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Long time HIFIMAN users all know about the time when HIFIMAN made headphones out of solid wood, such as teak. We did so as materials go, nothing looks quite so beautiful as a good quality, real wood. However, after relentless research and testing our design team in Boston has come up with a more hardy solution: custom-molded plywood. That means laminated layers of wood bonded together, just like happens with glass to make your car windshield so strong. This same technique has been utilized in the creation of the renowned furniture designs from Charles and Ray Eames, who some consider to be among the greatest American designers of all time.
The custom molded plywood with 100% cherry plies (layers of wood) are planed from the same tree to ensure as homogenous a look and texture as possible.
You may be asking why bother, why not just use a single chuck of wood? Why all the extra effort? Well, there is a critical benefit to using this particular material over a single carved piece.
The HIFIMAN team has created a drop test video to illustrate the different durability’s of earcups made with solid wood versus custom-molded plywood respectively. We have the highly recognizable HE1000 V2 and an aging, old style version 560 cups (the new ones are all laminated ply-wood like the 1000.)
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