Thanks for nothing, Sony. (WH1000-XM5)
So frustrating when an otherwise good product has an Achilles’ heel. Is this bad design an oversight to save cost or intentional to limit its service life?
/don’t know if this particular product is “otherwise good”, speaking more generally
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…
Took me a long time to find decent headphones that last long.
I’ve tried several times with beyerdynamic, my DT 880 lasted for quite a while, but then got issues. I sent the DT 990 and the DT 1990 PRO back, they both lost audio on one side after a few weeks. I totally gave up on headsets (with a microphone), they are always shoddy quality wise and either the mute button breaks or one side gives out… or the headband snaps.
I’ve had the Sennheiser HD 660 S for 5 years now and the best thing about it: The cable goes to both sides. So when the cable finally broke on one side I could simply replace it for 15€. It’s also much easier to switch out the earpads, they just click in. Compared to the DT 880 where it feels like you’re going to tear something and you have to stretch the thing onto the plastic.
If you’re in the market for open back, fiio jt7. Quite cheap and the sound quality is great. Build is also insane for the price
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.
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
I have the M50 and its also still working, no problems. Also test winner in audio tests.
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.
But if they sold you a pair that lasted for decades, you wouldn’t need to buy any more.
I’ve moved onto earbuds. Earfun Air for a staggering £22. The sound genuinely isn’t bad either, I’ve no idea how you can even make them for that. Slavery, probably. Still, £22 is £22.
The expensive ones are also made with slavery, they just charge you more for the branding.
At least they were probably expensive.
250€ 🫠
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.
Would love to see a picture of the metal headphones
I gave my old WH1000XM2’s away to family because it was sitting in a drawer after I bought the xm4, both still work like a charm and the xm2 only has a slightly reduced battery even after being used for 6+ hours daily for years. I don’t know what the quality of the newer ones are, but the older ones are build to keep working. The noise-cancelling is the best one on the market for over ear headphones, the Bose ones put pressure on your ears which is really uncomfortable even after a few minutes (at least for me).
I may get the ire of some for this but don’t buy Sony headphones. Sony has a lot of good products, but their headphones are overpriced garbage. It may be very subjective, but never once have I listened to Sony and thought I like the music out of them. In the cheap range they’re outclassed by Philips, in a bit pricier by Sennheiser and JBL. I’ve had my JBL Live 770 for over 2 years now, and I only need to get replacement pads, same with my 6 year old pair of Sennheiser 4.40HD. Also metal hinges.
Sony used to make some really awesome high end headphones (like the Qualia 010 MDR-1 or MDR-R10), while were definitely overpriced (IMO), they were definitely not garbage. They do still make at least one actual high end non-garbage headphone (MDR-Z1R) it is for sure overpriced. I don’t think it’s garbage.
Also, few sane people are buying them, so I doubt they’ll last.
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
I’m a little biased as I work for Bose but we still use a metal yoke and hinge.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)
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.
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 ❤️
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…
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.
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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
I have been looking for a brand that is willing to support buy it for life and right to repair
I have headphones from Meze (Massdrop X Meze 99 Noir) and my understanding is that they don’t use glue in the constructrion of their headphones but everything is held on by screws so that it can be repaired if necessary. I however don’t know where you can get the actual spare parts for them - I’m assuming you need to contact Meze directly for that.
Edit:
If you’re looking for a specific part and can’t find it, just let our Customer Support team know. You can email us at support@mezeaudio.com, and we’ll be happy to help you.
Hey thanks for sharing I will go check out the link. (And thank you for the link too!)
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
Built to Fail: The story of 21st century consumer technology.
Built to Fail*
*after 3 years, when mandatory warranty expires in the EU.
Especially if you look at the Samsung Fold/Flip-phones, god damn do they break. And they’re not cheap.
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.
This shit right here is why I don’t let working stuff update anymore. I shouldn’t be sweating if the software update I’m downloading is going to make my life worse or not.
It’s a dangerous position to put people in: run vulnerable software or we will break your device. No one should have to choose between breaking their TV via update or staying on an insecure OS version and getting hacked.
In a functioning economy, the consumer goal of not getting hacked and having a functional device would be shared by the consumer AND the manufacturer.
They’re either doing this deliberately so you buy the latest model or their development team is utterly incompetent.
I’m gonna choose Door Number 1, Monty…
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:
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.
Those are over 30 years old???
Yeah dude if they’re 30 years old I feel like 2 “easy” replacements is … good.
The good ones are 30 years old. The one they needed to fix is the sony one, which was not specified how old but “modern” implies not very.
Yeah well what if I can’t read?
Yeah WH1000XMs are a very popular bang for buck wireless set. 5 is the latest.
That said, I have 2s that still go strong besides the battery. 4s going strong for a few years. Partner has had 5s for a while, no issues. All plastic hinges.
Not sure what OP is doing. Seems like a difficult part of the headset to break.
5 has notoriously bad hinges
5 isn’t the latest, the 6 is out
Not sure what OP is doing.
Nothing special, I just wear them every day and I have a regular-sized head. I also have XM2’s which still work, they have a more sturdy hinge design. Sony cost-optimized their latest models too much, the headband is much thinner than on the XM2’s as well, which puts more pressure on my head and makes them slightly more uncomfortable. I can only suspect they did that so they have to mold less plastic and save a few cents on each model…
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.
The older headphones there don’t look like you can rotate the pads, yeah? I mean, it’s that rotating hinge which failed here.
I guess one could say “well, I don’t want headphones with rotating pads”, but it’s that rotation that lets the XM5 headphones fit into a fairly-flat carrying case.
I will say, though, that the XM5s probably weren’t going to last over 30 years, if for no other reason than because they use an internal battery…
On their older models, they had a different design and you could fold the earcups inwards. It was a really useful feature, they easily fit into a small bag. The newer ones can’t do that anymore and come with an extremely large carrying case. Sony has really lost the plot, but they still have excellent noise cancelling (the main reason for me buying them).
But that’s gonna be my last model now.
Planned obsolescence
