we have a lot of names for the devices that we use to listen to music and other
audio mediums without disturbing others headphones earphones ear speakers cans
and all those words mean pretty much the same thing so that's not the focus of
today's video what is the focus of today's video is the different types of
drivers that you might find inside them drivers or transducers convert the
electrical signals sent through the cable or the air if you're using
Wireless or Bluetooth or whatever to the sound waves that you're ears here so
first up is the most common type of headphone driver the moving coil driver
also known as a dynamic driver it consists of a stationary magnet attached
to the frame of the headphone this creates a static magnetic field a
diaphragm and a coil wire or voice coil
the voice coil actuates the diaphragm based on the varying current that gets
passed through the coil and the moving diaphragm combined with the air moving
around it creates the sound that you hear practical Dynamics driver sizes for
headphones are anywhere from Tiny 10 mm or sometimes even smaller drivers that
fit inside IM to Big 55 mm you know
pounding base capable drivers that you'll find in over ear headphones and
the main benefits of these are that they are inexpensive to produce keeping
manufacturing costs relatively low for entry-level products and if engineered
correctly they can deliver a wide enough frequency range with enough accuracy
that even high-end audio file grade products can be built using this
technology electrostatic drivers they're
a little different they consist of a thin diaphragm typically made of coated
polyethylene tetral film which is electrically charged and suspended
between two perforated metal plates or electrodes the electrical sound signal
is applied to the electrodes which produces an electric field between them
and draws the diaphragm towards one plate or the other air is then forced
through the perforations or the curves on the electrodes which when combined
with the moving diaphragm due to the constantly changing electrical signals
creates sound waves which your ears hear electrostatic drivers are generally
capable of producing a very wide range of frequencies and their frequency
response often extends well above the audible limit of approximately 20 khz
nowadays electrostatic drivers are only really present in high-end audio file
grade headphones since they're quite expensive to produce require stronger
amplification and the benefit for most people simply doesn't justify the
additional cost orthodynamic or planer magnetic drivers operate on a similar
principle but use large permanent magnets and Vary the charge of the
membrane to produce sound the final type
that we're highlighting today is balanced armateur or ba drivers
ba they're the smallest ones available and they're incredibly power efficient
which makes them great for imem also known as Canal phones and for hearing
aids actually this driver type features a coil wrapped Armature that is pivoted
and then perfectly centered or balanced between the poles of a permanent magnet
then when a current passes through the coil it causes the Armature to Pivot
passing vibrations to the drive Rod which is attached to the center of a
diaphragm and the movements of the drive Rod cause vibrations in the diaphragm
creating the sound that you hear common theme Here Right these drivers give a
clean accurate sound but typically have a fairly narrow frequency response range
they also don't really deliver head crushing base and are very limited in
performance at the extremes of the human hearing range but they are often joined
with much success with other ba or dynamic drivers in a passive crossover
Network to expand the overall frequency range of the inar monitor with each
driver focused on a certain band do note
though that when shopping for headphones more does not always mean better so do
your research on the quality of the drivers inside a PA IM before you pay
some ridiculous amount of money just cuz they have 16 ba drivers in each side or
something now as I mentioned before
actually I didn't mention it before because I altered the scripts before I did this but anyway this video is by no
means comprehensive but it should give you a good idea of what the main
differences are between the most popular driver types as well as a couple of
notes on you know the less popular electrostatic plan or magnetic ones if
if you're interested in learning a lot more about headphone drivers head over
to hf.org as their forums have a ton of
information about all aspects of headphones but it's a very passionate
community so bring your fud filter and probably a dictionary you're very likely
to need both speaking of things that you are likely to need if you have a
computer computer fans cases and power supplies Cooler Master is the sponsor of
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