What do drivers do in headphones

There's a pair of brilliantly sounding headphones out there built just for you. Now it's time to find them. Cut through the jargon and learn what the key headphone specifications actually mean and why—or if—they matter. Justin is a year-old writer and photographer from Plymouth, Massachusetts. He loves playing Pokemon and the Devil May Cry series and filming videos with friends.

His other specialties include cooking good food and making bad puns. Headphones are amazing pieces of technology. What Is a Headphone Driver? How to Identify the Best Headphones: 10 Important Terms to Know Cut through the jargon and learn what the key headphone specifications actually mean and why—or if—they matter.

Share Share Tweet Email. Justin Bennett-Cohen 8 Articles Published. Subscribe to our newsletter Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals! Click here to subscribe. How to Make Them Sound Louder. What Is a Raw Recording? The dynamic drivers, meanwhile, handle the bass frequencies, which requires pushing more air. These types of drivers tend to be pricey, since each headphone needs two, three, or more drivers.

On the other hand, they provide excellent audio quality and warmth across the spectrum. Planar magnetic drivers are designed to be exceedingly thin. They have a similar design to dynamic drivers, but without the voice coil.

Instead, the magnetic field moves the diaphragm directly. Without a coil, your design becomes correspondingly thinner. This makes them suitable for smaller earbuds where other designs can be problematic. It also offers excellent audio quality, including powerful bass response. The downside is that this type of driver is a bit pricey. Electrostatic drivers use static electricity instead of a traditional electric current.

In this design, the diaphragm is positioned between a pair of magnets that move it back and forth. Because of perforations in the diaphragm, air can move freely in both directions.

This allows for excellent detail, particularly in a slim set of drivers. The sound quality is excellent across the spectrum, probably the best of any driver type.

On the other hand, they come with a correspondingly high price. Instead of putting the sound directly into your ears, they cause your facial bones to vibrate. This directly stimulates the inner ear, bypassing the eardrum.

On the other hand, bone conduction drivers allow for excellent spatial awareness. Known as the "Tech Guru", he's an expert of current and trending technology.

Here at NerdTechy, he makes tech easy to understand for the average person. Headphone Driver Basics The driver is the heart and soul of any set of headphones or earbuds. Balanced Armature Drivers Balanced armature drivers are designed to offer maximum performance at the minimum size.

The electric field creates vibrations which cause the diaphragm to push and pull against the conductive plates electrodes it is located between. This movement causes air to be pushed through the perforations. This action and the constantly changing electric signal create sound waves that the ear understands. Electrostatic headphone drivers are quite complicated and need special amplifiers energizers. They are not common and are more expensive than other headphone drivers. They limit the portability of headphones.

However, when it comes to sound quality, they surpass expectations. The drivers can produce better sound than all other drivers, which is why headphones that have them are more expensive. Because these drivers are small—much smaller than dynamic drivers—they are only used in in-ear monitors. They are also more expensive than dynamic drivers. A balanced armature driver comprises a miniature arm in a coil of wire encircled by two magnets: one at the top and one at the bottom.

These magnets dictate the movement of the miniature arm the armature. The armature sits on a pivot and revolves around the two magnets. When there is no net force on it—when it is centered between the two magnets—we say the armature is balanced. When electric current flows through the coil, it causes the armature to pivot towards either magnet.

This movement moves the diaphragm, and as a result, sound is produced. For this reason, many in-ear monitors have multiple balanced armature drivers and one dynamic driver. While bone conduction technology is relatively new, it is quickly gaining ground. Bone conduction drivers do not work like other headphone drivers—which pass sound through your ears. There are two types of bone conduction drivers: mechanical and magnetostriction. Both work the same way: they have to be pressed against the bones in your face approximately 1 inch in front of your ears in order to pass sound to your inner ear using vibrations.

Bone conduction drivers bypass the eardrum and send vibrations directly to the inner ear. When the vibrations enter the cochlea, you hear the sound. In a nutshell, they do the work done by your eardrums. This type of headphone audio driver is very helpful to individuals with hearing loss caused by a damaged eardrum.

Joggers who need to be aware of their surroundings also find bone conduction headphones helpful. A hybrid driver is a combination of a dynamic driver and a balanced armature driver.

Some hybrid headphones have multiple dynamic drivers and balanced armature drivers. The balanced armatures reproduce mid, high mid, and high frequencies effectively while the dynamic drivers reproduce low mid and low frequencies effectively. Headphone manufacturers use hybrid drivers to produce headphones for specific audio frequencies. The use of two or more drivers ensures every sound frequency is well represented.

The sound is vibrant, detailed, and has the warmth and bass many audiophiles seek. Over the last few years, headphones have become increasingly popular. There are numerous types of Bluetooth headphone driver available, and you can easily get confused deciding which one to get.

Get a pair of headphones with high-quality drivers and truly enjoy listening to music. A fixed magnet—typically neodymium—creates a static magnetic field. This interacts with the electrical current in the voice coil which is subsequently forced to move back and forth with the applied signal.

The voice coil is attached to a membrane, or diaphragm, which acoustically amplifies vibrations and, thus, sound waves are produced. Wikipedia Commons A dynamic driver consists of a 1 magnet, 2 coil, 3 suspension, and 4 diaphragm. Dynamic drivers will however be prone to limited bandwidth due to resonances, power compression, and other forms of distortion. Variations in dynamic driver sound quality can be attributed to different materials used and the compromises made in the design.

On the flip side, dynamic drivers are easier to drive than other driver types. Each ear cup has 65mm planar magnetic drivers and can rotate degrees. Headphones that use planar magnetic drivers sport a distinct look: the inside of the ear cups features a rectangular—rather than elliptical opening. The basic principle of operation for planar magnetic drivers is the same as the dynamic driver: an electrical conductor moves between fixed magnets as an audio signal is passed through it.

Multiple magnets are laid out on both sides of this diaphragm, producing a uniform magnetic field, where it stays. Due to the more complex structure of the motor system and large diaphragm, these models often cost more, are heavier, and less efficient, meaning they require more power to be driven.

In other words, Audeze planar magnetic headphones typically need an amplifier. Planar magnetic and electrostatic headphones alike often require an external amplifier.