Modder Details How To Jam With Raspberry Pico Powered Open Source Headphones
These new headphones are no different. The Ploopy cans use a powerful TI PCM3060 off-the-shelf audio codec, while Ploopy's /u/crop_octagon elected to hack together a custom six-channel equalizer using the Raspberry Pi Foundation's RP2040 microcontroller. That's the same chip inside a Raspberry Pico. Despite the similar name, the Raspberry Pico isn't a single-board computer, but rather a much more simplistic microcontroller, sort of like an Arduino on steroids.
The headphones' creator writes that doing real-time digital signal processing is normally extremely math-intensive, typically using a lot of floating-point calculations. The dual-core RP2040 does not have any FPUs, so this approach was not going to work. Instead, they hacked together a 6-band equalizer using integer math.
As far as the headphones themselves, they use custom-designed planar drivers that Ploopy claims offer "studio monitor"-grade frequency response, and you can tune the aforementioned EQ to get the sound you want. Planar drivers typically offer a sharper and clearer sound than classical dynamic drivers at the cost of some output power, but apparently the Ploopy headphones work around this shortcoming by simply having a powerful amplifier.
As a result, the headphones' creator says on Reddit that the headphones aren't particularly portable and would drain the battery of a mobile device very quickly. They're really intended for use at the PC, it seems. If you're interested, you can head over to the Ploopy site where you can order a do-it-yourself kit for $149 CAD ($110 USD), a fully-assembled pair for $299 CAD ($222 USD), or simply download the materials to do it yourself.
