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Listen to this, Dallas. The city’s first hi-fi bar is set to open soon in a former bank vault beneath Drakestone Apartments in Downtown, Dallas. Here, city audiophiles can tune into sounds that make you feel over hi-balls and soft-serve ice cream.
Shyboy is a concept from Headington Companies. Lead by Tim Headington, the eponymous company is behind popular Dallas concepts including Midnight Rambler, The Joule hotel, Forty Five Ten, and Sassetta.
Inspired by listening bars across the world, “with roots in Tokyo’s post-WWII ‘jazz kissas‘”, the venue will be housed in a 3,000-square-foot space, subterranean space equipped with Italian-made acoustic panels, custom, 9-foot OJAS loudspeaker system designed by Devon Turnbull, as well as custom Neve preamps and McIntosh amplifiers.
Photo via Headington Companies
“We’ve been longtime fans of hi-fi culture and listening bars across the world,” Jonathan Merla, Vice President of Market of Headington Companies told PaperCity.
“After diligent research and meetings with industry leaders, loudspeaker builders, and vinyl collectors, we felt ready to bring this concept to Dallas for the very first time. We’ve seen a shift across the city that is bringing more music-lovers out, so we wanted to build a ‘temple of sound’ for them.”
As far as the music itself, venue personnel have for the past year, hunting rare records. amassing an impressive collection of rare Japanese and Brazilian records as well as Ornette Coleman pressings. The venue also has plans for live DJs.
Image via Headington Companies
The hifi lounge at 1313 Main St. in Downtown, Dallas will feature a capacity just under 300 and be open Wednesday through Sunday. Visitors can expect a menu of hi-balls, cocktails, as well as soft-serve ice cream at approachable prices.
The venue had previously aimed for a fall 2025 opening but now plans to open the first quarter of 2026.