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You could probably recable it then. Grab a new cable, soldering iron, solder, and jack, and go for it. Just be careful not to apply too much heat too long, since you don't want to overheat the drivers.
Or if it's really just the connection on the jack side, maybe some wires are frayed there? You could just cut open the cable around the jack, strip the wires around the jack, and solder the headphones side of the cable to the jack. (You wouldn't need a new jack or cable this way...though of course you'd be shortening the cable slightly by cutting a piece out and stitching it back together like that.)
edit: I skipped some obvious steps of reinsulating bare wires, but hopefully you get the idea. If wire is broken, join the wire back together -> done.
It's definitely not worth getting new headphones if you like those aside from them not working. Even if you have to pay somebody else to fix it, a < 5 minutes operation shouldn't cost as much as new headphones, seriously.
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i think i technically could perform this repair apart from the fact i dont have a soldering iron :p.. but you convinced me thst someone prolly can do it for cheap. thx guys im gonna try it!
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speaking of repairs, do you guys know if repairing the jack on earbuds is worthwhile? they were 200 dollars, bought on sale because of some kindly soul on this thread mentioning it, probably not worth repurchasing.
if the model is helpful, i can look it up. but from what it seems only the end has broken off. apparently some fat lady that my bro was sitting next to on a plane sat on it and broke it while he was sleeping, so he wasn't even sure if he should approach her because he was sleeping at the time t-t
thinking of it im not sure if i even have the same jack, is a repair even possible if i get another off a different pair of headphones?
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On November 06 2011 04:09 B.I.G. wrote:
i think i technically could perform this repair apart from the fact i dont have a soldering iron :p.. but you convinced me thst someone prolly can do it for cheap. thx guys im gonna try it!
For this kind of easy connection, cheapest $8 iron at Walmart or whatever is probably okay. I can't remember ever trying to repair headphone cables, but heatshrink for insulation may be a good idea as well. If it's a short section and you don't care how it looks (or how it holds up over time), electrical tape is your friend.
On November 06 2011 04:34 Navi wrote:
speaking of repairs, do you guys know if repairing the jack on earbuds is worthwhile? they were 200 dollars, bought on sale because of some kindly soul on this thread mentioning it, probably not worth repurchasing.
if the model is helpful, i can look it up. but from what it seems only the end has broken off. apparently some fat lady that my bro was sitting next to on a plane sat on it and broke it while he was sleeping, so he wasn't even sure if he should approach her because he was sleeping at the time t-t
thinking of it im not sure if i even have the same jack, is a repair even possible if i get another off a different pair of headphones?
Jack and cable make negligible difference: any is okay as long as it is sturdy enough and plugs in securely. There's nothing magic in which they used or its shape, so using whatever for a repair is probably okay.
You can buy jacks of all different sizes and shapes: I, J, or L-plug. Adequate strain relief is a good idea, so the wire does not hopefully fray or break after being repeatedly bent or sat on.
The jack and cable are just hunks of metal that conduct audio-frequency signals (electricity) to the headphone drivers and back. Nothing special.
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alright, thanks!
I'm guessing best buy and the like wouldn't be able to do repairs, so is this something that i should look up how to do with a friend that has a workshop or are there any big name stores that can do these kinds of repairs? I don't have any tools at my house, so :o
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hey
ive been looking for a set of headphones for a while. i went to best buy to try them on (without intent of actually buying them THERE) since one of the biggest things for me is that the headphones need to not give me an earache. i wear glasses, so prolonged use with most headphones generally starts to hurt, which ruins them for me.
but i found the bose ae2. best buy sells for $150 -- i can probably find online for $125. but my question is this
i am a complete headphones noob. is there something better i can get for this price that has THE SAME ear padding/lightweight style as the bose ae2? is bose a good company otherwise?
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On November 06 2011 07:01 annul wrote:
hey
ive been looking for a set of headphones for a while. i went to best buy to try them on (without intent of actually buying them THERE) since one of the biggest things for me is that the headphones need to not give me an earache. i wear glasses, so prolonged use with most headphones generally starts to hurt, which ruins them for me.
but i found the bose ae2. best buy sells for $150 -- i can probably find online for $125. but my question is this
i am a complete headphones noob. is there something better i can get for this price that has THE SAME ear padding/lightweight style as the bose ae2? is bose a good company otherwise?
I'm not sure about alternatives that are as comfortable, but a lot of the time with decent headphones there's the option of ordering better ear padding and replacing the original stuff. The reason I say this is because bose are generally thought to be somewhat overpriced for the sound you're getting. I haven't actually heard those though so if you like them it might be a good option.
But have you considered some decent inears?
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i cannot wear in-ears. they are extremely uncomfortable to me.
but yeah, i want as many opinions as i can get, please. =)
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just got a pair of these, lovin them.
![[image loading]](http://fakeheadphones.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/shure-e2g.png)
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United States4109 Posts
Happy Birthday Myrmidon~
On November 06 2011 15:13 annul wrote:
i cannot wear in-ears. they are extremely uncomfortable to me.
but yeah, i want as many opinions as i can get, please. =)
Hm so is comfort your main priority?
I have not heard about Bose AE2, but couple other comfortable headphones are Beyerdynamic DT770 and Audio Technicia AD700
Both use Velour pads and very comfortable
They both sound very different (and the price is as well), but you could try looking them up!
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I'm trying to decide on whether or not to get an amp for my akg K-240 studios and so far I've gotten tons of varying responses.
Do you think the amp would be worth it or should I save up for a pair of nicer cans ($300-400 range) instead?
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I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's and I love em
Ear buds I just got a pair of Sennheiser CX300 II's and they are really comfortable.
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On November 07 2011 04:28 0mgVitaminE wrote:
I'm trying to decide on whether or not to get an amp for my akg K-240 studios and so far I've gotten tons of varying responses.
Do you think the amp would be worth it or should I save up for a pair of nicer cans ($300-400 range) instead?
If you don't have a dedicated DAC already, then definitely go for some kind of DAC + amp combo.
The k240s are solid headphones, and it's worth upgrading your source/amp for them imo (particularly if you're still using onboard/motherboard audio). Not sure what your budget is but the Audio-gd NFB-12 is a good bang-for-the-buck option and the Audinst HUD-mx1 is another if you want something that's more portable.
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Can someone tell me what are the "specs" that make a set of headphones good? How do you know if you're getting what you paid for?
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On November 07 2011 08:36 BlackJack wrote:
Can someone tell me what are the "specs" that make a set of headphones good? How do you know if you're getting what you paid for?
this is going to sound weird to some people, but honestly, listening to it is what tells you whether you like it or not and think its good or not. Coming out of an audio store, I've had another listener ask me to borrow my AD700's for a quick listen, when they already owned a pair of HD800's and AKG k702's. Why? Both left him feeling like he wanted more from the sound, and thats the same kind of reaction I felt from the HD800's. On the other hand, while the AD700's are definitely worse in the quality, depth categories, the sound is more full, due to the way the drivers are implemented, resulting in a more forward sound. So whilst all the specs would indicate the AD700's are less sensitive, and produce a smaller range, some people find these "good" compared to much more expensive headphones. Having said that, of course, there is general consensus about a pair of headphones, so if you cannot find a pairs of headphones you are interested in to demo, then reading those will be a good idea. Make sure you take into account what the people mainly listen to as well though. For example, i listen to predominantly piano, classical, and female vocals (kpop) so i have headphones that are "good" for mids, highs, but lack the kind of impact (but both the k702's and e-q5 do have depth) a pair of phones like grado would give you
as for getting what you paid for, this boils down to a) general consensus and b) personal feeling. Its all about cost benefit analysis: whether you believe the increase in sound quality is justified by the increase in price. Personally, i find anything over 400 is not a difference large enough to warrant spending more, but hey, people are willing to get the lcd-2's, the hd800's, the w3000x because they believe the sound is worth the price
hope that answers your questions
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You can measure different parameters of headphones sounds and conclude that headphones A has a better value of metric X than headphones B does. Whether or not that translates to you liking that headphones more, is difficult to say.
See:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads
http://www.geocities.jp/ryumatsuba/review.html
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php
edit2: manufacturers rarely publish specs that are comparable to each other (except for listed impedance and sensitivity, mostly), and the frequency range they list is meaningless. You need 3rd-party measurements on the same setup for any kind of comparison. Hence the above links.
If the distortion is lower (see THD, though there are other more relevant distortion measures), then the fidelity (defined by how closely the sound output matches the given input) is higher. Distortion will be different at different frequencies and volume levels, and different kinds of distortion are far more objectionable than others. Some people prefer having more distortion rather than less, so long as most of it is 2nd harmonic.
Even for frequency response, if you're looking for the flattest presentation, there are different ways of weighing the response and disagreements over how to process the raw data. (for example, most music is mastered using speakers placed a certain way; different frequencies decay more than others over distance, so if you're listening with headphones, with the drivers right next to your ears...how do you compensate for that?)
And obviously the durability, fit, and comfort of the headphones are hard to define and going to depend on the wearer. It's not just sonic parameters. Also note that the sonic parameters are determined with microphones placed in a dummy head, which may be shaped differently than yours, creating a small difference in the sound.
edit: btw sensitivity was brought up in the above post, but that's not a parameter that deals with sonic fidelity, just how loud the headphones are. If the sensitivity is unusually low or high, it may make the headphones more difficult to deal with. i.e. you might need a better amplifier to play them properly at normal listening levels. But that's not really what we're talking about.
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On November 07 2011 08:36 BlackJack wrote:
Can someone tell me what are the "specs" that make a set of headphones good? How do you know if you're getting what you paid for?
Headphones are so difficult to really test you just can't. Half the time just listening to something long enough will make your ears automatically adjust. IMO it's more important to look at factors like open or closed, are they durable, etc. Then pick the brand that strikes your fancy the most, and pay the amount you want to spend knowing that the difference between 200 dollars and 500 dollars and 1000 dollars is pretty small if not negligible if not truly nonexistent. I owned the HD555 for a long time, liked them, and always thought 'man, I wonder what the 650 sounds like, they must be amaazzzing.' When I first tried the HD650 (as in when I first got them) I was like 'wow this is pretty cool :o' cause sure they do sound different, but 300 dollars different, 300 dollars better? No. I can tell you this because after awhile I thought I'd give the HD555 a try and they sounded different too, to my ears... just the delight of hearing something new, not really a sense in change of quality or anything. The same happened when going from Sennheiser brand earphones to AKG... different, but eventually the brain adapts and normalizes everything. Happens with equalizers too.
So what specs should you look for? Don't really bother. Unless the frequency range is really tiny (not going to happen) or something is really off, you won't notice. Main difference between cheap phones and expensive ones is build quality/replaceable parts.
I've probably said it a lot, but audiophilia as a hobby really shouldn't be about the equipment, it should be about the recordings. Not like a 'heeeyy mannn, just listen to the muuusic' but genuinely it matters way more how something was recorded than what you're using to play it back if you have anything better than the truly shotty cheap earphones you buy for $3-20. So my advice is try not to worry about what you will hear if you spend 800 dollars or something stupid on audio equipment because it's really genuinely not worth it even if you want to brag to people about how you care a lot about the last 1% in audioquality while you listen to kpop.
/end rant.
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Sensitivity IS an important factor actually, if your headphones have low sensitivity, then not only will the headphones be soft even when you've turned the volume way up, but you will find that some elements of the music will be missing, or it will feel like there is a bit of lag, its hard to describe. i hear what youre saying about its not really the sound quality, but yeah when he was saying headphones are "good" i kind of wanted to say for just headphones have different specs and all, but it doesn't really matter. i actually made a mistake,the AD700's are more sensitive 
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I've been using Sennheiser PC350 headset for little bit over one year now and i want to buy new and better headphones but i'm not really sure what headphones would be good for me. I listen a lot of music, mostly kpop but some other genres as well. I was going to buy Sennheiser HD555 headphones but after trying i decided not do so because bass sounded weaker and not so deep than PC350's for some reason. My budget is about 200€. So is there any good headphones with as good as or better bass PC350 has but also better sound quality? Beyerdynamic DT770? Do i need headphone amp? Any recommendations? Thanks! 
EDIT: Oh yeah, i want them to be PC compatible.
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EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/resource_library/product_images/b8d5189d2453aeb7/large/ath_m50_1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www3.pcmag.com/media/images/298707-shure-se215.jpg?thumb=y)
