What do you do when your headphones die?

dj_stick

Now i'm not talking about cheap earbuds, as you'd most likely replace them, but i'm talking about quality over-the-head cans.

Do you replace them, send them away to get fixed, fix them yourselves?

I got thinking on this topic earlier in the week.

I had a nice pair of Sony MDR-V6 studio monitors, cost about AU$200 excellent frequency response for production/mixing, but the wires around the jack had started to tear, giving scratchy sounds each time the cable was moved, and i ended up losing one channel entirely.

I did end up purchasing a more expensive pair of headphones, Sennheiser HD 25-1, much stronger bass response, but lacked the mid-range clarity that made the Sony's perfect for production.

So earlier in the week i decided to break out my soldering iron and replace the entire cable for my Sony cans, and it actually worked, so now i have two pairs of studio quality headphones, both of which i can use as a reference during production to make sure my tracks sound great on both pairs, plus my studio monitors.

I'm interested to see if anyone else here has a similiar story

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Necrosis

I've been fixing my cans since my early teens with a high success rate. Though I wish everyone had pluggable cables.

Maddogg6

Ive fixed prolly a dozen headphones by only replacing the plug - that tends to be the wire entering those molded ones 'weak spot'... ??? tho its mostly the cheapos.
I just had to do that a month ago with mine actually.

kris23

try to fix them then burn them cuz it makes me feel better

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dj_stick

i'm pretty sure that's where mine was damaged, just above the strain relief heatshrink, but the wires in the cable were so thin, i didn't expect to be able to solder them without burning, so i replaced the entire cable (plus the 3m coiled cable was starting to annoy me, kept getting in the way)

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H3X4D3C1M4L

I usually do the soldering myself and if I bugger it up too much I replace it with something better.

That's being handy with a soldering iron though, and naturally curious.

dj_stick

ok well i had to replace a cable on my Sonys again, but this time i snapped the cable going from on ear cup to the other, through the headband (which is sewed together)

i used a power drill to widen the cable holes, and electrical tape to tape the new cable to the back of the headband and of course a soldering iron to attach the new cables.





i think these cans are staying in my studio now, i'll use my HD 25s on the go

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orogenicman

It's a pretty basic fix that anyone should be able to do.