It?s very sturdy and it is WATERPROOF. This ensures you will be irritated every time you adjust a sweatband, hat or collar, reach across the front of your body, or do anything to or near your neck or face. I am now looking at buying a different noise-canceling headphones, and Bose headphones will not be an option. Bought these as a gift for my father. It also helps reduce power consumption through inefficient wall adapters when the items arent being used, such as the battery chargers. These really don?t eliminate noise all that well but they are quality headphones and the battery life is great. I?m able to hold a full conversation with someone with both earbuds in and be able to gauge the volume of my voice just fine and also hear the person I?m talking to. My first pair lasted several years. Mostly a waste of time. Shame but definitely order a size larger than you usually wear.