On Jan 14, 2022, at 08:24, Erica Peterson via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:

(2) the material covering the pads degrades after a few years. I just replaced the pads with "Wicked Cushions" from Amazon, which are made to fit popular headset models. The Wicked Cushions are great so far.

It is normal and expected for ear cushions to wear out over time. This is a considerations that I have when buying a new pair of headphones: 1) are the ear cushions replaceable and 2) does the manufacturer sell them as a separate part?

For most of the earphones that are better than no name crap the answer is usually yes and yes. Bose has been particularly good to me with this. Last year they sent me a free set for 8+ year old headphones when I called them to inquire how to buy them. I have to add though, that I won't be buying Bose going forward for other reasons however.