[robby]

I bought my first pair of PX 100 back in 2006. The connector to the headphone jack looked like this.

Notice the ridges.


I bought my second pair of PX 100 (a few days after the first pair broke) in January 2009. The cord around the headphone jack looks like this:

or

Now it is just a cylindrical tube.

See the difference?

The old cord is much more flexible and puts less stress on the jack/wire connection. The new cord is more rigid and therefore more prone to separating and producing a mute left/right speaker.

Anecdotally, my first PX 100 lasted 3 years, but the second pair lasted 6 months. I didn't treat the new pair any differently than the old one. They just weren't as sturdy. (I know about the warranty - I sent them in for a warranty replacement, and the rep told me that the headphones are on backorder and it would take at least a month before a new shipment is in. Pretty lame.)

Has anyone else noticed this or experienced the same? It is a stupid, and very annoying, design change. Sennheiser is probably saving 5 cents, but the breakage rate is sure to increase substantially.

 

[bloop]

Yeah, my replacement PX100 is on backorder, too. It had the first kind of cable you pictured, but the black/silver design.

That's pretty scary to me, though, considering it only took me a year and a half to break what looks like the better cable.

 

[captian73]

I sent my faulty px's to my resident technician, and he told me the cable was fine, but it was the 'driver' that had given way! where did you buy your send pair.

 

[bloop]

I was pretty sure it was the cable. Chances are, if it goes in and out if you wobble the cable a bit, that's the problem.

I bought mine from Dell for $25, so it was a very good deal (esp. at the time, where $40-50 was a pretty common price for them)

 

[captian73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloop /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was pretty sure it was the cable. Chances are, if it goes in and out if you wobble the cable a bit, that's the problem. I bought mine from Dell for $25, so it was a very good deal (esp. at the time, where $40-50 was a pretty common price for them)

just wanted to make sure you didn't get them from a back street dealer on ebay!

 

[Zombie_X]

Those import ones are garbage most of the time, but there are a few exceptions.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

The new style jack is smaller to be iPhone compatible. The smaller design may make it more difficult to put an effective strain relief on it. If that is a common area of failure with the new design I'll have to think about putting a small piece of heat-shrink there to act as a strain relief. I have the new style PX100.