When choosing a mobile device or home theater system on which to play music, videos, and games, do you give any thought to the audio quality of the hardware you’re buying? In all likelihood, probably not. However, the quality of your hardware’s sound technology can have an enormous impact on how you experience your digital media. By ignoring the audio aspect of your new technology, you risk wasting hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment that provides only a mediocre listening experience.
Mobile Audio
Your mobile devices – smartphones, tablets, and more – are meant to do more than just send text messages and phone calls. You now have the capability to download or stream music and videos from virtually any location. In response to this paradigm shift in the way “phones” are now used, mobile manufacturers have responded by increasing the emphasis on sound and audio.
- New products bearing the DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoders are capable of delivering immersive surround sound experiences directly via your mobile device.
- Even devices that lack these technologies can me modified with DTS Sound for mobile and tablet – automatically tuning the device for peak audio performance.
- Mobile’s shift towards personal entertainment is exemplified in devices such as the HTC One smartphone. Rather than locating the speakers at the back of the device, the designers placed them at the front in order to improve the audio experience of the user. The result? A device with boom-box sound quality that fits in the palm of your hand.
Home Theater Audio
Think of the last time you went to a good movie theater . Not the second-showing theater that costs 2 bucks to get into, but the kind that features bucket seats, 3D capabilities, and surround sound technology so impressive you actually believed you were being chased by dinosaurs or ensconced in an epic starship battle.
The audio experience of the movie theater is half the reason why we go see movies on the big screen instead of waiting for them to hit the Redbox. We know that the movie just won’t be as impressive when we watch it within the confines of our homes – or will it?
- Although surround sound has been around for ages, it’s advanced far beyond the initial stereo dynamic. Rather than sounds bouncing from speakers left to right and back again, new home theater technology has attenuated and redefined how surround sound functions to create a more seamless, realistic audio experience.
- Older home theater systems can distract you from your viewing experience with jarring audio. New high definition audio technology from SRS Labs creates an immersive effect that makes you feel like you’re part of the action.
The latest advances in mobile and home theater surround sound technologies are concrete evidence for the importance of the audio experience. Audio cues can be lost in the compression process for MP3 and other sound files, bass beats can be lost through poor low frequency performance, and volume output can be compromised by the limitations of the playback device. In order to ensure the optimal audio experience, look into new sound technologies that recapture the nuances of HD sound and give you the best experience possible.
Image source: freedigitalphotos.net
