---
title: "What is a Headphones made of?"
description: "A neodymium magnet, a coil of copper wire and a thin plastic diaphragm — a loudspeaker shrunk to fit an ear. Every component, the material it uses, and the constrain"
url: https://atoneplace.net/made-of/headphone/
site: "At One Place"
---

# What is a Headphones made of?

**What is a Headphones made of?: A neodymium magnet, a coil of copper wire and a thin plastic diaphragm — a loudspeaker shrunk to fit an ear.**

Nearly all headphones are miniature moving-coil loudspeakers working on exactly the same principle as a hi-fi driver. The alternatives are genuinely different: planar magnetic designs stretch a film with a printed conductor between magnet arrays so the whole surface is driven evenly, and electrostatic ones charge a film between perforated plates. Ear pads are the usual reason a pair sounds worse after a few years — the foam compresses, the seal breaks, and bass leaks away, which a replacement set of pads fixes for a fraction of the price of new headphones. Active noise cancellation adds a microphone and a processor generating an inverted waveform, effective against steady low-frequency noise and much less so against speech.

## Component by component

*Every material is a choice, and the third column is the constraint that drove it.*

| Part | Material | Why that material |
| --- | --- | --- |
| magnet | sintered neodymium-iron-boron | Neodymium magnets are several times stronger than ferrite for their size, which is what made powerful drivers small enough to fit in an ear. |
| voice coil | enamelled copper, or copper-clad aluminium wire | Current in the coil pushes against the magnet; aluminium-cored wire is lighter and moves faster, at the cost of resistance. |
| diaphragm | PET film, PEEK, biocellulose or beryllium-coated polymer | It must be stiff enough not to flex into its own resonances and light enough to be moved by a tiny coil. |
| earpads | polyurethane foam under protein leather or velour | The seal at the ear determines bass response entirely — a leaking pad loses low frequencies before it loses anything else. |
| cable | oxygen-free copper strands in a TPE or rubber jacket | Cables fail from flexing at the strain relief, not from conductor quality, which is why detachable cables outlast fixed ones. |

## Other electronics objects

- [Alkaline battery](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/alkaline-battery/) — Zinc powder and manganese dioxide either side of a potassium hydroxide paste, in a steel can.
- [Smartphone screen](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/smartphone-screen/) — Chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass over a touch layer and an OLED or LCD panel, with an oil-shedding coating on top.
- [Solar panel](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/solar-panel/) — Doped silicon wafers with silver contacts, sealed between low-iron glass and a plastic backsheet in an aluminium frame.
- [LED bulb](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/led-bulb/) — Blue LED chips under a yellow phosphor, plus a driver circuit and a heat sink — and it is the driver that dies.
- [Touchscreen](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/touchscreen/) — A grid of transparent electrodes measuring the tiny capacitance your finger adds — which is why gloves fail.
- [Computer keyboard](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/keyboard/) — ABS or PBT keycaps over either a silicone rubber dome on printed film, or individual mechanical switches.
- [Loudspeaker](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/speaker/) — A paper or plastic cone hung on a rubber surround, driven by a coil in a magnet gap.
- [Computer mouse](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/computer-mouse/) — An ABS shell around a tiny camera taking thousands of pictures a second, plus two clicky microswitches and PTFE feet.

## Common questions

### What is a Headphones made of?

A neodymium magnet, a coil of copper wire and a thin plastic diaphragm — a loudspeaker shrunk to fit an ear.

### What is the magnet of a Headphones made of?

Sintered neodymium-iron-boron. Neodymium magnets are several times stronger than ferrite for their size, which is what made powerful drivers small enough to fit in an ear.

### What is the voice coil of a Headphones made of?

Enamelled copper, or copper-clad aluminium wire. Current in the coil pushes against the magnet; aluminium-cored wire is lighter and moves faster, at the cost of resistance.

## Related pages

- [Alkaline battery](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/alkaline-battery/)
- [Smartphone screen](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/smartphone-screen/)
- [Solar panel](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/solar-panel/)
- [LED bulb](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/led-bulb/)
- [Touchscreen](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/touchscreen/)
- [Computer keyboard](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/keyboard/)
- [Loudspeaker](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/speaker/)
- [Computer mouse](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/computer-mouse/)
- [Pencil](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/pencil/)
- [Tennis ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/tennis-ball/)
- [Banknote](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/banknote/)
- [Golf ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/golf-ball/)
- [Paper](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/paper/)
- [Glass](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/glass/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)