carlfoxmarten: (Default)
While the headphones I use the most are fully wireless BlueTooth ones, I started off with Sony's MDR-G45 (not the in-ear G45LP that came later, I gather) and used them a lot. I listened to a ton of music on my MP3 players through those!

Enough that I have at least two pairs right now, and both should have broken wires near the plug end by now. One is stored in a box for further experimentation (I'd wanted to convert them to pure BlueTooth at one point, but never quite figured out how at the time), and the other is hanging over my desk as a backup option for my gaming headset.

This latter pair definitely had a problem with its cable, as I'd tried to listen to something on my laptop, but its cable definitely caused problems.

It took me a while to figure out how to solder to the new plug (as there's no tabs like on older style plugs), but it's working again.

Slightly annoyingly, I have a whole bag full of four-contact 3.5mm headphone plugs, but appear to be entirely out of the three-contact ones. Much as I'd have loved to use a standard three-contact plug (due to it only being a pair of headphones with no microphone), as all I have are four-contact, I'd wanted to include both a microphone jack and a play/pause button. Because the option is there, of course.

I'd even found the information necessary to add up to three additional buttons for other functions, but didn't have the confidence to give that a try at the time.

But it works now, and I have ideas for how to add functionality for next time, so we'll see how long this repair lasts.
carlfoxmarten: (Default)
This is crazy.
The headphone market here in BC's Lower Mainland in absolutely terrible!

I've been buying some behind-the-head headphones for a while now, and have been quite happy with them.

Then the store stops stocking them!

This has forced me to look further afield for anything similar, and I'm finding that nobody is stocking mid-priced headphones, just cheap ones and expensive ones ($5 - $15 for the cheap ones, and $25-$80 for the expensive ones).
The cheap kinds don't last, and the expensive ones are too bulky, and most of them don't have in-line volume controls, either.

[rant type="side"]
MP3-player security dictates that you leave your MP3 player in your pocket so nobody knows what kind you have (or if you actually have one).
Some albums have quiet songs and some louder songs, and other songs you want louder.
Plus, some songs have sections that are too loud for the rest of the song.

This requires access to a volume control.
But you're supposed to leave your MP3 player in your pocket!
Plus, my MP3 player takes one second to unlock before you can do anything with it, including change the volume!

This means that you need an in-line volume control on your headphones or earbuds.

However, the vast majority of the headphones and earbuds do NOT have any volume controls on them, so I'm kind of stuck with this terrible selection.
[/rant]

I've checked out Zellers, Future Shop, Best Buy, London Drugs, Staples, and The Real Canadian Superstore, and everyone has basically the same bad selection of products.

I bought a set of earbuds from Superstore on Tuesday, and already one side was dead on Saturday!
Needless to say, I'm going to return them next time I'm out and try something else...

This shouldn't be that hard!

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Carl Foxmarten

August 2023

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