I guess I'm the worst type of customer for audio retailers. I recently switched from buying $50-$100 gaming headphones to $5 wired earbuds with a built in microphone.
They are still working perfectly after months, and I got a spare for another $5.
The reason I decided to try that is because the wires in my headphones always get partially broken after a few months and so I end up with only one channel. And the cheap Bluetooth earbuds I had which were great for several months eventually went to a single channel also for some reason.
If that happens again, $5 is no big deal to get more. Assuming I can find those cheap earbuds again.
>They are still working perfectly after months, and I got a spare for another $5.
Jesus. "After months".
I have been using my Sennheiser HD600 for 5 years now. They don't even seem to show any sign of age. Should anything ever break, they're modular and the individual parts can be bought separately anyway. But what's most important is that they sound really, really good. To me and to a very comfortable majority of audio equipment reviewers. Subjectively (ears) _and_ in objective measurements (i.e. accurate FR, low distortion on a pro head-shaped measurement stand). And there's no shortage of these, for a set that was released in the late 90s and has been popular audio equipment in the hobbyist/pro markets since. To top it off: They're even extremely comfortable to wear.
And the worst part: Is, it is, by now, near impossible to do even cursory research on what headphones are good and not hear about them.
It remains a mystery to me, to this day, why it isn't the case that everybody owns a pair already. Particularly, as they're not even expensive. They cost only a little more than the average gaming headset everybody seems to own. Instead... utter crap sounding, ear-exploding "cordless" trash from "popular brands" do sell well, alongside awful-sounding, fickle, gaming headsets.
Consumers are this easily misled by marketing, and seem incapable of doing even the most basic research.
Lol, sure of course, everyone should spend $300 on headphones. And, of course they will never have to replace them. Otherwise, they will have no idea what music actually sounds like.
Jesus.
Watch out, I had a favorite earbud that disappeared from the market, imo for being too good too cheaply, and cannibalizing the new (at the time) category of high-end earbuds for Sony.
I luckily realized very quickly that they had gone out of production, and managed to find a case of 24 of them on Mexican Ebay. Each pair probably lasts a little more than a year, so they'll get me through this stage of technology (for around $100.) So instead of buying $100 gaming headphones, buy $100 worth of those (hopefully with a bulk discount.) If you get sick of them one day, they'll make great gifts.
Actual Mexican ebay. It's just ebay. You can get Mexican hits on US ebay searches as long as you allow international results. If you think you're charming, you can try to convince people that normally don't ship internationally to ship to you, but people who don't ship internationally won't come up on US ebay searches.
There's a sweet spot for electronics. I got a pair of €7 Bluetooth earbuds, with a mic. Sound quality was good enough to listen to podcast, but not music, the mic didn't work well enough for phone calls, and they lasted maybe 3 months. After that I bought a pair for 6-7 times the price, but I had those for 4 years now, to their clearly the better investment long term.
Just make sure it is standard cable. And not something slightly different.
Not that I also haven't had bad experience with general quality of headphones. That is other parts just breaking with only slightly careless use. Thankfully the wireless Pioneers I bought seem to have lasted with Boses I alternate with.
V-Moda is a bit pricey, but I've had my Crossfade LP headphones for somewhere between 6 to 8 years. The cable is standard 3.5mm, detachable from the body of the headphones.
They also have a few accessories like a detachable cable with a mic on an arm, which I used for a while until I got a desktop mic. The carry case that came with the cans is also very nice.
Many, many mid-to-high end headphone manufacturers offer headphones with detachable cables, both for exactly this reason; and also sometimes to allow it to either be bluetooth or cabled.
You probably have to spend more than $100 for that, though.
They are still working perfectly after months, and I got a spare for another $5.
The reason I decided to try that is because the wires in my headphones always get partially broken after a few months and so I end up with only one channel. And the cheap Bluetooth earbuds I had which were great for several months eventually went to a single channel also for some reason.
If that happens again, $5 is no big deal to get more. Assuming I can find those cheap earbuds again.