[TheChuckster]

I listen to a lot of music, and I need awesome sound quality. For a while, I really loved my Sennheiser PX100 portable headphones. They didn't fall out of my ears like ear buds did. The sound quality was first-rate... frequency response was as flat as you could get for portables, the bass was powerful and had more presence than any other portable, the highs were extremely detailed, and the soundscape made you felt like you were listening to a live performance.

The problem though is that the headphone wires used weren't durable at all. After 3 or 4 months, I would start to hear sound out of only one ear. At first, I could fix this by wiggling the wire around in a certain way. Then after a few weeks, it was completely dead. I thought that it was an isolated, luck of the draw type of incident, so I bought another pair. For another four months, I was happy listening to my music in awesome quality on my Zen Touch. Then the same thing happened. At that point, I just bought crappy Sony ear buds and went on with it.

Now these ear buds have the same problem. I have no idea why this is happening. Are the headphones defective? Am I doing something wrong with them? Are they supposed to only have a life span of a few months? So now I am ready to buy yet another pair of portable headphones. I would love to buy the Sennheisers again because they are the best I've owned, but I don't want to have them die on me in another 3 or 4 months. I'm also looking at the iGrado headphones... they look like they are exactly what I want: a portable with awesome sound quality (same drivers as the acclaimed SR60s). Then again, I might just buy $10 ear buds again... what's the point of spending $50 on good phones if they are just going to die on me again? What are some awesome sounding buds or durable portable headphones? My budget cut off is $50 for headphones that aren't durable and $100 for headphones that, for some reason, have higher quality wires than the ones I've been using that won't break in four months.

 

[outbreak123]

always put your PX100 on it's case, quite be careful with the jack because it's kinda fragile. My friend have this kind of problems too, i had mine for 2 years w/o no problem.

Never tangle the wire near the jack hard that's my advice.

For 100 bucks i would recommend you : Grado SR60 or SR80, Alessandro MS1, Sennheiser HD555 or maybe even PX100 for portable use.

Cheers

 

[outbreak123]

Oh yes there's the awesome KSC75 too for around 20-30$.

 

[fatcat28037]

I just purchased iGrado's from headroom for $45. They have great sound and stay put while I'm out walking.

 

[anubis404]

Are you sleeping in them? This can sometimes wear the wires down.

 

[Seidhepriest]

Ehehehe.

Well. Just a bit over $100 buys the Denon AH-D1000 or AH-D1001 (though they may cost more in regular stores like Headroom & Audiocubes). That's just as great as it comes without serious amplification demands. They look like they're somewhat flimsy in build, but they're actually very durable.

Roland RH-200 are another option around $100, and there's the even cheaper model, RH-50 (which sells for around $50).

For earbuds, there're the Yuin PK3, which are probably the best $50 earbuds and possibly the only earbuds worth money (except PK2, PK1 and the new Yuin OK series).

Also, wires usually don't break, they just tear away from solder inside the headphone enclosures. So you could just open the enclosures and solder the wires to diaphragm connectors again (or ask someone around to do that).