Headphones vs. Speakers
A man was shot and killed for having his music too loud. This would not have been a problem had the teenager been listening to his audio with headphones rather than some ill-fated speakers. Speakers and headphones’ main use is to transmit sound produced by a certain source. They both have the same fundamental purpose but man’s erroneous actions lead us to believe one is better, or often more preferred, than the other. Headphones are better than speakers because they are cheaper, portable, undisruptive, and personal.
For the same overall performance, headphones are much cheaper than speakers. One thing you can rarely battle against is a good product at a low price. When thinking in economic terms of the price-performance ratio (the performance value is divided by the price value), headphones come out with a higher ratio. A good surround sound system will disperse the sound through a room to try and deliver it to the listener’s ears. The listener will be receiving the sound from multiple angles producing an effect that makes up for a good experience. Take for example; watching a war movie in surround sound will make one feel like he really is part of the action in the film. All the sound is traveling in form of waves and is being picked up by your pinna which is the outer part of the ear whose function is to collect sound and also to reveal the location the sound is coming from. All the speakers stay in the same place which can cause minor disruptions when moving your head. Headphones on the other hand will always stay on your head. One would think that headphones can’t possibly produce the same sound as the speaker set but after all you only have two ears. One thing that headphones have is 3D audio effects. These effects manipulate the pinna and give the human ear the impression that sound is not coming from two sources but is being received from all 360 degrees around a man. When listening to the audio, the sound can be heard coming from the front as well as from
For the same overall performance, headphones are much cheaper than speakers. One thing you can rarely battle against is a good product at a low price. When thinking in economic terms of the price-performance ratio (the performance value is divided by the price value), headphones come out with a higher ratio. A good surround sound system will disperse the sound through a room to try and deliver it to the listener’s ears. The listener will be receiving the sound from multiple angles producing an effect that makes up for a good experience. Take for example; watching a war movie in surround sound will make one feel like he really is part of the action in the film. All the sound is traveling in form of waves and is being picked up by your pinna which is the outer part of the ear whose function is to collect sound and also to reveal the location the sound is coming from. All the speakers stay in the same place which can cause minor disruptions when moving your head. Headphones on the other hand will always stay on your head. One would think that headphones can’t possibly produce the same sound as the speaker set but after all you only have two ears. One thing that headphones have is 3D audio effects. These effects manipulate the pinna and give the human ear the impression that sound is not coming from two sources but is being received from all 360 degrees around a man. When listening to the audio, the sound can be heard coming from the front as well as from
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