Earlier this week we published the first half of an in-depth interview with the designers of HTC’s BoomSound speakers. This is the wrap-up of that interview! If you’ve already read part 1 then go ahead and dive right in. If you haven’t, we highly recommend you start there to learn about the design of the speakers and their construction.
How do you define “good speakers”?
An international audio speaker expo once addressed why people feel hyped during music concerts. The sound equipment at a concert is purposely designed to give the audience an exhilarating experience. One of the theories behind the equipment design is that when you hear sounds greater than 90 decibels your physical senses get excited, thus triggering your emotions.
As for HTC’s BoomSound speakers, obviously they’re not as loud as a concert—that would be terrifying. But we did do a study and found that most people using these speakers would hold their phones horizontally or upright in front of their faces, at a distance of about 15-20cm. Using this base thinking, we aimed for a volume output of at least 90 decibels in order to bring people that exhilarating experience, which is the core purpose of our design.
“We are not just about being loud, but also perfectly balanced.”
From the beginning, we worked to make these speakers not just loud enough but also as balanced as possible for better sound quality. Most if not all smartphone manufacturers tend to use existing materials to build their speakers, but we knew the only way to bring our users an audio experience like never before was through customization.
Evolving from the One M7 to the One M8, we strove for even better results by upgrading hardware specifications and working to deliver strong bass, clear vocals, and fine detail. To achieve these things while still maintaining balanced sound, we put great effort into the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) amplifier, which helps amplify both high and low notes at optimal times.
The technology behind the DSP amplifier is in the installation of a sensor within the speaker that gives it real-time access to the state of the speaker’s vibration. With the addition of the DSP amplifier the speaker can play sounds while calculating which ones to amplify without sacrificing overall sound quality.
The trick here is that this process must be a seamless communication—if there is even a slight delay, our ears will pick it up. But when the DSP amplifier comes into play, sound quality and balance go through the roof.
Having this technology really helped us achieve our vision for BoomSound: the perfect symphony of software and hardware working together to create a sensational user experience.
Why can we hear music from behind our ears while using the HTC One M9?
Let’s start with how stereo speakers work. When listening to music through stereo speakers, your left ear should be hearing the sounds coming from the left speaker and your right ear should be hearing sounds from the right. Earphones perfectly separate the left and right audio channels without any interference.
With smartphone speakers, however, because they live in such a tight space, your right ear would not only pick up sounds from the right but also from the left, and vice versa for your left ear. Because of this, the sound you hear would be far from ideal due to what’s called the crosstalk effect. That’s why we installed a function called crosstalk cancellation.
Crosstalk cancellation allows each audio channel to do two things: play audio through it and also play a reverse sound wave that essentially cancels the other channel’s audio. This effect makes the audio from the left channel “really left” and audio from the right channel “really right”. Add a little bit of surround-sound technology and what you get is really high-quality sound.
You can get the most out of this technology by putting the One M9 in Theater Mode. (Music Mode aims to achieve a balanced sound instead of surround-sound.) In Theater Mode, you really hear sounds as if they’re coming from beside and behind your ears, or even from behind your head.
Every generation of HTC BoomSound speakers faces challenges during the design and creation process. With the evolution of smartphones, be it a need for smaller size or better camera hardware, device manufacturers might sacrifice audio experience to boost other functions. But here at HTC, we strive for breakthroughs and look for ways to revolutionize technology, especially when an idea seems impossible.
The post An In-Depth Look Into HTC BoomSound Speakers, Part 2 appeared first on HTC Blog.
by Teresa Basich via HTC Blog
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