Dallas’ first hi-fi bar is opening this fall, courtesy of Headington Companies. Run by billionaire, film producer, and real estate developer Tim Headington, the group’s most well-known concepts include Forty Five Ten, The Joule hotel, and restaurants & bars Tango Room, Midnight Rambler, and Sassetta. Opening at 1313 Main Street (inside The Drakestone), Shyboy will bring “a social and listening experience unlike any other nightlife space, with progressive, genre-bending programming, signature hi-balls and cocktails, and two state-of-the-art OJAS sound systems” to downtown Dallas.

So, what exactly is a hi-fi bar (aka a listening bar)? It’s a venue that focuses on offering high-quality audio reproduction, and music is typically played from vinyl records.

The Inspiration Behind Shyboy

Shyboy is “inspired by hi-fi listening bars around the world, with roots in Tokyo’s post-WWII ‘jazz kissas.'”

“We’ve been longtime fans of hi-fi culture and listening bars across the world,” Headington Companies Vice President of Market Jonathan Merla tells 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.”

The new spot is a collaboration between industry vets, sound pros, and award-winning architectural and design firm 5G Studio Collaborative. Like one of our favorite cocktail bars in Dallas, Midnight Rambler, Shyboy is a subterranean spot, specifically in the former bank vaults of The Drakestone (the former Republic National Bank and now a Headington residential property). The 3,000-square-foot space will feature two rooms, each with a custom-made loudspeaker system designed by Devon Turnbull (OJAS).

Art and Design in a Former Bank Vault

“The listening experience is our raison d’être, so all elements in the space are meant to serve that purpose,” says Merla. “The towering nine-foot OJAS speakers by Devon Turnbull, the curved brutalist design that has been acoustically treated, the 1920s vault-turned-listening-room outfitted with acoustical panels made in Italy, and a secondary custom OJAS loudspeaker system… everything is designed to highlight what matters the most: the music.”

At the entrance of The Vault, the more intimate listening lounge space that will be available for private events, sound classes, performances, and art exhibitions, is an installation from artist Lachlan Turczan’s Optical Resonance series. It utilizes water and light to respond to sound waves generated by music.

“It was the 5G team who brought the Lachlan piece forward early on in the design stage,” CMO of Headington Companies Jeny Bania says. “Tim Headington and John Runyon were instantly captivated by its visceral and visual quality — how it celebrates sound as both something to see and feel. It’s the only piece of its kind in Headington’s collection and will be the perfect anchor for a concept like Shyboy.”

The Music and a Cold Treat

As for vinyls that will be played at Shyboy, Merla says that over the past year, the team has travelled across the nation to collect rare records. “We amassed a large collection that includes rare Ornette Coleman pressings (a Fort Worth native), rare Japanese records from Seigen Ono for Comme Des Garçons, Atsuko Nina, and Tatsuro Yamashita. To the list, we were also excited to add hard-to-find Brazilian records from Sandra de Sá and Caetano Veloso. The list goes on, and we can’t wait for Dallas to hear them on the best sound system in the city.”

Along with great tunes, Shyboy will offer soft-serve ice cream alongside cocktails.

“At first, the idea of finding this cold treat — one reminiscent of summer and youth and outdoors— in a dark, underground bar just struck us as the right kind of odd,” says Bania. “The more we played with it, the more it felt like Shyboy’s essence: making people feel loose, happy, and free. And what does that better than a slightly drippy cone of soft serve while you’re dancing to your favorite song?”

Shyboy is bound to be a new, unique experience in Dallas when it opens this fall. “[Shyboy will be] a new music-focused destination that will attract audiophiles, the best DJs and selectors in the world, and everyone who enjoys good music. We believe this will be a new chapter in Dallas’ already rich music history.”