brucew268
New Head-Fier
(My question is at the end. The rambling story is in between.)
In the early 90's most of my investment was in building a audiophile home music system. I still love the experience of music through it today and have been fortunate to only replace one component in that time... not that I haven;t been tempted to upgrade many times! But I have found myself on the go much more in the last 10 years, not able to enjoy my home system.
Then in the early 2000's I heard that good sounding earphones were to be had for portable use. I bought a used IPOD and used the earbuds which were recommended as higher quality than what came with most players. But my ears don't fit earbuds, so I felt like I was listening to someone's clock radio from the other room.
So --in I can't remember what year... 2004? -- I invested in a pair of Shure E3c, which I found frustrating in their mere hints at good sound. Rather thin in the mids and lows that hardly existed. But the microphonics were great; I could hear them as well as the music! When one the signal in one ear gave out , I was only too happy to try for something better.
After reading much here at Head-Fi and probably a couple of other (now-defunct) headphone forums, I settled on Ultimate Ears. Seems like Super.fi 3 Studios (2006), though I can;t find any identifying marks or receipts. The mids seem smooth, slightly, yet fairly detailed. And they actually had bass, at least upper bass, with nice texture. The upper end seemed to have some sparkle and detail, even some delicacy in presentation. A nice, coherent presentation, though certainly not the last word earphone musicality. They still are far, far short of my home rig.
For the last year, the replaceable cables on the UE SF3 Studios has been just loose enough to pop off the earpiece every 4th time I wear them, but tight enough to keep a good electrical connection. I played with trying to tighten the metal connection, which helped for a couple weeks. Fortunately, the cable usually popped off while they were in my ears, so I didn't lose the earpiece. But now the plastic around the earpiece socket has broken and only works with care. I think my UE's portable days are over.
So I've been haunting these boards the last few weeks, enjoying the hunt.
I started this thread annoyed that the earpiece had broken 'so soon'. But when I do the math, it's been 6 years with this set. Not so bad. I've read lots of horror stories of earphones self-combusting in their first year. (I was rather attracted to the UE700 until I realised that seemingly most of the owners have had the cables fall apart with a year.)
So if you have a pair of great sounding earphones that you think fairly robust, how long have they lasted? And what would you guess is average? I'm not looking for recommendations (I've just made a purchase). I'm more interested in the average life-span of well-made, great sounding earphones these days.
In the early 90's most of my investment was in building a audiophile home music system. I still love the experience of music through it today and have been fortunate to only replace one component in that time... not that I haven;t been tempted to upgrade many times! But I have found myself on the go much more in the last 10 years, not able to enjoy my home system.
Then in the early 2000's I heard that good sounding earphones were to be had for portable use. I bought a used IPOD and used the earbuds which were recommended as higher quality than what came with most players. But my ears don't fit earbuds, so I felt like I was listening to someone's clock radio from the other room.
So --in I can't remember what year... 2004? -- I invested in a pair of Shure E3c, which I found frustrating in their mere hints at good sound. Rather thin in the mids and lows that hardly existed. But the microphonics were great; I could hear them as well as the music! When one the signal in one ear gave out , I was only too happy to try for something better.
After reading much here at Head-Fi and probably a couple of other (now-defunct) headphone forums, I settled on Ultimate Ears. Seems like Super.fi 3 Studios (2006), though I can;t find any identifying marks or receipts. The mids seem smooth, slightly, yet fairly detailed. And they actually had bass, at least upper bass, with nice texture. The upper end seemed to have some sparkle and detail, even some delicacy in presentation. A nice, coherent presentation, though certainly not the last word earphone musicality. They still are far, far short of my home rig.
For the last year, the replaceable cables on the UE SF3 Studios has been just loose enough to pop off the earpiece every 4th time I wear them, but tight enough to keep a good electrical connection. I played with trying to tighten the metal connection, which helped for a couple weeks. Fortunately, the cable usually popped off while they were in my ears, so I didn't lose the earpiece. But now the plastic around the earpiece socket has broken and only works with care. I think my UE's portable days are over.
So I've been haunting these boards the last few weeks, enjoying the hunt.
I started this thread annoyed that the earpiece had broken 'so soon'. But when I do the math, it's been 6 years with this set. Not so bad. I've read lots of horror stories of earphones self-combusting in their first year. (I was rather attracted to the UE700 until I realised that seemingly most of the owners have had the cables fall apart with a year.)
So if you have a pair of great sounding earphones that you think fairly robust, how long have they lasted? And what would you guess is average? I'm not looking for recommendations (I've just made a purchase). I'm more interested in the average life-span of well-made, great sounding earphones these days.
