Ok, I know it's an audiophile forum but hear me out:

I had A8s when I first got a BS2.  Then after 2 years of heavy use, the jack came away partly from the cable. To their credit the Durham store (sadly not with us these days, merged with Newcastle) fixed/replaced them.  2 Years later, the same happened again.   However, I then got a pair of Atomic Floyd (about £120) in-ear jacks from the Apple store after I got a free giftcard.  12 months on they did the same.

Seriously, we're talking largish amounts of money.  Over the time I used them they were more expensive than I paid for some of my household bills.  For Headphones.  I've now come to the conclusion that earphones just aren't worth spending decent money on.  I got a pair of £15 (rrp 25 probably) at the local market and at £1 per month of useage they just seem more sensible; to be honest, they're not as good but they're not exactly bad and I don't live in the countryside so over the noise of the traffic it's harder to tell.

Does anyone know of a decent B&O level of headphones that actually stand some give and tear?  The headphone equivalent, say, of a Hardbook laptop?

Wow, interesting... I thought that my Atomic Floyd were bulletproof!
The jack of my A8 is a little bit used, but they still work really well, 7 years after I bought them!  

If it is just the jack plug that has gone faulty, then for about £1 a replacement jack plug can be purchased and soldered onto the cable!!

It usually means trimming about an inch from the end of the cable, but headphone leads are normally long enough to not notice the slight length reduction.

Dunno about A8, but in many headphones the lead is some kind of ultraflexible conductor with nylon(?) strands woven inbetween the copper, and really difficult to solder properly.

If the same issue happens on different earphones, it might mean that you're too hard with the jacks..?

Seriously, I never had any problem with the A8s, apart from inserting them properly in my ears to have good bass reproduction.

I remember the logo vanishing with time, however.