Engineer Shannon Ray didn’t find the off-the-shelf headphone options appealing, so he set out to design a new set from scratch, bringing his 3D-printable designs to life for everyone to use and customize. “A few years ago, I wondered if I could make my own headphones that sound great,” Ray explains. “After plenty of searching online, I couldn`t find anyone else who had done it from scratch, nor could I find any decent info on how to do it. So I set out to figure it all out.”
Engineer Shannon Ray didn’t find the off-the-shelf headphone options appealing, so he set out to design a new set from scratch, releasing 3D-printable designs for everyone to use and customize. “A few years ago, I wondered if I could make my own headphones that sound great,” Ray explains. “After much searching on the internet, I couldn’t find anyone who did it from scratch, or find any good information on how to do it. So I thought I’d look into it.”
Highlights
-
“The ‘look’ can easily be customized by only changing the simple-to-redesign covers.” Ley has designed two variants of the headphones. The first offers wired connectivity, and costs around $35 in parts; the $50 variant adds a battery, Bluetooth connectivity, and a microphone for use as a call headset as well as a music device. For those interested in building their own, you can find full instructions for both variants, as well as Autodesk Fusion 360 files for 3D printable parts, on the Homebrew Headphones website.
-
The result, after “a ton of work,” is “Homebrew Headphones:” A guide to building “awesome-sounding” and “decent-looking” headphones using 3D printed parts and readily-available components for bill-of-materials cost around $50 — yet, Ley claims, offering audio quality somewhere on a par with commercial headphones costing around $200. “Building these headphone doesn`t require much knowledge of electronics and beyond access to a 3D printer, only basic tools,” Ley claims.