We see headphones and earphones as being wearable speakers, in that you can fit them to your body. And, with headphones, the size of the drivers makes their functionality obvious when worn. Conversely, in-ear earphones are inserted into the outer ear canal, making it difficult to guess at the level of performance they provide; a detail that gave rise to our concept of earphones as equipment. Small as they are, the feel of the materials from which they are made gives the EPH-100 earphones the individuality of an item of jewelry. To give these earphones a truly “made by Yamaha” identity, and make them more than merely an attractive accessory, we designed them around the image of a brass instrument—a pure conduit for sound. Gaining inspiration from the various techniques we had observed in the making of trumpets, we shaped solid aluminum to give the EPH-100 the form of a trumpet piston valve. Brass instruments also provided examples of precision as we worked to machine parts down to tolerances as fine as 1/100 mm. You only have to touch these earphones to understand our intentions in making them. The very act of inserting the EPH-100 earphones in your ears is a metaphor for the action of playing a trumpet, which is why we would be delighted if doing so gives users the feeling of playing a musical instrument.