It has 5V stepdown converter and Li-Po charger as well as amplifier integrated on board. Cheap USB-C Li-Po chargers lack neccessary 5.1kOhm pull-downs and therefore work only with USB-A->USB-C cables. Soldering them onto charger PCB is borderline impossible, while adding them to most USB-C sockets is fairly easy (usually there are free pads to solder 5.1k SMD resistor). You then connect 5V and GND from USB-C socket to BT module and it handles charging the battery that is connected to separate pads.
I don't really understand why article recommends board without amplifier, I tried using CSR8675 board without one and it was waaay too quiet.
With 500mAh battery salvaged from old BT speaker I get over 20h of loud playback, which is fine for me.
I don't understand why article recommends board without amplifier, I tried using CSR8675 board without one and it was waaay too quiet.
It depends on the drivers; if they're low impedance, the result may be deafeningly loud. Yours seem to be available in 32, 80, and 250 ohms, the ones in the article are 32.
Thinking of doing a similar mod to my shp9500. Have you tried pairing this with an android phone yet? I'm also curious how it sounds on aptx instead of aac.
These look nice! I have also been making my own headphones. I recently posted a twitter thread with build instructions if anyone wants to make them. [1]
Notable difference is that mine are simpler to build, though less integrated. I use an off the shelf bluetooth to 3.5mm adapter rather than one of those integrated boards (I did recently buy an integrated board to test out). The off the shelf bluetooth adapter just plugs in to the short 3.5mm cable I build in to the headphones, which has the advantage that you can make them wired headphones with a simple extension, which sometimes has its use. Anyway take a look!
I very much appreciate that your design incorporates the ability to use them wired as well.
While I’m out/in transit, of course there’s nothing particularly terrible about Bluetooth.
When I’m at home, however - I produce music a lot more than I consume it.
I also mainly consume music at home on my record players anyway, which obviously I don’t use Bluetooth for.
As any audio producer will tell you; the latency introduced be even the newest Bluetooth standards makes producing music in a DAW a frustrating experience at best.
I love the ‘best of both worlds’ headphones with optional latency-free wired support. I can take them on the go and use Bluetooth on the bus, I can connect a wire at home; and produce in bliss.
I would absolutely love to create my own headphones from the ground up sometime, choosing my drivers and cushioning carefully, and ideally modelling/3D printing my custom design, based on taking measurements of the shape of my head and size of my ears. (I prefer over the head headphones as even the most comfortable buds tend to hurt my ears after a short while.)
Aww I’m glad you like the design! Feel free to use mine as a jumping off point, it’s all open source and I just want people to benefit however. Onshape is free and I’ve got like six different headphone designs in the Onshape design files linked in the thread.
But yeah I use the wired mode a lot. On one of the headphones I got a TRRS splitter and added a microphone and I can plug the TRRS cable into my Xbox controller and use it as a gaming headset. It’s a very flexible system!
> They sound awesome – on par with pairs that cost around $200
I don't know. The problem is that $20 pairs often sound on par with ones that cost around $200. But the ones that cost around $200 have much better ANC than the $20 ones. You can definitely tell on an airplane. And these don't have noise cancelling at all.
> Bluetooth audio isn't fantastic in my experience.
I had been thinking the same but then I still gave it a shot and bought some new headphones with Bluetooth (and aptX support), in my case the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 (in-ear), and the Sennheiser Momentum 3 (over-ear). Turns out they can easily compete with (or are even better than) the cable-bound ~$250 in-ears I used to have.
If you don't care about latency, like listening to music or watching a movie, Bluetooth audio can be as good as wired. The maximum bandwidth for Bluetooth audio is 576kbps (aptX HD) which is way above the point at which you can tell the difference.
On the other hand, if latency is important, like on a call, then you can get kind of reasonable latency if you almost give up on quality (34ms from aptX Low Latency) But you're much better off sticking with wired (low single digit milliseconds) since latency matters so much for good conversation.
Apologies for hijacking the thread. If anyone is interested in building high quality digital uncompressed and very low latency phones, speakers and other audio devices, I've found a while ago this doc about a pair of modules promising some impressive performance.
I like the idea of a vertical mount in the earcups: If the battery dies you click it open, slide out the dead one, slide in a fresh one, click it closed, and listen for a bunch more hours
At a quick glance the hardware for this is compatible with Lithium Ion chemistry so go for it. Just need to make some minor mods to put a battery holder on.
More specifically, just about any headphone with a LiPo (flat square) battery could be modified to accept an 18650. The charging voltages are the same, so you would just have to snip the old battery out and wire in an 18650.
I don't mind them as long as the weight is balanced out with clamping force or higher up the band. There's even smaller sized cells which go into electric toothbrushes as well. The point is to have cells that can be sourced easily & replaced without much fuss which these LiPo packs do not enable.
If it's just for calls, look at DECT headphones. I have a Jabra model, don't know if they still make them.
Coverage is great, I can walk around my parents' house, and even out in the garden, without loss of signal. They live in a hundred-year-old stone house.
Sound quality is great for calls. Music is ok-ish. They don't have any kind of ANC.
Another drawback is the big-ass base that for some reason requires a dedicated power cord.
Thanks for that, I am looking at POTS audio interfaces and POTS simulators. Looks like with DACT I can do what I want cheaper than using multiple body packs.
This rules! I have one of this bluetooth chip but mine didn’t come with the breakout pre-soldered & I’m struggling to solder them myself, thinking I should try paste + heat gun.
I believe you can also can change the name that the BT module broadcasts if you have an FTDI to USB cable (or something with UART pins like an Arduino). (You can also just change the “display name” on your iOS device bluetooth settings but it is just the name your device shows. I’m guessing this is doable on Android and everything else too.)
Readit News
It has 5V stepdown converter and Li-Po charger as well as amplifier integrated on board. Cheap USB-C Li-Po chargers lack neccessary 5.1kOhm pull-downs and therefore work only with USB-A->USB-C cables. Soldering them onto charger PCB is borderline impossible, while adding them to most USB-C sockets is fairly easy (usually there are free pads to solder 5.1k SMD resistor). You then connect 5V and GND from USB-C socket to BT module and it handles charging the battery that is connected to separate pads.
I don't really understand why article recommends board without amplifier, I tried using CSR8675 board without one and it was waaay too quiet.
With 500mAh battery salvaged from old BT speaker I get over 20h of loud playback, which is fine for me.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/r32ru2/yet_anot...
It depends on the drivers; if they're low impedance, the result may be deafeningly loud. Yours seem to be available in 32, 80, and 250 ohms, the ones in the article are 32.
Notable difference is that mine are simpler to build, though less integrated. I use an off the shelf bluetooth to 3.5mm adapter rather than one of those integrated boards (I did recently buy an integrated board to test out). The off the shelf bluetooth adapter just plugs in to the short 3.5mm cable I build in to the headphones, which has the advantage that you can make them wired headphones with a simple extension, which sometimes has its use. Anyway take a look!
[1] https://twitter.com/TLAlexander/status/1550903550930067456
While I’m out/in transit, of course there’s nothing particularly terrible about Bluetooth.
When I’m at home, however - I produce music a lot more than I consume it.
I also mainly consume music at home on my record players anyway, which obviously I don’t use Bluetooth for.
As any audio producer will tell you; the latency introduced be even the newest Bluetooth standards makes producing music in a DAW a frustrating experience at best.
I love the ‘best of both worlds’ headphones with optional latency-free wired support. I can take them on the go and use Bluetooth on the bus, I can connect a wire at home; and produce in bliss.
I would absolutely love to create my own headphones from the ground up sometime, choosing my drivers and cushioning carefully, and ideally modelling/3D printing my custom design, based on taking measurements of the shape of my head and size of my ears. (I prefer over the head headphones as even the most comfortable buds tend to hurt my ears after a short while.)
Sounds like a fun summer project sometime. :)
But yeah I use the wired mode a lot. On one of the headphones I got a TRRS splitter and added a microphone and I can plug the TRRS cable into my Xbox controller and use it as a gaming headset. It’s a very flexible system!
I don't know. The problem is that $20 pairs often sound on par with ones that cost around $200. But the ones that cost around $200 have much better ANC than the $20 ones. You can definitely tell on an airplane. And these don't have noise cancelling at all.
Still you'll enjoy something you made yourself more than the $200 version you just bought.
I had been thinking the same but then I still gave it a shot and bought some new headphones with Bluetooth (and aptX support), in my case the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 (in-ear), and the Sennheiser Momentum 3 (over-ear). Turns out they can easily compete with (or are even better than) the cable-bound ~$250 in-ears I used to have.
That's not the case for me. I enjoy the process of making something but in terms of day to day usage I enjoy the better version more.
On the other hand, if latency is important, like on a call, then you can get kind of reasonable latency if you almost give up on quality (34ms from aptX Low Latency) But you're much better off sticking with wired (low single digit milliseconds) since latency matters so much for good conversation.
Deleted Comment
http://www.vastera.com.tw/1/PDF/DIO-S003B.pdf
Unfortunately so far I haven't been able to find any seller.
More specifically, just about any headphone with a LiPo (flat square) battery could be modified to accept an 18650. The charging voltages are the same, so you would just have to snip the old battery out and wire in an 18650.
I looked into bodypack solutions but it’s receive or transmit, can’t find transceivers.
Coverage is great, I can walk around my parents' house, and even out in the garden, without loss of signal. They live in a hundred-year-old stone house.
Sound quality is great for calls. Music is ok-ish. They don't have any kind of ANC.
Another drawback is the big-ass base that for some reason requires a dedicated power cord.
I believe you can also can change the name that the BT module broadcasts if you have an FTDI to USB cable (or something with UART pins like an Arduino). (You can also just change the “display name” on your iOS device bluetooth settings but it is just the name your device shows. I’m guessing this is doable on Android and everything else too.)