Osnat Amzaleg - October 18, 2016

A Quick Guide on How to Take Care of Headphones

When you invest in quality headphones, it is important to give them the proper care that they deserve and need to remain in quality condition throughout their lifetime. Taking good care of your headphones will also make that lifetime even longer.

In this short guide, we will give you a few quick tips on how to take care of headphones. It’s not very difficult at all and it is well worth the minimal effort involved!

Why You Should Take Care of Headphones

Spending our money smartly is not just about finding the best bargains. Often, it’s more important to forget about the sales and focus on looking for a high quality product that will actually function well and last a long time.

But if you really want to get every single penny’s worth of use value out of that product, you also need to make the effort to take care of it. Treat your things with respect and they will work better and last longer. To help convince you that it’s worth the extra effort, here are a few of the key benefits of taking proper care of your headphones:

Better functionality - If you invest in a pair of great, high end headphones with cool features, you’ll need to take good care of them in order to make sure that those features continue to function throughout the life of the headphones.

Save money - You do invest more right out of the gate by buying a higher end set of headphones but by doing so, you are buying something that will already last longer than a cheaper set even if you didn’t take care of them. And on top of that, by taking care of them, you are adding even more years to their lifespan. So if you spread that initial investment over the many, many years you’ll be enjoying high quality sound with your headphones, it’s much cheaper than buying a new set of cheap headphones every year or so.

Better comfort - We tend to get used to the exact way those particular headphones fit, we have them perfectly adjusted to our favorite settings. When you buy a new set, you have to spend time fiddling with them to get them set up right and even after that, it’s going to take a few uses before you feel as comfortable with them as you do with your old pair. By taking care of your high end headphones, you can enjoy the comfort and familiarity for longer so that you don’t have to constantly go through that “readjusting to the new headphones” phase every year or so.

Tips For Proper Headphone Care

Taking proper care of your headphones just involves a few pretty common sense practices. It’s not labor intensive at all. It just requires establishing a few simple habits. As you read above, these few simple habits will go a long way toward maintaining quality and improving the life of your headphones:

Proper storage - You should get a good, hard case to store your headphones in. The hard case will protect the headphones from getting smashed or bent out of shape when you are carrying them around in your purse or packing them away in a drawer. It also provides some protection from sunlight, wind, and other elements that can’t take their toll on the materials your headphones are made of.
Proper cable storage - The majority of us are not storing our cable properly and this leads to premature wear and breakage. Don’t just let your cable sit in a huge tangled mess. Don’t wrap it tightly around your headphones or your music-playing device. Don't let the cable dangle loosely toward the ground. Instead, you want to wrap it in very loose broad loops that won’t strain or stretch the wires inside but still keeps it ordered so that it doesn’t tangle up and stretch the wires that way. Once it’s loosely wrapped, use a twist tie or a hair clip to hold them together.
Ear cushion cleaning - After each use, you should do a quick wipe down. You can just use the hem of your shirt for this. You’re just trying to wipe off any layer of sweat and dirt that has built up before it has time to absorb. Once a week (or less if you don’t use them very often), take a warm, soapy, damp (but NOT soaking) cloth and wipe the cushions. Don’t push down or scrub, just gently wipe. Let them dry completely before wearing or storing them away again.
Protein leather conditioning - If your cushions have a protein leather coating, you’ll want to condition it with a special leather conditioner. You simply wipe this on the same way you wipe while cleaning. Do this no more than twice a year. Conditioning too often will lead to molding.
Replace parts regularly - When you start to notice problems like buzzing, losing sound in one side, or worn out cushions, replace the problematic part. Don’t just buy a new set of headphones. Replacement parts are much cheaper than a brand new pair and they will add years to the life of your headphones.

Screwing Headphone Ear Buds with Screwdriver

As you can see, caring for your headphones is not a difficult process. It’s mostly about storing them properly, lightly cleaning them, and occasionally replacing a part when it wears out.

Final Word

Learning how to take care of your headphone is important. Proper care is not that difficult and it can add years to the life of your headphone, saving you tons of money and giving you a better listening experience throughout the life of your headphones.

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