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E-MU Purpleheart Headphones
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E-MU Purpleheart Headphones
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Product Description
The E-MU Purpleheart features handcrafted solid wood enclosures and biocellulose drivers, like its full-size relative, with a more understated aesthetic and a warm, appealing, non-fatiguing sound. Easy to drive from your phone (no amplifier or adapter required), these make an excellent entry point to the world of wood headphones Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downSwampy
203
Dec 21, 2016
Guys, whining about the 4 month wait is an exercise in futility. It is what it is. Buy them, don't buy them.
Stop complaining already!
Stop complaining already!
NormForEnormous
2
Dec 17, 2016
Why is the ship date 4 months away? It seems an awful long time to wait, are they making the headphones in the meantime?
ilcg1
144
Dec 20, 2016
I wish people understood logistics better and didn't ask questions similar to those asked by 5-year olds.
zndr
596
Dec 20, 2016
ilcg1honestly I think it's fine for people to ask these questions. Logistics is complex and murky. we've become so used to amazon and the like with these massive inventory warehouses and extremely skilled efficient logistics staff it doesn't make sense for that to not be the norm. But it really isn't that easy.
CEE_TEE
3480
Dec 16, 2016
Hello Everyone!
Very excited to be able to announce the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart.
Some Background…
Day One working at Massdrop, they knew I was coming. Throughout the day, I ended up gathering a row of headphone offerings on my desk wall. “Team Favorites” to try.
The E-MU Walnut “Wood Series” was one of them. Comfy, light, an easy sound signature (warm but detailed), beautiful wooden cups, portable, closed (but not super-isolating), plus drivable from my phone.
I immediately started wondering what we might try to change if we could do a collaboration project.
Maybe the wood type, the printing, colorway, cables, don’t need to change the sound much...
With this new version and Custom Product, in collaboration with E-MU Systems, we offer a portable companion to the E-MU Teak/Fostex TH-X00 Purpleheart/Fostex TH-900 headphones for seasoned audiophiles and an accessible headphone to new people entering the world of wood headphones, biocellulose drivers, and really good sound.
We wanted a headphone that was ready to use on the go and with portable devices, out in public or for home/office use. Not too flashy.
I’ll try to answer some potential questions here and will check in to answer others that you may have…
Wood Type: I learned a lot about making wood headphones with Chan Ming-Tat. From wood grain to finish to manufacturability, E-MU has been a great partner and shared their experience of working with different woods. We tried some different finishes and wood types before choosing the purpleheart. The source for these wooden cups is E-MU systems while the rest of the headphone is sourced and made by Foster (the same manufacturer of the E-MU Teak and Fostex TH-X00 headphones). The purpleheart cups have a natural color (there is no color added). I find these purpleheart cups to have a darker color than the Fostex TH-X00 Purplehearts that I have seen in the office. Lighting in some of the studio shots shows a good deal of color and grain detail in the cups while the variety of shots in different settings on the drop page should help with a sense of how these will look in different conditions.
Drivers: The new E-MU Purplehearts do have 40mm biocellulose drivers while the E-MU Teak and Fostex TH-X00/TH-900 use 50mm biocellulose drivers.
Finish: The purpleheart cups are a matte finish to match the luster of the rest of the headphone. We’ve designed these to be more understated than their bigger relatives so you can truly wear them out and about.
Plastic Cups: The chrome plating on the previous E-MU Walnut cups has been removed to showcase the wood and have a more stealthy look.
Headband: The printing on the outside of the headband has been removed compared to the Walnut and placed inside the headband so it is not visible when wearing.
Quantity: We’ve confirmed ahead of the drop that we have a <definite> maximum quantity of 3,000 units that we can sell during this drop.
Price/Shipping: The price is $74.99 including shipping within the U.S. An additional $10 to ship internationally, including Canada.
wdivers85
7
Dec 17, 2016
looking at the reference model and a full breakdown they appear to be over-ear headphones with the review saying "The memory foam earpad openings are 38mm wide X 50mm tall making them cozy, but large enough for most ears."
(for those who wanna check out the reference pair)
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/e-mu-walnut-creative-aurvana-live-woodied#JhuP0uwmOMObxGms.97
Tysun
29
Jan 30, 2018
Guys do check out Takstar Pro82 before you decide to join this drop. The hype train of Pro82 is demolishing all hype train stations!
deshan
52
Feb 28, 2019
Check out the new Cooler Master MH-751 headphones. They are rebranded takstars that fixes that fugly look. Z reviews just did a review of these on 2/26.
nathanjr
64
Jul 20, 2022
nathanjrIt finally happened... I wasn't even drunk, just high on life. Decent headphones, very comfy.
Vitalik
1
Dec 7, 2017
Asking a noob question but would you say this has better frequency response in this lows and mids as compared to a beats ?
EndlessEnigma
6
Dec 12, 2017
Vitalik Just about any real headphones are gonna be better and cheaper than Beats
CEE_TEE
3480
Apr 14, 2017
Okay! Updates:
I’ve spoken with Chan today, he oversaw the production and shipment of the first E-MU Purpleheart headphones personally.
He ensured that the shipment just went out on Thursday, via air freight, to arrive at our warehouse in New Jersey next week.
We’re working to manage the shipment through customs to the warehouse and then to you as quickly as possible.
Chan even took a picture of the packed shippers on pallets himself, to show the fulfillment progress to the first owners. (He knows that we love pictures.)
Chan even took a picture of the packed shippers on pallets himself, to show the fulfillment progress to the first owners. (He knows that we love pictures.)
koolpep
929
Apr 18, 2017
Well, the shipping date is "estimated" and not guaranteed. I have been in a few terribly delayed drops and a few drops that happened earlier than initially anticipated. I understand your questions but let's ask the reverse, would you pay more for earlier shipping, if you expect to pay less for later than estimated shipping :-)
Slaughtahouse
3
Apr 19, 2017
It doesn't always work like that. Rest assured, it will come. If there were substantial delays, I would agree that a refund or some compensation is in order. However, to be out by a week, from an estimate from December of last year is not that big of an issue. At least, in my opinion.
Realizer
99
Dec 23, 2016
DB measurements have nothing to do with sound quality, only loudness at certain frequencies, sorry to break it to ya.
Kelephant
49
Dec 20, 2016
Tz2000They're made after the order is in. Then they ship from wherever then go through customs then get sorted then get delivered and then you're finally the coolest kid in school.
Alerixus
14
Dec 17, 2016
Why does this not have a detachable cable? Seriously this really grinds my gears. I would have probably bought this if it had it along with other massdrop X manufacturer products. In the future can you PLEASE bring this up to the companies that wish to work with you.
Will
8470
Chief Product Officer
Dec 17, 2016
AlerixusBelieve me friend, we bring it up in every conversation, we aggressively push for it on all our Custom headphones, but manufacturers don't want to do it because of this:
Changing a product to have removable cables means structural changes, and almost always requires creating new tooling. Tooling is the metal mold used when injection molding plastic or metal. Creating tooling is very hard because it requires dozens of man hours on design, dozens of man hours machining, and hundreds of man hours "finishing" the tooling. Here's a decent video about how tooling is made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZqq1qxW30
For some additional clarification, while this video doesn't show it, most tooling is finished by hand. Individuals have to polish the tooling with progressively finer friction agents to achieve a smooth finish on the injection molded part. If any mistakes are made in the finishing process, they have to toss the tooling and start again.
All this work is expensive (tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size and complexity of the tooling), so manufacturers don't want to make that kind of investment unless they can use the tooling to produce the maximum number of units it is capable of producing (hundreds of thousands to millions of units depending on the tooling).
Eventually we'll get to the point where we're in a position to sell hundreds of thousands of units in a drop, at which point we'll be able to dictate most anything we want as far as tooling goes, but until then there are some changes we won't be able to make.
Additionally, some manufacturers make a strategic decision to only offer removable cables on higher priced products. Personally I think this is pretty silly, but I don't make the rules.
Thanks for your interest in this drop, as well as our other Custom Products, hopefully this helps shed some light on the cable situation!
Changing a product to have removable cables means structural changes, and almost always requires creating new tooling. Tooling is the metal mold used when injection molding plastic or metal. Creating tooling is very hard because it requires dozens of man hours on design, dozens of man hours machining, and hundreds of man hours "finishing" the tooling. Here's a decent video about how tooling is made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZqq1qxW30
For some additional clarification, while this video doesn't show it, most tooling is finished by hand. Individuals have to polish the tooling with progressively finer friction agents to achieve a smooth finish on the injection molded part. If any mistakes are made in the finishing process, they have to toss the tooling and start again.
All this work is expensive (tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size and complexity of the tooling), so manufacturers don't want to make that kind of investment unless they can use the tooling to produce the maximum number of units it is capable of producing (hundreds of thousands to millions of units depending on the tooling).
Eventually we'll get to the point where we're in a position to sell hundreds of thousands of units in a drop, at which point we'll be able to dictate most anything we want as far as tooling goes, but until then there are some changes we won't be able to make.
Additionally, some manufacturers make a strategic decision to only offer removable cables on higher priced products. Personally I think this is pretty silly, but I don't make the rules.
Thanks for your interest in this drop, as well as our other Custom Products, hopefully this helps shed some light on the cable situation!
twopntoh
49
Dec 20, 2016
WillWould it be possible to do an inline disconnect on some of your future models?
I know some people are worried about the wire's connection into the body wearing out, which this would not fix, but this would allow modularity of cables without retooling. The cable on the Fostex model is WAY too long for my use (sitting at a PC). I have it wrapped up in a big coil that just plops down like a big anchor on my desk.
I know some people are worried about the wire's connection into the body wearing out, which this would not fix, but this would allow modularity of cables without retooling. The cable on the Fostex model is WAY too long for my use (sitting at a PC). I have it wrapped up in a big coil that just plops down like a big anchor on my desk.
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