Elijah Wood – yes, that Elijah Wood – and his DJ partner, Zach Cowie, have teamed up with Grado Labs and none other than Bushmills Whiskey to create a limited edition set of wooden headphones. And here’s the kicker: the cans are crafted from oak barrels that were used to age Bushmills’ Irish Whiskey.
The idea for the new ‘phones was purportedly spawned from a liquor-induced brainstorm session after a DJ set at the Bushmills Live Festival. That’s right, Elijah Wood is a DJ, too. And apparently he also gets loaded after his sets, comes up with cool ideas, and then makes them happen. Just one more reason we really want to hang out with that dude.
Based on the supposition that, in more ways than one, it really is the “wood that makes it good,” these $400 hand crafted beauties are carved into smooth disks of fine oak barrel goodness, topped with ultra-cushy black pads, and connected by a band of fine leather. The wooden ear cups have a vented back design and boast dynamic drivers that push a frequency range of 16Hz-26kHz.
The cans also come in a cigar box-styled case that looks like it may have come from the Captain’s chest on a pirate ship.
What kind of whiskey-fueled conversation spawned such an effort? There’s no way to know for sure, but we can’t help but imagine the two DJ’s waxing philosophically about the awesomeness of whiskey and wood, and headphones, and … “wait a second, my name is Wood! “ You can imagine where it might go from there.
At any rate, these new ‘phones use the natural resonance of wood, handcrafted hi-fi sound, and a pretty damn cool idea to create a completely unique piece of gear. And for $400, you can take them home for yourself.
If you’d like more fuel for your imagination, check out this video about the unveiling of the headphones below. Cheers!
