I once took pride in myself buying 99-peso earphones (the really old Creative ones that play mono because hey no time for a splitter) from the Octagon Superstore and making do until it gives up on me, which is, because 99 pesos, fairly fast. I’m notorious for buying really bad audio stuff because I know a couple of hardcore audiophiles and I’ve always just seen myself as needing below-average sound quality.

Eventually I figured out that I did want more out of my audio but that this bad habit of throwing away a hundred pesos on the regular on earphones that suck, will cost me.

So I went on to Wirecutter, to brief myself on sound stuff in general and my needs and wants in particular and figured I needed something to use at home, keep some of the domestic noise at bay, with an extra-long cord (I did not have the discipline required to regularly charge Bluetooth devices at that time–I have a Fitbit now but at least it can go for a coupla days or more), and above-average sound quality (I will not recognize subtle sound improvements so anything above above-average will fly over my head). On-ear headphones hurt my ear cartilage because my specific ear has this strange but minor protrusion that hurts when I have something against it for more than a few minutes. In-ear buds are disgusting for me because I’m waxy and I have no inclination to regularly clean up goop. My iPhone has my regular earphone needs covered for outdoors.

I ended up buying a Sony Professional MDR-7506 for about P5,000 (and even had to get a friend to bring it home for me from the States, so medyo nakakahiya pero kinapalan ko na), an extravagant buy for sure, but remember I intend to use this forever for the next 20, 30 years, and die with it, even. My purchasing logic was more along the line of BIFL (buy it for life), and yes, there’s a subreddit for that.

That’s the back story. I’ve been using it for over a year, very happy with it, I love how I can hear everything I’m supposed to but it’s also not noise cancelling so I can still be 10% vigilant enough to respond to emergencies (some people want noise cancellation but I feel dickish when I realize someone had been calling me), yadda yadda “time of my life.”

And then one day I find that this happened:

NOOOO

NOOOO

So my first stop was Google. Search term “how to fix muffs.” Too vague. Search “parts of headphone.” Ah it’s called “headphone cushions.” Search “repair Sony MDR-7560 peeling headphone cushions.” Scrolled through “The Emergency Guide on How to Fix Headphone Cushion” by Wicked Cushions. Obviously a ploy to get me to buy new cushions. I click the CTA link, get on the chat box, ask, “Do you deliver to the Philippines?” No, they don’t. So only people living in the States deserve new cushions. I have money! How is this a problem? I scream internally.

I return to Google. Search something vague but still on point, “repair peeling headphone cushions.” Get on Quora where I read crap like well, there’s no repairing that but what you SHOULD HAVE done upon buying was paint colorless nail polish on the leatherette. Thanks, dickhead, I searched “repair” not “prevent.” Downvoted the hell out of that and similar replies.

Anyway, finally I get to this handy video of just a guy using a sock to solve the problem. It was so crude and logical and fun-looking and simple I had to try it. I get a random clean sock I was no longer using:

Then I determined how much of the sock I needed by testing it first.

I take my scissors out and cut about 4 inches or more from the top.

Fancy wearing ankle socks? Afterward I sewed the edges to avoid fray on the remaining sock but will probably never wear these again. No regrets.

There we have one. You would do the same for the other sock because most of you have two ears.

Then just stuff that sucker into the inner fold of the cushion. No sewing required, because socks will instinctively hug your cushion, thinking that it’s a human leg.

Mid-stuffing:

Post-stuffing:

Folded out one ear (you can do that with the MDR-7560), so you can see the pretty elegant donut sock solution.

Then just do the same for the other ear:

Unnecessary picture of me wearing headphones:

So, that was like three months ago and the socks are still snug. They still smell pretty good but I suspect will need to bathe them in time. I saw other videos where they put like silk covers entirely over the ear thing, but I don’t want to add a new sound barrier to it.

Don’t know how this will fare in the next years or so but until then, you can suck it, Wicked Cushions! But also please consider delivering worldwide. There is a market for this.

Bonus: If you a badass and want to make your OWN earphones, read this Wired article.