Everyone has had their earphones and/or headphones break on them at some point. Whether its only one of the two earbuds working, the cord breaking, or a whole host of various problems, we have all had to deal with earphone problems at some point or another.

In particular, this is an absolutely huge problem for myself. I have gone through too many earphones and headphones to count by this point. I have broken multiple Apple earphones, Sennheiser headphones and a number of other that I don’t wish to remember. I’ve gotten slightly better at taking care of my earphones over time so here are 5 earphone tips that have worked from my experience:

1. Buy High Quality: High quality earphones are generally built better internally as well as have additional padding protecting them from the typical earphone wear and tear. While high quality is not always associated with a higher price, you will generally have trouble finding a high quality pair of earphones / headphones for $5. It’s often worth it to splurge and go with the slightly more expensive model to avoid problems with sound quality / wear and tear in the future.
2. Don’t Push Your Headphones: By “don’t push your headphones” I mean don’t force them to play music at ridiculously loud/high levels. This can often lead to a constant buzzing noise, which in addition to be extremely irritating, means that an internal part of the headphone is broken and will cause a permanent reduction in audio quality. This entire headache can be avoided by just ensuring that you keep the volume at moderate levels. As an added benefit, it’s also much better for your ears and health.
3.  Common Sense: Simply being careful and cautious with your headphones can often add months / years to their expected working life expectancy. Avoid accidents like running over you headphone cable with your chair as the damage incurred to the cord from events like this does truly add up quickly. Headphones contain a wide variety of precise electronic devices so make sure to treat them like you would treat your computer / phone.
4.  Thick Cords: While I am broken several headphones containing thick cords, in general I have found that those with thicker cords tend to last longer and bare much greater quantities of wear and tear before giving out. If you are someone with a history of breaking headphones, I would recommend trying out a model with a very thick cord to see whether that alleviates you headphone related problems.
5. Don’t Tangle Your Wires: This is one that I’m extremely guilty of. When your wires get tangled it often puts an abnormal amount of stress on one specific part of the wire and the internal electronic device located in that section. Over time, that stress will cause the internal device in that section to fail and can often lead to only one earbud working in a pair of earphones. It also reduces the sound quality of the audio.     

That’s 5 quick tips for (hopefully) prolonging the life of your earphones. Expect an update about the state of 3-D Printing and Driverless Cars on the next Tech Thoughts post!