HEADPHONE HEAD TO HEAD
Sound is just as important as vision. It is everywhere around you, and can take your mind away to wherever you want. Sometimes you can’t always put your finger on why you like a sound, you just like it. That’s why judging audio quality is a tough review process to trust. Everyone’s ears are different, and we pick up every sound in our own way. Every click, cry, sigh, laugh, shout, car, plane, melody – you name it, we are all going to hear it a little differently to the next person. Over the last half a century, audio listening has become a staple of day-to-day life. Whether that is starting your day by waking up to your favorite 1980s thrash metal song, walking the dog to some Cher (we know you people are out there), or you’re more on the commercial side, with conference calls from nine to five – audio listening has pushed its way into everyone’s homes.
The journey of personal audio listening
The music world as it stands is a strange one. As a whole we no longer own music. Streaming is the done thing, and it has fundamentally changed the way we consume music. Meanwhile, everything is going wireless – less is more, cables seem old-fashioned, and the chances of you seeing someone walking around looking like a special agent with buds in their ears is increasing. However, can streaming bring the music industry back up to track where it was in its heyday? Potentially, but first, we must look at how we got here.
Revolutionary sound
1877, remember it? Well, it was the start of it all, with the invention of the cylinder phonograph, the first real commercial sound reproducer. It enabled people to listen to music from the comfort of their own homes. In essence, it was extremely revolutionary and has changed the way we listen to music ever since. It worked mechanically using a needle that traced the groove on the cylinder, vibrating the needle back and forth. These vibrations hit the diaphragm, creating sound waves that you can hear out of a large horn, creating the music.
A decade later saw the introduction of Emile Berliner’s gramophone. It worked in a similar manner, but instead of a cylinder, it utilised discs, technically making it the first “record player.” Berliner’s gramophone took what made the phonograph revolutionary and improved it, and was itself developed over the following decades. Recording traced a line along a rotating zinc disc that was coated in wax and oil. Then, the disc had to be electroplated, creating a negative disc with grooves that projected outward. This could then be used as a master to imprint other discs, making it possible to quickly mass-produce records. After experimenting with different materials, Berliner settled on using rubber and later a shellac compound for his discs. These were far easier to mass-produce, store, and were more durable than cylinders, and became the dominant format going forward.
Let’s fast-forward to 1948 and the introduction of the LP (long-player). Peter Carl Goldmark made a record out of plastic vinyl that could be recorded on both sides, allowing for multiple songs on one record. Although traditional records stayed in the market for decades, the LP took sound recording to the next level. The LP helped to develop the music industry into what we know today.
In the 1960s and 1970s, turntables became a
