My Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds are only about 18 months old but one earbud keeps dropping connection every few minutes. The repair would cost around £80-100 and a new pair is about £250. Should I just bite the bullet and buy new ones, or is there something I'm missing about fixing them?
Don't just accept the repair quote without trying basic troubleshooting first - reset both earbuds (usually holding the button for 10-15 seconds), forget them from your phone entirely, and re-pair from scratch. Most connection issues are actually software glitches rather than hardware failure, and it costs nothing to try. If that doesn't work, the repair might be fixing a battery issue or Bluetooth module problem that could crop up again soon anyway, so at that point replacing them starts looking better - you'd get a fresh warranty and newer tech for not much more money than the repair would cost you.
Before you drop £250, have you tried the basic troubleshooting - fully resetting both earbuds, clearing the pairing from your phone, and re-pairing from scratch? I'd give that a shot first since connection drops are often software glitches rather than hardware failure. If that doesn't work, £80-100 for a repair on an 18-month-old pair is actually pretty reasonable and worth doing if the rest of the earbuds still sound good to you, but if the repair comes with any warranty that's another thing to ask about - some places only give you a few weeks cover, which feels risky on something that pricey.
Log into answer.
