[cLick1338]

I'm using a pair of Philips SHE3900 earbuds. I think this problem increased gradually over time but I only became fully aware of it just recently.
Here's the issue: The right earbud lost almost all of its sub-bass+bass power. Doing frequency sweeps, the left side kicks in loud and clear from 30Hz and up, while the right side comes in barely audibly from 90Hz and stays faint even up to 200Hz. The mids are also slightly 'chewed away' from and highs are not noticeably affected besides a very slightly lowered volume. It's very annoying - I get full, satisfying sound in my left ear and tinny disappointment in my right.
 
I think I can take the obvious solutions out of the way: Swapped the buds around, left one still sounds great in my right ear; Swapped the tips around - no change; Asked friends to try them and they also confirmed the issue; Tried different sources; Fiddled with the jack and the cables without result.
 
I went on to cleaning them with a dry q-tip as gently and thoroughly as I could - they ended up looking pristine but still sounded terrible. Upon a close inspection I can't really notice anything visually different between the buds. I have to mention that I'm somewhat clueless as to how their internals look and exacly how they function. So I thought that something inside somehow got stuck or dirty. I went on and blew (and sucked) as hard as I could through the tip, both while covering and letting go of the vent port at the bottom (that sounds dirty now that I read it again but try to let it slide). I even hit it hard a couple of times on my palm/desk (idiotic, I know). No change still. I gave up and lived with it another day.
 
I didn't touch the left one besides the cleaning and tip swapping. So I thought, what the hell, might as well try blowing through the left one and see what happens. Right away I noticed that it's putting up resistance and no air seems to be passing through. I don't push any further and let it go. Try it again on the right one and air just hisses through with little resistance. This right here intrigued me to make this post because I'm not sure what to think. It also made me aware that the right side feels a bit less well fitting, as if it's more "open" and putting less pressure inside my ear (same when I put it in my left ear, so it's not the tips or my ear canal shape).
 
This is pretty much all I know right now and I feel clueless. What could be wrong? How can I check for sure? What caused this to happen? Can I fix it?
Thanks for reading through and hope I didn't make it too confusing.

 

[Raketen]

Originally Posted by cLick1338 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
So I thought that something inside somehow got stuck or dirty. I went on and blew (and sucked) as hard as I could through the tip, both while covering and letting go of the vent port at the bottom (that sounds dirty now that I read it again but try to let it slide). I even hit it hard a couple of times on my palm/desk (idiotic, I know). No change still. I gave up and lived with it another day.
 
This is pretty much all I know right now and I feel clueless. What could be wrong? How can I check for sure? What caused this to happen? Can I fix it?
Thanks for reading through and hope I didn't make it too confusing.

I think you're going to need some new headphones

(here's a good guide http://theheadphonelist.com/earphone-buyers-guide/ )




The problem sounds like you might have had the driver diaphragm (the moving membrane in the gif) rupture or the driver itself come loose inside the right earpiece. Portable headphone drivers tend to be very delicate and not meant to withstand too much power, so rough treatment or even just playing at too loud a volume especially with a lot of bass could cause physical damage (bass diamage can cause a 'fluttering kind of sound that might account for your weird mids too).

For future reference- because of that delicacy they are crinkle-prone and it's a pretty bad idea to apply positive or negative air pressure like you did- not to mention some diapragm materials are paper-like and easily damaged by moisture from saliva or cleaning solutions.

The only other thing I can think of you already checked for, making sure the nozzle and vent holes don't have built up earwax/crud, don't think the effects of that would be so drastic though.

Some good reading about how the drivers work: if you're curious: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/how-headphone-dynamic-drivers-work
 

 

[naught101]

I know this is super old, and for a different set of ear buds, but it came up in a search for me, so I'll add what I did for mine:

Turns out the mesh was blocked with fine wax (too small to brush out). I ended up pulling the mesh out, removing the glue ring, washing the mesh with soap and a toothbrush, drying it, and gluing it back together. Bass is back now.