Quality headphones are no longer an inexpensive product. Nowadays, a quality pair of headphones cost $100 or more. Naturally you will want to protect your headphones investment. Quality headphones are well built and can survive for a long time, but if you take care of them well, you can lengthen your headphone’s life.
If you recently own a new pair of headphones or already have one, but you’re concerned about your headphone life, you do not need to worry. Below are tips that help you to enhance your headphone’s life.
But before jumping to the tips and tricks, let’s find out how long a pair of headphones lasts.
Also read: Top 9 Best Headphones For ASMR in 2021
How Long Do Headphones Last on Average?
It’s difficult to answer this question because headphone quality varies as their prices, but if we take about how long do headphones last on average? Often, a pair of headphones lasts for 2 to 3 years, and earphones for 3 to 6 months.
The durability of headphones depends on how, where, and often you use your headphones. The first symptom of headphones failure is a softer volume.
How to Enhance Your Headphone’s Life?
Here are the five tips you might find helpful and extend your headphone’s life.
1. Keep Your Headphones/Earphones Clean and Avoid Moisture
Start with the basics, and the very first tip I give you is to keep your headphones or earphones clean. Cleaning the headphones/earphones doesn’t only mean you remove dust. If you have earphones, you might find earwax build-up on them, which affects the sound quality.
Earwax closes the opening of earbuds, and if you don’t clean them regularly, they can even block the ear tips entirely. So check your earbuds regularly and clean them using a soft, dry, and lint-free cloth.
On the other side, if you have over-ear or on-ear headphones, the earwax build-up won’t be an issue.
If you do exercise or wear for longer periods, which causes sweating, you might feel discomfort and cause damaged earpads. If this happens, what you have to do is first check whether your headphones are sweatproof or not.
You can find out by checking the IP rating. IP5 or IP7 rating headphones are sweatproof. Moreover, some headphones offer removable and replaceable ear pads.
2. Take Good Care of Wires and Cables
The next thing you need to do to extend your headphone life keeps good care of wires. Usually, wired headphones come with a cord that is detachable and replaceable, which is great. Replaceable cables allow changing your headphone cord once they are damaged.
However, if you have headphones without a detachable wire, you need to take extra care of your headphones because if the wire gets damaged, your headphones will not work.
In-ear headphones cables are even weaker than over or on-ear headphones. To enhance your headphone life, get a truly wireless headphone or purchase headphones that allow cable replacements.
3. Plug Them Into the Correct Device/Power Source + Moderate Headphone Volume
If you have wireless headphones, you don’t have to be concerned with plugging in any wires. All you need to do is connect them with a wireless connection, and you’re good to go.
If you have wired headphones though, you have to plug your headphones into the right device/power source. Whether you have low impedance headphones or high, you can connect with the amp.
Amps not only strengthens the sound, but they also improve the sound quality significantly. Forcing too much volume though can cause damage to your headphones. So when you plug your headphones into an amp or DAC, don’t just increase the volume.
Having a dedicated amp or DAC is good to improve sound quality and listen to quality music, but once you feel your headphones start delivering distorted audio, decrease the volume.
4. Store Them Properly
It is very important that you take care of your headphones and pack them properly to extend their life whether your headphones are at home or packed in your travelling bag.
The best thing you can do to store your headphones or earphones properly when they are not in use is to put them into their original case or box. If your headphone has a removable cable, remove the cable and then put both the cable and headphones into the case.
The reason behind this is when you fold the headphones, chances are the cable will bend at the starting point, which can damage the plug or port, so to avoid this, remove the cables and then put both into the case.
5. Keep Your Wireless Headphones Charged
If you have wireless headphones make sure you keep them charged. To increase the life of headphone batteries, charging regularly is important.
Don’t forget to check: Best Surround Sound Headphones For Movies In 2021
Conclusion
If you want to extend your headphone’s life and its sound performance you need to keep good care of your device. We shared five tips that are very easy-to-follow, and easily performed by anyone. Following these tips will make a great difference in sound performance, and extend the headphone’s life.
