About
Makerphones is an open reference for designing and building your own headphones — real engineering, explained plainly enough that a first-time builder can follow it and trust it. It’s written and maintained by one person, and it’s free to read.
The author
Section titled “The author”Jamey Warren has spent 25+ years in professional audio and the headphone industry:
- Grace Design — employee #1 (1997–2001)
- HeadRoom — VP of Operations, then President & CEO (2003–2017); relaunched the entire headphone-amplifier line
- Now designing his own open-back headphone, the Daily Driver, in the open — with AI as a design partner
That background is the reason this manual exists: production experience at scale, thousands of headphones tested, and the kind of manufacturer knowledge that’s usually locked behind NDAs — written down for makers instead.
The Daily Driver
Section titled “The Daily Driver”The Daily Driver is the process happening in the open: an open-back headphone being designed with the same methods these chapters teach — driver selection, baffle and enclosure design, damping, measurement, voicing — and with AI as a design partner, the workflow the Designing Headphones with AI chapter lays out. The full design spec is published in the build guides, and the source files live in the open at github.com/makerphones/daily-driver. The design story and its measurements will follow here as the build progresses.
The manual
Section titled “The manual”Six parts, 32 chapters, published openly as they’re finished — browse the contents. The manual is the product: there’s nothing to buy here, and the chapters stay free to read.