The VMK20's middle button doesn't work
That feeling when you press a button and nothing happens. No click, no resistance, just emptiness. A bit like shouting into space. The middle button is the most important control on the VMK20—you use it to control playback, answer calls, and keep your life together—so it not working is a real problem.
What went wrong?
The VMK20's physical buttons operate a small mechanical switch under the button. When you press the button, it presses the switch, the switch clicks, and the headphone knows what you want. Simple.
Sometimes the counterpart piece between the button and the switch fails. In practice, the part inside the button that transmits the press to the switch is missing. The button sinks in softly like into a pillow and never actually hits the switch. This is a mechanical fault, not some software thing you can solve with an update or a reset.
The problem may be caused by a small error in manufacturing or by the counterpart coming loose in use. In both cases the result is the same: the button does nothing.
How to check the situation
Before you send anything anywhere, make sure it's really a mechanical fault:
- Press the button slowly and listen. Do you hear any click? If not, the fault is most likely that missing counterpart piece.
- Compare to the other buttons. Do the top and bottom buttons feel normal? If they have a clear click but the middle one doesn't, the problem is localized.
- Try pressing the button from different angles. If from some angle you get an occasional click, the switch itself still works—the counterpart is just partially loose.
Unfortunately, you can't fix this at home. Repairing the inner part of the button requires opening the headphone, and we don't recommend doing that at your kitchen table.
If that doesn't help (in this case, go straight here)
There really isn't a "try this first" step here. A mechanical fault is a mechanical fault. Our service in Kajaani will fix this.
Here's how to proceed:
- Take a photo of the headphones and write a short description of the fault.
- Dig up your order number — you'll find it in the order confirmation email.
- Send both to info@valco.fi or contact customer support.
- You'll receive service instructions — we'll tell you where to send them and on what timeline you'll get the headphones back.
If the headphones are under warranty (within 24 months of purchase), the repair won't cost you anything. If the warranty has expired, we have a repair package for that too.
We repair, we don't throw away. That's the whole idea. And on Hannes's repair bench, that button will click again like before—probably sooner than you have time to miss it.
