Credit: Scharon Harding

I went for a run this morning while holding my iPhone, which was connected to a cable that attached to my earbuds. I’ve exercised with wired headphones for years, but today, the cord, with its persistent jostling, was especially distracting.

That’s because I was previously running with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds, EPOS’s GTW 270. They came out in 2021 for $200, and I received them as a gift. They typically sat in a drawer until this spring, when I started running outside (rather than in a gym or not at all) for the first time in a couple of years. Without a place to store my phone, wired headphones felt cumbersome while running. I previously overlooked the GTW 270 because they are not as comfortable as my wired earbuds and tend to lose their connection (especially with my PC) if the audio stops playing momentarily. The latter problem proved less common when using the earbuds with my phone, though. Suddenly, I was enamored with a gadget that had spent most of its life forgotten in a drawer.

But after a few short months, one of my earliest concerns about wireless earbuds was realized: I lost the GTW 270’s case, which charges the earbuds and enables pairing.

The bad news got worse when I realized that EPOS doesn’t sell standalone charging cases. EPOS used to sell them but stopped after the company exited the consumer technology market, just three years after entering it.

A short-lived business endeavor

Demant, a Danish health care audio tech company, launched the EPOS brand in 2020 from a shuttered joint venture with German audio firm Sennheiser that was called Sennheiser Communications.

A July 2020 press release from Demant declared EPOS a “company dedicated to the creation of high-end audio equipment for gaming and enterprise solutions.” (The GTW 270’s gaming focus had auditory drawbacks with music and other non-gaming audio, but for the first pair of wireless earbuds I regularly used during exercise, they were satisfactory.)

By August 2023, though, Demant was announcing that it was winding down its gaming business “gradually” with the “process to be completed during 2024.” In a statement, Søren Nielsen, Demant’s president and CEO, explained:

Since the demerger of our joint venture with the Sennheiser group, our Gaming business has faced a volatile market environment. Following extraordinary demand sparked by the pandemic in 2020, the gaming market has slowed down significantly due to weak consumer sentiment, and we do not see a viable path to creating a profitable business without significant investments in products, brand, and distribution.

EPOS promised that it would “service and support customers while the inventory of existing products is reduced.” Two years later, support and inventory dwindle.

The case for more accessible earbud cases

According to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, EPOS used to sell replacement GTW 270 charging cases at its US online store. However, that URL no longer loads, and if I want to buy a replacement case, the best option I see right now is eBay, which has its share of tech scams.

"While replacement charging cases for the GTW 270 have been available, regional availability may vary depending on local inventory and distribution," an EPOS spokesperson told me. "In certain markets, it is still possible to purchase a replacement case separately."

Additionally, it's worth noting that EPOS never sold replacement earbuds separately. It previously advised customers to go through its ticket systems to receive a replacement from one of its repair centers.

To be fair, the GTW 270 came out four years ago with a two-year warranty, which is common among gaming headphones. My earbuds would be out of warranty even if EPOS still sold consumer headphones. If my earbuds were still under warranty, I could have tried contacting customer services "for assistance with any replacement needs, including parts," an EPOS spokesperson said.

I’d be remiss not to acknowledge that not having the original charging case is entirely my fault (Hey, you try enduring a bumpy cab ride through the Holland Tunnel during NYC rush hour without suffering any losses). But if gadget makers like EPOS could support a more customer-centric approach on how to sell products new and old, I wouldn’t own a pair of earbuds that I can't use.

EPOS isn’t the only company that has ever made it difficult to replace parts for wireless earbuds. For example, you can easily buy a pair of the latest AirPods from Apple’s online store but not replacement earbuds or cases; Apple recommends visiting an Apple Authorized Service Provider for those. On the other hand, some newer AirPod and AirPod Pro cases have speakers for using Apple’s Find My app if you misplace the case.

It would be prudent for companies selling wireless earbuds to make replacement cases more accessible. For example, Bose sells replacement charging cases for several of its earbuds, including its 2022 QuietComfort Earbuds II.

Better yet, it would be great if my earbuds were somehow still chargeable and able to pair without the proprietary case. That might result in bulkier earbuds and/or extra components, but it would allow me to use my otherwise functioning earbuds.

There's value in a gadget being able to "work even when it fails," which is one of the principles that the Calm Tech Institute applies to its certifications and teachings around human-centric gadget design.

Amber Case, founder of the Calm Tech Institute, suggested universal earbud charging cases as a potential solution to problems like mine. She compared proprietary cases to having to go to a special gas station to find a compatible pump for your car. She said:

... many companies have made a few business missteps and found it impossible to satisfy both quarterly growth and customer loyalty. Your perfectly functional earbuds becoming e-waste over one missing component show how a lot of companies have to keep up, can't look long term, and have trouble maintaining manufacturing after specific dates.

Case pointed to companies like Bosch that, contrastingly, have used lifetime customer support as a competitive advantage and a way to better profits by driving higher prices, customer retention, and word-of-mouth marketing. She added:

There are other family-run companies that can offer product support for years, but they're very stable, multigenerational, and they don't go public or try to work with quarterly reports. They might not make headlines either, but they'll be around when these flash in the pan types turn to the dust they came from.

Back to the drawer

I asked EPOS about the environmental implications of shuttering its gaming business after three years. The company representative said:

As part of the transition away from our gaming business, we’ve worked to ensure a responsible wind-down and to maintain support for existing customers. We always aim to minimize waste and maximize usability where possible within the scope of technical and logistical feasibility.

That's little comfort for the earbuds that will likely return to their lonely drawer while I consider my limited options. Since a company can't support a decent product for a sufficient amount of time, I'm stuck relying on a jiggling cable for music while jogging for a little while.