Having received my replacement cable for my 'Cans' - there is nothing wrong with the product. It took about ten days to arrive but that was perhaps due to the number of 'holidays' that week.
Why is it necessay to relpace it? Firstly, the 2mm jacks into the each individual headphone are indexed, good ploy by Sennheiser and they are also a sealed connection, so they cannot be resoldered if the cable connection comes adrift. You cannot replace it with a standard 2mm jack - Therefore, you have no altenative to buy a complete replacement and are left with an unusable broken cable of no use, not very eco-whatsit.
The headphones I have are excellent, pity about the weakness of the cable, it need a 'gland' or something to over the 2mm jack to protect it - something I am adding to these I have just had to purchase!