Some of you who may be familiar with DMS may know that he’s been working on a headphone for the last couple of years and has bootstrapped the entire process himself, from the drivers to the parts.
After all the long years of work, they’ll be available for pre-order on April 12th.
Here’s a bit of an info dump from DMS on some of the thought process that went into the headphones, the name and why they look the way that they do.
From The Creator Himself, DMS
"This headphone is my love letter to audio. I’m making these in small numbers and ONLY for 1 year. The price is entirely based on the cost of production/customer service/fulfillment. The profit margin is notably lower than industry standard and is just enough to be sustainable.
I will be sending this to lots of other reviewers and on tours in some discord groups. If you want to know how it sounds, take anyone else’s opinion instead of mine. I want the product to speak for itself but I also want feedback. This is a headphone that I designed based on all the things I wish a headphone had, but that still doesn’t mean everyone will like it (and that’s okay). Btw the name “project omega” is after a megaman-zero boss fight (Omega Zero) I played a bunch growing up on the gameboy advance. That boss kicked my ass and I really loved that game so it’s also a nod to my nostalgia.
The cups are a hollow structure made via nylon sintering. I used this process for 2 reasons. 1 is low weight. I don’t think premium headphones should be heavy. I actually think they should be as light as possible. 2 SLS is the only method that would allow me to get the internal structure in one-piece, and the internal structure is critical to the tuning. Another massive focus was durability.
I put a lot of effort into the sound here. I selected this driver for several reasons. The first is consistency. This is an established driver that I can get reliably. The 2nd is Fs. I used this dynamic driver so I could more naturally elevate the low-end without warming up the midrange too much (this can be further measurably elevated with either an impedance adapter or an amp with higher output impedance like a tube). As an example on the darkvoice you get about 4db more sub-bass.
As a short note I don’t really care for high-end headphones being jewelry. Some people will like the look and some will hate it. I’m okay with that.
This is not a collab. This is a ground-up product of my own design assembled my hand.
As a reviewer this raises some questions. So here’s my plan. If you have more questions I’m happy to answer them.
I’m making a video about the product for launch day. Other than that I will not be comparing my headphone to anything else in any reviews. I still love the hobby and have no plans to earn a living as a manufacturer. I also still highly recommend many products in competing price ranges.
I will only sell the headphone for 1 year. After that I will open-source the design. It’s pretty hard to make at home but anyone can do whatever they wish with the design. You’ll need an SLS machine, C02 laser, CNC, and lathe for several components if you plan to make it at home.
My hope is that after 1 year I’ll learn a lot from this project. Sure I hope it’s profitable but I also hope this gives me a lot more insight manufacturing and the other side of the industry. I know some people will think its silly, but I think this project will help me to be a better reviewer in the long run with a greater understanding of how the industry works.
That said, I hope you all get a chance to hear the headphone and feel how light I was able to make it! I’m also ready for the harsh feedback (just like I’ve been dishing out for years). This is going to be a fun year. Happy listening."
And now a measurement dump (thanks to @listen_r for putting these together)
4128 Raw Measurements with Preference Bounds
**DMS Project Omega RAW FR on 4128**
DMS Project Omega Raw FR compared to Sennheiser HD 650
DMS Project Omega Raw FR compared to Hifiman Edition XS
DMS Project Omega Raw FR compared to Meze Audio 109 Pro
DMS Project Omega Raw FR compared to Audeze MM-500
4128 Diffuse Field Calibrated Measurements
DMS Project Omega compared to Sennheiser HD 650 DF Calibrated
DMS Project Omega compared to Hifiman Edition XS DF Calibrated
DMS Project Omega compared to Meze Audio 109 Pro DF Calibrated
DMS Project Omega compared to Audeze MM-500 DF Calibrated
I assume this will be a detailed FR measurement from DMS’s B&K 4128? If so that’s a big deal to me and I almost didn’t notice it.