[iPoopDaily]

On both my HD518 and 558 the headband pad is starting to peel off and the sound cuts out on the 558's if I move the wire just a little. And this has happened just with normal use and I always handle them carefully. Anyone else have build problems with Sennheisers?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I don't have those headphones, but by "peel off," do you mean the headband pads are glued on and they're coming off? That can come from sweat and climate combined. As for the sound cutting in and out, that's kind of a thing with a lot of headphones. Many people claim to baby the headphones but that happens anyway (and it's usually the cable); just as an example, with earphones the problem for hte longest time was that people will "baby" the earphones but then coil them around their iPod, putting enough stress on it near the plug, and then the copper breaks in that area at some point. With headphones, some people even buy headphone stands, but then they don't notice the cable joint touching the base/table and the headphone is exerting pressure on it there and bending it, and the copper also breaks at some point.

 

This is the reason why now I only use headphones with replaceable cables but even then it's not that much better of a guarantee - a lot of the HD580s and HD600s develop the same problem at some point, and then people figured out that the problem was that pulling off and putting in the cable too often actually breaks the thin copper wire connecting the drivers to the socket. Anyways, that was mostly a problem for people who spend too many nights comparing cables instead of enjoying the music (not to mention that, if they spend enough time on one cable first, the earpads would have been squished and affecting the sound a lot more than the next cable they would have tested).

 

[iPoopDaily]

Yeah,the glue is coming off but I think it's from putting them on because that's the only time you notice it peeling is when the headband is stetched a little and the sound cuts out when the wire to the jack is moved not where it screws into the headphone and I never unplug them by pulling the cord or anything :/ plus my other two cans don't have any issues the M50 and Pro700's and I'm actually very rough with them (Throwing them around,getting smashed by books in my bag) and I've used them for a lot longer

 

[ProtegeManiac]

If it peels when you bend the headband it's not really surprising, although of course if it's under warranty go and get a replacement ASAP. Again the climate and sweat are still likely contributors, but again the headband has to bend - if the adhesive has been adversely affected (or improperly applied during production) then that only exacerbates it. As for the sound, it really is more common than one might think, even with better headphones; the frustrating part is that when I got the ones with replaceable cables, I wasn't actually breaking any of them as quickly as with cheaper headphones/earphones with fixed cables. Still, even if you toss them around it should at least last within the warranty period.

 

Going back to the HD600, that one also has problems with the headband bending. The finish on it isn't a color that's mixed into the plastic, but painted on. Over time paint gets a bit too dry, and that's exacerbated by the surface it's on moving around - it's not uncommon to find HD6x0's with flaking paint on the headband. Not sure about your cans, but with these, I think it's also just a side effect of having chassis parts that are easily replaceable, since they had to go with certain designs to conform to having every bit of the headphone made out of parts that you can order from them. Personally though when I can't take the flaking I'm not ordering a new panel - I'm gonna paint over all the faux marble parts and make it all battleship grey.

 

Just to illustrate how replaceable each part is on the higher models, there are some HE60s floating out there that don't have serial numbers. Why? Someone figured out that, given how the parts are, he was able to order parts supposedly for servicing existing headphones, but instead put them together into one HE60 (more followed after that). You could actually do this with the HD6x0 except it won't be cost-effective; used HE60s were selling above MSRP at that point though. Now even if you need just the earpads you have to provide the serial number of your HE60s.