Upgrading Wired Headphones To Wireless Headphones For $2!
Made by ben-lim / 3D Printing / Music / Wearables
About the project
Upgrade your existing wired headphones to make them wireless headphones! By modifying the casing on both sides of the headphones, it is possible to both add a wireless audio capability as well as touch controls to make the project truly wireless.
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Story
For my initial test, I turned my wired headphones into wireless ones. A rather cheap version of wireless headphones perhaps, but it prevents me from getting snagged by my headphones when I'm around my desk, which is a bigger annoyance than you would imagine. It doesn't hurt that the audio quality from this Bluetooth board is not bad as well. However, the BLE has a low range, about 1/2 of the distance I can get with other BLE headphones. This is not a big problem for me, since the goal is not to get snagged on the wires.
I love my headphones, they are wired over-ear headphones that I bought some time ago when I was getting into music and they have served me well since. But now and again, I get uncomfortably reminded that they are wired when I stand up from my desk and take a step.
While browsing AliExpress, I came across this rather impressive little board:
A BLE audio board is not crazy by itself; there are a ton of Bluetooth speakers out there. The crazy thing about it is that it is $2. Wireless is expensive and hard. Audio is expensive and hard. Wireless audio shouldn't be cheap and sit on a tiny 30mm x 30mm board, but here we are. If you have read about some of my other projects, then you would know that I delight in finding ultra-cheap ICs and boards and getting them to work.
This is incredible. For just $2 you can easily upgrade old speakers into a wireless one just by purchasing this chip and plugging in it, nothing else needed. It helps to cut down on the number of wires snaking across your desk and gives your existing speakers a new lease of life. What's not to like?
For my initial test, I turned my wired headphones into wireless ones. A rather cheap version of wireless headphones perhaps, but it prevents me from getting snagged by my headphones when I'm around my desk, which is a bigger annoyance than you would imagine. It doesn't hurt that the audio quality from this Bluetooth board is not bad as well. However, the BLE has a low range, about 1/2 of the distance I can get with other BLE headphones. This is not a big problem for me, since the goal is not to get snagged on the wires.
I can very well stop here and have a pretty functional kit. 3D print a little waist clip, fit in the board and voila, my very own wireless Beyerdynamic headphones with a little retro case modeled after a Walkman.
But we can go bigger.
My Beyerdynamic headphones are Custom One Pros. Apart from being discontinued, the other notable feature is that it has custom plates that you can replace with other custom aluminum plates, which I thought was a little gimmicky when I first bought it, but it actually serves a purpose now other than aesthetics because if I can swap it out, means that I can create an adapter to add other functionalities to it. With the Custom One Pros, under the plate adapter, there are 4 threaded holes that I can use for mounting something else.
After my initial test print and alignment I was ready to move onto the next step, which is designing the touch interface.
After completing the initial test, I designed a little mount so the board and a battery would fit where the aluminum plate would go, and I added a short 3.5mm audio jack so that I wouldn't have to modify anything internal to my expensive headphones. Fitting everything in was a little challenging, but with a bit of finagling I was able to fit the LiPo battery, BLE board, and the switch in.
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To complete the full functionality, I also designed a capacitive touch PCB that allows me to control the playback and wired it to the main audio board. The capacitive touch PCB uses a Padauk IC as the main chip, which I mounted on the bottom of the PCB as seen in the cover page.
The above is the completed wireless headphones. I retain the option of plugging it into the Bluetooth module mounted on the side of the device, or plugging it directly into the audio wire. The battery life is better than expected, lasting a full day on a single charge. The audio is good enough for my use and the best of all, I can now walk over to check on my 3D print while keeping my headphones on!
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