Not a good product in the long haul

Bought these headphones for $150 Cdn a year ago and they worked great for about four months then the battery life started to get shorter. I use them anywhere between one and six hours per day always putting them back in the charger when not in use. Life gradually decreased to about two hours after about six months. The manual says not to replace the batteries which are two NiCd 550 mAh AA size. I replaced them with two 800 mAh NiCd and the charger wouldn't recharge them - had to go out and buy two new 550 mAh. That fixed the battery life but soon after it seemed like they developed spots where the reception was no good. These spots were where I most often stood - in front of the BBQ, at the kitchen sink, just outside the front door, etc. These spots become noisier and more frequent in the last few months, despite replacing the batteries again, to the point where I'm ready to stomp on them and get a new set from a different manufacturer.