My Hinge headphones broke.

Jstas

Left channel cut out, Can't take it apart to find out why without destroying it.

I'm really sad! I liked them!

They were great for travel and I could wear them for work all day without them killing my ears.

Hermitism

Jstas

Thanks, that means a lot.












A lot of good it does me!

mhardy6647

@Jstas - in all seriousness and out of curiosity, how long did you have them?
Just curious whether they served well or if your experience suggests that they were too fragile?
(or maybe both)

As a not-entirely-irrelevant aside: I keep forgetting that I bought a pair of rather fancy Polk headphones some years back at a good price from a F&F sale. I haven't used them in... a long time, though -- and I don't even remember what model they are.

(I'm not much of a headphone person)

Jstas

They were a "door prize" at one of the Polkfests. I want to say 2012.

I used them pretty regularly. They were great for travel and since they're white/brown/silver, many people complimented me on the styling and assumed they were either extremely high end headphones they never heard of or they were something like BEATS headphones that were bespoke.

I liked them because while there were better headphones out there, there weren't many. They sounded great for the price point and they weren't fatiguing to listen to and they didn't hurt my ears. The fact that they folded up made them perfect for travel and with the quality of sound that came from them they were awesome. Additionally, the drivers in the cans were very efficient and they didn't run down the battery on my phone by putting a strain on the headphone amp in the phone.

I'm going to miss them but they're like 10 years old and they have been to California, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, both Carolinas, Virginia, Florida, Dominican Republic, New York and Ohio.

So they weren't coddled bouncing around in my backpack going all over the place with me.

mhardy6647

Thanks @Jstas -- you hit all of the points about which I wondered.
Sounds like a nice requiem for a good erstwhile Polk product.
Maybe it is too bad that they abandoned that market (which I believe they have).

bcwsrt

I did not even know they were ever in the headphone market.

Jstas

Yeah, they had a few offerings and I still have a set of noise cancelling earbuds which aren't as good as the noise cancelling from Bose but the sound quality is the best I've had from any earbud, even newer ones like this Airpods or whatever Apple calls them.

I also have a set of over the ear noise cancelling headphones which got great reviews and honestly they are impressive headphones. I won them in a raffle at a Polkfest.

Oh and add Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin to the list of states my Hinge headphone went to.

VR3

Polk had awesome headphones, all designed in Maryland

Emlyn

I had a pair of the long discontinued Ultrafocus 8000 noise canceling headphones I got at a nice discount. Very nice headphones and the noise canceling was decent but not great. The sound quality was on par with the big name brands. The headband wore out after a few years of infrequent use so I tossed them.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-IuwbmONqta9/p_107UF8000/Polk-Audio-UltraFocus-8000.html

mhardy6647

Emlyn wrote: »

I had a pair of the long discontinued Ultrafocus 8000 noise canceling headphones I got at a nice discount. Very nice headphones and the noise canceling was decent but not great. The sound quality was on par with the big name brands. The headband wore out after a few years of infrequent use so I tossed them.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-IuwbmONqta9/p_107UF8000/Polk-Audio-UltraFocus-8000.html

Ahh... I think that's the pair I have.
Guess I should look at the headband.

The relatively rapid decomposition of the pleather parts of headphones is a pet peeve of mine.
I have a pair of relatively inexpensive Sennheiser headphones I bought around the turn of the century
The headband cushion and earpad pleather started to disintegrate a few years ago, leaving a dusting of black particulate stuff on the unlucky wearer. Sort of like inverse dandruff.
Replacement earpads are still available -- but not the headband cushion.

Jstas

Yeah, Ultrafocus 8000, those are the over-the-ear noise cancelling ones I won in a raffle. I think I bought the earbuds at a steep discount. I still use the earbuds, I have the 8000's in a box somewhere, haven't touched them in a while.

gudnoyez

https://youtu.be/ov4epAJRPMw

Sounds Like them Hinges have been everywhere Man.



Are them Hinges Corded or Bluetooth ones?

Do they look like these mine have been to Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, California, Arizona, and still look like new even have the cloth bag they came in, there corded and dont sound to bad. There's some on Ebay.

msg

You really can't get them apart? Glued?
Headphones are hard to work on. The wires inside are tiny tiny.

Have you tried calling customer service? I'm pretty sure someone on the phone could walk you through the repair.

Toolfan66

Nevermind i found the specs

SeleniumFalcon

I've had to bolt my 8000's headband together after it fell apart, so far they're holding together enough for treadmill use. Sound is good.

Jstas

They're the wired Hinge headphones. I don't think the wireless ones came out for another few years and these were a first release right around a Polkfest.

I haven't had a chance to look at them real good yet. I had to get back on a training class and just shoved them off to the side after a cursory glance.

I went digging around in the basement and found a pair of "Buckle" headphones which were still in the original packaging. So I busted them out. I'll look at the Hinge set later this weekend, probably.

mhardy6647

Hinge.
Buckle.

Did they have a model aimed at the female (and those that might identify with a feminine gender) market called "Garter"?

Just... academic curiosity, you know?