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My Ipod keeps destroying earphones!
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I've had my 80gb Ipod classic since December 07 and have been REALLY happy with it apart from one thing. I've now managed to get through 6 pairs of earphones in just over 7 months. Each time the same thing happens - the right ear starts losing sound until eventually it's gone completely. Now once I thought it was unlucky, second time coincidence but now 6 times I'm starting to think it's the Ipod, bearing in mind I've never broken a pair of earphones before prior to this!
I've gone through 2 pairs of Apple earphones, Sennheiser CX300 which cost me nearly £30, a cheap £5 pair (by this point I really didn't want to be spending large amounts of money), and 2 pairs of decent quality earphones that I've had for many years and have never given me any trouble before!
Do people think Currys will exchange my Ipod for a new one bearing in mind I've had it under a year? I don't want to be told that it's all a big conincidence and that there's nothing they can do or insist on sending it away as I had a bad experience with Curry's repair service a few years ago.
I've gone through 2 pairs of Apple earphones, Sennheiser CX300 which cost me nearly £30, a cheap £5 pair (by this point I really didn't want to be spending large amounts of money), and 2 pairs of decent quality earphones that I've had for many years and have never given me any trouble before!
Do people think Currys will exchange my Ipod for a new one bearing in mind I've had it under a year? I don't want to be told that it's all a big conincidence and that there's nothing they can do or insist on sending it away as I had a bad experience with Curry's repair service a few years ago.
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All my friends always need new headphones because they listen to their music too loud - if its damaging their headphones god knows what it must be doing to their ears!
Best advice is to not listen to it as loud as you have
Turn it down, even if you "like it loud".
Do you have a EU iPod, as it should have a volume limiter that you cannot alter (unless you've loaded hooky firmware)
Yes I do have an EU Ipod and no I have not changed the volume limiter, I wouldn't know how.
Anyway I had a search on Google and it seems like I am not the only person to experience this and it always seems to be the right ear that goes.
I hate earphones - went back to good old fashioned headphones when I started going to the gym a few years back because they were always falling out of my ears! Yes, as a former mobile jock, I even had the really big stereotypical DJ ones, which to be honest are fantastic for durability and sound. I know they don't look great, but they certainly sound great.
Anyway - all I can say is from my experience of earphones is that they tend to require replacing more frequently than traditional headphones - sometimes the problem is due to the jack - it is amazing how easy it is to bend or damage the jack on a set of headphones/earphones.
My advice is maybe you should try headphones. They are making some really compact sets these days that aren't so bulky. I've had a pair of the Sony MDRV150 DJ headphones for 2 years - use them for the gym mostly now. They have been thrown in and out of the gymbag, dropped countless times, pulled apart by my sweet cousin when I wasn't looking (she managed to snap the plastic) and... still work perfectly fine. They are probably one of the best set of headphones I've ever owned and I intend to buy another pair - especially at that price on the Argos website!
A DC voltage on the amplifier output is one alternative source of damage. Though I would expect that to be accompanied by a click as you plug the headphones in and distortion in use. Or perhaps there is a voltage spike on the amplifier output as you turn the unit on. Again you should hear a click but if the spike is high enough in voltage it can damage the coil in the speaker eventually. That is one reason why a lot of HiFi amps use relays to disconnect the speakers for a few seconds after turning on. It lets the PSU etc settle down and keeps any nasties away from the speakers
A high frequency signal above the audible range could also fry the speakers over time. A poorly designed amplifier could easily oscillate at inaudible frequencies and at surprisingly high levels. I should know I've built a few in my time
The only way to see if an oscillating amplifier is the problem would be to plug the unit into an oscilloscope and observe the output. Not something most of us carry round with us
Either cause could work over a period of time, hence why plugging a new pair of headphones in appears to cure the problem. Only for the damage to build up gradually again.
And on the subject of volume. It is quite possible to blow a pair of speakers rated at 100W with a 10W amplifier! At first glance you wouldn't think the amp could generate enough signal to trouble the speakers. It certainly would not be as loud as a 100W amp into the same speakers (half as loud actually not 1/10th as you might think)
However if the 10W amp is driven really hard it can easily go into clipping (ie the output stages run out of PSU volts to reproduce the signal). This generates loads of garbage which can do very nasty things to the speakers.
So you don't actually have to be listening very loud to cause damage. If you have underrated amplification and are working it beyond it's capabilities you could actually do more damage than using a higher powered amp which is not stressed so much to produce the required volume.