WELCOME
Welcome to the official LTS Headphones website (previously known as LTA Headphones), a place where you can find out all about the design, the development process, and the production of high quality modular headphones, as well as the utilization of the most modern, state-of-the-art additive manufacturing technologies, in combination with traditional craftsmanship. The goal of this website is to present the LTS project through highly detailed written material, 3D renders, photographs and videos, highlighting the most important features and aspects of LTS headphones, in the hope of attracting potential costumers or future project partners.
A ONE-PERSON PROJECT
Everything from the first ideas, creating the first concepts and prototypes, all the way to the final products, including running the website and the social media, has been a one-person project ran on a minimal amount of financial funding and the little free time available alongside attending a medical school. Therefore, certain things might not be perfect, and there is always room for improvement, but I am doing my best to ensure everything I release to the public is as good as I can possibly make it. Learn more about the project.
TURNING A HOBBY INTO A SOMETHING BIGGER
The LTS Headphones project started as a hobby years ago, with me modifying already existing headphones. As a long time audiophile and headphone enthusiast who has had a lot of interest in product development and industrial design ever since I can remember, as well as someone who loves to build things and work on mechanical and electronic items, the only natural way forward was to try to build my own headphones. Creativity, a lot of work, time and effort, combined with modern technologies, made that possible. Now I feel like it's time to allow this project to evolve from a hobby into something more serious, hopefully this website will help turn this crazy dream into reality. Learn more about the project.
FILLING A HOLE IN THE DIY MARKET
One of the main goals of the LTS headphones project is to fill an empty part of the audio DIY market by offering a wide selection of well designed and engineered, high quality and DIY-friendly headphone components, which will enable headphone enthusiasts to build their own headphones, customized exactly to their liking. This is something that's very familiar to anyone in the DIY speaker building community, but is currently missing from the headphone industry. There's a lot of OEM and aftermarket headphone drivers, cables and ear pads available at various quality and price points, but there's also a distinct lack of high quality passive headphone components. Learn more about the project.
THREE HEADPHONE MODELS
Three headphone models are currently available, each one with various customization possibilities in terms of component designs, manufacturing methods, materials used, as well as available finishes. In addition, the fully modular designs enable the use of various headphone drivers, ear pads, cables and acoustic treatments, all of which leads to a wide range of functional and aesthetic possibilities. These headphones represent just a fraction of what I've done so far. Most headphones I've designed are semi-finished, I treated them as practice projects. A lot of them will probably never be released to the public, while some of them are very close to being ready for production, with only a couple of weeks of development required. There are several models I'm working on at the moment that will become available in the second half of 2020, which are superior to the models currently presented and will be positioned higher in the line-up, featuring more radical design and manufacturing solutions. However, their development and production fully depends on the funding brought in by the current three models. Click on the headphone pictures below to learn more about them.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
I've built multiple headphones in various development stages and tested countless versions of their components over the period of last three years. I've decided to present some of them on the website, mostly headphones that are either very close to, or identical to the final production models. You can discover all about their design and development processes, manufacturing methods and materials, post-processing methods applied to them, as well as their performance, by clicking on them below.
A FLEXIBLE MODDING PLATFORM
LTS headphones are more than just headphones. They're modding platforms, enabling the owners to build, experiment, upgrade and interchange various components in order to achieve different functional and aesthetic properties, utilizing unique components and modification abilities not found on other headphones. This not only increases the range of possibilities that LTS headphones offer, but also increases their lifetime, eliminating the need to replace an entire headphone after some time, instead offering owners the ability to replace a couple of components, and end up with a completely different sounding, looking or feeling headphone. Therefore, all of the components have been designed to make the process of interchanging, replacing or upgrading them not only entirely possible, but simple, reversible and repeatable as well, which is a completely opposite approach compared to most products on the market. Complex, non-traditional design solutions combined with state-of-the-art additive manufacturing, is what makes this approach possible. Learn more about the project.
THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING IN YOUR HANDS TODAY
All of the LTS headphone components are manufactured using the most advanced, state-of-the-art additive manufacturing technologies available, out of the most advanced materials in the additive manufacturing industry, which makes LTS headphones the world's first headphones completely produced using additive manufacturing technologies. Utilizing Selective Laser Sintering and Multi-Jet Fusion technologies, as well as Glass, Graphite or Carbon Fiber reinforced Polyamides, enables the creation of components that would be very difficult or even impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods. A few headphone companies have used 3D printing selectively, but utilized only hobby-grade 3D printers relying on simpler and more mainstream FDM technology, which shouldn't be mistaken for SLS and MJF technologies, both of which are vastly superior in terms of the ability to produce highly complex, intricate parts with extreme dimensional accuracy, out of incredibly tough, durable and rigid materials. These manufacturing technologies are far from being mainstream, featuring industrial 3D printers costing up to €300000, and have so far been used mostly in the automotive, aerospace and motorsport industries, but the technology is gradually becoming more widely accessible. Crucially, these technologies are still vastly underutilized in the headphone industry, despite being ideal for it in many ways, due to the capability to produce extremely complex, rigid and strong, but very light parts. Therefore, the LTS Headphones project represents the beginning of a new wave of possibilities that most headphone companies will surely use in the future. Learn more about manufacturing technologies and materials.
HEADPHONE DIY KITS
Every LTS headphone has been designed with an intention to be available in DIY kit form, alongside fully finished, already built custom headphones. DIY kits are available at several price points, and feature original LTS components, as well as all of the accessories required to assemble a high-quality headphone and adjust or tune the sound of it to personal tastes, depending on the drivers and ear pads used. A range of materials and manufacturing methods can be separately specified for multiple headphone components, offering plenty of customization possibilities, both in visual, as well as functional aspects. In addition, kit components are available in their raw form, requiring additional post-processing, as well as in already post-processed form, with custom paint-jobs and finishes applied to them, requiring only a simple assembly by the owner.
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QUALITY AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Whether it's the choice of the manufacturing methods, the design of the components, materials used for production, accessories, fasteners or connectors included in the kits, or the way the components are post-processed to a perfect finish by hand, quality and attention to detail are always at the top of my list of priorities. I don't intend to make things that I myself would not be proud of owning or having in my collection.
OPTIMIZED FOR A WIDE RANGE OF MANUFACTURING METHODS
Because the idea is to offer headphones with a wide range of possibilities, the designs are optimized for multiple manufacturing methods, meaning that some of the components can be produced not only out of plastic using 3D printing, but can also be CNC machined out of metals, or even 3D printed out of metals. These methods are more expensive, but allow for the creation of even higher quality products.
COMBINING HIGH TECHNOLOGY WITH CRAFTSMANSHIP
LTS headphones will be available as hand-finished, custom headphones built specifically according to wishes of each individual buyer. In addition, DIY kit components will be offered in already post-processed forms as well. This will allow for creation of unique headphones, and will allow each owner to express their creativity through unique color, surface finish and material combinations. Experimenting with post-processing methods and developing complex post-processing procedures has enabled me to create really high quality finishes on headphone components worthy of high-end headphones. It's a perfect combination of the most modern additive manufacturing technologies, and more traditional craftsmanship that requires a lot of hand work, precision and attention to detail.
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3D DESIGN SERVICE OPTIMIZED FOR 3D PRINTING
On top of working on my own projects, improving current and designing new headphones, I'm always looking for new challenges and possible collaborations with other headphone enthusiasts who may want to design and build a unique headphone utilizing 3D printing technologies, or build high-quality custom parts for existing headphones in order to modify them, but don't know where to start, or need help with the designing, prototyping, post-processing or manufacturing processes. If you are serious about getting involved in a project, you can always contact me through the business contact form.