Headphones

I've had my FP9s for almost 2 years now (got them as a Christmas gift in 2021) and I'm already seeing the effects of some build quality/durability issues. I'd consider my usage of them to be moderate. (Many hours, but most did not involve sweat, moisture or any other environmental conditions I would consider damaging)

The adhesive holding the 2 shell halves together had deteriorated to the point where it was more slimy than sticky. I removed it before taking the picture above since the separation of the halves had allowed a noticable amount of ear gunk to accumulate in the gap between the shell halves. There was also adhesive holding the metal grills onto the sound port that goes in your ear that had become similarly slimy. The case for the FP9s has a "sanitizing" feature using a couple of LEDs, which I'm thinking caused the buds to heat up enough to break down the adhesive over time. Either that or heat buildup when charging with the case closed, since they never got hot while in my ears.

Given how expensive these were (MSRP $199), I'd expect them to last much longer and have better adhesive that holds up to normal wear-and-tear. The warranty was only for 1yr so that's not an option at this point.

I'm curious if anyone else experienced similar issues and, if so, were you able to resolve them? (e.g: by applying new adhesive)

I'm also potentially looking for recommendations for new IEMs. I really liked the ambient monitoring feature of the FP9s, and the sound quality of them was good enough for me.