The development prospect and current situation of over-head headphone

The first earphones were born in 1881, mainly for communication use. After more than three decades of development, Nathaniel Baldwin, the first true headphone for music, was born in 1910. In the following decades, the appearance and functional configuration of earphones gradually improved. The first dynamic earphone was born in 1937, and the stereo earphone was born in 1958. The sound quality and sound effect of earphones began to be generally improved.

The first commercial noise-cancelling headphones launched by BOSE in 2000 expanded the capabilities of headphone products again. After 2008, the development of Bluetooth technology and the popularization of the Bluetooth A2DP protocol began to pave the way for the development of Bluetooth headsets bound by wireless materials. Until the release of Apple AirPods in 2016, it quickly detonated the market and led the headset to enter the wireless era.

1. According to the working principle

There are mainly two types of dynamic and electrostatic earphones. Although there are several other types of magnetic earphones besides these two types, they have either been eliminated or used for professional use and have very little market share. , will not be discussed here.

Moving coil headphones: At present, the vast majority (about 99%) of earphones and earplugs belong to this category. The principle is similar to that of ordinary speakers. The coil in the permanent magnet field is connected to the diaphragm, and the coil is driven by the signal current to drive the diaphragm to produce sound.

Electrostatic earphone: The diaphragm is in a changing electric field. The diaphragm is extremely thin and accurate to a few microns (currently, the new generation of STAX's electrostatic earphone diaphragm is accurate to 1.35 microns). The coil is driven by the electric field force to drive the diaphragm to produce sound.

2. Over-head Headphone appearance

Headphones have undergone a century of development, and their basic structure has not changed much, but they are constantly improving in terms of wearing comfort and functionality of appearance and structure. Headphones add a head pad and earmuff structure from the basic structure, and use more skin-friendly materials and soft materials to fill, effectively reducing the feeling of ear clipping and head pressure when worn for a long time.

earmuff structure

In terms of earmuff design, mainstream products have adopted the over-ear wearing method. Compared with earmuffs, this earmuff design can more effectively close the ear canal and reduce external noise interference and sound leakage. However, there are also situations in which headphones are generally large and sultry to wear in summer.

Compared with over-ear headphones, over-ear earmuffs have problems such as insufficient comfort and sound leakage, and for the current popular active noise reduction function, the wearing method of over-ear earmuffs cannot provide better noise reduction effect. . However, over-ear headphones are generally small in size, stylish, lightweight and easy to carry, and are relatively more comfortable to wear in summer than over-ear headphones.

Head beam link structure

In addition to earmuffs, the functionality of the head beam structure has also been gradually improved. From the many headphones disassembled by I Love Audio Network, it can be found that flagship products launched by audio manufacturers such as Sony, Meizu, and BEATS are all The appearance structure has been perfected.

But there are also many manufacturers who are ingenious in the structure of the head beam hinge. The Bose NC700 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones adopts an interspersed and hidden link structure, which perfectly combines the left and right rotation structure of the headphone shell with the adjustment of the length of the headband and the sliding structure.

The Apple AirPods Max headset has a new design on the head beam frame, using a stainless steel frame with a tight fabric dome mesh. The fabric dome helps disperse weight, reduces the pressure on the head, and is highly breathable; the stainless steel frame combines strength, elasticity, and is wrapped with a soft material to enhance the touch.