The $3,000 to $4,000 headphone category is not suffering from a shortage of interesting engineering.
Planar magnetic designs from Audeze, Meze Audio, HiFiMAN and ZMF dominate much of the conversation, while HEDD Audio recently reminded us with the HEDDphone TWO GT that a full range Air Motion Transformer can play in the same league without copying anyone else’s homework.
ETA Audio is taking an entirely different route with the $3,499 ULI, an ultra open dynamic headphone built around an AlNiCo magnetic motor, 50mm biocellulose diaphragm and an underhung silver plated copper voice coil. The boutique American manufacturer will demonstrate the ULI at CanJam SoCal 2026, which runs August 29 and 30 at the Irvine Marriott in California.
If you thought we had reached the point where every possible way of moving a headphone diaphragm had already been tried, apparently nobody told ETA.
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Who Is ETA Audio?
ETA Audio is a small headphone company established in 2020, with a team based in New York and California. Co-founder Ev Schaaf leads acoustic engineering, while co-founder Tommy Tak handles product design and development. The company describes its approach as heavily influenced by DIY audio culture and community listening sessions, with its headphones assembled and tuned in small batches.
The ULI (which stands for Ultra Low Impedance) represents its eighth generation of driver development and sits far above earlier ETA models in both ambition and price. At $3,499, nobody gets bonus points anymore for being small, clever or enthusiastic. The headphone has to compete with some very serious established products.
Why AlNiCo?
AlNiCo is an alloy of aluminum, nickel, cobalt and iron that has a long history in loudspeaker drivers, guitar speakers and vintage professional audio products. Modern headphone manufacturers generally use powerful neodymium magnets instead, making ETA’s choice unusually exotic for this application.
ETA says the different electromechanical properties of AlNiCo contribute to lower distortion, higher efficiency and the smoother decay characteristics it was seeking from the ULI. Those are manufacturer claims that will ultimately require measurements and listening to evaluate, but using AlNiCo in a modern headphone motor is unquestionably unusual.
The motor uses a long gap, short coil configuration, with the voice coil designed to remain within the magnetic field throughout its excursion. ETA pairs that system with a 50mm biocellulose paper diaphragm, consisting of a 7 micron dome and 5 micron ribbed PET suspension.
The voice coil uses silver plated copper and the headphone has a nominal impedance of just 16 ohms.
That last number requires some context.
Low Impedance Does Not Mean Easy to Drive
The ULI is rated at only 81 dB/mW sensitivity, which is low for a headphone. Its 16 ohm impedance therefore should not be interpreted as permission to plug it into the headphone jack on whatever happens to be sitting nearby and expect the best from it.
A capable amplifier with substantial current delivery makes far more sense, and ETA’s CanJam demonstration systems provide a clue about how seriously it takes amplification. The company plans to demonstrate the ULI with a Pass Labs HPA-1C, its own $2,999 Bravo 6V6 Class A tube amplifier, and a separate Topping D900/A900 solid state system.
Nobody is bringing a Lightning dongle to this particular knife fight.
Construction and Specifications
The ULI uses a Multi Jet Fusion fused nylon chassis, stainless steel headband, suspension strap and a deliberately open rear grille designed to minimize acoustic obstruction behind the driver.
ETA currently specifies the headphone at under 500 grams. Two sets of 145 x 125 x 30mm ear pads, a Pelican hard shell case, stock cable and documentation are included. Buyers can order cables terminated with 6.35mm, 4 pin XLR or 4.4mm connectors.
ETA has not published a conventional frequency response specification on the current product page, nor has it announced a firm shipping date. The ULI is presently available for preorder at $3,499.
The Competition Is Serious
The most obvious comparison is the Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000, another $3,499 open back dynamic flagship. We spent time with it at CanJam NYC earlier this year and came away impressed by its speed, transparency and unusually spacious presentation. Audio-Technica gets there through a very different high impedance dynamic architecture, but the price makes the two unavoidable competitors.
ZMF Atrium is another relevant dynamic alternative. Its $2,499 open back design also uses a biocellulose driver, but pairs it with an N52 neodymium motor and ZMF’s own acoustic damping system. Move to the $3,499 ZMF Caldera, and the competition switches to planar magnetic technology at exactly the same price as the ULI.
Then there is the $2,199 HEDDphone TWO GT, which we recently reviewed. Its full range AMT takes yet another route and proved that being technically different can matter when the resulting headphone actually delivers musically.
That is the challenge facing ETA. Audiophiles spending $3,499 are not buying an interesting science project.
The Bottom Line
The ETA ULI stands out because almost nobody in modern headphone design is building around an AlNiCo motor, and ETA has combined that old school magnetic material with a thoroughly modern 50mm biocellulose driver, underhung voice coil and highly open chassis.
Whether that translates into a sonic advantage over the ATH-ADX7000, ZMF Atrium, Caldera or the increasingly diverse group of planar, dynamic and AMT flagships is something that has to be heard rather than inferred from metallurgy.
Fortunately, CanJam exists for precisely this kind of nonsense.
The ETA ULI will be demonstrated throughout CanJam SoCal 2026 on August 29 and 30 at the Irvine Marriott, giving headphone enthusiasts their first good opportunity on the West Coast to decide whether AlNiCo deserves a comeback outside the loudspeaker world.
Where to buy: $3,499 at ETA Headphones
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