Hi everyone. Hope you all are doing well.
I've been stumped for a little while on what headphones to get my gf this year for the holidays. I myself am perfectly happy with my collection of wired headphones and iems. But the gf prefers wireless headphones. She wears them for most of the day, everyday. She's against wireless earbuds (which rules out something like the moondrop space travel or similar) since she will often misplace the little earbuds. The issue is that she absolutely chews through headphones and is on her second pair this year! Normally around the holidays I will buy her a set. Last year it was a pair of edifier headphones which both of the earpads had the leather tear off revealing the foam and breaking any sort of seal, and now the headband has snapped. She's got some of the cheapest JBL wireless headphones rn to tide her over till the holidays where I've promised to get her a new pair once again.
I feel awful always having to settle with what is a sub-par sound for her with these wireless options, which seem to universally have that bloated bass and shrill highs with muffled mids. She enjoys good audio and likes listen with "the nice headphones" at home with me and clearly can tell the difference.
So basically my challenge is that cheaply repairable and durable headphones just don't seem to exist in the wireless category without spending wayyyy too much. And I would hate for her to break an expensive set within months and for all my scrimping and saving to go to waste. I've recently discussed stuff like the fiio btr13 and other Bluetooth DAC/amps. And she said that if the headphones really do sound better and are durable and repairable she would consider dealing with the wired headphones and adapter setup.
So what are some truly durable and repairable headphones team! Ideally without spending heapssss as we are relatively tight on money basically always.
The only ones I can think of right now are the Sennheiser HD25. But at least in my country it seems they don't sell replacement headbands anymore?????? That's the main failure point in my case after pads. And I'm worried about the plastic snapping in the same way I've seen so many times.
Sony 7506 I would definitely need to mod with a removable cable. And frankly the treble is too shouty for our tastes.
I'm based in New Zealand so alot of the more niche stuff isn't available or doesn't make sense to ship. But I can always look into suppliers. Stuff like the AiAiAi are interesting but hard to find here. Even Koss Headphones cost like $100+ over here. I'm open to Chinese brands and ordering from aliexpress however.
Replacement parts being available cheap on aliexpress would be nice. For when we are struggling with cash but still need to repair them.
But yeah, seems like a struggle rn. I dont wanna end up with another set of edifier but it's looking like that might end up the best option. Please let me know if I'm missing anything important!
I've been stumped for a little while on what headphones to get my gf this year for the holidays. I myself am perfectly happy with my collection of wired headphones and iems. But the gf prefers wireless headphones. She wears them for most of the day, everyday. She's against wireless earbuds (which rules out something like the moondrop space travel or similar) since she will often misplace the little earbuds. The issue is that she absolutely chews through headphones and is on her second pair this year! Normally around the holidays I will buy her a set. Last year it was a pair of edifier headphones which both of the earpads had the leather tear off revealing the foam and breaking any sort of seal, and now the headband has snapped. She's got some of the cheapest JBL wireless headphones rn to tide her over till the holidays where I've promised to get her a new pair once again.
I feel awful always having to settle with what is a sub-par sound for her with these wireless options, which seem to universally have that bloated bass and shrill highs with muffled mids. She enjoys good audio and likes listen with "the nice headphones" at home with me and clearly can tell the difference.
So basically my challenge is that cheaply repairable and durable headphones just don't seem to exist in the wireless category without spending wayyyy too much. And I would hate for her to break an expensive set within months and for all my scrimping and saving to go to waste. I've recently discussed stuff like the fiio btr13 and other Bluetooth DAC/amps. And she said that if the headphones really do sound better and are durable and repairable she would consider dealing with the wired headphones and adapter setup.
So what are some truly durable and repairable headphones team! Ideally without spending heapssss as we are relatively tight on money basically always.
The only ones I can think of right now are the Sennheiser HD25. But at least in my country it seems they don't sell replacement headbands anymore?????? That's the main failure point in my case after pads. And I'm worried about the plastic snapping in the same way I've seen so many times.
Sony 7506 I would definitely need to mod with a removable cable. And frankly the treble is too shouty for our tastes.
I'm based in New Zealand so alot of the more niche stuff isn't available or doesn't make sense to ship. But I can always look into suppliers. Stuff like the AiAiAi are interesting but hard to find here. Even Koss Headphones cost like $100+ over here. I'm open to Chinese brands and ordering from aliexpress however.
Replacement parts being available cheap on aliexpress would be nice. For when we are struggling with cash but still need to repair them.
But yeah, seems like a struggle rn. I dont wanna end up with another set of edifier but it's looking like that might end up the best option. Please let me know if I'm missing anything important!
