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The last pair of earbuds you'll ever have to buy

Reinforce earbuds and sell them
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I've never had a pair of earbuds that lasted longer than two years, and typically they break much sooner than that. This is unacceptable. Modern technology is more than up to the task. Plastic, rubber, and copper are clearly not up to the task. What's needed is a new set of materials.

These earbuds would have:

A gold plated plug. Gold leaf for recoating the plug. A titanium plug core. Titanium reinforcement for the socket support. A cone of spring steel at the plug and at the connection to the actual earbuds. Titanium shells for the earbuds. A copper conducting wire, woven with a 200% surplus of wire at any one point, heavily reinforced with carbon fiber. A nylon sheath around the wire. A woven carbon fiber sheath around the nylon sheath. A titanium reinforced splitter with spring steel cones at each point.

This should all be overengineered to a ridiculous degree and tested in CAD to withstand without injury to the product the strongest force a trained human can exert with his bare hands plus a pair of pliers in any direction through pulling, twisting, biting, pinching, and anything else.

Voice, Jan 26 2018


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       What if you just lose them?
pertinax, Jan 27 2018
  

       Overengineering has its place, but also is often associated with the word "heavy". Since earbuds are frequently carried around, users might decide they prefer a lighter-weight model, even if it breaks too easily.
Vernon, Jan 27 2018
  

       I feel your pain [Voice]. Mine usually last about a fortnight. I consider them disposable.
nineteenthly, Jan 27 2018
  

       "A copper conducting wire, woven with a 200% surplus of wire at any one point, heavily reinforced with carbon fiber"   

       Its possible you have experienced the bend angle intermittent fail. taking apart headphones I have noticed that there is one attachemnt point between the wire an the earbud. Change that to multiple connection points, then if one fails the other three still work. At worst instead of the "bendies" you get an earbud that works just like a regular one
beanangel, Jan 27 2018
  

       In a way this is like audiophile stuff with the exception that it's actually useful.
nineteenthly, Jan 28 2018
  

       I have a pair of Etemotic Research ear pods that cost £200. The sound is amazing.
xenzag, Jan 28 2018
  

       Cochlear implants ... special offer, free with every Assimilation ...
8th of 7, Jan 28 2018
  

       Considering that I have at least 6 sets, unopened, because you get a new pair with every phone and gadget, and never use them, the average user duty cycle might not need to be so robust.
RayfordSteele, Jan 28 2018
  

       Sorry, I don't really want to go over the bicycle handlebars.
wjt, Jan 28 2018
  


 

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