One thing first: These headphones were the best I've ever had. The auditory sensation has been described here: Very balanced, neutral but full-bodied, un-believable-lich. I loved those things. After 17 months there was out of the blue a cable break on the latch. I have the Etymotic treated with kid gloves and could not explain it. Then I read the reviews here: Aha, cable break is not so rare. It seems that these wonderful things there have a vulnerability. Too bad - real replacement I have so far can not find. But spend so much money and hope that the cable keeps ...?