As you may know, I am the happy owner of an iPhone. While the iPhone itself is a sexy piece of tech, the headphones are not so much. The standard white earbuds suck at anything remotely resembling good sound quality or inner ear comfort. Not to mention they scream “Hey potential mugger on the subway, I am the owner of a small piece of hardware thats worth about $350!” Pretty much fail all the way around.

No small wonder that I found myself searching for new earbuds for my iPhone. Though there are a ton of headphones out there with every option known to man, the challenge with the iPhone is the all powerful clicker. True there is the recessed jack to be dealt with too but there are extenders for that. After a rigorous search, I settled on the V-Moda Vibe Duo‘s. They’ve gotten great reviews, aren’t steal-me-white, and have the clicker. When my dad came to visit, I talked him into buying me a pair of the $100 beauties.

The begging heartfelt request was well worth it. True to all the reviews, the Vibe Duo’s are great. No, I don’t use the term lightly, in fact I might call them wonderful. Fabulous. Exemplary. Almost any other superlative I can bestow upon these sound delivering lovlies, I will. Mind you I have owned the much lauded Shure E2C’s and found them…well lets just say not the best, given that the damn things wouldn’t stay in my ears, no matter what little plastic tip I put on them. My Vibe Duo’s are a dream to say the least.  They fit my ears, they have great sound quality, and they have the clicker. Unfortunately, they are not flawless.

See that picture up there? If you can’t see the picture, the Vibe Duo’s are displayed, with the great fabric cord and the stylish metal band surrounding the bud. Ah yes, the stylish metal band. The metal band that can’t help but touch the skin on my ear. The metal band that occasionally delivers a nice little shock when it touches the skin on my ear. No, I am not kidding, these earbuds deliver a little electric charge from time to time. I’m not sure where the voltage (?) comes from, if its from the earphones themselves or if its just static electricity discharge. Whatever it is, the zaps range from a small annoying sound to an actual shock. Not cool.

Last week the shocks got to be unbearable. I stopped using my Vibe Duo’s and switched back to using the inferior headphones that came with my iPhone. I wrote to V-Moda about the problem and haven’t heard anything after 5 business days. Yesterday I got pretty fed up with the default headphones and decided I was going to solve the problem with my Vibe Duo’s myself. I figured if I could cover up that metal band, my headphones would be usable again. The problem was finding something to cover up the band without resorting to tape. Ideally, the covering would not hold a charge (because what would be the point if it did), would be able to stay in place without adhesive, and finally would last a long time. After a bit, I realized I bought the solution to my problem with the headphones.

You know the multiple plastic earbud covers that come with any decent pair of earphones? The ones that are intended to make sure the buds fit properly in your ears? What do you do with the left over ones that don’t fit into your ear? Normally you toss them or tuck them away somewhere never to be found again. In this case, you use them to make your otherwise fabulous earphones stop shocking you every 30 seconds.

I didn’t take pictures while I did the following so you’re going to have to use your imagination.

1. Find a set of the clear budcovers you don’t use because they don’t fit your ears and are just taking up space.
2. Carefully cut the inner ring out of the bud covers so that its separated from the part thats supposed to fit into your ear. Use an exacto knife if you’re one of those pretty princesses that must have everything look perfect.
3. Take the inner ring you just cut away and stretch it using brute force and sheer will so that it fits around the metal band on the earbuds. This will not be easy. Don’t give up hope. You can do it.
4. Be satisfied that you conquered the inner ring and have “fixed” your earbuds while waiting for the company that sold you those earbuds to finish ignoring you.