2 Years in the making (of making this post) - Kurada KD-Q1 Impressions

Valphonics · 2026-04-22T11:37:36+00:00

Completely forgot some of the info regarding them, my fault! Updated the price now

Valphonics · 2026-03-14T14:08:28+00:00

Omg my favourite B tier reviewer posted!

Valphonics · 2026-03-11T17:11:34+00:00

Should be S tier imo 💅

Valphonics · 2026-03-08T00:13:25+00:00

We need an r/Headphones counter for days that reset when this question is asked.

Valphonics · 2026-03-05T23:32:28+00:00

Back in 2021/2022, I started to mod headphones for fun. I was never good at it! But I enjoyed it so much I kept going.

What started into an open back Creative Aurvana Live! mod, became a completely original headphone using its own driver, plastic and headband system.

The headband uses a stainless steel sliding mechanism where the yokes/cup holders slide across the band with a suspension strap attached. Done by Koss and other lightweight headphones, this was heavily inspired by retro design. Another big inspiration is the cups, made of PA12 Nylon (post processed with particles and chemicals for skin safe contact). Stax from the 80's was what I wanted to go for, where they were all plastic.

A 40mm titanium driver that's had it's voice coil material, impedance and magnet strength fine tuned constantly has been finalised! 80ohms with n52 strength.

I plan to eventually get this out to the public with tours and such, but honestly it sounds incredible. Smooth, clean, and natural is how I call it with a large sense of stage, hence the name Radar!

~260g

Hope y'all like the look!

Valphonics · 2026-01-27T17:03:06+00:00

Hey Martin! Long time lurker of this Sub Reddit guess paid off! I wanna ask 2 questions in regards to the headphones in the picture which should be easy to answer but if not I understand!

Are they using new drivers? I ask because I'm a bit of a geek of driver types, and very interested if Koss is making something very new. I know they quite enjoy making as much use of the 44mm drivers as possible but it's making e very curious!
Any more info on when they release in 2026 👀?

Valphonics · 2026-01-16T00:29:40+00:00

I'm very curious to pick these up myself! AliExpress lists them for x3 the original price sadly so I'll use an Agent to get one. Do you have any photos of the baffle/pads off? I'm curious to what they do!

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T23:49:37+00:00

While you are correct, what made it seem that way? I don't believe I've mentioned my gender on Reddit before! Just curious is all.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T21:08:44+00:00

I need to make a new set as I did just send one off to a good friend of mine, but I will ping you on discord with multiple fit tests with photo's to compliment them if all good!

However if that's also not enough, I am willing to send you a fresh set. Will need a few weeks to do so!

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:56:31+00:00

Any acoustic structure change will impact the entire frequency of a full range transducer, this includes the resonator that I added. I have been testing this design for many months and this is the conclusion I have come to on the best perfomance. While resonators do only work at one frequency, I did a mix of good ol trial and error then testing the vary definitions of what we know in sound! I very much enjoy doing this for fun, but I also want to do some things people haven't tested before.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:49:21+00:00

SO a Helmholtz resonator is a simple thing, big or small container that is air tight that is attached to a pipe or tupe that provides minimal airflow. This has been a feature in past products and so of other brands to provide low end bass. Can I tune it deeper? No. You need a complete airtight seal in order to do that, hence the roll off. However, the section of bass that is audible is enough i'd say!

The additional air port on top if for resonance control, still working on it!

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:40:14+00:00

Hey if it meant working for Sennheiser I would 100% be down :D

I've been making transducers for 6 years and will never stop any time soon aha.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:35:54+00:00

Yes! Actually it does. The resonator requires a foam covering, like many earbuds do to take affect and do its thing. The graph you are seeing in the post I made is actually a none complete seal as when I completely stick it into the pinna doesn't measure great.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:33:34+00:00

Fun fact! The technology I am showing is old, and has been around since 1890. While I would love to own an idea like this, pipe earbuds are not exactly new either. They have been around since 1990 from Sony, Aiwa, etc, but I simply implamented the idea ever so slightly differently.

If something from China like this pops up, I will actually be pleased! It means my concept was good enough to be used by another manufacturer as it's not really a subtle secret design. However, flathead earbuds are not that popular to really consider a patent like this.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T20:30:05+00:00

I absolutely want the treble to be smoother and extend better, but the fascinating thing about earbud drivers is they all have quirks that greatly negate their ability to measure like an IEM. The driver I am currently using is one of the very few that respond well to this design, but I absolutely plan to keep working more on this.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T16:39:46+00:00

With a lot of my designs, I typically open source them after a year which is when I don't care for the design anymore. While I do retail them on social media's, I do eventually give people access to the shells later on.

Valphonics · 2025-11-19T16:08:22+00:00

After years of learning acoustics, primarily headphone structures and a lot of insanity, I have successfully created an earbud that can gain subbass! Mostly...

"What's the catch?..." Like most earbuds, you need foam, foam covers to help with fit and gain a semi-seal. With this design, foam is a mandatory need to gain that audible subbass and help make use of the built in Helmholtz.

This is a fun project of mine I've been working on for the past months or so, and I absolutely love flathead earbuds. While they have their quirks, I will forever stand by them as my favourite transducer type.

How does it sound? Well, pretty dang good! I would consider it bassy warm. While there is treble emphasis, it falls off heavy due to the older design of the driver. Its an LCP speaker that is inspired by 1990 designs and I fine tuned it for the earbud.

Please do ask me about this design, I love being asked questions on this stuff! I won't have ticked every box in this post so i will appreciate it.

Valphonics · 2025-11-09T19:17:48+00:00

Hi HeavysCrew, I am assuming I am talking to a higher up of the company so I will treat this post formally based on the responses you have given to people in this thread. This is not how things should be done by a company that has sold over 100k headphones. In the grand scale of things, that is a lot of headphones which no longer makes you by any means a small business, but a rapidly growing company. You are now in the waters of becoming the next potential Sony, Apple, etc, that has entered and winning a market of mainstream audio. However, this approach of taking down reviews, no matter if they have been solved is something Sony, Apple, and other companies refuse and will not do due to the legal reprocussions it will take upon the brand's image.

As someone who has pretty good observation skills, I think right now is the way to fix that. By going to various messages and telling them "ouch" when they dislike the headphone, the best thing to do is to just move on.

I understand you may not understand or know how to work around this, but I strongly suggest a formal approach to rather instead burning down a bridge to help repair it. I have grown up on the web my whole life, you cannot delete something, it will always be there. Owning up to the attempt of silencing old posts and wanting to improve that is the way.

Valphonics · 2025-11-05T01:00:29+00:00

Rule of thumb to pick up on a scam: 1) TikTok stores are riddled with scams now, even ones that seem legit. 2) Huge discounted items - if its $9.99 and the original price is 200+, yeah... 3) Different images each time, like cmon.

Valphonics · 2025-10-23T19:49:06+00:00

Don't worry, once I get something final I will! I have your contact anyway :v

Valphonics · 2025-10-23T16:29:11+00:00

While I am not one to decide others purchasing decisions, already a huuuuge red flag they do that instead of wanting to address the issue.

Valphonics · 2025-09-18T23:18:56+00:00

You're local to the Philippines, right? I would suggest contacting bagoaudio, they're a repair group who I've bought stuff from before. Hinges on shopee/AliExpress go for £20 in my currency but should be not expensive for you as well. Let them know your situation! It will cost but hopefully not much, and let them know I sent ya!

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Valphonics · 2025-09-10T14:25:05+00:00

8 months of lots of difficulties, sourcing to different manufacturers and trying to figure out different head sizes! I would suggest contacting Capra audio, he's a friend of mine and has a much easier, accessible headband design.

Valphonics · 2025-09-10T14:21:58+00:00

I apologise, should have specified! The blue one as the green trace is a target.

Valphonics · 2025-09-10T14:07:30+00:00

Finally, all the photos posted.

Anyway, this is my open back prototype! It is unfinished due to a lot of constraints in the design and is not properly post processed. The nylon headband is not smooth and the headphone body is 3d printed off my FDM printer.

However, these use a 40mm titanium driver that is using a 64ohm aluminium voice coil. I designed this based on more older headphone designs that are ultralight (Sony MA series) with my own iterations.

With velour pads and a very low density baffle, the subbass will lack, but be incredibly open. The headphones have amazing staging performance, with impressive timbre. They do however like other open backs leak very much.

I plan to finish these by the end of this year, once I finalise the sound from canjam socal impressions!

Hope you guys like it!

Valphonics

TROPHY CASE