The history of the creation and success of Monster Beats headphones. History of headphone development

One of the breakthroughs in the achievements of the 20th century can be called the invention of headphones. Who today can imagine a radio station or nightclub without a Dj, who can imagine young people without constantly listening to music?

The history of headphones - how today's popular headphones appeared

But just recently everything was different. Headphones were a purely professional instrument used in narrow circles.

Today it seems that such a simple and convenient device for listening to music, if it has not always existed, was invented a very long time ago. However, the first headphones, the prototype of modern monitor headphones, appeared only in 1958. The developer of the first prototype was John C. Koss, and Martin Lange is considered a co-author.

The development was carried out for military aviation, and accordingly the first headphones were designed for pilots, who quickly appreciated all their advantages.

Soon they tried to introduce headphones together with the world's first HI-FI phonograph. But this demonstration failed miserably; the sound quality left much to be desired. The first headphones for the civilian population were stereo headphones developed by the same Koss called SP-3. These headphones formed the basis of a new music industry for personal listening.. Koss was not alone in his desire to benefit from the invention... using his development as a basis, the Japanese began a parallel campaign. Having improved the final product, Japanese headphones also entered the world market.

Kossa headphones

Koss's headphones were huge and uncomfortable; the Japanese were able to improve this shortcoming. Since then, the race for minimization without loss of sound quality began. But the most acceptable option appeared only in 1980. This year saw the light of the first miniature player - the player. And the developers of this miracle tried very hard to include “street” type headphones.

“Dashing“The nineties were a real boom for the headphone market. More and more compact playing devices began to appear, more and more people began to listen to music not at home, but on the way to work, while traveling, etc. Another breakthrough is the emergence wireless technologies, which were also taken into the arsenal by headphone developers. The first Bluetooth headphones appeared, which allowed a person to move freely and not be dependent on the point of music playback. However, not everyone liked such technologies; Great Britain, for example, in 1997 legally prohibited the sale of such technologies on its territory. But despite this, headphones still remain a popular product, having long since crossed the line of professional use and becoming an excellent addition to our gray everyday life, decorating it with music.

Headphones were invented by Nathaniel Baldwin in 1910 while sitting in his kitchen. From then on, each person had the opportunity to listen to music individually, without disturbing others. At home, on the street, in the subway - anywhere. Plus it should be noted important role headphones during the sound recording process (and the production of films, television and radio programs).

Below is a short journey that headphones have taken from Nathaniel's invention to things like Apple's EarPods and Dre's Beat.

1910 - Nathaniel Baldwin creates headphones

According to legend, US Navy Lieutenant A. J. Hepburn received a prototype from Nathaniel - it was telephone parts fastened together as you saw in the photo above. Hepburn immediately tested the device, and Hepburn realized it was good.

The Navy immediately began ordering these headphones, but Baldwin could only accept small orders of 10 pieces. He still continued to make them in his kitchen.

Nathaniel was interesting person- a fundamentalist Mormon who received a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford, returned to his native academy (named after Brigham Young) as a teacher and was fired from there for actively supporting polygamy (while he himself had only one wife).

But the article is not about him, but about headphones, let’s move on.

1958 - John C. Koss and SP3 Stereophones

It is noteworthy that before this all headphones were used only for radio communication.

John Koss was born and raised in Wisconsin. In 1952, he got married and used the wedding money to open a business (although his wife was sure that they would buy a sofa, alas).

At first, his company produced portable phonographs. Once, to present one of the phonograph models, John used aviation headphones. The idea paid off completely, and Koss quickly estimated the potential opportunities and profits of this industry. Bottom line - SP3 Stereophones and new era personal audio.

Koss still makes headphones. Since 1958 ;)

1979 - Sony and Walkman

Before the invention of portable music players, there was no particular need for small headphones; the device from Baldwin mentioned at the beginning of the article generally weighed half a kilo.

Sony's Walkman makes it possible to listen to music beyond just your home stereo. Headphones have also become more compact. The Walkman set consisted of MDR-3L2 headphones and a portable cassette audio player.

1989 - Amar Bose and the first noise-canceling headphones

In 1978, Amar was flying home from Zurich, trying to listen to music using headphones along the way. Of course, due to the noise in the cabin of the plane, little came of it. Returning to Boston, he directed the production facilities of his company Bose Corporation (founded back in 1964) to explore the possibility active noise cancellation.

The result was the creation of The Noise Reduction Technology Group (NRTG). In 1989, it introduced the first noise-cancelling headphones intended for the aviation industry.

2001 - iPod with EarPods, Apple

The iPod, and later the iPhone and iPad, came with these distinctive white headphones. In 10 days, more than 300 million iPods were sold. Now try to figure out how many iPads, iPods and iPhones there are in the world to get an idea of ​​the total number of copies of these headphones.

By the way, shortly before the presentation of the iPhone 5, Apple announced that they had shipped more than 600 million of these headphones. In fact, this is one set for every 12 inhabitants of the Earth.

2008 - DrDre and Beat

The hip-hop artist is teaming up with Interscope chairman Jimmy Lovin to launch the Beat model. Celebrities are used to promote the brand - LeBron James, Will.i.am, Lady Gaga and all sorts of Justin Biebers.

Today, the share of these headphones in the US market in the price segment from $100 is 63%.

2011 - Sennheiser and Orpheus headphones for $40,000

At an audio equipment show in Seoul, the Germans from Sennheiser presented the most expensive headphones in the world. Only 300 sets were produced.

2012 - Apple and the new EarPod

iPhone 5 brought with it the appearance of new headphones - now they look like a periscope. They say that they They direct the sound directly into the ear and stay in place well.

In general, over the past century, headphones have gone from a device for military online to one of the most popular means of information consumption. But now more and more are being sold and more smartphones and tablets, which means there will be even more headphones.

Today they can be found everywhere: in a subway car, from a random passer-by, in a professional studio, on radio and television. They filled our lives and colored it with music of a wide variety of styles and trends, and managed to make the sound individual and unique. All this is due to the usual devices that always find a place on the head of a person not directly related to music. Headphones. Thousands of models, hundreds of brands, dozens of types. This article is dedicated to headphone history. From heavy and clumsy models with terrible sound, to cutting-edge wireless headphones.

Story

Getting to know any device should begin with its history. This is the only way to understand what the development of technology has led to and how it affected the quality of the final product for which you are willing to give your hard-earned money.

At the end of the 19th century, sound recording began to take its first steps. Nobody thought then about the possibility of taking a dozen or two songs with you, pressing the Play button and turning up the volume on the portable player to go about business. The world thought differently, but also eagerly and enthusiastically absorbed new musical trends and took timid steps towards developing the technical component of music.

Hard work telephone operators in the middle of the 19th century, it provided for constant interaction with two devices: transmitter And sound receiver. IN 1881 telephone company assistant Bella Ezra Gilliland proposes to attach parts of the phone to a metal rod, fixing a 3-kilogram structure consisting of a microphone and speaker on the head. This solution, despite its awkwardness and difficulty in use, put the beginning of the evolution of headphones, and Gilliland's invention became the first telephone headset.

1891, French engineer Ernest Mercadier patents the set in-ear headphones– the great-grandfathers of modern earbuds. It is Mercadier who can be called a left-handed miniaturist in the world of sound. The design of the headphones described in the patent application № 454,138 , became revolutionary for that time - miniature button headphones with a rubber cap that protects the auricle from irritation and, at the same time, is used as noise reduction.

Alas, this design will be forgotten for many years, and for the next 50 years the industry will be ruled by bulky headphones.

Another attempt at prototyping in-ear headphones belongs to a famous inventor Thomas Edison. IN 1895 he patents a device called " kinetophone" The patented device was able to reproduce sound and cinema simultaneously. Its operating principle was based on the transmission of sound from a phonograph through hollow tubes straight into the ear canal. It was based on medical stethoscope and no electronics.

Understanding consumer needs, 1896 British company Electrophone System offered residents an attractive service. For 5 pounds per year the subscriber received the opportunity to remotely listen to live broadcasts from more than 30 churches and theaters scattered throughout the country.

The equipment needed for this looked like a small wooden table and two pairs of headphones with a bulky handle.

For an extra pound, a listener could get another set of ears. You can compare Electrophone System with modern music streaming services, like Spotify or Deezer, but subscribers did not have the opportunity to independently select compositions. Telephone operators took on this task.

By 1908, the number of company subscribers reached 600 people. But let's return to our main character - headphones.

In the entire history of technology development, the first industry to receive the latest inventions and “technical breakthroughs” has always been the military industry. IN 1910 Nathaniel Baldwin offers the US Air Force several drawings describing the design of the headphones. The first headphone model to provide placement of an arch over the head, and not in the neck area. In a few years, it was Baldwin's proposed model that would be the main means of communication for all naval operators.

The heavy design of the headphones has undergone several more changes, the headband has been covered with leather and is adjustable in size. Baldwin's improvements in headphone design earned him the title of father of all modern headphones.

IN 1921 A serial model of the radio is entering the US market Western Electric. Included with the device, the buyer received high-resistance headphones CW-834.

Thirties of the XX century. Headphones are widely used for communication; they fill the homes of residents of large cities. People prefer to listen to popular entertainment programs on the radio using headphones. At the same time, their design and technical specifications were far from perfect. Listening to music on headphones was more like self-torture - they coped well with speech, but with music things were completely deplorable. An 18-year-old decided to radically change the situation Eugen Bayer, a native of Sweden who has taken on the role of an audio revolutionary.

IN 1926 Bayer founds a company with a cumbersome name Elektotechnische Fabrik Eugen Beyer. Microphones remained the company's priority product for a long time, but 1937 Bayer still decides to release headphones.

The company's first dynamic headphone model Beyerdynamic DT-48. Today, headphones of this type are the most affordable and widespread. Legendary headphone model Beyerdynamic DT-49 will be released 16 years later - in 1953. They were designed for the mass buyer primarily due to their low cost.

But the company that was truly able to shake up the world and release headphones “for everyone” was originally a TV rental company. IN 1958 John Koss presents a portable vinyl player at the Consumer Electronics Show. In essence, the device was a traditional turntable installed in a suitcase. The player also came with headphones, for the manufacture of which John Koss and Martin Lange used a model of standard aviation headphones. Armed with parts from an old TV, the inventors managed transform sound quality.

The player itself was not particularly interesting to anyone, but the sound of the headphones managed to amaze all the visitors present at the exhibition. Realizing that headphones have a great future, John Koss releases the first production model Koss SP-3.

It was the Koss SP-3 model that became the prototype of modern in-ear headphones. The sound in SP-3 was directed not into the auricle, but into the ear canal. The success of Koss's first production headphone model made it a virtual monopolist on the market. By 1967, the company's turnover exceeded $1 million. Later, in 1983, another legendary model will hit the market Koss Porta Pro.

Over 13 years, sales of the SP-3 dropped significantly, and competitors such as Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser did not think of giving up their share of the market pie. It was the Koss Porta Pro headphone model that managed to once again bring the company out of a protracted financial depression. Affordable price, design that stands out from the crowd and most importantly - good quality sounds made another revolution in the world portable audio, and Koss fans, 35 years later, prefer the old-school Porta Pro.

The category of electrostatic headphones was first introduced by a Japanese company Stax in 1959. Stax headphones cannot be purchased in a regular hardware store; they are never included with portable players. These headphones were originally created for a narrow audience of professionals.

Using an ultra-thin membrane placed between two electrodes and high voltage cause sound vibrations at a minimum level harmonic distortion and enviable sensitivity. Due to the high price, the mass market is not ready for such a model today, although the sound of electrostatic headphones is close to the standard.

Koss would later respond to Stax by releasing a model of electrostatic headphones. Koss ESP-6.

The weight of 900 grams and a considerable price did not allow the model to take root in the market and it was soon discontinued.

In 1964 Beyerdynamic releases in-ear headphones DT 507, which weighs only 11 grams. It came complete with a proprietary radio. A year later, the “smallest radio receiver”, a dual-band “ Micro", the size of which did not exceed a matchbox.

"Micro" was equipped with a miniature mono earphone TM-2M with several rubber tips and a flexible ear hook.

Until 1968, the entire range of headphones was represented exclusively by models closed type. Only one person could hear the music, and all the sound remained in the “shell” of the earphone. Closed with reverse side The ear driver not only completely isolated the music, but also made the headphones heavy and bulky. The German company Sennheiser, whose fate intersects with Beyerdynamic, decided to significantly lighten the design and open the driver: until 1960, Sennheiser was exclusively engaged in the production of microphones.

The first headphones with an open design were the model Sennheiser HD 414.

Sennheizer HD 414 blew up the market. The number of headphones sold exceeded 10 million, and the manufacturer’s fame spread throughout the world at lightning speed. Having received a patent for open-back headphones in the distant 60s, Sennheiser continues to receive lifetime royalties from each brand that produces this type of headphones.

Sony also managed to support the hysteria around the mass use of headphones. IN 1979 The first portable player hits the market Walkman. Headphones become his main partner Sony MDL-3L2: lightweight, comfortable and inexpensive.

The further history of headphones has a number of branches, with the emergence of new categories of devices based on old principles. The use of noise reduction systems in aviation could not but affect the field of headphones for ordinary consumers. Since 1986, Bose has become one of the largest suppliers of active noise-canceling headphones for pilots. The company's patented QuietComfort system, used in headphones, reached the mass market only in 2000.

The appearance of the first wireless headphones can be dated back to the early nineties, when the Koss company announced a model that allows you to connect to an amplifier or sound source using an infrared beam using the included set-top box.

The idea of ​​wireless headphones was immediately picked up by the company Recoton, presenting a model of headphones operating at a frequency of 900 MHz and having a range of up to 45 meters.

IN 1997 In 2009, Recoton received a waiver from the UK government to produce wireless headphones operating at a frequency of 900 MHz due to the fact that this wavelength is already in use. In search of comfort and alternative technology for eliminating wires in 1998, new opportunities for broadcasting “sound without wires” opened up for manufacturers - Bluetooth.

Six years of technology development and in 2004 the first to enter the market wireless headphones Bluetake i-PHONO BT420EX with its own transmitter (in 2004, the market was not filled with a sufficient number of mobile Bluetooth devices. A year later, the first headphones using for sound transmission will begin to appear on the market wireless network Wi-Fi.

Today, manufacturers will continue to make history, creating new extraordinary solutions to the understanding of exactly how headphones should look. This race of brands often leads to the fact that the end buyer pays attention primarily not to the sound quality of a particular model, but to their design. But the entire long evolution of the development of portable music and headphones began with the desire of engineers to improve sound and make it possible to listen not only to speech, but also to music. This desire has led to the emergence of a complex hierarchy of types and categories of headphones, which we will get acquainted with.

P.S.: Thanks to our friends from Bowers & Wilkins for information, history and interesting facts about headphones.

Gaming headphones with backlight, microphone and vibration function

Stereo headphones (headphones) - two telephones with a headband, designed for connection to household radio-electronic devices. Headphones are a pair of small earphones or earphones that are worn on the head or inserted directly into the ear canals. Headphones are often used in everyday life and professional activities for voice communication and listening to music and speech, when mobility or sound insulation from the surrounding space is necessary. Headphones with a microphone attached to them form headset. Sometimes in professional activities, instead of a pair, one separate earphone is used, it is called monitor.

In technical literature, instead of the word “headphones,” the term “headphones” is traditionally used. The term most likely arose as a result of a literal reading of the English word headphones(English head - head, phone- telephone) . Back in 1899, in one of the first radio receivers created by Alexander Popov, sound waves converted from radio signals, according to the description, were listened to through “headphones”. The name is “telephone” (from ancient Greek. τῆλε - “far” and φωνή - “voice”, “sound”) was first used by Philip Reis in 1861.

Story [ | ]

The first truly successful headphones were developed in 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin, who made them by hand in his kitchen and sold them to the US Navy.

Headphone classification[ | ]

On-ear headphones

By purpose [ | ]

By signal transmission method[ | ]

By number of channels[ | ]

• monophonic- the signal to the sound emitters (or one sound emitter) is transmitted through one channel, respectively, the sound coming out of both sound emitters is identical;
• stereophonic(the most common type) - the signal to each of the two sound emitters is transmitted via a separate channel;
• multichannel- have more than one sound emitter for each ear, with a separate channel for each emitter, which allows for better simulation surround sound or separate channels by frequency characteristics.

By design type (type)[ | ]

• Mixed rotary - this type combines the advantages of in-ear headphones and in-ear headphones without the disadvantages inherent in both types. Mixed swivel headphones are securely held in the ear while worn, and their position can be easily changed by a simple movement of the user from the in-ear “quality” position to the “comfort” position, when the speaker is located in the auricle and does not interfere with the monitoring of surrounding sounds, and vice versa. Such headphones allow, depending on the situation and the user’s desire, to use passive noise reduction in the “quality” mode (conversation or actively listening to music) or control what is happening around the user in the “comfort” mode (when not in use or while listening to voice/music in the background).
• invoices, parotid- placed on the ear;
• full size- placed on the head, completely covering the ear. These, in turn, are divided into headphones:
  • open type- headphones transmit external sounds through special wide holes. Many listeners report that open-back headphones sound more natural, have a wider soundstage, and are less fatiguing than closed-back headphones. However, compared to closed-back headphones, open headphones do not provide good sound insulation and, as a rule, reproduce low frequencies weaker;
  • closed type- the earcups do not have external holes. Due to this, the headphones do not allow external noise to pass through and provide maximum sound insulation, which allows them to be used in noisy environments, as well as in cases where you need to fully concentrate on listening or listening confidential information. At high quality sound, the main disadvantages of closed headphones are high hearing fatigue and discomfort for the head due to the lack of air circulation due to the tight fit of the ear pads (if the ear pads fit poorly, playback deteriorates low frequencies) and, as a rule, more pressure on the head than with open headphones;
  • semi-open type(or semi-closed type) - open headphones, but only with small external holes, designed to combine the advantages of closed and open headphones.

By type of fastening[ | ]

By cable connection method[ | ]

• bilateral- the connecting cable is connected to each of the earcups;
• unilateral- the connecting cable is connected to only one of the earcups, the second is connected by a wire tap from the first, often the wire is hidden in the earpiece.

According to the design of the emitter[ | ]

By resistance[ | ]

By type of connectors[ | ]

Specifications[ | ]

Main technical characteristics of headphones: frequency range, sensitivity, impedance, maximum power and distortion level as a percentage.

Dangers associated with headphones[ | ]

Prolonged use of headphones at high volume can cause

Today it is almost impossible to walk around the city or on campus without encountering at least a few dozen people wearing headphones. We are talking about both small miniature button headphones and huge headphones in which the listener looks like a Boeing 747 pilot. The popularity and prevalence of modern headphones could be attributed to Sony device The Walkman, which debuted in 1979 and almost immediately became a symbol of pop culture.

Being the first portable music player, Walkman has become distinctive characteristic yuppies, and it was even indicated on the covers of their notebooks. But, of course, headphones date back to much earlier years than the 1980s. Like many other commercial electronics, modern headphones (and stereo audio) were created in part by the military.

However, there is no specific person or company that “invented” headphones. However, there are several key players who have "brought" this device from military bases and telephone switchboards to home and outdoor environments.

In the 1890s, a British company called Electrophone created a system that allowed its consumers to connect to live music performances in theaters and opera houses throughout London. Users of this service could listen to music through a pair of massive headphones that connected under the chin and were held in place by a long rod. The shape and design of these early headphones made them the distant audio equivalent of theater binoculars. This was a revolutionary discovery, and the product even offered some semblance of stereophonic sound. However, the very first headphones had nothing to do with music, but were used by operators for radio and telephone communications at the end of the 19th century.

Before the advent of the Electrophone, French engineer Ernest Mercadier patented a set of headphones that fit into the ears in 1891. Mercadier received US Patent No. 454,138 for "improving receiver telephones...that were light enough to be worn on the operator's head." After extensive testing and optimization of the receiver phones, Mercadier was able to produce miniature receivers that weighed less than 1? ounces and were “adapted for insertion into the ear.” Its design is an incredibly clever work of miniaturization, and is uncannily similar to modern button headphones, right down to the use of a rubber cap "to reduce friction against the ear opening... (and) effectively seal the ear from external sounds."

In the years before World War I, the US Navy did not accept letters from small companies and individual inventors offering their unique products and skills. Of particular note in this regard is a letter written in purple ink on blue and pink paper, delivered in 1910 from Utah native Nathaniel Baldwin. His message arrived with a couple of prototypes telephone headsets, proposed for military testing. Although his proposal was not taken seriously at first, the headphones were eventually tested and evaluated as a radical improvement on the model used by naval operators. All more phones were requested for testing, and Baldwin provided the services at his own expense.

The Navy suggested a few minor adjustments to Baldwin, which he promptly implemented into a new design that was still heavy but comfortable enough for daily use. The Navy placed an order for Baldwin's headphones, and learned that Baldwin designed them in his kitchen and could only make 10 at a time. But because they were better than had ever been tested before, the Navy accepted limited opportunities produced by Baldwin.

After making several dozen headphones, the headband was further refined as the design was reduced to just two leather-covered, adjustable thin bars attached on each side to a receiver that supposedly contained a mile copper wire. The new typeface was an immediate success, and the Navy advised Baldwin to patent it. new model headphones.

Baldwin, however, refused on the grounds that he considered it a minor innovation. To increase production, the Navy wanted to move Baldwin from his Utah kitchen to a much larger facility on the East Coast. But Nathaniel Baldwin was a polygamist and could not leave Utah. Then another manufacturer, Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co., met the inventor halfway and built a plant in Utah to produce headphones. The agreement with Wireless Specialty came with one very important condition: the company had no right to raise the price of headphones sold to the US Navy.

The next revolution in the development of headphones occurred after the Second World War and was associated with the emergence of stereophony and the widespread industrial implementation of this technology. EMI pioneered stereophonic records in 1957, and the first commercial stereophonic headphones were created a year later by musician and entertainment executive John Koss, founder of the Koss Corporation.

John Koss heard about the "binaural tape" from a friend and marveled at the benefits of stereo sound through a pair of military-style headphones. He decided to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy stereo sound and as a result developed an entire “private music listening system” - the Koss Model 390 electric turntable. This system included a phonograph, loudspeaker and headphone jack in one small case. The only problem was that at that time there were no headphones on sale that were compatible with his new electric record player.

All headphones were then used either for communications or for the needs of military aviation. Koss discussed this problem with an audio engineer and they quickly made a makeshift pair of headphones that became the prototype for modern devices. “Those headphones sounded great,” recalls Koss. The design consisted of two brown plastic cups that contained three-inch drivers and were protected by lightweight perforated caps. Both cups were connected by a bent metal rod. This is how the Koss SP-3 headphones appeared.

“This piece was truly extraordinary,” recalls Koss. Music lovers quickly appreciated it for its excellent stereo sound, which brought the music listening experience closer to that of a concert hall. The design was highly acclaimed when it debuted at the Milwaukee Hi-Fi Trade Show in 1958 and was quickly copied by other manufacturers, standardizing the headphone design around the world in the next few years.

An interesting addition to this story is media theorist Friedrich Kittler's research that, although it was John Koss who created the first true stereo headphones, it was still the first people to use stereophonic sound in headphones, were Luftwaffe pilots during the Second World War.

In his book Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, Kittler describes an innovative radar system used by the German Air Force during World War II that allowed bomber pilots, using headphones, to reach their destination and accurately drop their bombs without even visually observing their targets. :

“Radio beams generated from the coast opposite Britain...formed the sides of an invisible triangle, the apex of which was located exactly above the target city. The right transmitter generated and sent a continuous series of Morse code "dash" signals into the pilot's right earpiece, while the left transmitter generated "dot" signals, which the pilot heard in his left earpiece. As a result, any deviation from the course resulted in a very melodic ping-pong telephony.”

When the pilot reached his target, the two radio signals merged into one continuous sound. As Kittler writes, “Historically, it was German pilots who were the first users of telephone stereophony, which is used everywhere today.”

The headphone designs above are just a selection of pieces in the history of personal audio development. It is likely that the first devices were created even earlier, and we certainly have many hitherto unknown inventors to thank for their contributions to the development of modern headphones. It is precisely such products that allow us, for example, to protect ourselves from the roar of jet engines on an airplane and at this time enjoy music, play group games. computer games via the Internet, coordinating joint actions through headsets, or just walking down the street listening to personal audio players.