Previously posted in mildly interesting a year ago, doesn’t qualify anymore: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/18714104

Probably disintegrating, I don’t know. But now I’ll finally have to buy new ones. Currently there’s 6 oozing points in total. 3 are minor, one is now inactive (the 2024 pimple), one I taped over, but it’s starting to overflow, and one near the jack is major.

I now cannot plug them in without getting sticky residue everywhere. Also the rubber on the outside is starting to crumble a bit.
I am a cheapskate, but this may be their end.

  • Fedizen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    7 hours ago

    I would try two things.

    1. heat gun the goo a little (get it up to like 150F or so) and see if it the sappy liquid runs and you can maybe clean it and drain it easier at temp

    2. get some shrink wrap to seal up the ends. That might help for a while if you can get it tight.

    I’m not familiar with those headphones but sometimes manufacturers will put grease or goo inside the cables to reduce straining and folding of the wires.

    It looks kinda like rosin in the photo. I wonder if something inside the device was saturated in rosin and its just leaking down the cable?

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    11 hours ago

    It is the era of device

    Get something newer as overtime the older rubber like materials tend to break down.

  • baggachipz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    801·
    1 day ago

    Given that:

    1. The statue of Mother Mary cries;
    2. These earphones are weeping;

    You are witnessing divine signals from heaven above, and can charge people money to make the holy trek to witness your hallowed earphones.

  • whaleross@lemmy.worldEnglish
    74·
    1 day ago

    I think cancer treatment will be more costly than a new pair of earbuds or whatever your next cheap accessory that is leaking unknown chemicals.

  • atomicorange@lemmy.worldEnglish
    341·
    1 day ago

    If it’s leaking from the inside, it may be that the polymer never properly cured and is still liquid on the interior. You could try returning it as defective, or just shell out for a new cable

      • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
        613·
        18 hours ago

        Hot take: They’re IEMs, so they’re garbage nonetheless. For a proper soundstage, over ear open- or semi-open-backs are the only way to go.

        That said, I understand the need for a smaller headphone if you just need something playing in your ears during exercise or at work, which is perfectly fine so long as you’re not making them your primary pair of headphones.

        Few things trigger me more than seeing a game streamer using earbuds. You’re bypassing your pinna—so you’re not getting proper 3D audio—which is critical for competitive games these days!

          • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
            514·
            18 hours ago

            Don’t toss your articles at me; I may not have phrased my comment the way you wanted me to (due to ADHD), but I know what I’m about, son.

            If your pinna is being bypassed, you can’t get proper 3D audio without faking it in software. Plain and simple. That’s the point I’m making. Nothing more.

            • KingOfSuede@lemmy.worldEnglish
              7·
              15 hours ago

              Doesn’t matter if the pinna is bypassed or not. 3d audio (soundstage) requires both ears to receive signal from the same point source. The time delay between the two ears receiving the signal is the crux of the entire premise. Headphones inherently defeat that entirely by having the entire ear subjected to one side of the audio.

              Ergo, headphones do not provide any 3d audio or soundstage.

              • AnyOldName3@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                1 hour ago

                That’s not entirely true anymore. Sound engineers did lots of experiments with microphones placed in the ears of plastic heads, and as a result, we know the modifications that need to be made to a sound to make it seem like it’s coming from so specific point when played through headphones. It works with both over-ear and in-ear ones and works well (despite what the other poster said) as pinna squiggles are accounted for and it turns out that humans don’t need their own personal pinna shape for it to work.

                You can find impressive demos by searching for binaural sound, both from microphones in a plastic head or with simulated HRTF.

  • TheFogan@programming.devEnglish
    1081·
    1 day ago

    You clearly left out the main thing anyone would need to troubleshoot this issue… what kind of music are you listening to. Obviously low quality music will wreck headphones no matter how good they are.

  • nicerdicer@feddit.orgEnglish
    15·
    1 day ago

    That’s a Spotify Leak /s

    This reminds me of the old Apple Macbook chargers where the cable was permanently attached to the charger itself. These cables became brittle and discolored from white to yelloy (they looked like they have been in a heavy smokers’ household when exposed to UV light, which is always). When I tried to fix the brittle cables with tape, it got worse and probably due to a chemical reaction between the material of the cable and the sticky glue of the tape they completely disintegrated.

    Your headphones are beyond repair. It looks like they have been exposed to some chemicals. Did you at one point in time clean them with perhaps an aggressive cleaner (toilet/ household cleaner)? It could be possible that some cleaner got inside the cable through a micro-crack in the cables’ insulation and reacted with the copper inside.

    You should replace them. The ooze is probably not healthy.

  • Krudler@lemmy.worldEnglish
    24·
    1 day ago

    This happened to the outer rubbery (soft plastic) housing on my bike U lock. For like 10 years it was great, then one first-ride-of-spring I grab it, and it’s like the entire thing was dunked in a pot of honey.