The length is true to size, but they have gone from medium to wide very fast. These are not quite so beefy, more ?nicely balanced. That is probably about 400 hours before I replace. We?ve had them for about a year now and they still look brand new. My favorite snickers for Gym ! The particular shelf I got may have been a disaster, but the seller was amazing. I was a bit suspicious from the price but Amazon has been so excellent with returns that I thought to take the chance and as I needed these for travel I splurged with the express delivery, which was actually very inexpensive as well. I will throw in a few provisios here for early adopters. I love these headphones best pair I ever owned and this is my 3 rd pair of V-moda headphones and have had plenty of BEATS these are better Lapparaige est hyper simple.