Earphones

anotheruser

I have a whole host of earphones like these:



Sooner or later though, one ear bus goes really quiet, almost that I can't hear it with the volume turned right up. It sort of blocks out ALL sound - even from the phones themselves. I put the phone in the other ear and it makes no difference.

My ears are generally clean of wax but I am thinking this is just a build up that has covered the speaker/tweeter. I did take them off once and clean them, but it seems not to have made a difference.

I do a fair bit of in-ear monitoring and studio work so I could do with something a little reliable.

1) Can anyone recommend any better phones I can use?

2) Has anyone else discovered what this problem may be?

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Not the apple pods. How the heck do you keep from falling out every 2 seconds?

fleshandbone

use headphones instead

stator

I use clip over the ear type headphones pretty heavily.
The only ones I would recommend are these:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sennheiser-omx185-sports-earphones-a95lh?cmpid=ppc&gclid=CLGnjMzohNACFawp0wod_x0H2A
One pair of those lasted me over a year, which is unheard of for me. I've tried all sorts of JVC/Philips/Samsung etc and they all wore out within months.

Heedtheadvice

I do a fair bit of in-ear monitoring and studio work so I could do with something a little reliable.

1) Can anyone recommend any better phones I can use?

2) Has anyone else discovered what this problem may be?

Well now, perhaps you need to give a bit more info? Do you only want in ear phones? Considering you say you do a lot of studio work can you clarify -professionally? As a musician? What is your needs, to check recording quality or use to get feedback whilst playing dubbing or use for mixing?

Not sure what make model you currently show but the in ear phones can be less reliable as they often have lighter cable that gets flexed a lot, damaged and difficult or impossible to repair. On or over earphones can often be repaired. I guess it is a cable fault but might be easily repairable if the damage is at the connector end.

Unless you are specifically against them on or over ear styles might be better. Over ear closed back ones are usually better at excluding external noise, open back ones better at giving good spacial stereo image (within price ranges).

Do you want a quality sound that can be used as a studio reference, ones that just sound good and natural, or DJ or bass emphasis ones, those that look fashionably cool, unobtrusive ones (I.e. in ear) etc. etc.

Sennheiser, AKG, Audio Technica (and others) tend to be market leaders for sound quality (but lots of variations within range choice) and some popular makes are poor.

You do not mention a budget and that also is of course important £20, £200, £2000 ? Several can be picked up on well known auction sites with good condition ones less than half new prices and some going for silly money too!

fleshandbone

I agree with the above mentioned high end brands.

bluesnake

Before throwing them away, take off the rubber caps, an you are left with a short straw like tube which is often covered. Scrape the gunk of this covering with a toothbrush.

Now put this bud in to hot water (not boiling), and shake it and bang it on the bottom of the glass to get the air out and let water in. Let it soak for 10mins, the remove it from the water and knock it on toilet paper to get the water out. Do this procedure 2 more times before letting it dry.

One word of note is the the metal or plastic screen covering the hole often come loose and fall into the glass. These can be glued back on.

I have never had to play bass music to get things moving on the inside, but it had never really been that stuck after either.

Someone will probably say that it is best to use distilled water, bur so far 3 out of three times it has worked for me.

googler

Get a proper pair of on-ear headphones, from the likes of Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Beyer, AKG, Koss, etc

Look in the monthly studio sound magazines for pointers.

anotheruser

bluesnake wrote: »

Now put this bud in to hot water (not boiling)...

So put the whole earphone bud in water?!

I suppose if it dries out properly, it'll still work with the signal down the wire...

googler

Vanished wrote: »

I've yet to buy a pair of earphones/headphones that doesn't lose sound on one side.

I've bought almost every brand too. Super annoying

I've got a pair of Sennheisers that I bought in the mid/late 1970s, and a pair of Beyer Dynamics that my dad bought shortly after, and they're both still working fine.

What on earth are you doing to yours?

bluesnake

anotheruser wrote: »

So put the whole earphone bud in water?!

I suppose if it dries out properly, it'll still work with the signal down the wire...

Yes, the whole ear piece. They are already virtually unusable, so you do not have much to loose

Often the cause is a very small clearance between the magnet and the coil, and if this gets obstructed, by wax or pocket fibre or dust then it does not move as freely.

The trick is getting hot water into the earpiece, then getting the water out again.

The wire coil inside are coated with with an insulating medium which is usually not water soluble, but it will break down when heated, however hot water is not hot enough to damage the insulation.

If the diaphragm or wiring has gone then this obviously will not help.

The phone/player voltages involved are low, and chemicals in the water will provide a negligible resistance, so even if a bit of water is left then it should work, but the water if not removed will probably eventually cause corrosion due to dissimilar metals and electrolysis.

If things fall apart, the super glue rubbed on a pin (not a great big drop on the end) and then use the pin to coat those parts.

I get about 3 water dowsing then the cable breaks shortly after - all die to being in my pocket with keys and change.