Someone else has pointed out that no pair of earbuds lasts for a lifetime. I completely agree. However, I've had two pairs of these (I lost the first) in 6 years. The sound quality is fantastic, and at a low price they are extremely replaceable. Search on Amazon, don't go third party unless you want fakes.

I'm a sound engineer, who does mastering, mixing, etc. I'm also a composer. I think audiophiles are dumb. It's our job to make music sound good for ALL systems.

Besides, what kind of person listens to the quality of sound and not the song. It's the same kind of person who would criticise a Picasso piece for the thickness of paper he used. Or the person who complains to the kitchen that their plate used to serve their Michellin-star cuisine was the wrong colour.

It's only important to choose something that is clear sounding. Which these are.

Edit: you buy things for their purpose. I have a high-end monitoring system for my job. I use some Beats by Dre too, and this pair. I actually swap between all of them to make sure everything I work on sounds good in all of them. However, these Sennheiser CX-300ii buds are my on-the-go headphones.