Replacment parts for Sony MDR-V300

[Colonel_Panic]

I have this pair of Sony headphones Amazon link that broke quite a while ago. The part that broke was the Y yoke that connects the earpad to the headband. It basically broke where you would expect it to break.

Since the headphones still work, I'd love to find a replacement part to keep them going. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone have an electrically broken pair that I can buy the part from?

 

[E4g1e]

Colonel_Panic,

The replacement cable is definitely not worth Sony's going price for it: Just having Sony replace the cable would have cost you more money than the entire original price of those headphones to begin with (including labor). In fact, they charge you a whopping $75 to $80 just to fix the cable on a headphone that cost at most $50 when it was new. And in later years, all of its headphones under $200 had been declared "unrepairable" by Sony's official authorized service centers - which means that if you sent in the headphone for repair, it would have been completely replaced instead.

Worse, I had the MDR-V300, and found it to be very murky-sounding for its price. Although it cost $50 new, it is not worth more than about $25 total even when new.

Worst of all, Sony's wires are notoriously difficult to resolder properly: The wires themselves are coated in a waxy substance that effectively resists all attempts at self-resoldering.

 

[ninjaturtle]

I'm coming up with nothing for replacement parts, maybe you can jerry-rig it.

Can you post a picture?

 

[Colonel_Panic]

It's actually the plastic piece that broke. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the headphones electrically.

http://www.wesg.ca/fDE
http://www.wesg.ca/fEO

The first photo is of both earpads, and you can see which part is missing from the left. For a while I had the piece glued, but then when that kept failing, I just removed it entirely.

The second photo is a close up of the plastic yoke that broke on the other side. Since I do have a working piece, I'm entertaining the thought of using a 3D printing service, but that's probably far more money than I should really spend hahaha.

 

[E4g1e]

It's actually the plastic piece that broke. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the headphones electrically.

http://www.wesg.ca/fDE
http://www.wesg.ca/fEO

The first photo is of both earpads, and you can see which part is missing from the left. For a while I had the piece glued, but then when that kept failing, I just removed it entirely.

The second photo is a close up of the plastic yoke that broke on the other side. Since I do have a working piece, I'm entertaining the thought of using a 3D printing service, but that's probably far more money than I should really spend hahaha.

In that case, not even Sony can repair that. (Sony, indeed, had declared all of its sub-$100 headphones to be completely disposable years ago.) Sony can only replace the entire headphone at this point - but unfortunately, most of the MDR-V series (including the V300) was recently discontinued by Sony. Also, since the headphone is long out of warranty, you will have to pay the full price for a new version of that headphone, which unfortunately does not currently exist: The closest match to the MDR-V300 in Sony's newer ZX series line would be the MDR-ZX300 - but it is $20 cheaper than the V300.

 

[ninjaturtle]

Can you post a pic of the damage pieces?

 

[Colonel_Panic]

Thanks for the info, E4g1e, I think these might be headed to the recycler soon.

Can you post a pic of the damage pieces?

Unfortunately I long disposed of the broken pieces, but from the photos, you can see what it should look like intact. The piece broke in two places: near the base of the Y at the headband, and where that arm attaches to the earpad. It's actually right where I'd expect it to break when using it for a long time.