[sonickalbright]

For a while now I have wanted to try building my own pair of headphones. My plan is to make a unique looking headset with a removable cable. So far I have a decent pair of drivers from broken Skullcandy Hesh headphones. I got them from a friend for free. I can easily get the stereo jack pieces and solder them. The only thing I need now is a headphone body. 
I am either going to buy a pair of cheap appealing full size headphones, or a broken pair with the body intact. Does anyone have suggestions? 
 
Thanks.

 

[theruns]

well right now I am kinda doing the same thing. I have this pair of "Trackscan" headphones that I got from a local thrift store for a few bucks. I put the drivers from a pair of skullcandy uprocks in there. its not too bad, but I plan on removing all of the old wiring and redoing it and making the cable detachable. So my advice would be to find some kind of over the ear headphone/earmuff kind of thing and work with that. although Making custom cans would be legit.

 

[sonickalbright]

Thanks for the advice. I might as well make them from ear muffs. Its supposed to snow again. Do you know of any headphones that would be a good for this sort of project. I have some old pioneer headphones that I was going to use. They have plenty of space in them, but are too heavy. I might get lucky this week finding a nice headset to house them in. There is a large garage sale event that will go through my town. 

 

[theruns]

well if you can find something like I did, the trackscans, that would probably work good. otherwise anything else like that might work! check ebay maybe?

 

[sonickalbright]

Trackscans... Are those like the NASCAR headsets? I looked at ebay. It is easier to know if they will work if you see them in person. Broken stuff is overpriced too. 

 

[theruns]

Yep! haha they are hilarious to me. but the isolation is insanely good since they were meant to drown out a bunch of roaring v8s flying by at 200mph! and as long as the headband and cans are intact you should be fine. the electronics are crap.

 

[UprightMan]

a few DIY'ers have used these to good effect - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001BL04PS/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AZQ282NZ69M4F
 
I want to do this too but have a few other projects to complete first..

 

[CrystalT]

I'd like to hop in on this too. I'm interested in my own homebrew headphone. Perhaps we could coordinate?

 

[theruns]

Id be cool with coordination. the more brains the better! I need to figure out what wire to use for the rewiring so if anyone has any idea as to what I should use it would be more than welcome!

 

[CrystalT]

For a good frame, nakajima is selling aviator knockoffs. They're supremely comfortable.

I'm going to consider transplanting koss drivers in to them.

I'm going to contact some manufacturers for b and c stock stuff. Maybe score some audio technica drivers.

Sent from my Event using Tapatalk 2

 

[theruns]

Finally got around to working on my project headphones! A little quick review
 
The Good-
- Isolation: I tested the headphones while mowing the lawn and the obnoxious mower was reduced to a speaking level volume!
- Imaging: For whatever reason the imaging on this headphone is really quite good!
 
The Bad:
- Bass: barely there, but when you're mowing you dont notice it anyways.
- Comfort: these headphones are big, heavy, and heat up your ears like ovens.
 
To be honest, they are pretty decent for what I have used them for (mowing lawns). The fact that it uses skullcandy uprock drivers might be attributing to the mediocre sound, but it is ok for now. 
 
In conclusion: OK but not great. about what I had expected.
 
Now a quick question!!  How well do the Sony XB series isolate? I have been looking for a sub-$50 headphone that isolates well enough and has good enough sound quality to make me happy while mowing and I really like what I have read about the XB series headphones, the XB400 in particular. I'm not really a basshead, I am more of a midrange head if anything, but I would like to have  a fun headphone to use out and about. I usually use my AKG K430 for mowing lawns but they don't isolate particularly well.