Headphone/earphone rubber decay

Submitted by G-H-O-S-T t3_11cgr16 in headphones

i have these AKG earphones that came with my note 10, i had them stashed in my backpack for a few years and used them no more than 4 times around 2020 (i had another one)

anyway, i just took them out and for some reason i found the rubber on the back of the ear pieces "decaying", as pictured: https://i.imgur.com/KwsznJ4.jpg

is this normal?

when i saw this i remembered also my headsets, all of which would have the rubber dying out 1-2 years after use, and i tried many (3 different ones sony 5 total, 2 different ones hyperx 3 total)

honestly im starting to hate the whole thing

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IMKGI t1_ja337gg wrote

Those headphones are usually made out of the cheapest materials known to man, the key to get a headphone to last long is to buy the right model and to take care of it, anything from your usual consumer brands like HyperX, Sony, Bose etc... or stuff with a Battery in it is likely do die early, headphones from a quality brand like Sennheiser can last upwards of 10 years, of course at the end of the day it's still the end user whos responsible for taking care of the product

When it comes to earpads or headbands, stay as far away as possible from that cheap vegan plastic piece of shit leather and only stick to the real quality stuff (honestly stay away from vegan products in general), velour is also a great option, anything that isn't real leather or Velour is a mistake to purchase

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G-H-O-S-T OP t1_ja38313 wrote

for the earphone i suspected it had to do with the whole biodegradability but i didnt expect it to degrade so quickly.. 4 years tops isnt really a good life for a quality product.

i once thought about getting a sennheiser but i wasnt paying around ~$200 for something that could peel/degrade after 2 years when i had the same experience 6 times before for cheaper.

any specific model? im willing to research at least.

i like to think i take good care of my stuff so not sure what more i can do

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IMKGI t1_ja38vck wrote

It really depends what you are looking for, if you want something to use at your PC at home i can vouch for the quality of the HD600 and HD800S, i haven't owned other headphones form them, so it's best to go to r/HeadphoneAdvice or the daily question thread and ask for purchase advice there

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G-H-O-S-T OP t1_ja3jwgz wrote

holy shit $1600? lol and i thought momentum was expensive

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Miller_TM t1_ja6a1zb wrote

Honestly if you want good budget in-ears just get Truthear Hola for 20$ or Truthear Zero for 50$.

No need to drop 500$ on headphones if something low tier like AKG buds lasted you that long lol

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DavePrivee t1_ja3yt8i wrote

Yes. Everything decays, some things faster than others. Did you gently wipe that with microfiber?

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GamePro201X t1_ja5y9ez wrote

yes cheap rubber can melt over time

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PhantasmaStriker t1_ja9on5f wrote

This is why I hate rubber coated electronics.

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