I was originally not going to do an introduction of any kind, but I began typing one anyway so there you go.I really like Brainwavz IEMs. I feel like they are the best bang for the buck you can get in portable audio gear. I am no audiophile by any definition of the word. I don't have the slightest clue about what half of the jargon on the packaging means when it comes to sound. My progression in terms of audio gear has been:
Shanghai Sweatshop Brand 99cent Headphones -> DealExtreme Red/Green In-ears -> cheap Sennheiser CX300s from Ebay that magically weren't fake -> cheap V-Moda Vibes that were also magically not fake -> Brainwavz M1 -> Brainwavz M2.
I liked the Brainwavz far more than anything else I've heard, including the $80+ headphones they have at Best Buy. Heck, I even ordered the Betas they have on sale right now for a friend, since I'm so certain that they'll be of higher quality compared to anything else they could possibly get for $15, even though I haven't personally heard them and there are almost no reviews around.
However, I've run into a problem. The sound in my M2s is pretty much shot for some reason. That wouldn't be so much of a problem for me if my M1s didn't also get destroyed. See, something happened to their cables.
You can't tell from that picture, but something nasty is going on in there.
I bought the M1s in July 2010. Obviously, no more warranty. Not that I'd expect it, since I admit that I mistreated the everloving crap out of them. They snagged on chairs so many times I lost count, and they got dipped in water (I still don't know how that happened. It's like someone picked up the
buds only and dunked them in my cup.) thrice. They only started failing around this February, though. They still sort of work. However, the cord is totally messed up and I have to do some weird crap to get them to actually transmit sound. I mean, the drivers work and I'm pretty sure they sound the same as they did during the first month but that cable has taken damage. Look at the strain relief.
I loved these things, and now if I ever want to hear through them I have to loop them around my hand, hook them around my ears, stay perfectly still, and sacrifice cats to Belial.
Sort of like this. I would like to put in a new cable on them like I've seen people do on Head-Fi, but I don't really know where to start or what I need. I would post this over there, but I searched for a while and the only relevant thread was in 2009 and nobody responded to the OP. It seems like it'd be simple enough (Cut open the housing along a glued area, remove some lining, desolder old cable, solder in new cable), but I'd feel much better about this if I could get some tips from people who know what the innards of these things look like. I probably won't keep them if I get them fixed, since I have a friend who really needs decent in-ears, and I didn't give her a birthday present.
Now for the M2s. I bought them with one of the April Fools coupons that slashed the price down to like $25, so they're not old at all. I really don't know what happened here. I have been very careful with them. No chairs, no stray cups, not so much as a high drop onto a carpet.
No cosmetic damage, at least. I am confident that nothing bad happened to the phones on my watch, and I never let anyone borrow them unless I'm right there. Still, the sound has a nasty habit of cutting out unless I wrap the cable around my hand or otherwise reposition it like in the picture of the M1 up there. It doesn't happen too often. They work well around 80% of the time. But that other 20% drives straight up a wall. It mostly happens when I'm walking (which is when I need these the most, 40 minutes on the bus and 10 minutes walking twice a day is tedious without the dulcet tones of Defeater), but occasionally happens just sitting down. I would send them in for warranty, but I get a bad feeling in my gut that tells me they'll get rejected because it was my fault or something. Well, that and the fact that the trip to HK and back will be around a month and that's just torture for me since I have nothing else I can use. So I'd like to get a better cable for those too if possible.
Side note: Why do the cables in each housing end in an unscrewable tube? Can I do something with that?
Thanks for anyone who can help. I'd put my completely amateur reviews of the Brainwavz here but this post is longwinded enough as it is. (OH GOD I THOUGHT THE FORUM SOFTWARE AUTOMATICALLY RESIZED LARGE IMAGES I'M SO SORRY)
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