12 November 2013

Headphone repair in Canberra?

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Rioters,

I have a decent pair of headphones (earbuds) that have served me well for the last couple of years. Sadly the right hand speaker has decided it has had enough and is no longer working.

Rather than fork out for a new pair, I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction of somewhere local I could get them repaired.

Google has thrown up a few places in Sydney and also Brooklyn, but I would really prefer somewhere local.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

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TheBusDriver said :

Buy a new pair at K-mart for $10.
Stop posting silly questions on the Riot Act.
There we go, some suggestions as requested.

Dude, all the OP is asking is if there’s a way to fix a consumer item he’s purchased, rather than tossing it as is the contemporary habit. No need to have a go at them for that.

Now unfortunately with ear buds unless it’s a wiring thing that you can DIY, it’s probably not worth fixing, though if we’re talking some more pricey Shure phones or the like, maybe it would be worth the dollars to try fixing. Otherwise, head into JB and pick up a decent brand, last pair I got for street use were Sennheiser MX 365, 2 yr warranty and only $26 from JB (prefer Senns for their natural sound, so if you’re into heavy bass check other brands). Not as good as the Shure or Senn HD full size pairs I use in the office but feel tough, good sound.

TheBusDriver said :

Oh, before you go bungee jumping, always go to the toilet first.
Are you sure you’ll appreciate any suggestions? If it was me I’d apreciate helpful ones about ear plugs, but since you said “Any suggestions would be appreciated.” I’ll leep them coming.
Always be nice to your mother. That’s a great suggestion.
Don’t go shopping on an empty tummy.

Don’t eat yellow snow.

TheBusDriver8:10 pm 13 Nov 13

Oh, before you go bungee jumping, always go to the toilet first.
Are you sure you’ll appreciate any suggestions? If it was me I’d apreciate helpful ones about ear plugs, but since you said “Any suggestions would be appreciated.” I’ll leep them coming.
Always be nice to your mother. That’s a great suggestion.
Don’t go shopping on an empty tummy.

TheBusDriver8:05 pm 13 Nov 13

Buy a new pair at K-mart for $10.
Stop posting silly questions on the Riot Act.
There we go, some suggestions as requested.

watto23 said :

I’m not sure how much the OP paid for them, but you can actually pay well over $1k for a pair of the top of the line earbuds.

Perfect for listening to ‘tunes while walking across a bridge I have for sale.

Thanks for the suggestions, looks like I may just bite the bullet and get a new pair.

I’m not sure how much the OP paid for them, but you can actually pay well over $1k for a pair of the top of the line earbuds. I struggle with paying $400 for decent noise cancelling headphones, so instead paid the $40 for the Aldi pair and queued up with all the other males aged between 20-50 last week to get a pair! Almost rivalled an apple store queue.

Like anything in life you can get something that is 90-95% as good as the best for say 10-20% of the price. The extra quality send the prices skyrocketing and whether you can actually tell is always debatable.

arescarti42 said :

A cheap soldering iron, solder and a new plug should cost less than $20 from somewhere like Jaycar.

And the skills to do a decent job?

Replace them, most electronic components these days are not designed to be repaired. Assuming you can find a person who would repair them, chances are any repair would only be temporary, and cost as much as simply purchasing a new decent set.

They aren’t designed to be repaired – just replace them.

Even replacing the plug would be difficult as the wires are usually braided with nylon threads for strength, making soldering very difficult. Plus, the after-market plugs from places like Jaycar are complete trash, so the problem would likely reoccur after a few weeks.

Besides all of that, if it only takes 30 minutes for a professional to repair them then it will easily cost $50 or more, which is the price of a really decent set of earbuds.

Try duratone hi fi

Mess said :

Don’t have a soldering iron unfortunately. May have to look at getting some new ones if nowhere around town can do that sort of thing.

A cheap soldering iron, solder and a new plug should cost less than $20 from somewhere like Jaycar.

Whether or not you should go down that path depends on how much the headphones will cost to replace, and whether you’re inclined to that sort of thing.

Personally, I tend to break my headphones a couple of times a year, so even with pretty cheap headphones, the soldering iron was a good investment.

Instant Mash7:23 pm 12 Nov 13

I can almost guarantee that it would be more economical to just buy a new pair. You’d be looking at over fifty bucks for repair. That’s why if it were under warranty the store would just replace them.

Don’t have a soldering iron unfortunately. May have to look at getting some new ones if nowhere around town can do that sort of thing.

I bought a decent basic set of Philips ones for 18 bucks a few years ago, and they sound pretty good.

The reject shop . 2 bucks , or 5 for fancy ones.

arescarti42 said :

More often than not what happens with earbuds is the headphone wire breaks either inside the 3.5mm jack or close to it. If you’re reasonably handy (or know someone who is), getting a new jack and wiring it up isn’t particularly difficult or expensive.

That’s been the case for me many times. Occasionally the wire has come loose in the bud, but I’ve usually only had to solder on a new plug. Especially for my children who just won’t understand that tying knots in the cord is really not good practice.

It depends what’s wrong with them.

If the speaker in it has actually died, the difficulty in pulling apart the tiny earbud and sourcing a replacement speaker will almost guarantee that they’ll be more expensive to have repaired than replaced (assuming you can find someone to do it).

More often than not what happens with earbuds is the headphone wire breaks either inside the 3.5mm jack or close to it. If you’re reasonably handy (or know someone who is), getting a new jack and wiring it up isn’t particularly difficult or expensive.

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