A few years back, [Shannon Ley] wondered how hard it would be to build a pair of Bluetooth headphones from scratch. Today, we have our answer. The Homebrew Headphones website is devoted to just one thing: explaining how you can use common components and some 3D printed parts to build an impressively comprehensive pair of wireless headphones for around $50 USD.
The headphones pair a CSR8645 Bluetooth audio receiver with a TP4056 USB-C charging module, a 500 mAh LiPo pouch battery, a pair of Dayton Audio CE38MB-32 drivers, and replacement ear covers designed for the Bose QuietComfort QC15. Some perfboard, a couple buttons, a resistor, and an LED round out the parts list.
All of the components fit nicely into the meticulously designed 3D printed frame, and assembly is made as simple as possible thanks to an excellent step-by-step guide. It’s all so well documented that anyone with even basic soldering experience should be able to piece it together without too much fuss.
Of course, these aren’t the first 3D printed headphones we’ve ever seen. But the quality of the documentation and attention to detail really make these stand out.
You wouldn’t /steal/ a pair of headphones.
Unless you have four ears
The build looks great but the drivers seem iffy in the product reviews. (Certainly not the fault of the author that their dealer has less-than-ideal parts, especially with all the shenanigans with supply chains right now.) I’d be curious about an alternative set of drivers that cost a bit more, especially if I am putting in $50 of money and then the work.
This is certainly an upgrade to any cheap bargain-store set of headphones for sure.
There was one negative review he didn’t even leave any constructive feedback he just said they sucked. You can never please everyone, every driver out there is gonna have at least one negative review, this one 4.5 stars overall. Get whatever driver you want but don’t let one review scare you off.
https://xkcd.com/937/
Mandatory XKCD regarding this.
stop wasting two hours of my time ;-)
I’ve used my fair share of Dayton Audio branded drivers and have been thoroughly impressed, especially the bang for the buck. I will say, however, I don’t have any experience with their CE series, a product line aimed at industrial and commercial use, so maybe these drivers do, in fact suck. In an ideal world, I’d like to see these use the 40mm Tymphany drivers that I do know are fantastic drivers, but they are roughly triple the cost of the DA drivers when purchased through Digikey, assuming they are in stock (they are right now, if that’s your bag), and that’s a significant upcharge from what they should be – Parts Express has them for 60% less of you’re willing to wait 3-4 months.
Something else to consider when viewing reviews on Parts Express: Most people don’t say what they were trying to accomplish with their speakers. It does appear as though the negative review was trying to make or repair headphones, but little is known about their setup beyond that. Heck, that single one-star review isn’t even a verified purchase, so who knows if they’re even reviewing the right drivers.
At the end of the day, I have little interest in these. If I want wireless personal music, I’ll put some earbuds in my canals. If I want headphones, I won’t mind a wire or a headphone amp, and if I want homemade I’ll do up a pair of Head(amame) cans.
With the plasticine mod I outline in the instructions, the Dayton Audio drivers are surprisingly good, and for the price, crazy good. The Peerless HPD-40N16PET00-32 is also good, but a fair bit more expensive.
5+ hours, not too shabby, I’m more looking for an “all day” headphone now though. Just got some free with purchase BT phones that were particulalrly dissappointing, half an hour, gah. Mind you they don’t really look big enough anywhere to shoehorn in more than 50mAh… I would up-battery these with an inline 18650 holder even, but they crackle on and off too, so not a terribly enticing solution. Maybe I’ll massage this design. you could hide 3 or 4 of those pouch cells in the headband maybe.
Just got some of those promo headphones that came from that brand that rhymes with mud geyser. The single button operation and lack of volume/mute on them is meh, but the audio quality is pretty decent. Haven’t been able to really challenge them yet but battery has done over 2 hours, so maybe they’ll get reworked at my whim or put up with until I get mod or make something better.
No info on the latency? This can turn into an issue with movies and calls.
Latency “should” be negotiated by the bluetooth module and the host to allow the host to compensate for the latency for non-interactive media. For interactive media like video games, bluetooth is generally not a great choice…
https://www.computerbase.de/2022-06/sony-linkbuds-s-test/2/#abschnitt_latenz_der_sony_linkbuds_s
I know of no “negotiation”, it’s an intrinsic signal processing delay. latency can be very distracting to people who are sensitive to desync. 60ms vs 180ms is a factor 3 differences.
I applaud the work that went into this… but my personal headphone bias is 1) wired, over Bluetooth and more electronics, and 2) I prefer putting my efforts into rehabilitating good classic headphones. I have a few great old sets that still sound amazing. They often just require basic repair and new pads.
I don’t mind the Bluetooth (speaker mode, handsfree is trash), but agree on using good headphones as a staring point. My favorite are still some Beyerdynamic DT770 with the cable switched to a jack, so I can plug either a Bluetooth receiver or the original cable. A magnetic USB adapter for the Bluetooth’s charging port is even better than USB-C, it snaps into place by itself.
I’m wondering what if ‘bluetooth’ a head(amame) as an alternative to this?
I’ve never seen headphones that don’t spec out at 20 to 20kHz. The most meaningless spec of all in audio. I paid $5 for a used pair of Bose noise canceling phones. Trying them with my phone in the thrift store, whoa! Dropped them on the floor and they fell apart. They had the fold up feature, a weak link design. Tiny plastic hinges!
Those drivers and nothing else got glued to gutted Sony phones, awesome sound and high efficiency. Now one driver has a bass buzz. Where to buy more? I’ve been down that rabbit hole of reading specs and reviews. Imagine thinking you have a good set of drivers and they are running on an outdated bluetooth chip amp.
I’m so tired of having the plastic break, making expensive headphones unfixable. Since my 4th pair just broke today, I’m all in on making these. It will be nice to have a pair that I can completely rebuild when they break.