in the house have retained their shape. (some shrunk, some warped, it makes me sad.) I really want to get a pair of these headphones, and I don't want the wood cracking issue to deter me from buying them; so if there is some way of protecting the wood from cracking, please tell!

Oil the wood?

 

[francisdemarte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oil the wood?

Maintain proper humidity levels in your home, depending where located, with humidifiers in winter and de-humidifiers in summer. If you have central air, a decent automatic whole house humidifier probably cost about the same as the headphone

Everyone benefits, your furniture and floor are less likely to warp and your wife's skin less likely to wrinkle...

 

[saisunil]

So, finally I received the telefunken ... That takes the crown for me ...
Rich, extended top to bottom, three dimentional ... wow!

For me I put Amprex second followed by RCA Clear top as third.
NOS RCA Clear top (stock tube) is clearly a very good match for this amp. I went through this journey as my amp came with chinese tube ...

Cheers ... time to enjoy the music ...

 

[petercak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saisunil /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, finally I received the telefunken ... That takes the crown for me ... Rich, extended top to bottom, three dimentional ... wow! For me I put Amprex second followed by RCA Clear top as third. NOS RCA Clear top (stock tube) is clearly a very good match for this amp. I went through this journey as my amp came with chinese tube ... Cheers ... time to enjoy the music ...

telefunken - which one is it? I found more than one on web and I'm bit confused. Truth is I have no experience with tubes...

thanks

 

[saisunil]

Telefunken - it is a german tube made in 1960's - it sells for around $60 + ship

I purchased it from Andy

If you are happy with your current tube - stay with it -- tube rolling can be time con$uming ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by petercak /img/forum/go_quote.gif telefunken - which one is it? I found more than one on web and I'm bit confused. Truth is I have no experience with tubes... thanks

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saisunil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Telefunken - it is a german tube made in 1960's - it sells for around $60 + ship I purchased it from Andy If you are happy with your current tube - stay with it -- tube rolling can be time con$uming ...

Ouch! That's quite a bit of money. How long does a tube last?

 

[petercak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saisunil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Telefunken - it is a german tube made in 1960's - it sells for around $60 + ship I purchased it from Andy If you are happy with your current tube - stay with it -- tube rolling can be time con$uming ...

I was worried this is the one you had mentioned:
https://www.tubeworld.com/ecc802s.htm
that's one expensive tube!

Even 60 USD for the tube you bought from Andy is a nice amount, but I would be willing to try it. It's still reasonably priced.

 

[petercak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ouch! That's quite a bit of money. How long does a tube last?

It depends, but it could be thousands of hours... Divide it by 60 USD and it's not that much per hour...

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by petercak /img/forum/go_quote.gif It depends, but it could be thousands of hours... Divide it by 60 USD and it's not that much per hour...

That wouldn't be so bad then. How do you know when it's time to change it? Does the sound degrade over time or does the tube simply go bad and the sound goes out?