Earphone Rebellions Cum Tragedies

Just yesterday, as I tried to remove a set of new earphones from its original packaging, somehow the earpiece went through a dismemberment process. Apparently, one of the earpieces detached into two pieces. Although most people would be irritated at such a happening, I wasn't too affected considering that scotch tape could be used to tape that part back. If you're wondering why I'm not too affected about damaging a new item I've bought, it's simple: This is but a mild case of an earphone being damaged in my lifetime experience of many earphone deaths. I'm numb to it somewhat, but not totally. Then again, it could be quite irritating in other occasions (ie. it was not a mild injury to the earphone, but a fatality) when I have to buy an earphone YET again when the previous one was bought not too long ago.

You see, in a short span of 3 years ago up till today, a total of 5 earphones have been bought, and this was how 7 of them died (you see, although I bought 5 of them, I had 2 others with me before that) with respect to my bought earphones:

Earphone No -1 (well, since this earphone and another had to 'die' before I bought my first out of the five earphones, I can' t possibly put it as the 1st. And since the same can be said for the other earphone, I guess -1 and 0 would be appropriate)
For this earphone, it came form my sony discman. Fatigue (ie. not physical tiredness) probably broke the wire connection such that there was no sound coming from one side, followed by the other in a short period of 1-2 weeks.

Lifespan: 2 years

Earphone No 0
Well, this set of earphone came with the creative mp3 player that was given to me as a birthday present. Sadly, somehow fatigue caused the earphones to produce no more sound just like the other.

Life span: 3-6 weeks - and for that reason, I somewhat condemn earphones by them.

Earphone No 1
Since I have no idea what to get, I got a pair of $9.90 Panasonic earphones (the sound was terrible, as expected of a cheap pair of earphones) and somehow, it didn't last too long again because, well, fatigue just like the first case caused the earphones to produce no more sound. But since the sound quality was terrible, I was somewhat pleased as it gave me reason to change it.

Lifespan: 1 month.

Earphone No 2
Still unsure of what else to get, somehow I rationalised that perhaps, a more expensive set of earphone of the same brand would last longer. And as such, I got a pair of $19.80 Panasonic earphones. Well, the sound kinda improved. But on a particular faithful day, as I walked up the bus, somehow the earphone got hooked to something and the shearing force snapped the wire.

Lifespan: 2+ weeks -
(and to me, this was a joke. Double the price for half the lifespan is... @#^%&)

Earphone No 3
This memorable (well memorable because of it's lifespan) sony earphone somehow died in a tragic accident involving another hooking incident in which the maximum yield stress of the wire was exceeded. As such, failure occurred. It will always be remembered by its master for being the most faithful (or rather, least-rebelling) component.

Lifespan: slightly over a year

Earphone No 4
Knowing it's lasting capability and sound quality, I got back the same sony earphone. It was working faithfully, until some freak accident caused the wire to snap. Somehow I was walking past some sharp corner and the earphone got hooked. the next thing I knew, my ears hurt (you could try to imagine the mechanism of injury to the earphone and my ears on your own)... and the wire was snapped at the root.

Lifespan: 3 months

Earphone No 5
This time, deciding on playing safe, I decided to get back the same model again rather than risk a case similar to earphone no 2. The thing was that, as I shopped for the same model, I noticed one of those mini shops on level one of JP were selling it, and at 3 dollars cheaper - $18. And so, I thought: "Why not get it? It's cheaper, looks the same... hmmm, perhaps mini-shops like these need to sell stuff at a cheaper price to attract customers". When I heard the sound quality, it was terrible (well, it's as bad as the $9.90 panasonic earphone, and it could be best described as cheap cassette tape playback quality), and on top of that, the size was huge such that your ears hurt wearing it barely over a minute. My guess was that, it was an older version. Hmmm, so much for a mini-shop selling cheaper goods.

Quasi Lifespan (Erm, it's not dead - at least not yet): Technically speaking, 3 days, considering I used it for only 2 days. The first day, I tried it and the sound quality was terrible. Then, I kept it back in its packaging on the 2nd day and bought the true version - that of the previous/late/deceased panasonic earphone. The 2nd time/3rd day I opened it (ie. earphone no 5) again, well, it disintegrated. And yup, this earphone is the one I was mentioning about at the start. Well, at least it's still alive enough to produce sound.

Status: Handicapped with a scotch tape cast.

Earphone No 6
Well, because the sound quality of the above earphone was quite bad, I bought this one, which is the correct model as earphone no 4. I guess with money comes quality in the case of sony earphones.

Lifespan: Indefinite - it's still working.


The interesting thing is that for most electric components, especially if it's the computer, I usually enjoy blessings of favouritism from the components. This is one of the many countless typical scenarios of the times I enjoyed stuff like that:

GC Sis (exasperated): Kor, I can't connect to internet. How ah? I click a lot of times (or minutes) already leh...

GC: Huh? Did you click onto the correct button?

GC's sis (more than eager to prove her point): Ya! You see, you see... [goes about clicking desperately and/or furiously on the same poor button of the connection window - or rather, the poor mouse button]

GC's thoughts: Hmmm, that's the correct window. Funny...

GC: OK, Let me try... [takes over the mouse and clicks the same button that GC's sis clicked]

[The connection gets established]

GC (smiling): There, it's connected. See, the computer loves me.

GC's sis: #*&$^*#&%!$ (translation: what atrocious unfairness)

But as I consider the way earphones died on me, I couldn't help but feel that earphones are about the only bunch/group/category/species of rebels who refuse to submit to my authority. In fact, they'd rather rebel and commit suicide (you see, they died not because I behaved tyrannically towards them and treated them with intended physical abuse. Rather, they chose to die on me whenever I used them, finding any opportunity to get hooked to something and snap as a result, or get fatigued) as a protest than to work for me. Sigh, this is bad bad bad bad bad... From the above calculations, I've sunk in at least $100 on earphones already.

Thought: I think I need diamond coated, heavily titanium armoured, thick-cored aluminium wired (note: Aluminium has the best fatigue strength/resistance) earphones to prevent them from getting snapped or fatigued again. Then again, I might end up looking more like I'm wearing a bunch of power cables rather than a set of earphones. Hmmm...

Conclusion: Panasonics earphones are out, considering that the lifespan of my shortest-lived sony earphone beat the lifespans of both panasonic earphones put together flat.