[sgraphics]

I bought some lousy AIWA headphones about a year ago. At first the bass was ok and the phones were OK for their price (about 14$

). Anyway after about three months the bass became distorted when I upped the volume a bit. This i guess is partly due to me listening m a i n l y bassy, speedy music (techno and trance).

I thought, no worries, they're cheap aiwas anyway. But then one of my friends said he bought the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's and after a year of use the bass 'wore off' as it did on my aiwas. He's favourite is jazz music and such.

So i have gotten the feeling headphones are weak. But are they? I mean if I buy let's say the HD 600's for 300$ and they wear off after a year of use.. then I would think its not worth it. So now i have bought one of the cheapest Sennheisers (HD 202) hoping to get bang for the buck and being afraid to waste money on expensive headphones beacause... they are headphones.

Tell me how well have your headphones lasted... and whats the deal on this subject anyway

 

[Axl]

I can give you a practical example of that. Sennheiser HD-340. Daily use of 8 years teared them down. It was actually not the headphones that broke down but the cord. Too bad the cord couldn't be replaced. I think it was worth the 60€ I spend on them.

 

[sgraphics]

One thing though.. my friend may have had the HD 270's... i'm not 100% sure which one. But the fact remains.. the bass got tired too early to be worth the money.

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally posted by sgraphics I thought, no worries, they're cheap aiwas anyway. But then one of my friends said he bought the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's and after a year of use the bass 'wore off' as it did on my aiwas. He's favourite is jazz music and such.

The problem I'm having with the HD280Pro's is that the earpads are getting compressed with use, which makes the seal worse and therefore degrades the bass. The solution would probably be to buy a set of replacement earpads. This problem is probably specific to these phones, which use a very large earpad compared with other headphones.

 

[Earwax]

It's an interesting question, I was hoping to find more replies.

I've never spent more than $25 on a pair of headphones and based on how long they last, er, don't last, I'm reluctant to spend too much more than that. 1 Sony and 2 Philips have only lasted, maybe, 1000 hours each. I keep buying the Philips because the fit is just about perfect for me (neckband SBC HS500) and the sound is OK. I tried Koss KSC55 this time and they don't fit as well, the angle of the earpads doesn't connect with my ears too well, so I lose the best of their sound capibility.

Anyway, I think about trying something else with more isolation and better sound, but will 'phones in the $30 to $60 range last any longer or are they just as fragile?

 

[Kirium]

Good question on how long they last....

I have HD280's, and I use them for probably about 10hrs a week. the rest of the time is spent listening to my speakers, which i consider far more capable...

On the HD280's, the bass is still strong and tight, and i listen to a fair bit of dance, house, chill-out. and as for the pads compressing, i don't use them long enough for this to have become an apparent problem..

I also have HD200 Masters, which were my second foray into head-fi... and they were fine and stood up well with every type of music i threw at them..... until my (now-ex) girlfriend got hold of them. next time i saw them, the left channel had stopped working. taken back for repair under warranty, never the same...

(Yes folks, she took my audiophiledom in vain and became "Ex" overnight...

It remains to be seen how long the HD280's last. they'll be my travel cans to be driven by my Tosh laptop, so they'll cop a beating, if they can't hack it, i'll try something else...

I cannot really imagine how headphones suddenly go bad, like milk past it's used-by date... they work on the same dynamic principle as loudspeakers, and (good) loudspeakers don't generally die after a hundred hours use...

 

[ClearYourMind]

I own the Sennhieser HD590 headphones. I've had them so far for about eight months. The ear pads have became alot more soft. There not flat yet, but pretty soft where they compress quite a bit when I'm wearing my 'phones. All this does is make my ears perspire more. I live to very base heavy music. All the time. I'll go to the libary and go into one of the private rooms at my college and blast away there, I'll be on the computer at home listening through my 'phones. And then I'll be watching movies and I'll have my headphones pluged into my home theater reciever.

They get a tremendus amount of wear. So far there holding up great. The only thing is the cable I purchased from JMT. With so much use, the plugs have gotten a little lose so now if I move to much it creates a static. I need to buy a new longer cable anways so it's not a big deal.

The big difference between high end headphones and some cheap $14 headphones is not only abosolute supieror sound quality. But you really do get far better quality contruction wise. If the drivers on my headphones go out, I can replace them. If the cable breaks or gets damaged, costs $12 for a replacement strock cable. When the pads get to lose or dirty, I can replace those too. Everything is replaceable.

Drivers do go out after a while, but not in a single year. My father has had his Koss headphones for over 20 years. They still work. No, not as good as when he first got them, but the cable is all beaten up, the pads torn off. With three kids tosing them like they were a football, just being able to work is a big thing.

If I was to guess how long a pair of headphones will last, I would say about 5-10 years depending on the use. 5 years if your using them practically every single day for that 5 years. About 10 years if you use them for alot the first year, then use them a decent amount the second year, and by the third year not so much, fourth year hardly use them, fith hear you forget about them, six year you find them use them like the first day you got them, and you continue like that. And your taking really good care of them, keeping them clean.

If you always keep your headphones in a shoebox or a drawer, there going to last longer. If you or someone else always smokes in the house, there going to not last as long. Same goes if your always lighting insence.

Actually, I have a pair of Koss, cheap ones, must have cost no more then $5-$10 and prob bought on sale. I had them for about 6 years. They look like studio headphones, and at the time I thought they were great. Now I can't even stand to put them on my head. But they lasted. They still work great. And those I put under some real heavy use.

 

[daycart1]

Under normal conditions, decent headphone or speaker drivers should be good for many thousands of hours!

But as others have pointed out, cables, pads etc. are pretty easily worn and damaged.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Axl I can give you a practical example of that. Sennheiser HD-340. Daily use of 8 years teared them down. It was actually not the headphones that broke down but the cord. Too bad the cord couldn't be replaced. I think it was worth the 60€ I spend on them.

Funny thing that you mention the Senn 3 series..

About ten years ago it must've been, my second (at the time) major headphone purchase after a pair of Beyer DT311s was a pair of Senn HD320s - reported in the hi-fi press as being the best sounding of the 3 series... trouble is, that the sound went really stale after about 6 months, lost all of its energy, and sounded very congested...

...It wasn't just me that had that problem though, there were various bad write-ups, later in the life cycle of these cans, saying exactly the same thing.

I guess the question can be posed in two different directions... the magnets themselves, as long as they are of a high enough quality should last hundreds of years, but the diaphragms and the voice coils, thats another question althogether...

That'll vary from company to company...

 

[strohmie]

My most-used phones nowadays are my Sony MDR-E565s, which I use portably. I never really wrap them up properly in their holder, and probably listen to them about 15 hours a week. I'm surprised they've lasted more than a month really, considering my previous experiences with MDR-E848s that I used to use that lasted two months and one month eacch for the two pairs I owned.

As for full-sized phones, I had some Grado SR-80s for two years and they worked perfectly the day I sold them. My Sony MDR-CD3000s are too young to judge their lasting power, though on the second day of ownership I slightly bent the mini connector at the end of the cord. >_<

 

[D-EJ915]

my G72's that I got in 1999 still work fine today, but they still sound bad...haha, but the foam pads are kinda dead.

 

[sgraphics]

Well thank you for your replys. I think I got a bit wiser again

Now I know that even if you in some remote way can compare the sound of the cheap aiwas i have (hp-x121) and the HD-590's.. The other major thing is build quality and how LONG the drivers last. Drives on my aiwas lasted for about 6 months (now the bass is unaxceptably distorted) whereas drivers on noticeably more expensive sennheisers last "a lifetime".

Simple but took away the doubts I had.

 

[Kirium]

That's right...

You get what you pay for... (Usually)

 

[pbirkett]

I sure hope the DT880's last a lot longer than 6 months

 

[FalconP]

The first thing I do when I get a pair of el-cheapo ear-buds (for portable radio or CD player) is to "fortify" the vulnerable parts -- the junction between the plug and the cable, and between the cable and the drivers, with adhersive tapes -- this way they can stand a few more accidental yanks and jerks.