Aaaaargh.
My mp3 player headphones are going. The connection is iffy, occasionally cutting out the left channel. It’s the plug which is the problem.
So I tootle along to HMV, yes, I do literally tootle, to buy a replacement pair. They’re HMV own-brand headphones, I’ve been buying the same type for ten years. Why? Because they are inexpensive, comfortable (they clip on to your ears and there’s a plastic band that actually fits my oversized head) and the sound quality is fantastic. Good, solid, clear bass, and bright, punchy sounds at all pitches.
And of course the sods don’t sell them any more.
I knew! I knew last time I was there I should buy ten headphones just in case. This is always happening to me with shoes, you get a pair you like, and you go back to the shop a year later to buy the same shoes again and of course those are the shoes they don’t do any more.
And all the replacement headphones, they’re just not the same. They’re all too expensive. I don’t want ludicrous heavy hi-fi ones, I don’t want inner ear ones, they sound dreadful and make my eardrums feel all prickly and I don’t like the way they cut out external noise. I just want my current headphones again.
I did buy a replacement pair in the end. And of course they sound atrocious compared to my lovely HMV own-brand headphones. Muddy bass then nothing all the way up the pitch range until you reach tinny hi-hat.
Experiment. I’m going to take the plug off these atrocious headphones and use it on my HMV ones. Perform a plug transplant. That might give them another six months, a year at most.
But curse you HMV. No wonder we are in a recession.
