Headphone Driver Types as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2015-05-07
·
1,032 words · ~5 min read
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we have a lot of names for the devices that we use to listen to music and other
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audio mediums without disturbing others headphones earphones ear speakers cans
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and all those words mean pretty much the same thing so that's not the focus of
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today's video what is the focus of today's video is the different types of
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drivers that you might find inside them drivers or transducers convert the
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electrical signals sent through the cable or the air if you're using
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Wireless or Bluetooth or whatever to the sound waves that you're ears here so
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first up is the most common type of headphone driver the moving coil driver
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also known as a dynamic driver it consists of a stationary magnet attached
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to the frame of the headphone this creates a static magnetic field a
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diaphragm and a coil wire or voice coil
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the voice coil actuates the diaphragm based on the varying current that gets
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passed through the coil and the moving diaphragm combined with the air moving
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around it creates the sound that you hear practical Dynamics driver sizes for
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headphones are anywhere from Tiny 10 mm or sometimes even smaller drivers that
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fit inside IM to Big 55 mm you know
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pounding base capable drivers that you'll find in over ear headphones and
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the main benefits of these are that they are inexpensive to produce keeping
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manufacturing costs relatively low for entry-level products and if engineered
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correctly they can deliver a wide enough frequency range with enough accuracy
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that even high-end audio file grade products can be built using this
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technology electrostatic drivers they're
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a little different they consist of a thin diaphragm typically made of coated
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polyethylene tetral film which is electrically charged and suspended
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between two perforated metal plates or electrodes the electrical sound signal
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is applied to the electrodes which produces an electric field between them
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and draws the diaphragm towards one plate or the other air is then forced
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through the perforations or the curves on the electrodes which when combined
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with the moving diaphragm due to the constantly changing electrical signals
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creates sound waves which your ears hear electrostatic drivers are generally
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capable of producing a very wide range of frequencies and their frequency
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response often extends well above the audible limit of approximately 20 khz
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nowadays electrostatic drivers are only really present in high-end audio file
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grade headphones since they're quite expensive to produce require stronger
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amplification and the benefit for most people simply doesn't justify the
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additional cost orthodynamic or planer magnetic drivers operate on a similar
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principle but use large permanent magnets and Vary the charge of the
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membrane to produce sound the final type
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that we're highlighting today is balanced armateur or ba drivers
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ba they're the smallest ones available and they're incredibly power efficient
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which makes them great for imem also known as Canal phones and for hearing
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aids actually this driver type features a coil wrapped Armature that is pivoted
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and then perfectly centered or balanced between the poles of a permanent magnet
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then when a current passes through the coil it causes the Armature to Pivot
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passing vibrations to the drive Rod which is attached to the center of a
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diaphragm and the movements of the drive Rod cause vibrations in the diaphragm
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creating the sound that you hear common theme Here Right these drivers give a
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clean accurate sound but typically have a fairly narrow frequency response range
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they also don't really deliver head crushing base and are very limited in
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performance at the extremes of the human hearing range but they are often joined
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with much success with other ba or dynamic drivers in a passive crossover
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Network to expand the overall frequency range of the inar monitor with each
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driver focused on a certain band do note
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though that when shopping for headphones more does not always mean better so do
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your research on the quality of the drivers inside a PA IM before you pay
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some ridiculous amount of money just cuz they have 16 ba drivers in each side or
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something now as I mentioned before
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actually I didn't mention it before because I altered the scripts before I did this but anyway this video is by no
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means comprehensive but it should give you a good idea of what the main
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differences are between the most popular driver types as well as a couple of
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notes on you know the less popular electrostatic plan or magnetic ones if
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if you're interested in learning a lot more about headphone drivers head over
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to hf.org as their forums have a ton of
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information about all aspects of headphones but it's a very passionate
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community so bring your fud filter and probably a dictionary you're very likely
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to need both speaking of things that you are likely to need if you have a
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computer computer fans cases and power supplies Cooler Master is the sponsor of
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quickie and we could not be happier to have them on the channel I think the
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choose pretty much any hardware we want and we use their vs series power
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supplies in our editing workstations here at Linus Media Group so thanks to
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Cooler Master for sponsoring this episode guys be sure to check out Cooler
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Master and CM Storm at the link in the video description if you're in the market for a new PC or thanking about
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upgrading some of your components thanks for watching like this video if you
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