Building YOUR Headphone Ideas! (DMS video official)

DIY Audio
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Hey guys! For your consideration, I just finished a pair of DIY headphones of my own, a pair of Aurorus Borealis knockoffs.

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I just finished them this evening, and have been listening to them ever since I finished assembly. Wanted to share them with you all first. As a disclaimer, I have never heard nor seen a pair of Aurorus Borealis headphones, so I can’t comment on how close these sound to the original, but holy cow I think they punch way above the ~$120 in parts to build them. Good bass, good detail retrieval and timbre, and excellent vocals (sorry, I’m not great at describing sound and am very tired atm). Pad swapping makes a huge difference too, so you could really dial these in to your tastes. More details below:

Parts List:

And finally, here’s a link to the STL’s, and some more images.

Disclaimers

Now, I should also preface this and say that I am far from a professional CAD designer, this is just something I enjoy doing in my free time, so these parts likely won’t be perfect. As for the 3D printing, I use an Ender 3 v2 with a G-10 print bed for better adhesion, and I printed the parts at 50% infill to give them a more solid feeling. Some parts have minor overhangs, so supports will be needed, and some holes may need to be reamed out a bit with a drill to get it all to fit. This is essentially a “version 1” design, so there’s room for improvement.

I also don’t know the perfect earpads to use. So far I tried the Brainwavz Round Hybrid which aren’t bad, the ZMF Universe lambskin perforated (lost all the bass and made the highs too sharp), and the ZMF Ori sheepskin (a bit dark and muddy). I want to get some Beyerdynamic velours on order since I think the size and short pad retainer ring will work well for the design, and the ZMF Universe hybrid perforated would probably be perfect but I don’t want to drop $60 on another set of pads right now. The Dekoni Foam Attenuation Kit would likely help a lot with tuning these.

Finally, it goes without saying that the overall original design was inspired by the Aurorus Borealis, and ultimately belongs to Aurorus Audio. That being said, I hope someone builds these or at least gets inspired by them! Let me know if you have any questions!

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This is quite the first post! Sounds like a great 1st run. Keep at it!

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Thanks! I honestly joined HifiGuides just to post in this thread after seeing DMS’s video about building headphone mods.

Also, I sent some emails to Peerless and Parts Express about their HPD-50 driver availability. Peerless has responded, but basically told me to reach out to their distributors regarding usage of their products for personal use. Hopefully they didn’t discontinue them, I would really like to build another pair or two of these to give to family members for Christmas.

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But wait…There’s more… pads lol.

Some of the pads I have need rings for use with HD6xx/HD600 series I bought some rings for these cans but they were so frustrating and broke 99% of the time… So made our own, a lower internal (similar to OEM with slip-over pad fitted) and trialing an extended / treated ring that add’s 4-5mm space. Pads seal at external edge of cup body rather than half inside the body.

Finished fit

Will add links to pad ring file/s later for any interested wanting them & yes those are the HD6xx now in most recent images. One of my boys has taken over the 3D printing side, he was doing it mostly all along as it’s his printer but now he’s tweaking these files perfectly for me saving me much work and pain.

edit: link to extended pad ring adapter

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I was pointed to this post from Reddit and y’all are doing exactly what I am in desperate need of. So first I want to thank every last one of you maniacs.

My question regarding this mod is if these CAD files would work on the HD 660s?

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What are folks upto/doing, it’s too quiet in here… Oh Question to see if anyone’s awake lol…what do Pink Kangaroo’s, Silk, poly felt a good memory and blood Linen have in common?

scary lol, don’t ask and I won’t have to lie lol. :rofl:

Exposed pad extension ring config without pad fitted (silk micro-mesh screen fitted)

Open cell foam dampening/back image

Hmmm, found some midnight black and some blue Kanga but thinking about trying something also with the suede, it just looks sooooo comfy and almost like felt/velvet…

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Well, here’s an idea I don’t think any company would make. I know some tweeter enclosures use this kind of design to try to dissipate the energy from the back of the driver, so I wondered if it would work for headphones as well. I think the idea is to keep reflecting the waves backwards to a point, and hopefully they get dissipated by this. I think this would probably work with some sort of light foam/stuffing through the whole thing, and maybe a cottonball down by the end or something like that.

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I’m not very good at modeling, so someone might have to clean this up/reproduce it before it’s printable. File link.

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Some tweaking needed for the differences between HD58x Vs HD6xx for a good fit and things to work but!!! It’s looking very good and sounds not half bad either lol. Based on Cosworth DAMN V3, such a cool design and Son has it and the printer tweaked nice…hardly any clean up work.

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I just wanted to point out another Borealis inspired design on Reddit. This guy came across my original post, was inspired by my design, and then built his own design that I think is an overall refinement in every single way. Great photography too. Check it out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/qmicai/3d_printed_headphone_inspired_by_aurorus_audio/

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I’m working on a formal writeup/post of my updated design along with assembly instructions, and I’m currently waiting on some 540ohm beryllium drivers to come in from AliExpress (AliExpress item ID 32955937848). Another guy on Reddit printed out my design and used the 540ohm beryllium drivers, and in his initial listening tests he says it compares very well to his LCD-X.

@DMS , if you like, I could ship you a set of the Borealis knockoffs and/or a set of beryllium driver based headphones once they’re complete, since the Peerless HPD-50 drivers are impossible to buy right now. Thank you again for starting this thread, this thread convinced me to make the design in the first place.

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Absolutely amazing.
Loved your initial idea as well.
I wanted to design my own DIY headphones based on the 6XX drivers but designing from scratch seemed like a daunting task. I had an idea to suspend the drivers with elastic bands like a microphone shock mount, fully experimental, don’t know what the effects are.
I have ample time after November so maybe, I’ll whip something up and share.
Anyways, love your Aurorus inspired headphones and I really hope DMS sees them and reviews it!

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Stay awake folks and lets keep the thread alive, Here’s a Cosworth/SilverWolf HD6xx semi-open…

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is it necessary to have vent holes? can anyone with cad skills design vent holes with the sennheiser logo? Like these

Sennheiser_Logoed

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Looks awesome! I’ve always wanted to get the original, but too expensive… How do they sound? What other cans do you have to compare them with?

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Thank you! Personally, I think they sound great, especially considering the cost to build them. Unfortunately, I don’t have any popular commercially available headphones at the moment to compare them to (I’m very deep in the DIY rabbit hole), but if I was to describe the sound, I’d say its a fun, laid back signature that’s easy for anyone to enjoy.

The bass is nice and present without being overbearing/muddy, the highs are adequeately detailed without being harsh, but vocals are a bit on the recessed side for my tastes. They render instruments like acoustic guitar beautifully though. These drivers are pretty easy to tune as well, the type of earpads used can make a big difference (so far I’ve been liking Dekoni elite hybrids).

From a technicalities perspective, they’re about average. The soundstage is at least beyond the ears a bit, and thankfully it avoids “three-blob” imaging. I think the one place the Tymphany HPD-50 drivers tend to struggle the most is with speed, as fast/complex bass lines can become a bit messy. Overall though, I think they could hold their own compared to $400-500 headphones (one Reddit user even said he liked them better than his Sundaras). I just wish the drivers were readily available, I picked the worst time to release this project apparently.

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Hi Cosworth! I’ve got a weird idea I’d like to try: making this out of wood.

I’ve got access to a shopbot, but to CNC this, I’ll have to separate your model into various pieces. Unfortunately, that’s kinda a pain given an STL file.

To make that easier for me, could you upload an uncompiled / non-mesh version of your model (if you have one), so I see the geometry separately? That could be a blender file, a fusion 360 file etc.

Thanks!

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Hey,

Sorry for keeping you waiting.
I love experimental things and I’m all for it.
I have attached a step file so you can see each part.

STEP File

Looking forward to the wooden cups!

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Hey, I am planning to make my own fakealis and stuck on what drivers to get. I’m debating on either the beryllium drivers or the peerless by tympany since they are now in stock again. Is there a noticeable difference and upgrade for the price difference and how did you tune them

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Cool, glad to hear another person is trying them out! When it comes to the HPD-50 drivers by Tymphany and the 540 ohm Aliexpress beryllium drivers, I think the main differences are technical performance and ease of tuning. The Be drivers in my opinion have the edge on the HPD-50 drivers in technicalities, with the soundstage, imaging, and speed (especially for fast/technical bass) all being just a bit better. However, they took more time to tune and dial in than the HPD-50 drivers ever did, whereas the HPD-50 drivers just seem to be very flexible for a variety of applications and performed well from the get-go. The HPD-50 drivers are also easier to power with their lower impedance.

Ultimately, going with the HPD-50 drivers are a safe bet, as they’re affordable and sound great in the cups that I designed for them, with a sound signature that is very lively and engaging. They really don’t take much effort to perform well above their price point. But, if you’re willing to put the time and effort into tuning and adjusting the Be drivers, I do think they have the potential for greater performance, and the Be set I built is the set I will likely continue to perfect for my tastes/needs.

For tuning, there are a number of options that work for either driver. Pads of course are a big one, and so far I’ve found the Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads for Fostex TH headphones or Hifiman HE headphones to provide the most consistent results with both the HPD-50 and Be drivers. Plus, their dimensions just fit the design really well. Check Dekoni’s B-stock section, I’ve seen these pads come up regularly for about $50. Dekoni’s foam attenuation kit is also useful for some fine tuning. I have a different pad ring design as well for the Be drivers that I should upload to my Google Drive, as that’s what finally got the bass response of the Be drivers to a more enjoyable level. Finally, if you do decide to go with the Be drivers (I bought mine from NSC Audio Store), make sure to leave a note in the order asking for the paper tuning filter set. You can experiment with poking holes in the paper filter on the back of the Be driver, or replace it entirely with paper of a different density. I wasn’t getting very consistent or desirable results with poking holes, but your mileage may vary, and its nice to have backup filters in case you want to go back to stock.

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kinda wondering what would happen if the back part is curved like sennheiser hd4.50 bt, and not flat?

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i know im late to the show but i tried the closed back mod by cosworth(the one without vents) and used it on my hd6xx. didnt change anything except the 3d printed closed back mod. didnt change the pads, didnt put acoustical foams, dynamats or anything on the 3d printed closed backs.

on to the change in sound. the only thing i can say is everything sounded thin, which is what i expected. the bass and the mids are thin which kinda made it sharp? or bright?

now what should i do to make it less thin other than adding vents? would putting dynamats, foam or any other thing on the 3d printed closed backs help it less thin?