Easily Transform Basic Headphones Into 'Ear Speakers'. No More Head-Clamp!

Most full-sized circumaural and supra-aural headphones seem to be designed on the assumption that users don't want any sound to leak in or out, which is why they come with thick, squashy ear pads. The subsequent development of headphones that cancel noise out electronically is an extension of this thinking.

However, is this feature always important? If (a) there's no-one nearby who's going to object to sound leakage and (b) there's no significant background noise and/or the user isn't disturbed by brief incidental sounds (and being able to hear your doorbell is useful, plus when you're using speakers you routinely ignore the occasional dog bark or door slam), are ear pads actually serving any useful purpose under these circumstances? Indeed, might they in fact be having an adverse effect?

Vice squad

The advice regarding ear pads tends to focus on both sound leakage and comfort. In reality the 'clamp factor' - headphones squeezing your head on a scale that can range from tiresome to excruciating - is often a significant comfort issue that can be caused, rather than mitigated, by ear pads, so the possibility of avoiding it altogether may appeal. The argument that ear pads help to hold headphones in place is largely spurious given that they are suspended from an adjustable headband.

So, if you don't really need true sound isolation in either direction but still want to use headphones (e.g. if you're being apartment-friendly, or if it's just you in the listening room but you're sitting off-axis) and quite like the idea of eliminating the padded-vice-jaws effect that many full-size headphones present, why not simply remove the ear pads and replace them with a thinner, lighter lining material that will still keep the earcup shells from grinding directly against your ears while also saving your head from being mashed?

Your mileage will of course vary according to the degree to which these factors are an issue for you and the design of your particular headphones. This being the case, please treat this Instructable as a case study based on a particular model but readily applicable to any number of others.

Headcase: the Vivanco DJ 20

Applying this mod to budget headphones can be particularly satisfying as it can transform an otherwise questionable model into something much more usable. Additionally, if you already have some good headphones that you're reluctant to start tinkering with, given the profusion of budget options available from reputable manufacturers you might want to consider spending the price of a pizza on something like a JVC HARX330 or Sony MDR-ZX110 model purely as a test subject. The worst that could happen is that you end up with a cheap pair of spare headphones.

Of course, 'budget headphones' can mean anything from 'costing less than a piano' to 'costing less than a CD of piano music', but in this case we'll focus on something closer to the latter definition and test this Instructable on a pair of Vivanco DJ 20 headphones.

The DJ 20 costs about UK£15/US$20 brand new. It comes in a range of primary colors that ought to look awful but somehow carry off their retro 80s vibe rather well (and they photograph clearly!). The implication that this model is actually suitable for DJ use is dubious for all sorts of reasons that needn't concern us here. Sound quality is never going to be outstanding at this price point, but their construction is perfectly adequate and lends itself well to this idea.

Tunnel listening?

I have no formal training in acoustics or audio engineering, but I do have a layperson's pet theory regarding headphone sound, which is that the air cavity between a headphone's driver and the listener's skull, being a highly unnatural acoustic space, might be affecting the sound before it reaches your ear. If you've ever pressed a pair of headphones closer to your head and thought they sounded louder and better, you're not only moving the driver closer to your ear but also reducing the size of the air cavity created by the thickness of the ear pads and hence the coloration it causes. Maybe. This phenomenon does seem to have been taken on board by headphone designers at various times (see step 6) and it's a side-effect of this Instructable.

What we have here, then, is a simple, non-destructive and usually reversible modification that can be applied to a wide range of full-sized headphones. Its objectives are to reduce uncomfortable pressure and possible sonic coloration (the jury can stay out on that one) created by standard headphone ear pads by replacing them with a thinner, lighter alternative, thus transforming the headphones into 'ear speakers'.

The only tools you'll need are a sharp pair of scissors and some sort of marking implement that will give a visible line on black fabric. I like the white Pentel paint marker pen for such tasks, but there are plenty of alternatives. You'll also need a small piece of thin card with a straight edge.

In terms of materials, you'll need the following:

• Your chosen headphones.
• Enough thin voile or gauze fabric to cover the baffle surfaces of both earcups with a margin of about 5/8"/15mm around the edges. You may be able to upcycle this from an old garment, used gift wrapping or lightweight speaker baffle covering. If not, you can obtain a sample of sufficient size from a fabric supplier (plenty of choice on eBay at newspaper prices).
• A reel of extra-strong polyester/cotton sewing thread. This is often sold as such, or as 'button thread'. It's somewhat thicker and much stronger than conventional thread. As a general guide, if you can't break it by pulling it by hand, it's what you want. It's widely available from purveyors of sewing requisites.
• Some double-sided adhesive tape. Double-sided stationery tape isn't quite effective enough, while heavy-duty gel and foam tapes are too bulky and messy for this task; something in between will do nicely. I used 40mm/1.5" tape from the Duck range.
• Some lighter fluid (the fuel used in Zippos) and a paper kitchen towel to apply it with.

[I chose traditional black for the gauze as that's the color used for most conventional ear pads and I like giving mods that 'fake factory' look i.e. not looking like homebrew projects. However, there's no reason why you shouldn't use another color and turn the mod into a statement!]

Before starting the project you can do a quick test for feasibility and worthwhileness.

Firstly, connect your headphones as they are in their pre-modded state and listen to a few minutes of music, choosing a track that you know well both musically and sonically. Then remove the ear pads, noting how they are attached. The majority of factory-fitted pads are held in place by a flat ring of material that tucks into a slot around the circumference of the earcup; this slot is typically placed at the join between the cup section and the baffle section that holds the driver. If your headphones are made in his way, they are prime candidates for this mod! See step 2 for some thoughts about whether you should leave the secondary fabric insert in place, if present - the above photo shows both options.

To proceed, put the headphones back on and play the same track again. Don't worry if they now feel a bit odd - this is just a temporary experiment. Is the sound better/no worse/not different in a way you dislike (you'll be distracted by the tactile difference, so give this last one a bit of time)? Is the absence of ear pad pressure more comfortable? If not, simply replace the ear pads. However, if you do like the results and would like to make them (semi-) permanent, continue to the next step!

[If you find that your ear pads are integrated into the earcup design in such a way as to effectively prohibit non-destructive removal, think carefully before you commit to this project! That said, a pair of older high-quality headphones with worn or damaged ear pads could well be a suitable candidate.]

Having removed the ear pads from the headphones, any additional fabric inserts that are present (they are on the DJ 20s but may or may not be on your chosen model) can either be removed or left in place. I recommend detaching them as they spoil the smooth finish of the end result and any comfort function they may have had seems redundant post-mod, but go with your preference. See step 1 above for an example of each. If these are attached with glue, a small squirt of lighter fluid underneath them should persuade them to let go. You can preserve them if you think you may want to reverse the mod; they can be easily re-attached with a few dabs of all-purpose adhesive.

Next, place one earcup flat on your piece of gauze and draw around it, allowing for the margin detailed under Supplies above (just skip over any obstructions such as cable connections and join the gaps up afterwards). If you find this awkward, make a card template of the correct size and shape to draw around. Cut the resulting shape out with scissors, then repeat the process for the other earcup. The drawn line only needs to be clear enough to be visible and the cut edge needn't be immaculate as it won't be seen on the finished project.

Clean the faces of the baffle sections with lighter fluid to provide the best possible adhesion, then attach some pieces of double-side adhesive tape as shown. A few drops of lighter fluid on the cutting edges of your scissor blades will prevent the adhesive from sticking to them and make it easier to cut the tape into the required shapes.

Remove the backing paper from the tape and place the pieces of gauze onto it carefully and lightly in the first instance, then gently stretch the gauze into place, using only enough force to remove any wrinkles or creases while applying pressure to the taped area to hold the gauze in position; think smooth tablecloth rather than hand-tensioned drumhead!

[The DJ 20s have a notch at the edge of each baffle, which is explained in step 5. I covered these with small pieces of thin scrap plastic underneath the double-sided tape to avoid an uneven finish.]

Using the edge of your piece of card, work your way around the earcups tucking the gauze overlap into the slot. In most cases this will be satisfyingly easy, but if the gauze tends to bunch up because the slot is too shallow, use your scissors to trim a small amount off the edge of the material.

Your final task is to bind and secure the (now concealed) edge of the gauze by tightly wrapping a generous (typically about 6'/a couple of metres) length of thread into the slot, much as if you were hand-winding it onto a reel (start with a tied loop). This will provide added durability and security but will also add a little more tension to the gauze coverings, making the end result even smoother. When this is accomplished to your satisfaction, tie the thread off firmly, tucking any excess into the slot. Project complete!

[You may well ask why thread works better than, say, a rubber band. Two reasons: firstly, the multiple thread wraps ensure that any unevenness in the tucked-in gauze isn't a problem - if one thread wrap happens to slip under it, the next probably won't - and secondly, the tension on the gauze increases very slightly with each wrap, producing the smoothest possible result.]

You may change your mind about the mod and want to reverse it, or if you decide to keep it you may want to renew it at some point. If so, slide a traditional safety razor blade or thin craft knife/scalpel blade into the slot to cut through the thread windings, allowing you to tug the gauze overlap out of the slot, then apply lighter fuel to the double-sided tape to loosen and remove it, together with the old gauze (some sort of plastic scraper, such as an old laminate membership card, will help with this). Then revert or renew as required! The gauze is unlikely to be re-usable after this, so add it to your textile recycling if you can.

[As with some other models, the DJ 20s have a notch on one edge of the baffle that allows you to hook the flat ear pad ring into it when replacing it, which you do with a kind of screw-top-jar motion that allows it to automatically tuck itself back into the slot, rather like mounting a tire.]

Not really another step - just a couple of supplementary thoughts.

This idea may seem unusual, but similar things have been tried by commercial manufacturers over the years - the AKG K-1000 and Jecklin Float models pictured are among these and the general concept is worth researching (probably just for fun, given that surviving examples are usually offered for sale at alarming collectors' prices). Does contemporary padded headphone design owe more to industrial and military applications, where isolation is genuinely valuable, than to the actual requirements of listening to music? I wonder...

One possible trade-off with this mod can be a slight increase in headband pressure across the top of the head. This only tends to be noticeable on models with unpadded headbands (the DJ 20 happens to be a case in point). This is easily remedied with an inexpensive zip-on or self-adhesive retrofit pad (eBay). Alternatively, bear with me - I'm working on an Instructable version!

In any event, having needed to use headphones for many years (it comes with my day job) but rarely if ever finding models that were genuinely comfortable, I've found this mod to be very useful. I hope you do, too.