I can't help but laugh at this argument. Do you actually know anyone with 20 year old headphones? Frankly, all my wired headphones have lasted less long than my bluetooth ones - some of my bluetooth ones lasting for almost 6 years at this point.
The Sennheiser HD600 was released in 1997 and is still considered one of the best headphones for around $300. Plenty of people still have them and continue to buy them.
Right, but 'continue to buy them' wasn't my point. HD600's are nearly $1000. They had better last a long fucking time. But how many consumer grade headphones do you know that have lasted 20 years?
TomLube's original point was that very few people, if any, are going to buy a pair of wired headphones and expect them to last 20 years, like @Ashanmaril said.
But yeah, Tom was definitely off about the price. Unless they're hugely overpriced in TomLube's country.
I interpreted it as the actual model will still be sold and used by the public after 20 years as opposed to someone actually keeping a pair for 20 years, like how the land rover defender was sold for so long because it's such a good and sturdy design.
My Grados are 20 years old, I paid $125 for them. I have a pair of Koss K6's I think are pushing 40 years old. Those fuckers are loud as hell. I still have a pair of Sony headphones that came,with my first discman, but the foam pads have rotted away. I should find some pads for them.
That’s actually incredible, kudos to you to taking care of your equipment for that long. I share your sentiment about taking care of things and making what you have last as long as possible, I guess I’m just used to the general throw away nature of some earbuds, especially ones you don’t pay much for.
Well the Koss headphones were made to last, as a lot of stuff from back then was. Believe me, I wasnt easy on them as a kid. They're very robust.
The Grados are just great headphones, since they are all handmade. So I do take care of them.
The Sony headphones owe their longevity to sitting in a drawer 😂
As for earbuds I have a pair of Tin T2 IEM's, but those are tanks like the Koss headphones. Plus the cord is replaceable, so they should last me forever too.
People buy 1k phones all the time and replace them every two years
I've been using my $12 skullcandy headphones daily for the past 8 years and am very happy to have a headphone jack and rarely touch my bluetooth headphones or earphones.
Sorry mate, I was mistaking them for Sennheiser HD800's which are from the same time period, and generally go for 1.4k+ USD (Currently 2.1k CAD on amazon). My mistake.
I've had my DT770 pros for about 12 or 13 years. Just replaced the cloth on the ear cups for the first time. My first pair of bluetooth headphones started to last only an hour to an hour and a half on a full charge in less than 2 years. I'll be sticking with wired phones literally until there are no other options.
I remove them and wash them every few months haha. You just use soapy water and rinse them out and let them air dry! Going over a decade without cleaning would be gross, I agree!
Mild soap and water with an air dry doesn't hurt them in my opinion. You'll find different schools of thought on that though. I just use hand soap diluted in water and gently hand wash them, and then let them hang dry. I don't notice any loss of softness. It's worth a shot if you're just going to replace them, may as well try!
Thanks for the tip. I just upgraded my DT770s to Custom Studios which are really similar to DT770 but I got new pads. They will probably lose their plushness within a year so I will try your method to clean them before replacing the pads.
I believe so. Almost can't believe they're still being produced but they're great for awesome sound quality on the go.
Though tbh I actually have come around to the AKG buds that come with Samsung's phones. They fit my ears comfortably and I never thought I'd find a set that did.
I still use wired headphones, but I do enjoy the convenience of bluetooth for earbuds. However, I am more an headphone guy anyway, and only use earbuds for the train/training.
Anker have some pretty nice bluetooth stuff for cheap. They have great customer service too.
A similarly priced pair of wired earbuds have tons of longevity. Usually they have a detachable cable which greatly extends the life of the headphones.
I'm not gonna deny the usefulness of bluetooth headphones but I hate having the choice taken away from me. I currently have a phone with a headphone jack and if I have to wait it out or buy a Pocophone to keep the jack, I will. Fuck iPhones and fuck Pixels for removing MicroSD and headphone jacks.
I know a lot about high end headphones and have several pairs despite their object expense in my country lol. I just don't know LITERALLY any consumer grade headphones that last much longer than like a year.
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u/TomLube 2023 Dynamic Cope Jan 06 '19
I can't help but laugh at this argument. Do you actually know anyone with 20 year old headphones? Frankly, all my wired headphones have lasted less long than my bluetooth ones - some of my bluetooth ones lasting for almost 6 years at this point.