I have several pair of flagship headphones and I love my Hifimans, DCAs, Stax and ZMF. With all my headt.
But lately I can’t take these DIY cans off my head.
They sound so freaking good, bass is hugely punchy, beefy and detailed, mids are smooth and highs are beautiful.
Don’t tell anyone they cost about $25 in parts.
I'm fascinated and have $26 dollars.
Do I hear $27
lol! Definitely $50. I'm always up for headphone deals and supporting reasonably priced headphones, even 200. HMU if you do.
$51!
id sell anything for 51! dollars
I can sell my momma for $51!
Uhhhhh
math jokes eheh
I have 27€
Ohh, fancy pants McGee over here with the €.
Yeah, eurodollars are awesome. 😂
Brother lives in nightcity
I have £27
That’s not real money. Worse than Lira.
where is the head band?
Not included in price
The headband is always the most difficult thing to do, since you can't just 3D print it (except from TPU, but that will look rather weird usually and is squeeky and won't last forever).
I also work on headphone DIY projects, but the headband is what makes it exceptionally difficult to finish. Sure you can buy one from Aliexpress for 50$, but that's not really sustainable nor really unique looking if the rest of the headphone is just 25$.
Still don't quite get how the total cost of the thing here is 25$. The cable must be at least 16-20$ alone, the Drivers are also minimum 19$. + the filament + small electronic components and you are at the 45$ mark already.
Still really good!
Don't ruin a good story with your facts! The nerve...
I'm guessing it doesn't include the cable but includes the headphone (excluding headband as it doesn't seem to have one yet). You can get cables cheaper than that though for that matter.
How about 12 sheep? Some of which have 4 legs!
I have ¥270
He didn't say how much in r&d and labor... But I also have $25
Hijacking top comment cuz some people asked for more photos:
Sell them at $200 and start your headphones company.
Or $50 and double my money!
I need to figure out how many of these I could make in a few days. Maybe 50 pair.
Stuff usually retails 6 to 8 times their manufacturing price, that helps with all the overhead of selling stuff (shipping, taxes, warranties, storage, etc).
That just depends on the supply chain to get to the point of retail, but you’re not wrong. A decent rule of thumb is material ~50% of the cost. Now this can vary wildly depending on the product, but if you’re trying to gauge the price to material cost off your assometer you can start there. The more you know the industry the better you can begin to dial in the calculation.
You should deffinitley sell for at least 200. Do NOT sell yourself short because you will regret it
Oh, you are a management consultant now? /jk
nah fair enough why am i backseat driving some random guys headphones
Your time input and iterating, sell them for $250
don't sell yourself short.
You need to pay for your own time and skillset, not just the materials. This is the very definition of "don't sell yourself short"
If they sound as good as you say (and I think it does) I would gladly buy one from your for a 100 $ XD
Let us know if you end up wanting to sell some they look cool.
I'd sell them for 150 or more, time and packaging still cost money after all!
You could sell them for $25 each ear.
Read your DM's bud
At the very least make it $100, your time, R&D, and knowledge should be worth at least $50, and the assembly of the product should be worth at least $25.
Don't devalue yourself, the saddest part about business is, unless you feel like an asshole you probably aren't calling yourself enough with pricing.
better to start high and work your price down. honestly if you can beat price to performance ratio against big companies, you’ll start to see the W because of the internet and stuff.
Please make a youtube tutorial with link to parts. Id love to give these a spin
Good idea.
I haven’t made public videos in a while but this could be fun & informative.
I’m the founder of DistroKid and used to do a ton of videos. May have to get back into it, at least once.
You can’t just randomly drop “I’m the founder of Distrokid.” Also post a parts list, baby!!!!
Like what? How can they say this so nonchalantly???
Ha! Never expected to see an industry VIP posting on the headphone subreddit showing off his diy project!
Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing this! I'd also love to hear more about the process and what you've discovered. I think manufacturing and marketing are the toughest parts of the audio gear business, and it's rare that we can just talk about the fundamentals.
Bro casually said he founded Distrokid, actually insane but super dope
What channel will you be uploading on? Ill keep an eye on it
My personal YouTube channel currently is just old videos of me playing the drums:
whaaaat no way you're the one who uploaded big bill hell's!
Haha I remember connecting a VHS player to my computer so I could share that with the world. YouTube was tiny at the time.
Look at the timestamp on this video of me for example: https://youtu.be/MJJHk4hSFB4
Hard to believe that vid will be 19 years old this year haha.
CHALLENGE PISSING!
Fuck you, Baltimore!
it would be great for the headphone scene, thankyou in advance 🙏🏾
RemindMe! 2 days
Please make a video on this. Btw, I use DistroKid for my music, and it rules. Thanks!
Did not expect to stumble across the founder of DistroKid's post on a headphone subreddit today lol that's awesome
Wth dude! You can't just casually drop that 😂
Huh?? Dude just said that like it doesn't mean anything. Honestly you could probably slap the Distrokid labelling and sell it through that brand
Would love to see that, these look like Sundara killers, congrats on the build, I converted a pair of KSC75 to Bluetooth by frankensteining them with a wireless set and it was so exciting to see them work lol. Hope to see a limited run of yours soon! And ty for DK!!
Are you still in the distribution topic? Recently there has been a problem with Distrokid and others that you have to specify the author of the vocals with a real name or IP name alias. But with licensed vocal samples, e.g. via Splice, the real author is not even known. Do you know anything about this?
the software that you're using definitely costs more than $25 though
Touché.
And the GRAS 45CA 😬
Seems the distrokid benefits are being put to good use though :)
Next upgrade: The Bruel and kjaer 5128 🙊
See if you can post distortion metrics as well, curious how much they distort at 75 and 90 dB across all frequencies.
Good call, will do once I get my head around the APx500 software a little more
(shout out to the amazing folks at Audio Precision if they see this, who make damn fine products with truly incredible customer service).
Is this the turning point of this hobby where we can DYI our own? Like custom keyboard, now we have custom Headphones?
Check out the lil plugs I made when tuning this headphone to open and close different vents:
Yep, it's time to shape this hobby. Bring it to another level. When close back and open back can be in one Headphone. We can change whatever driver we have at hand freely with just a few plug...
Awesome tuning dude congrats! 🤩 How is the technical side of things?
Need to do more testing but subjectively they sound like nothing I’ve heard before. Drums are so impactful & visceral it feels almost like a stranger is tapping the sides of the earcups to make the sound.
Closest comparison is probably OG Focal Clear, but with much juicer and satisfying bass, and more impact & dynamic range.
Honestly they sound more like my Monarch III IEMs than headphones.
Edit: Take with possible grain of salt because bias etc. Would love to hear impressions from other folks if I get around to making a handful of units to send out.
Please do a writeup or video on how to replicate this. A lot of us would love to learn.
Yes please!
Are those the ones you told me about?
They're the ones she tells you not to worry about
Good old reliable Tymphany Peerless drivers. I need to get another set. I accidentally broke mine transplanting them from one of my projects to another.
I’ve accidentally stuck my finger through too many of them in the past few weeks. Stings every time. 😥
Dude just made Sennheiser HD 560s v2 basically.
Sell these for 150 and destroy the shell of what used to be a great audio company.
In reality the biggest costs I believe are the assembly and QA. I imagine depending on how durable and consistent you want them to be you'll have to pay a bit.
For that price I will happily buy one any time
Seriously keep us updated...
🙏
Teach me the ways.
Haha I’ve been trying to make headphones for approximately 4 weeks and prior to that was a computer programmer (and headphone enjoyer) for 30 years before that.
So I’m still learning.
Would love to know more about how you’re making measurements- that’s been the hardest thing to get info about, coming from a speaker-building hobby perspective- there’s lots of good info and even YouTube videos on measuring and tuning diy speakers- not so much for headphones.
I’ve been playing with the tectonic bmr headphone drivers (used in valve index headset) and mounting them in 3M industrial earmuffs. So far interesting results but I need to get a 3d printer- instead im scuplting pink foam and its sub-optimal 🙄
Where did you get the drivers?
One of my biggest learnings from this project is the driver doesn’t matter nearly as much as tuning (dimensions of cups/baffle, vent size and location, damping materials and placement etc).
I think as long as a driver can playback 20-20k hz, it can sound awesome or terrible; all the “notes” are there, you just need to shape em. At least in my limited experience (I’ve only been making headphones for a few weeks). Would love for a pro to chime in and tell me if I’m wrong.
I happened to use 50mm “Peerless by Tymphany” drivers because they’re fast to get (available from US shippers) which is probably one of the reasons they’re so popular with DIYers.
My experience has been the same with driver models. Of course there are better ones, but we can make amazing stuff with even dirt cheap drivers and the right acoustics.
Thanks for confirming, OldAccWasFullOfPorn
At your service lol
Wow these look great and your frequency response is as good as it gets. I am sure you have a great design there, that ear gain region is not easy to tune. I am a maker too and found this quite challenging, although my design starts from a different standpoint.
I wonder if JMaudio is using these drivers too for his headphones since the main thing you're paying for with his is the tuning. Do you think you'll try 3d printing or putting it together with a headband?
Everything is my original design & 3D printed except the headband, which I bought from Aliexpress and is the worst thing about these headphones.
It’s comfortable but the swivel is metal-on-metal so it’s a bit squeaky. I tried use dry lubricant which just made it worse.
I really don’t want to design a functioning headband but I may need to. Needs to do these cans justice!
Squeaky metal on metal? Well you designed yourself a Hifiman!
can u post frequency response of the headband squeak pls?
Hah. I should.
Put a thin nylon washer in between the metal surfaces.
I bought one of JM's old XTC Open headphones a while ago and, unless he changed them, it definitely isn't the same. Though, he may use a couple of different drivers. I'm like 90% sure it's the K100 driver. It goes under different names sometimes, but you can find it on Aliexpress. It's in a blue housing with a beryllium center and white outer ring.
Here is a picture of the back of the driver, when I took the headphone apart.
Have you tried other drivers? Using different drivers shouldn't change the sound that much (they're all designed to do the same thing), but small differences still matter. That's why Focal makes such a big deal about their driver material.
Really good idea.
I’ve tried different drivers (I ordered a ton of different ones) but haven’t tried other drivers in this particular design.
But now you’ve got me curious how much of a difference it would make.
Are you 3D printing your cups, etc? Also wondering how you're strapping them to your head lol
Haha.
Yep they’re 3D printed.
I held one cup up for my ear (and the measurement rig) while testing.
When I got the FR I wanted, I made a second cup and attached them to a headband I got on Alibaba.
Just here to say that your description of the listening experience sounds absolutely incredible, and I would be happy to pay way more than $25 to share said experience. 🤣
If you start a wait-list I'd love to chat!
Sell a DIY kit!
As others have already mentioned great job on the tuning. Please try out the ISO 226:2003 equal loudness tuning as well. Its a reference point for studio mixing and mastering and a really nice neutral sound that isn't flat and boring like typical flat tunings. I EQ all my headphones to it over the harman curve since its objective unlike harman which is just an average of subjective tastes, although I agree it is a fun tuning and overall follows equal loudness except the mid 2k-4k range. Since the basic premise is that humans hear mid range (1k-4k) much louder than bass and treble, thus the boost in headphones frequency response.
There is a calculator on williamssoundstudio for your convenience. I use 80phons because 85phons over extended periods results in permanent hearing loss, but I like to crank up the volume like many other audiophiles :) So far keeping it under 80 hasn't worsened my slight tinnitus.
I've always wanted to DIY my own headphones and your effort has ignited a spark within the community as well, cheers!
Very cool! Hopefully you can share specs and whatnot.
Very interested in what was involved! Looking to build my own and need some pointers
I would love to get involved, and can just about scrape £25 (I’m in UK)…
I'd love to purchase a pair if you don't mind. What does the rest look like in terms of headband design?
Curious to hear what they sound in comparison to my audio technica
Sir, ma'am, human(possibly). I'm actually in the market for some new ones..... And I do have some money. I would like to give you money for a product please
That would be fun. I’ll try to make a handful and put them for sale here at cost just cuz I want to see what other people think. 🙏
Damn this is extremely impressive - definitely something I’d buy based on the comments. Would much rather give money to OP than a massive conglomerate.
Even cooler would be a DIY kit or open source development! But, fully support OP earning what these are worth…development of this stuff ain’t easy.
I’m gonna follow in case you sell some
I would love to try and print these.
I made a fully functional 3d printed rc jetboat last week, the amount of satisfaction you get from building something completely from scratch is huge.
Amazing.
Link to boat post?
I only put up 2 videos of the boat on my channel, I'm planning on making a nice build video soon.
The other video on my channel shows the boat a bit more in detail. Even the latch is printed out of TPU to act as a seal!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSq13_y4Ejs
That is awesome!
Left you a YouTube comment.
Sigh is RC boats another rabbit hole I need to become obsessed with?
Oh wow, they even look pretty cool too
Can you post a better picture of your headphones?
Here’s me during an all-nighter tuning session. I made different plugs and fittings (and used tape…) to try different combinations, measure, listen, repeat:
I would love to diy my own pair if u open source the design
These look absolutely amazing! Congratulations!
What ear pads did you use?
Fenestrated some kind of leather (could be real leather) from Alibaba.
Trying to track it down now so I can order more.
Too many Alibaba sellers don’t put any branding with the product, so I have to compare it to photos online to figure out what it is.
Got it, this is indeed quite annoying. I tested many of the Ali earpads and remember liking some fenestrated sheepskin from there too. But as you said, they come and go, and never publish any specs to help us.
Been down that road before, easiest way is through order history. Try dig through your junk there might be a order confirmation email or something.
Is that a common target curve for headphones? I'm more familiar with car audio, I run a 5 db/octive lift from about 220Hz down and a bit of a roll off from 1.5kHz up, but from 220-1500 I'm aiming for a flat response.
That’s awesome about car audio. I worked at a car stereo installer a long time ago and those systems are amazing.
For headphones, Google “Harman 2018 over-ear target.” It’s what I was shooting for.
How did you do it? Seems like a good project for the Summer vacations.
Learn CAD! I watched some YouTube videos on Fusion360 and it’s SO much fun, highly recommended.
Then buy some drivers, a soldering iron and have fun
Always love seeing DIY projects like this. Would love to buy the files if you eventually decide to release them.
Nice! Once you get them on a head band, send them to a reviewer like Zeos for feedback, he appreciates DIY efforts and was a big supporter of the SJY guy in his early days. Now that dude is making legit headphones.
Link to the first of many reviews he did over the years for SJY: https://youtu.be/GFdrNZ-caV4?feature=shared
I am also fascinated and have $25
If you end up doing a demo run, count me in. Will pay.
Holy shit.... That looks amazing. I would totally buy them if you are selling in the future!
Please let me know if you decide to sell a set!! I am very interested and congratulations! (also thank u so much for distrokid you are the goat)
Sign me up for a pair
Take my money.
Please let me buy one
If you make any pairs to sell, let me know. I am very interested in trying them out.
Build them and I'll buy them. I build 3000 dollar studio monitors for 350.
Link? I may be in the market.
Don't tell anyone the specifics, even if we all would love to know. Just build your own headphone company. This is coming from someone who has had 20+ pairs, some of them high end phones costing over $3k. You can start a company and do rather well for yourself with this. It would only be a matter of consistency to get a line of these, call them something unique and build a line of them, sell them, and build up a company, then retire.
These posts always have me intrigued by DIY headphones. Makes me wonder if oratory1990 has something in the works too
Looking at the graph, if this was measured with a standard Gras rig, there's a bit too much mid-bass and too much treble for my preference. But certainly impressive for a dyi project 👍
It's very impressive for a DIY project, most DIY cans I've seen look very rough lol
Yep on a GRAS rig.
Maybe I’ll work on a different tuning in the future. For this one I just wanted to hit the Harman 2018 Over-Ear target as closely as possible.
Do let us know if you want to make and sell any more. I’m definitely interested 👀
Are you selling the 3d files?
I’d buy a pair, also how’s it going?!
Take my money and post some more pictures of the cans.
I’m still working on the grill design and need to find a better headband, then I will post glamour shots!
What happened to the high end of the spectrum
Headphone measurements are always wiggly in the highs I think because the wavelengths get so short they create standing waves between the back of your ear and your head and other wacky things. I tried smoothing it out with design of the headphone but there are still some wiggles.
I actually wana start making my own. Do you have any tips on determining what type of drivers?
I used “Peerless by Tymphany” which are very popular with DIYers I think because they’re good quality and readily available in the USA.
Though I’m not sure how much a difference the driver makes. I want to experiment with other drivers.
Very nice how much
RemindMe! 2 days
Wish I had the skills to make stuff like this, im always too broke for good stuff
One question: how?
I started by watching a YouTube video on how to use Fusion360.
Then I drew a circle and extruded it.
Then 50 steps later here we are.
Really impressive, what driver did you use for them?
You better start building and selling them. I could also pay up to $200 for them. We really need more info though
What do they look like fully assembled? Would love to see some "beauty" shots of them. Also definitely want to hear a pair for myself.
where can i buy one
Share the parts links?
The thing is these are most headphones
You need to pay the assembly people enough to live, pay for shipping to a retailer, the retailer is going to want a margin, then you need to cover R&D for more products and returns and warranties… plus make some for your self so these are $100-$150 headphones.
Would you be able to make a video and share a parts list? Looks great 👍
Schematics?
Any reason you didn't use larger drivers? Or planar drivers? 50mm is a pretty average-sized driver. I'm not criticizing, just genuinely curious.
That's pretty damn cool making your own headphones.
These particular 50mm drivers (“Peerless by Tymphany”) seem pretty popular among DIYers so I figured they’re good, and they’re easy to order from US stores.
But I did buy a bunch of planar drivers and different sized dynamics from Aliexpress and can’t wait to try them.
Which software is that?
😸
Insert how 'bout threefitty?
Or whatever price you sell them for (50-100 please?🥺)
I wonder if that FR will replicate. In other words — will the driver build be so consistent that all your tuning holds between each headphone build?
I made a second pair and they measure ok but not as good. I think the issue is I’m hand-cutting & taping damping material, which is inconsistent. I’m hoping to get it more consistent, then sell a few at the cost of materials.
Awesome. You could reasonable add in labor costs just to be fair …
Sounds like a real fun project. Once you turn it into a business it may stop being fun :-)
Also, have you thought about 3d printing meta materials instead of using damping? Just like the Kef meta series?
Thanks!
And totally about the KEF thing. I printed a puck of quarter-wave resonators and little plugs to turn any of them on and off but haven’t tried it in a headphone yet.
what program/hardware do you use for the headphone measurement?
Will you be doing a tutorial? These look awesome!
I know there's Ploopy, the trackball company, who sells a 3D printed headphone kit, then I've talked with a few independent headphone designers, but overall, I'm curious to see how 3D printed DIY headphones impact the audio scene.
I've printed maybe half a dozen different designs, but the real determining factor as to whether they sound good or not seems to be the drivers more than anything.
I just wish there was a way to get a hold of raw drivers from some endgame headphones. I want to know how much of the overall quality is from tuning, how much is driver quality, and how much worse they'd sound in a sub-optimal shell.
Did bro casually drop he's the founder of distrokid??? Thanks man!! I use your service for distributing my own silly music!!!!!
yeah with drivers from china, you dont even have the parameters for them
These would be really cool to compare against the philphones
I would also buy a pair :)
Sold for $300 and advertised as having a unique tuning style
dynamic driver or planar?
Hi I am interested in one unit, with shipping to Spain. If you think it is possible, just send me a message to keep in touch, and when you decide on the price of your craftsmanship, I am willing to pay the amount without the slightest complaint.
Your secret is safe here.
anyone wanna take these $220 headphones off of me, so i can do this😂
What is the name of the software ?
$25 seems reasonable for a pair of custom headphones. Especially if you machined them in-house.
I’m fascinated and have $25.