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Homemade Hi-Fi Headphones

video Homemade Hi-Fi Headphones

These home-made hi-fi headphones work as well or better than Sony or Bose noise-canceling headphones.

Cost: $20
Time to make: one minute
Difficulty: none

As seen in my article in Make Magazine Volume 5.

Unlike the commercial products, these block outside noise instead of canceling it. Listen to music or books on tape without hearing traffic noise, screaming babies, etc. I've been making these for more than a decade. People sometimes ask "isn't it dangerous not being able to hear?" No. Talking on a cellphone shuts off most of the brain whereas listening to headphones is no more dangerous than say, being deaf. Lots of my friends use these units and no harm has come to anyone.

Step-by-step Instructable is here.

19 comments

Oct 17, 2010. 7:40 AMhexinverter says:

Lol, I wouldn't call these "Hi-Fi". Those crappy drivers you put into those ear muffs are not at all High Fidelity...

Jun 2, 2009. 6:11 AMayom says:

i have build it before i saw this video

Dec 23, 2008. 1:44 AMthe_mad_man says:

I'm sure they work very well, but the don't look the best for walking through the shopping center or at the sk8 park...

Dec 22, 2008. 9:27 AMyzzid says:

WOAH! heheh, now i know why the instructible isnt included, it takes hehe, LESS than 60seconds to make...been toying with the idea fro some time as well, however, never got up to doin it..Great Job man! oh, btw, isnt there any sound loss where the wire enters the Jackhammer Headphones (muffs)? thanks a million!

Aug 28, 2008. 3:52 PMccm117 says:

GREAT idea timanderson i had this idea myself but you helped a LOT

Apr 9, 2008. 11:12 AMmiqt says:

ya, i did this to my 25 dollar vic firth drumming noise cancelling headphones, because if you want to buy drumming headphones that have speakers in them, it costs about 125 bucks, so ya, great for drummers in home studios....such as myself lol. great video.

Mar 6, 2008. 2:07 PMjaime9999 says:

an alternative for Jackhammer earmuffs are Shooter's earmuffs, available at any Gun Shop.

Dec 9, 2007. 11:07 AMMARTINDWIGHT says:

Thanks. I tried it and it works great

Dec 5, 2007. 12:14 AMlil_timmy1990 says:

(removed by author or community request)

Dec 5, 2007. 2:53 AM

zorro3355 says:

yea why?

Dec 5, 2007. 7:32 AM

lebowski says:

Since we now have a video section, it makes sense that you can find the video here and the step-by-step instructions an Instructable. Some people really just want to see videos and others just like to see each step with text and photos.

Dec 5, 2007. 12:39 PM!Andrew_Modder! says:

:-\ i thought you could update an instructable with anything (add a vid if ya want)

Dec 5, 2007. 1:08 PMlil_timmy1990 says:

(removed by author or community request)

Dec 5, 2007. 6:07 PM

lebowski says:

Sure you can still have videos in your Instructable, but if they can stand alone, you can also post them as a just a video.

Dec 5, 2007. 9:17 AM

Tool Using Animal says:

Here I thought Tim was having a "senior moment".

Dec 5, 2007. 4:45 PM

xrobevansx says:

KipKay did this a while ago:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/548578/headphone_hack_make_you_own_noise_eliminating_headset/\

I actually did it too a few weeks ago with good results using a 2 dollar set of earmuffs from harbor freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43768

And a 5 dollar set of RCA headphones from a Family Dollar store.

7 bucks, nice headphones for lawn cutting/leaf blowing, etc

Dec 5, 2007. 3:53 PMGorillazMiko says:

awesome! looks cool!

Dec 5, 2007. 2:34 AM

ll.13 says:

I'd rather go for some AKG's ..........

Dec 4, 2007. 10:30 PMErik Lindemann says:

I love this. MAKE featured this in an earlier issue and I've been meaning to make myself a pair of these. I've just been too lazy to head to my local hardware store to get the jackhammer ear-protection.