Headphones are an accessory that we keep with us all the time. When listening to music at the workplace, jogging, traveling on the subway, watching movies, hitting the gym, and during so many other activities, headphones have almost become an integral part of our daily lives. However, we all face troubles with these devices all the time.
Even though most headphones are pretty low maintenance, they are delicate. If not handled properly, they can break. Here we will cover some easy maintenance tips for your headphones that will definitely increase their life while maintaining quality.
Broken Headphone on Wooden Background
10 – Tips How To Stop Your Headphones from Breaking
1. Coiling Around the Device
You often end up coiling your headphones around your device. Especially when you are in a hurry, wrapping up from work or class, you just wrap the wire around your phone and put it in your pocket. Or even in the case of larger headphones you often wind the wire around the headphone itself.What you may not realize is that this can shorten your headphones’ life. The wires in your headphones are fragile. When tightened against the edges of some device, they start to break internally. This causes them to behave oddly, and finally, break completely, which means you might need to buy new ones.
2. Protective Case for Your Headphones
Generally, we get all kinds of protective equipment for all our other devices except our headphones, because for some reason our headphones are expendable to us. Well, this behavior leads to them breaking a lot sooner than expected, and that can be quite disappointing. To not face this disappointment, it’s better to get some sturdy protective case for your headphones. There are different kinds of cases available on the market; some allow you to carry your headphones with ease while others help you wrap their wire conveniently, ensuring longer life and better quality.
3. Wrapping Correctly
If you do not have a protective case, you still should never stuff your headphones in your bag or pocket for that matter. This causes tension on the cables and also on the earpieces which can damage your headphones. To ensure safety even when you don’t have a protective casing, you must wrap the wires correctly and place them in a box or pouch where they don’t get pressed.There are several methods to ensure the correct winding of your cables. One very simple method is to grab the connector by your index finger and thumb and then coil the remaining wire around your four fingers. Once you are done, coil the connector around the wire to make sure that the cable stays coiled up.
Keeping your headphones wrapped correctly will not only help you enjoy a long-lasting and high-quality operation but you will also no longer have to deal with tangled wires!
4. Pulling the Connector
Probably, you have never thought about how you pull your connector out of the audio jack. Most of us, just pull the cable till our headphones disconnect. Well, this habit is also destroying your headphones. Pulling the wire stretches the cable and the force applied weakens the physical integrity of the wire inside. Whenever you plan on taking out your headphones from the device, always grab the connector and pull gently, do not yank the cable. This also saves your audio jack from being damaged.
5. Don’t Throw Your Headphones
If you really care about your investment in a pair of headphones, you would probably not throw them on the floor or the bed. Common sense dictates that you should not just throw your headphones after use. They may not appear to be damaged on the outside but they are fragile, if misused continuously, they might break very soon.
Moreover, you would also not want to leave them lying around in places where there is a chance that someone might step or sit on them – this includes the back pocket of your pants or jeans. Again, no matter how durable your headphones are, they all have a certain threshold.
6. Reinforcement at Weak Spots
Most of the times, our headphones break at certain points, like where the connector and the cable meet, or where the cable meets the buttons. This is because these points take on the most pressure of all the wear and tear. And since they are connecting points, they cannot withstand this pressure and they break. However, you can install simple reinforcements to divide the pressure and strengthen these junctions so that they can be a little more rugged.
There are simple ways to add reinforcements, one such method is to apply shrink wrap. You can put shrink wrap around the areas that are more likely to suffer and then apply a little heat, be mindful, do not burn your wire. The heat makes the wrap shrinks, strengthening the cable in the process. This little trick will definitely increase your headphones’ life.
7. Don’t Leave Them Hanging
This is a sure-shot way of ruining your headphones before time. There are many things that can go wrong if you leave your headphones hanging.Number one can be the fact that leaving your headphones hanging can cause tension in the cable that can, in turn, lead to the cable breaking soon. Secondly, when hanging, there is a good chance that your earpiece will keep hitting a surface and cause internal damage. Another thing is that hanging headphones increase the chances of someone getting caught up in them, which will for sure ruin the device and may hurt the person as well. Lastly, if the headphones fall down, it is equivalent to them being thrown away.To save your headphones from this terrible damage, always make sure that you put them on a table or a flat surface. But be mindful, do not just leave them there, if you are moving away from your station for a moment or two, it is okay to leave them be. Otherwise, you must put them away correctly.
8. Keep Them Clean
Using headphones for a long period causes the ear wax to build up in your ears. Since we generally use headphones, we must keep a check on our ear hygiene. Not only is this a threat to our hearing but also a threat to our headphones. Wax can settle on your earpiece and muffle the sound, causing bad sound quality. You should regularly wipe your earpieces clean to ensure better quality.
9. Do Not Wash Your Headphones!
Keeping your headphones clean is imperative to sound quality. However, do not wash your headphones! Or for that matter do not let them come in any contact with water. Water and electronic devices never go hand in hand. Be more mindful of the surroundings where you leave your headphones; do not take a shower with headphones plugged in! At least not until you get waterproof headphones.Just in case your headphones do come in contact with water, make sure to immediately dry them and do not plug them in while they are still wet. It is important that you let them rest in the air for a while or blow dry them before use.
10. Keeping Audio in Check
Apart from all the external damage, your headphones can also break due to internal circuitry damage. There are a few things that you must keep in mind at all times while listening through your headphones.
Keep the Bass Low
While for some audios you may want to enhance the bass, you must not leave the settings that way for all your audios. Sometimes the audio devices enhance the bass with certain settings, but not all headphones are built as such to cater to this level of frequency. This creates stress over the speakers and breaks them. Always keep your bass settings low or as recommended.
Keep the Volume Low
High volumes over a long period of time can also shorten the lifespan of your headphones. It is recommended that you do not max out the volume levels.
Keep the Current in Check
Most of the headphones devices cater to a general current output and using them with laptops and mobiles should not be a problem. However, some audio devices like stereos may provide more current through the jack than what your headphones can handle. This can damage your headphones and may also increase the chances of your headphones having current leakage, which can cause mini shocks.
Bottom Line
We hope that with all the aforementioned information on ways to prevent your headphones from breaking, you found something worth your while. With all these tips in mind, you can increase the lifespan of your existing headphones and forget about investing in a new listening device for a long time!
If nothing helps anymore we also have a great article on how to fix broken headphones.
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