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Okay so who makes the bullet-proof - er, uh, kid-proof earbuds?

My 13-year-old wears out a set in no time at all.

Bob_Hudson, on 03 August 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

As a reviewer, it's tough to get a good feel for durability—I use headphones for between a couple weeks and a couple months before I review them, but I'd need to use them for a year to really speak to durability.

There's a couple tips I can give you, though. The most common point of failure is the cable, when short circuits develop either at the headphone jack, left/right cable joins, or where the cable meets the earpieces. So first, look for headphones that reinforce the wiring with kevlar—The Ety-Kids 3 is one example. It's a pretty common feature these days. Second, some headphones have replaceable cables, so when the cable dies, it can just be replaced. Off the top of my head, most models from Shure have this feature, and some older models from Utlimate Ears. Unfortunately, it's pretty rare, so that may not be much practical help. But hopefully the kevlar thing helps.

Failing that, buy something cheap that's not too painful to replace. Monoprice, for example, has several models under $10.

If I think of anything I've seen that seems particularly resilient, I'll let you know.

We also need cat-proof headphones. Our cats have destroyed two pairs of headphone wires (including my nice Etymotic hf2.) I tried repairing them, but it's not easy.