sharingwisdom
02-03-2009, 01:56 PM
The tech at Apple said that the earbuds and it's wire still have the phthalates in them but other companies make them without the phthalates. I suggested that since they all worked around the chemicals and it's possible to make the wires w/o that chemical, that they consider a better option. We completed pleasantries and I got my simple question answered.
For what it's worth, there may be an aspect of Apple's earbuds that's potentially more immediately harmful than their chemical composition: they work too damn good.
Apple earbuds have a frequency range far in excess of any other "buds" I've tried with my iPods. It's especially noticeable in the low or bass frequency range. When I'd crank up the volume to rock out to my favorite music (OK, I admit it's hard rock), my ears would be overwhelmed by the buds' bass response. If I listened through them for any significant length of time, my hearing was diminished until my ears had time to recover. At medium-loud volume, they made my ears "tickle", a bad sign.
I subsequently tried several different brands/types and discovered:
iPod's replacement white earbuds are relatively expensive, and don't stand up well to frequent use...
But then you get what you pay for; cheap third-party earbuds sound cheap and tinny.
Cheap earbuds are made cheap, and break easily, so they don't last worth dooodly.
I ended up using a set of buds I got in with a package of iPod connection adapters that I purchased at CostCo. They're comfortable, because they include different "earpads" to fit a variety of ear sizes. They sound better than "over-the ear" phones (which iPods don't seem to me to power all that well). they've lasted me several months now, which makes them a quality improvement over iPod earbuds.
I don't know what the chemical composition is of the earbud wires. They probably are harmful, as it's unhealthy to have plastics anywhere near us.