CRBN

About the CRBN

The Audeze CRBN (pronounced "carbon") is an open-back, over-ear electrostatic headphone that introduces Audeze's patent-pending ultra-thin polymer diaphragm with suspended carbon nanotubes, originally developed for MRI applications in collaboration with UCLA. This carbon nanotube film distributes charge uniformly throughout the diaphragm, creating a highly uniform driving force that reduces distortion and improves clarity, resolution, and transparency compared to traditional electrostatic designs. The design also allows lower diaphragm tension and greater excursion, yielding significantly stronger, more linear bass performance than typical electrostatic headphones, including roughly 15 dB more output below 40 Hz versus competing models. CRBN uses a push-pull electrostatic transducer with a 120 mm x 90 mm custom carbon nanotube diaphragm, 580 VDC Stax Pro Bias compatibility, and 100 pF capacitance (including the cable), so it must be driven by a suitable 580 V Stax Pro Bias-type electrostatic headphone amplifier. The chassis combines magnesium, stainless steel, polymer acetate ear cups, and a carbon fiber headband with premium leather earpads for comfort and durability, and the headphone weighs about 470 g without cable. Audeze supplies an attached 2.5 m OCC copper cable terminated in a 5-pin Pro Bias connector and a premium travel case. Audeze has since introduced a successor model called CRBN2, but CRBN remains a distinct original electrostatic design with its own driver implementation rather than an upgrade kit.