[waxler]

Please tell me roughly how long your last headphones or earbuds lasted before:

• Dying on you
• Breaking
• Battery didn't last enough to be worthwhile
• Any other reason that made them useless

We probably all have some old wired headphones that are over 10 years old and work fine.
I'd like to know the average lifespan of headphones that died.

 

[DenverW]

I don’t think I’ve ever held onto anything long enough to have it die. I just like trying new stuff too much .

 

[Amorph]

LIke 4 years ago I bought a gaming headset, which was from a company Roccat and the headset itself had been released for like 1 year prior to the day I purchased it on, but when I bought it was new. Just like last year the headset pads which was were made of synthetic leather got to a condition where it was disgusting to use and then weeks after that the headset cracked on me and the drivers stopped working but the mic kept on going strong. From that point on forward I realized how crappy gaming audio products were so I stopped buying anything audio related from the popular gaming companies or the mainstream tech companies like Dell and HP for example (I also had headphones from these companies that died after like 6 months or less of use time) and started to buy from reputable audio companies, and the quality is like a day and night; I never had any IEM or headphones die on me or degrade in quality even though most of them I bought used but the prior owner would have had kept them in mint condition. I guess what I am trying to say is that audio products are one of the few if not the only electronics that one can pass to the next generation and still feel like the day they got bought on. Linus and Luke from LTT once spoke about how they have been using the same headphones from Sennheiser for the last like 10 years or so.

 

[Spork67]

I'm using some Stax 404 LE's and a SRMt1 amp, with a Grace m9xx DAC.
They are all around 6 years old.*
The amp has had new capacitors (more as a preventative measure than a repair).
The HP's are on the 3rd headband, and the cable may have some minor internal damage.
The DAC has barely been turned off since I got it.

*I've had them for around 6 years. The HP's and amp were both pre-loved when I got them.

I have some older Stax gear ('60's / '70's) that still works too (amp was refurbished).

I'm in the process of upgrading, and will keep the 404's (due to not being in perfect working condition).
Will probably sell the amp - someone else can get a few years of pleasure from it before passing it on.

 

[thejewk]

After a rather disastrous experience with some Blue MoFis in 2017, if I recall correctly, which disintegrated, I purchased some Fidelio X2s in the summer of 2019 which are still in superb condition, and some Fiio FH5 IEMs in 2020 which are also still in perfect condition.

I have now upgraded to some Neumann NDH 30 headphones to replace my X2s for my main daily drivers and they are build like a tank, so I expect them to last as long as I need them to, with the usual replacement of perishable parts.

It seems to me that if you buy quality, well built, items, and you maintain them well there really shouldn't be a problem.

 

[MakeshiftApe]

Everything I've owned other than few $ earbuds is still going strong. I've had my K702 since the start of the month, my CAL! since 2020, my HD25 Plus since 2019, and my DR-BTN200 since like 2010 or 2011.

The only issue I've had with any of them is that my DR-BTN200 pads wore out since I used them while exercising a lot and the sweat + cleaning ended up destroying the pleather coating. For a while I just lived with the soft interior of the pads with their outer shell destroyed, even though it ruined the bass response - then a year or two ago I bought replacement pads. Otherwise they're still going strong though. I'm mostly shocked at how well the battery has held up since almost all devices I own (phones etc) with batteries, the battery life gets bad after a few years - but these still seem to get close to the 40 hours they had when I first got them.

So the last headphones/earphones I've had that I lost/replaced/that broke were probably just some generic cheap earbuds that I had before I got my first proper pair of headphones.

 

[baskingshark]

I have some IEMs that are more than a decade old.

I guess if you treat them well, and don't drop them or put them in extreme temperatures/humid environments, the drivers can really last a long time. When going out, I store them in a hard case, at home, they are in a dessicant zip lock. In my audio journey, I mostly found issues with cables dying before the driver, but no biggie swapping out a cable if the IEM is detachable.

 

[emba4]

my Etymotic ER-4Ps (custom eartips and cable) lasted me 8 years, they were still good as gold when i lost them. i still kinda miss them, i know i could replace the IEMs themselves but the tips were made by ACS who no longer do custom tips only their own custom IEMs, sure there are other custom tip makers but i never found any i liked as much as the ACS ones

 

[RF330]

Shure 535s going on 11 years, not counting one replacement cable.

 

[benhatchins]

I have one pair for 5 years now (Bose) , but that's the only one, other survive around a year or so.
Plus I took them all on my travels around the world, so they have been used hardly.
Now I have more chilled life working online mostly , go now and then to the beach and enjoy my life.
My headphones I have with me all the time, no matter where I go.