Flatland

I read all the reviews, and the common concensus was...great sound, shoddy plastic. Well I was really looking for a pair of small wireless headphones, as opposed to the sens which are quite large, "cans" if you will. Well I thought I would give these a try, since supposedly the technology was quite good, the plastic was just a bit weak. So I figured a thirty dollar expirement might end up with a nice pair of headphones. So this isn't as much of a fix of broken headphones, but a fix of new ones so they won't break. If yours are already cracked, this may work, but most likely you are SOL.

Anyway....the fix...

2. Using short piece (about 5") of the thinnest braided cable you can find (I found 1/16" at home depot which they gave me for free since it was only eighteen cents a foot to begin with). Pick up some plastic bonding epoxy while at the hardware store.
3. Center the cable as best you can on the inside of the headband and tape the center of it down tightly to the band. This tape is temporary so make sure you use some that is easy to get off.
4. Using a portion of the epoxy (don't squirt it all out because there is going to be more than one application) and neatly epoxy the ends of the cable in place, leaving the taped center untouched by epoxy.
5. After the epoxy has cured (usually about 10 minutes, during which time you should hold the phones and rotate them to make sure it doen't drip) remove the tape and apply another thin neat layer of epoxy, enough to hold the cable in.
6. After the second application has completly cured (24 hours) use a sharp object or sand paper to rough up the epoxy and the back of the band, this will make the final coat of epoxy bond much better.
7. Apply another thin layer of epoxy over the entire area where the cable is, and around the back of the headphone band. Allow this to cure for another 24 hours.

When complete there is probably a 1/16-1/8" of epoxy over the entire back of the band. It will dry smooth if you don't mess with it after the first 5 minutes or so. This process will stiffen the headphones significantly. Wearing them upside down they are quiet comfortable, more-so in fact then they were originally. However if you want to jog with them, this "upside down" fashion statement won't work, and neither will the fix because they are almost painful to wear the traditional way.

In the end I got a decent pair of headphone that I use daily. 5 months later, and I have bought 2 more pair, fixed them, and the originals aren't cracked at all after heavy use for 5 months.

So I give them five stars for the audio quality and ease of use. I cannot deduct for cracking band, because I knew full well of the problem when I purchased them. If you are comfortable with doing some epoxy work, you can end up with a great pair of headphones for about thirty five bucks (five extra bucks for the epoxy). Hope this can help somebody!

Cheers!

 Prevent your headphones from breaking   September 8, 2006
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

These are some decent headphones, but if you use them they WILL break. It's only a matter of time. I did some research and found the following tips to prevent/fix the breaking:

Solution #1:

Put the band portion of the headphones in boiling water for a while and slowly spread them open. Once you have them opened up some take them out of the water and let them cool while holding them in the spread position. This reduces the tension of the headphones against your ears and reduces the stress put on the headphone band. This results in two advantages, less pressure on your ears resulting in better comfort and no cracking of the band.

If you stretch them to far they will fit too loose and will lose some of there bass effect. But all you have to do is reheat them and close them up a little until you get the fit you want.

Solution #2:

Even if your headband has broken in two this will still work. It will only take a little patience and $5.00 of materials from a local hobby shop.

Materials:
- 3/4 inch or 1 inch nylon tape (all hobby stores that have RC Plane materials have this)
- CA (cyanoacrylate) the stuff that superglue is made of but I recommend getting some real CA at any hobbystore. Get the "thin" stuff.
- Saran Wrap. yes the sandwich stuff...
- Scissors

Side note: I call the nylon tape "tape", but it is really just a ribbon of nylon. There is no sticky stuff on the "tape"

1) First if your headset has snapped completely in two use a little CA to mend it as best as you can. It doesnt need to be perfect but just mended enough that it is technically one piece again and headphones are seperated to where you want them to be.

2) Next cut off a 6 inch piece of the nylon tape and using a VERY small amount of CA, tack the top edge of the tape to the BACK of the band where the crack has occured (which should be exactly in the middle of the band in most cases). Use just enough so it sticks as you don't want too much CA getting into the ribbon. It should be hanging down now in the back like a tail. Note: Use the saran wrap to help hold the tape in place as you are tacking it in place as you DO NOT want this stuff to get on your fingers...

3) Once the CA has dried enough and the tape is stuck, wrap the tape under and around the band one time until the tape is hanging down again in the back. Pull the tape VERY tight and use a little bit of CA at the top to keep it in place.

4) Wrap around one more time and tack it again one more time making sure to always keep the tape tight when you tack it. You should have wrapped the tape around twice at this point. If your set was broken completely in two you may want to wrap one or two more times and at a slight angle to cover a little more area. When done, use some scissors to cut off the excess tape at a point so the cut end of the tape is at the back.

5) Now you can saturate the whole band of tape with CA. Use the saran wrap to press down the cut end of the tape as you glue and it will end up perfectly flat. This is an incredibly strong fiberglass patch similar to carbon fiber. The patch will have a very small profile (not that thick) and be similar in color to scotch tape, however it could easily be painted to match the color of the headband if desired.

There you have it. This is a permanent and SOLID fix and only takes about 5 minutes. I'm wearing mine right now after i just fixed them. Also you can do this (and I strongly suggest you do) to a set that has not cracked yet, because they WILL NOT CRACK if you do. Just do it exactly in the middle of the band.

NEXT

 I made a reinforcement on the middle of the headband
use a little piece of plastic (the one used on memory card case should be OK)
cut a little piece 8x50mm
scotch tape
nylon reinforced mailing tape (19mm or 3/4")
yellow glue, or Krazy glue if you don't have
if you have yellow glue, apply a bit evenly on both, wait till the glue almost dry, then put them together, use a clip to hold for overnight
if you use Krazy glue, use scotch tape to hold the plastic piece, apply the glue slowly along the edge till you see the gap is filled, use a clip to hold them for overnight
once the glue got dried, use nylon tape to wrap the headband (from 5mm or 2" from the center), wrap it nice and neat, and tight
hope this reinforcement can slow down the crack development

Well there you go, 27 bucks, a tube of epoxy, a peice of brake cable and a little macgiver action and i have myself some headphones that im not required to wear a shirt with.  BAAAALLLLIN'