You may have noticed that when your €300 Sony or Bose headphones break, the answer is always the same: "Unfortunately, this model cannot be serviced. Would you like to take a look at our new lineup?" And there you are, standing with broken headphones in hand and your wallet open.
Welcome to the wonderful world of planned obsolescence.
Planned obsolescence is a business model, not an accident
Big electronics companies aren't stupid. They've calculated that repairs are bad business—for them. If headphones last ten years, the customer buys one pair. If they break in two years and can't be repaired, the customer buys five pairs in the same time.
Apple is the master of this. The AirPods Max battery is glued in so that it can't be replaced without special tools and an engineering degree. Sony and Bose follow the same path. The cushions fall apart, the battery dies, and the whole device ends up in the landfill. Then you buy a new pair and the cycle closes.
It's not that these companies don't know how to make repairable headphones. Of course they do. They just don't want to.
Why Valco repairs
We are a 14-person company. We can't afford to lose customers, because every customer is genuinely important to us—not just in marketing slides but in the actual books. If you buy a VMK25.2 from us and it breaks, we will repair it. Jasse and the rest of the service team sit in Kajaani doing exactly that.
In our headphones the cushions twist off. The battery is replaceable. Parts are available to order. This isn't rocket science; it's basic design that the big companies have deliberately forgotten.
The warranty is 24 months. If the device fails on its own, we fix it without drama. If you drove over it with a tractor—well, then the repair kit will cost a bit, but we can still do it. Compare that to Sony sending you to an "authorized service center" that declares the device unrepairable and suggests a new purchase.
Landfill or repair shop
Every year, millions of headphones are thrown away worldwide. Most of them could be repaired if the manufacturer wanted them to be. But the manufacturer didn't, because selling a new one brings in more money.
We're not a charity. We want your money—we admit that quite openly. But we want your money once, and in return we give you headphones that last and can be repaired. And we don't have to sell you new ones every other year, because you tell your friends that 'I bought Valco headphones and they're damn good.' That's our marketing strategy.
Henri still drives that Alfa Romeo of his that breaks down once a month. He understands the value of repair better than anyone.
What you can do
If your current headphones are falling apart and the manufacturer just shrugs—welcome to us. At Valco.fi you'll find headphones designed to last and to be repaired. Over-ears, buds, speakers. All tuned with Jasse's ears, which, by the way, are insured.
And every purchase funds our Death Star by about 0.000001 percent. Small streams.
