The Sound of Ants: The Products in the Market

Last time, we have already given you a brief introduction of the headphone market. Today, we are going to show you more about the headphones themselves.

Every person has his own demands about headphones: some like those with outstanding design while others may prefer great performance. There is no denying that people of this modern age are becoming more and more particular about the audio.

This year, the TIME website has listed the 18 headphone brands from worst to best and has given each of them a score. The three brands which we talked about last time are all in this list: Beats by Dr. Dre, Bose and Shure.

Before the introduction to the specific products, allow me to show you some characteristics about headphones: different types, the technology they use, the design and the quality.

Every day, people wearing headphones can be seen everywhere. They can be students who take a bus or may be some joggers who run on the road. While the headphones brands have various names for the types, there are generally these types of headphones on the market: earphones, in-ear headphones, wireless/Bluetooth headphones and over-ear headphones. Functionally divided, they can be noise cancelling headphones, mobile headsets and sports headphones. Even, they can be segmented to different styles: DJ/studio style headphones, fashion headphones, etc.

These three ways of segments of headphones can be combined. Like the type of sport headphones, they are always compatible with the smartphones and can be either in-ear or headphones. By the way, more and more brands are producing headphones going with smartphones because of the booming of the smartphone market.

Facing so many headphones in a store, do people understand the features written on the small cards? Why are some headphones so expensive? Here comes the core of the headphone market: the technology of headphones. Normally, there are two types of headphones on the market: moving-coil headphones and moving-iron headphones. Moving-coil driver is one unit while moving-iron driver can be more than one unit, even to four. These two types can easily be distinguished by the prices. Because the moving-iron driver is newly used in making the headphones and it can bring respectful sounds of quality, the moving-iron headphones are much more expensive than the moving-coil ones. Since this is all about marketing, the third type was created: hybrid headphones. This type is made with both moving-coil driver and moving-iron driver and is targeted within the medium price range.

Different people have different personalities. It is the same with the headphones. They have various appearances and are designed to be more than headphones. They can come in all colourways and be decorated with rhinestones. Some brands also launched a collection of headphones which are really good looking and like toys. Females may tend to be pay more attention to the design when choosing headphones.

Anyhow, the most important thing of a headphone is its quality of audio. This is critical and cruel for all the brands. The brand which gives the most outstanding performance of its quality of audio gets the best reputation. However, as the consumers differ from music lovers to professional audio engineers, it is not necessary for everyone to buy the best headphone. As long as the product can satisfy the user, it is good.

After the brief introduction of the headphones, here comes some selected products of the three brands.

Beats Pro Over-Ear Headphone

This headphone is the flagship product of Beats and it claims to be designed for sound engineers, musicians, and those who take sound seriously. It is a moving-coil driven over-ear headphone, compatible with iPhone and iPod, has the good design of Beats and decent quality of audio. But it does not use the noise-cancelling technology.

Bose QuietComfort® 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® headphones

Bose, who is the leader of noise-cancelling technology in the headphone market, launched this product recently. It is also an over-ear headphone which is compatible with Apple products, but with the ultimate noise-cancelling technology. Surprisingly, this time Bose gives consumers more options by its custom services with different colours.

Shure SE535LTD Limited Edition Sound Isolating™ Earphones with Remote + Mic

This SE535LTD is the best headphone of Shure, whom the TIME gave a comment of “Super Sonic” and a score of 90. As for this headphone, it got a score of 99. It is an in-ear headphone with a triple high-definition micro moving-iron drivers and a very shining colour of red. According to the score and Shure’s reputation, this product has an exceptional quality of audio.