[zkirill]

Awesome article. Just wondering, how can a hardware company voluntarily submit their device for reverse engineering and dismantling as a show of good faith? Given the right circumstances this is basically a free security audit and marketing for the company.

[dylan604]

They could just provided schematics, blueprints, parts explosion graphics, etc.

I have been a fan of the Sony MDR-7502 headphones since Moses was in a basket. They provide an explosion of each of the parts and their numbers so that you can order replacements. Granted, these are "old skool" dumb wired headphones, so no software is needed, nor are chips necessary to look up and what not.

[snvzz]

They're decent for closed cans.

If you can go open at all, I'd recommend Sennheiser HD600. It doesn't get more solid than this.

[spookie]

Same for the MDR-7506!

Speaking of wireless, their battery problems over time have already bit me, will continue buying "dumb" ones in the future.

[wpietri]

If a company wants somebody to do a hardware audit for marketing purposes, they should pay money for that. Please fairly value people's labor, especially when you seek to profit from it.

[cheschire]

Well, influencers are able to work out alternative means of compensation because the content is more valuable than the work performed. For example a blogger that is renowned for teardowns might do the work in exchange for access to early release models so that their content is highly relevant. That is worth more than the hourly cost to perform the teardown work. Compensation negotiation is part of the art of that deal.

[bigallen]

If someone wants to do the hardware audit for free, or in exchange for some kind of promotional exchange, is that a bad thing? I’d breakdown a lot of devices if I could get a duplicate one intact, for free

[Retr0id]

Any company with sufficiently interesting hardware is welcome to send me a copy. Most hardware isn't very interesting though, so they'd likely have to pay me too.

[throwup238]

iFixit offers their services to manufacturers: https://www.ifixit.com/solutions

There are plenty of other consultants that do that too, but they don't have the same reach and brand recognition.