Blog

Mar212020 by James LongmanNo Comments

The History of Headphones

What is, besides a wallet, phone, and keys, a "must-have" object in your bag or pocket? The answer is, in fact, quite simple – headphones. Even though the original headphone use wasn't related to listening to music at all, they’ve been present in our lives for almost 140 years and they have significantly evolved since the day they first appeared. Regardless of their purpose and way of use, headphones have been an extremely important part of our lives and our love for them has been growing for decades. It seems that no human can go outside without a pair of headphones. No matter if they are full-size headphones or earbuds, they are a mandatory accessory of every modern person. When they were first produced, there was only one model of headphones, while today, there is something for every

Jan252020 by James LongmanNo Comments

5.1 Surround Sound vs. 7.1 Surround Sound

Blog, Comparisons

Surround sound systems have become popular only recently and this is what makes people think of them as of some new technology. Well, this is far from the truth as surround sound systems came into existence with the introduction of surround sound audio formats back in the 1930s. As you could probably guess, surround sound systems first appeared in the film industry and Disney was responsible for this innovation. At the time, the technology was too expensive for application because it required numerous speakers to create the effect of surround sound in a movie theater, so the creators gave up on it. This question was raised again in the 1950s (again, in the film industry) but its real expansion didn't start until 1975 when a new sound format Dolby Stereo appeared (you can find a more thorou...

Jan252020 by James LongmanNo Comments

What Does IPX7 Waterproof Rating Mean?

Blog

Have you ever heard about the IPX7 rating? Have you ever found it on the back of your headphone or speaker box but you didn't know what it stands for? Well, if this is the case, we advise you to read this article and find out why it’s so important. Even if you have some basic knowledge about IP ratings, stay with us and you might be able to find some interesting information you haven’t heard before. Many products today have some kind of IP protection and the level of that protection depends on the item’s purpose. However, this article focuses only on the IP protection of electronic devices in order to explain to the users why it’s so important and how to handle IPX7 devices properly. So, let’s get started. What Does IP Stand For and Do We Really Need It? If you’ve been reading your de

Jan252020 by James LongmanNo Comments

How to Measure Sound Quality of Headphones

Blog, How to

Ever since the first pair of headphones has been made, the discussions regarding their quality among their users have been arising. The huge growth of the audio industry and consumer market brought endless lists of different headphone models into our lives and caused discussions to grow into disputes between regular users, professionals, and audiophiles. Their disagreements do not refer only to the headphone overall quality (physical appearance, build quality, comfort level) or to the superiority of a specific model over other models but also to the possibility to objectively measure sound quality. No matter if you are just an ordinary user, a professional musician or simply an audiophile, you will definitely understand what we are talking about. The whole point of the previously men...

Feb172020 by James Longman6 Comments

Bluetooth Multipoint Pairing Explained

Blog

Bluetooth technology has been present for so many years and it has become an integral part of our lives. We are constantly using it without even thinking about the way it works or how much it makes our lives easier. The youngest generations were born after the introduction of Bluetooth and this is the reason why they think of it as of something completely natural. Bluetooth is a very interesting technology and it hasn’t stopped developing during all these years and decades, so let’s say a few words about its working principle. Bluetooth technology can be described as one of the technologies enabling wireless communication within a relatively short range, as the connection remains stable within the 30-40 feet range on average. Bluetooth technology development enabled us to establish wire

Feb252020 by James Longman2 Comments

What is True Wireless Stereo Technology (TWS)?

Blog

When you look at the audio department of any store, you can’t help yourself but think that there is nothing else to invent, that we have seen it all. However, the real fans of audio equipment are looking forward to the full development of the newest wireless technology that takes the entire listening experience to the next level. We say “the entire listening experience” because it’s not only about the performance and sound quality of your headphones and wireless speakers but also about the entire experience including the comfort at all levels. The technology is called “true wireless technology” (or TWS) and, in this article, we are going to try to introduce it to you and show you the world of untangled and uncluttered satisfaction filled with nothing but pure music. This technology hasn

Apr32019 by James LongmanNo Comments

Sound Signatures – The Beginner’s Guide

Blog

What are Sound Signatures? Whenever buying an audio device, we are not only hoping that it will last long but also that it will sound just the way we like it. No matter if we are buying headphones or speakers, if they are expensive or cheap, our hopes remain the same. We are constantly buying new devices different from the previous ones trying to find the one that will suit our needs and taste perfectly. Unfortunately, there’s one “small” problem – we don’t always know what we are searching for and this makes our search even more difficult. The perfect sound that we are trying to find is actually a specific sound signature and every pair of headphones and every speaker have their own. Whether we are going to like it or not depends on our subjective feeling. The headphones and speakers

Mar112019 by James Longman2 Comments

What Are Powered Speakers?

Blog

If you’re planning to enrich your home with a new audio system, you must’ve come across the term powered speakers. As this term always comes along with the term unpowered (or passive) speakers and as the understanding of powered speaker working principles significantly depends on the understanding of the working principles of the unpowered/passive speakers, we will try to explain both types, and then focus our attention to the powered ones. Basically, it all starts with the necessity to connect the speakers to the audio source (player, streamer, computer, etc.) and make them work. Speakers produce the sound which is the consequence of driver movements (sound vibrations), you must power the speaker in order to make the driver move and deliver the sound you want to listen to. The speakers

Mar12019 by James LongmanNo Comments

What Does a Speaker Switch Do?

Blog

What does a speaker switch do? It may sound strange to people that are not really into audio equipment and we must say, this is not one of the most common and most popular topics on the Internet. We bet some of you thought that we are going to talk about the on/off switch but we are going to disappoint you. No, we are not going to talk about the power switch. It’s a different kind of switch, similar to this one but with many other functions apart from turning the speakers on and off. Its real name is actually not a speaker switch but a speaker selector or, as some call it, speaker selector switch. We are pretty much sure that this still sounds strange to all of you who aren’t familiar with audio equipment. So, let’s see what is this device does and why do we need it. What Is Speaker S

Feb242019 by James LongmanNo Comments

How to Make Regular Speakers Wireless

Blog, How to

Today, everybody’s talking about wireless speakers – that’s the next big thing in the audio industry. You have probably heard your neighbor or your coworker bragging about his new wireless speaker system. You may have been a little bit jealous, even. Don’t be ashamed, we’ve had those moments, too. I mean, what’s not to like. The very idea of not having to stretch and hide all those wires sounds very tempting. We all want one of those wireless speaker systems. However, there are at least two things that could stop you from buying a new wireless speaker system. First, there’s the price. Wireless speaker systems, especially great-sounding and reliable systems, usually cost more than $1,000. For example, SONOS 5.1 system is priced around $1.700. It’s a significant amount of money and not