The simple answer is that we made it for ourselves.
We are musicians. We are music lovers. We spend a lot of time on both sides of the glass — writing, recording, mixing, and then coming home and just listening. And for years, we could not find a headphone that felt right for all of it.
The problem with most headphones
We have tried a lot of them. And most fall into one of two camps.
The affordable ones sound flat. The low end is thin, the vocals sit too far back, and the whole thing feels like you are listening through a wall. They are fine for calls or background music, but the moment you put on something you actually care about, they let you down.
The expensive ones often sound better — but the price assumes you are willing to pay for a brand name as much as the headphone itself. And even then, a lot of them are still made of plastic. Black plastic, mostly. Uniform, forgettable, and not built to last.
Then there is the category in between: the ones that look interesting but do not sound the way they look. We have been there too.
What we actually wanted
Morten Bau, our founder, has been a hi-fi enthusiast for over 20 years. He knows what good audio feels like. And what he — what we — wanted was a headphone that sounds alive.
Not just accurate. Alive. You feel the kick drum. The bass has real punch to it. The guitars are clear and present. The vocals sit right in front of you. And the whole soundscape is wide and three-dimensional, like you are standing in the room where it was recorded. Not listening to a recording of it — actually in it.
That was the standard we set for ourselves. And we did not want to compromise on it.
Then came the design
Once the audio was where we wanted it, we turned to the outside.
We were tired of plastic. Almost every modern headphone looks the same — a plastic shell in black or grey, maybe with a logo. Some brands have a more distinctive look, but we have never loved the sound or the feel of those. We wanted something that was genuinely ours.
So we looked at our own world. Baum guitars use a lot of golden details — brass hardware, gold foil pickup covers, the logo. That warmth and character felt like something the ellipse™ should carry too. The brass joints are not decorative. They are part of what makes the headphone feel solid and considered.
The headband and earcups use a tolex-like texture — the same material you find on guitar amplifiers and cases. It is a small detail, but it connects the ellipse™ to the instruments it was designed to be used alongside.
The earcups themselves are elliptical — that is where the name comes from. The shape is functional: it follows the natural form of the ear for a better seal and a more comfortable fit over long sessions. The rest of the lines are clean and Nordic. Nothing added for the sake of it.
The velour earcups can be replaced when they wear out. The cable detaches. The materials — aluminium, brass, high-quality fabric — are chosen to last, not to look good in a product photo and fall apart in two years.
The result
The ellipse™ is the headphone we wanted to own ourselves. Made without compromise in the audio, built without compromise in the materials, and designed to feel like it belongs in the same world as the instruments we make.
We think you will feel the difference the moment you put them on.
From our hands to yours.
