Thanks for nothing, Sony. (WH1000-XM5)
Built to Fail: The story of 21st century consumer technology.
Absolutely. Added to that, they seem to be actively ruining their headphones with software updates as well. My XM5’s randomly turned off every few hours and thanks to a Chinese hacker I was able to downgrade the software - guess what, the problem went away.
They’re either doing this deliberately so you buy the latest model or their development team is utterly incompetent.
Maybe they vibe coded the driver. :-D
Yeah, several years back I had a pair of the Sony earbuds that I bought refurbished off of eBay. A firmware update borked the battery in one of the buds and Sony was replacing them free of charge, but since mine weren’t bought new and weren’t from an actual store, they told me to screw off, so I did and haven’t been back. Before Sony ruined them they were really nice buds, but I’m not trusting them with my money anymore since they have proven a willingness to unilaterally decommission their devices.
Built to Fail*
*after 3 years, when mandatory warranty expires in the EU.
I’m a little biased as I work for Bose but we still use a metal yoke and hinge.My broken QuietComfort headphones with the plastic earcup hinges would like to have a word…
I love my Bose headphones but man, don’t ever dare dropping them on the floor by mistake, they will shatter on the first hit.
To be fair in the past when this happened you could bring the broken pair in store to get a replacement or upgrade at a good price, but I hear the policy was abused too much so it was retired many years ago.
Heyo. Does Bose offer 3dprinting files to fix it’s gear? Please convince them to, I have been looking for a brand that is willing to support buy it for life and right to repair.
I am using Sony xm4s and the build quality is terrible on the hinges so I am expecting to have to replace them and Bose is a good brand that I might be interested in if they have something comparable to the ones I’m using in the same ish price range.
I found a 3d printing file to fix my current headset but Im not sure if I can flip it and print the other side now or if that will work.
Anyways if they don’t I would absolutely love it if you could convince them to lol
Will admit the hinges on my QC ultra headphones have been pretty good.
The things that annoy me about them are:
Unable to switch off noise cancellation
The earphone cushions fell apart after 6 months
Custom button action can’t toggle an aware mode
On head play pause was buggy enough to turn the feature off
They semi regularly decide to reboot in the middle of calls and meetings
I’m assuming you are retail and not on the design / software side of things but if you have any power to pass the feedback up the chain plz do ❤️
I guess the quality has gone down because my Bose 700s don’t have any of those issues besides the ear pads degrading about every 2 years.
Yep, I came from QC 35 IIs and everything but the noise cancelling quality has felt the same or a downgrade 😔
The only shitty thing about the 700s is the battery life. At best I get is 12 hours probably.
Check Ali for replacement cushions!
Unfortunately be aware that there are 2 types of cheap replacements, some are identical to the real thing and some are really cheap foam that is nowhere as comfortable. I don’t know how to tell the difference without ordering…
Make them so you can use ANC wall powered even if the battery dies. Some of us don’t destroy our headphones and want them to last and not be disposable.
Stop making headphones so they only last 5-10 years.
I quite like that design, but it’s just a little too floppy. Would be nice to have a bit of resistance so it’s not clanging around when carried
My Bose headphones didn’t break, but they looked awful after two years of usage, like garbage. So I decided to buy a Sony… Sony broke after one year after they fell off the bed (cheap headphones would survive this without a scratch, but those were expensive)
This is the second time these broke on my WH1000-XM5’s. At least they’re easily replacable by just removing a few screws and dropping in a new one.
Compared to that, this bad boy is over 30 years old and never broke once - thanks to a headband which is made out of metal. Despite that, it’s even more comfortable than Sony’s modern one:
Those are over 30 years old???
I have a pair of AKG 240 of the same age if not a bit older that have seen plenty of other headphones come and go. Not the best headphones in any other categories but damn the most reliable and durable of studio cans ever built.
How did the arm break? I have a pair that’s a year old, I’ve been tossing them in a bag with other bulky items and generally not being too gentle with them so your post has me worried.
I just put them on my head and it made “crack”. You have to slightly flex the headband every time when putting the headphones on your ears, and I guess doing this for a few hundred times weakens the plastic to the point where it just gives up.
Planned obsolescence
Sony parts prices are insane. The urethane pleather on my headband started cracking on my xm4’s. A replacement headband was half the price of a new unit. So I ended up getting a silicone cover that will hopefully keep the pieces from flaking off into my hair. I also needed new earpads. Oem pads were around $40 for EACH side. The pleather just has a certain degradation time and once it hits, it all falls apart at the same time. Replacing all the pleather parts on my unit would have cost just as much as a new headset.
I hate having something designed to be somewhat repairable but practically speaking it isn’t due to pricing.
Wicked cushions had some good replacement parts for xm4s. I bought a couple replacements from them. They had really good customer service when I had a bad clip on one or the earpads too.
I paid 30$CAD 2 years ago for mine. The Sony OEM ones are very comfortable but they compress quickly imo. My ears are a little angled so they are always pinching when the OEM pads compressed too much. The wicked cushions ones I got are a bit taller to start off with and haven’t had a single problem with them compressing so far. Only bought the second set of pads because I wanted a different colour.
I will buy more from them when I get a new headset. Stupid hinges on xm4s
My brother got me an audio technica ATH-M30 in 2011. This before they even had the 30x. I’ve easily put 12k hours in em, just needed to change the ear cups. I drop them all them time from desk height too.
Every few years I’ve thought about upgrading for better quality but they get the job done well enough that I never pull the trigger. It’s a consumers dream
The Audio-Technica ATH-M line are quite sturdy, I’ve never really seen them break. The same goes for the Beyerdynamic DT-770-880/990 lines. And both companies sell replacement parts at decent prices in my experience for those rare times when sometime could break.
At least they were probably expensive.
250€ 🫠
Similar vibe… whatever that shitty material that they put on the top padded band and foam ear coverings that starts to crack and flake off on my bald head making me look like I have a skin disorder. I’ve had headphones ranging in price from $30 to $300 and they all do it.
It’s called “protein leather” and it’s the worst shit ever
If this comment saves only one person from wasting their money, it is worth it:
Do not buy Focal Bathys.
The build quality is super cheap, mine broke not even two years after purchase. The plastic surrounding the metal bits that connect the central part to the ear pads will break sooner or later.
I have templates for metal parts you can cut and bend with hand tools and a cheap dremel. I can send it to you if you want.
My XM4s are still holding up after 3 years and are definitely beefier than this.
XM2 going on 6 years and multiple hours every day. Ear pads replaced like twice.
I’ve had to replace under warranty my xm4s and would never recommend them after my second pair that I cant get replaced now broke in the same way. The hinges are complete crap and I get feedback if it’s too cold on noise cancelling which might have given me hearing loss my right ear.
They sound great but for 500 fucking dollars I don’t recommend them if you want to keep using them daily and have them forever
I brought these on sale recently. Learned about the shitty hinge quality afterwords… For what its worth, I found this repair kit from centralsound.co, and its a solid reinforcement option. It works even on a fully broken hinge like yours. Sucks to pay an additional $40 for “premium” headphones to ensure they last beyond the warranty, but here we are…
Ok I don’t want to start a fight…
But if someone wants to buy a new pair of headphones with mic for that one gaming night of the week. And dont care about the rgb and other gimmicks. What should they buy?
Ofc asking for a friend here.
A good pear of over the head headphones and a modmic.
I’m a big fan of a modmic on a pair of jvc ha-rx700.
Could a good apple of in ears work?
Mod mic is a stick on mic so you wouldn’t have anywhere to stick it.
If you wear glasses you could try sticking the magnet to those I guess?
Saying so I had one of the original mod mics and it was great while it lasted, but I found the cable was damaged pretty easily which ended up with it in the bin.
They do have a wireless version with its own dongle, decent bit of kit despite the micro USB charging lol.
Probably not the best, bit I do like these for that situation.
Bought them on a whim without much thought because I couldn’t get my really nice wireless headphones to work with older games. These work with anything because they are wired. Also the little bits like the soft strap make them comfy to wear.
Plain, basic, cheap.
That just looks like a terrible design. The background joint looks as if all the pressure of the ear cup is pressing outward on that exact spot where the foreground joint broke since it’s at that weird angle with no other support.
Just had the same problem with my LucidSound LS45 … the headband is metal, I saw the recommendation to get them in one of those “buy it for life” threads so I did …
Turns out that the end caps of the headband are plastic and prone to breaking … I was able to save them by buying a non working “parts only” set on eBay and replacing the parts
This thing has been with me for 8 years and counting … they’ve been along for 3 motherboards, 2 cars and 6 girlfriends LOL
