excellent sound - miserable material quality

I've been using the Sennheiser CX 300 II for several years, together with a number of different MP3 players and now with an iPod Nano.
It should be noted that the sound is excellent! The in-ear headphones are very comfortable to wear even for prolonged use and protect against the environment very well.
Unfortunately, however, the sound quality is (although it really is very good) a shade worse than the previous model.
From the performance point still a 1!
But the reason why I forgive only 2 stars:
Each set earphones that I had previously announced, after a very short time on the mind.
The last pair held only 10 months, up to an earphone (vmtl. Cable break ..) nothing more was heard.
For the price in my opinion totally inappropriate! Fortunately, the complaint has always been fairly straightforward ..