An Audiophile Hideaway
An Audiophile Hideaway
An Audiophile Hideaway
Where design meets sound: Headfoneshop, a sonic hideaway.
July 3, 2025
A place made for listening.
Tucked into the base of a 42-storey tower in Toronto’s Humber Valley Village, Headfoneshop is a small temple to sound. Designed by Batay-Csorba Architects, the 28-square-metre store feels less like retail and more like a sensory lab. Owners and their two teenage children are lifelong audiophiles, and the brief was clear: create a space where customers can linger, test gear, and lose track of time.
“We wanted to get as far as possible from the bright, clinical Apple-store vibe. The goal was material richness and a mood that welcomes long listening sessions” explains Andrew Batay-Csorba.
Herringbone and velvet: when sound meets material.
Every finish points to warmth and ritual. The floor is smoked-oak herringbone (Unopark Smoked Oak Sanded and Oiled by Bauwerk, supplied by Relative Space). The pattern adds rhythm, says Batay-Csorba, “and the patina keeps it from feeling flat or monotonous.” Matching dark-oak millwork, burnished brass, deep-blue velvet and amber lighting complete the palette, somewhere between a jazz lounge and a private living room.
Materials, surfaces, details.
Detail obsession drove the build. Walls and ceiling are wrapped in 255 powder-coated metal panels, each set at two angles and backlit. 765 hand-patinated brass screws hold everything in place, their colour achieved with vinegar and sea salt in the studio. The panels double as headphone displays, hiding wires while letting each model float in view. A velvet-lined glass case presents top-tier earbuds like jewellery.
“We wanted simultaneous calm and dynamism. Soft seating and warm materials on one hand, a faceted, light-catching skin on the other. Together they immerse you” says Andrew Batay-Csorba.
The luxury of slowness.
Headfoneshop welcomes maybe three visitors at a time, encouraging them to connect their own devices and listen for hours. It is retail that rejects hurry. Even the custom earbud case underscores the point: each pair waits in its own velvet slot, inviting careful handling.
Where sound becomes space.
More than a store, Headfoneshop is an architectural sound stage. Footsteps sink into smoked oak; brass glints; panels glow. The room wraps you the way music does when the headphones slide on.
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