Vokyl Erupt

Erupt is the first hi-fi gaming headset with an anodized all-aluminum chassis and studio-grade Al-Mg drivers. CNC-milled in St. Louis, Missouri, the Erupt's solid construction and analog design is carefully crafted for gamers who want clean, sparkling sound in a headset built to stand the test of time. I collaborated with the Vokyl team to support their Industrial Design and manufacturing endeavours over a span of 6 months in 2017 and 2018. Launched on Indiegogo, Vokyl Erupt successfully raised over 200k USD to support the production and manufacture of the headphones.


Type of Project : Industrial Design
Client : Vokyl LLC
Year : 2018
Status : In Market

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The Audiophile Gamer

The Erupt is targeted towards serious gamers. Today's consumers are hungry for immersion and audio has become a huge part of any gaming experience. 

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Market

The target position for the Erupt was in a zone between vintage headphones, gaming headphones and mass consumer headphones. We wanted to avoid aesthetic complexity and stay away from modern-day mass produced designs that lack character.

Inspiration

Erupt is inspired by raw, technical, clean and bold forms.

 
 

Vokyl Erupt

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Design

Erupt features a suspension headband system that is custom designed for long hours of gaming. The machined aluminium cups feature a simple side silhouette but also celebrate a bold open back grill on their faces. This grill pattern is driven by a custom parametric script that creates non-uniform - radially arranged pattern of circles. Behind the grill is acoustic fabric that helps enhance the clarity of the sound. The headphones are as simple as they can get - thus there are no flashy LEDS, cheap plastic parts or unnecessary details.

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Process

To find the best structural design for Erupt's Al-Mg drivers, a lot of prototypes were done, some ended up in the bin, some inspired new ideas and others helped the engineering team learn. Sketching was the primary tool to explore aesthetics and product attitude. A lot of 3D data was directly converted into prints to quickly evaluate size, proportion and functionality of various parts. The cups were all milled at Vokyl's facility with most materials sourced locally. 

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