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iPad Mini Confirmed to Carry Stereo Speakers
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Yeah. The 10" iPad actually has two speaker elements, but the sound is directed to a single grille. They probably found that two small speakers capable of producing the same volume as a single large one were easier to fit inside the cramped space.
And then with the mini it was just so darned cramped that the only way to fit the two speakers was to separate them, and it ended up with stereo speakers as a side effect... it seems backwards, I know.
Would you even notice the difference with them so close together and the sound coming from below as you hold it?
That is true. The Kindle Fire's speaker isn't all that great.
The Kindle Fire HD, on the other hand, does have dual stereo speakers. Or, more specifically, two separate drivers on the top and two on the bottom (left and right in landscape mode).
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Not unless you are a mouse.
Well exactly, stereo speakers consists of a pair of speakers, both by definition and by the plural 's'. Dual stereo speakers would be 2 pair of speakers, ie 4 in total. Counting the drivers is more than ridiculous, especially since the sound is pretty much guaranteed to be garbage compared to regular speakers.
Nope. They should have put them on opposite sides. Now, there is simply no point in having these "stereo" speakers (apart from Apple's referring to them as "amazing" "stereo" ones), particularly not when iOS can't drive them in widened stereo mode (unlike, say, those of the Nokia N95).
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The latter can be helped with decent stereo widening techniques used on, say, the Nokia N95.
If it is necessary, such stereo widening or 3D can be achieved through software. There is no need to relocate the speakers physically. But then again, maybe Apple software for speakers already does it, or maybe some jailbreak app or even AppStore app does it, I didn't check. My Sony Ericsson K800i had such effect and while its not that bad, its not much different, though you can feel some difference.
I agree, having one speaker on the left AND right would be much better. But the sound is still better than only one speaker, as some of the channels are split up to the left or right for a bit more clarity.
You've obviously never heard the Fire HD.
Does it sound as good as reference speakers? No. Does it sound good? Yes. It is absolutely not garbage-sounding. I disagree that the number of drivers is irrelevant. It is not the sole factor in sound quality, and there is a point of diminishing returns, but in most cases, two drivers will sound better than one in a given form factor.
Your right I haven't, but I have worked as a sound engineer. I haven't said that the amount of drivers is irrelevant, I'm sure it's possible to improve what you can achieve with small speakers like this but, it's still going to be different degrees of horrible.
I tried to show that they were stretching the truth not only in regards to the iPad but their own device as well. If they said "dual driver stereo speakers" fine, but they did not. You would not need reference speakers, just decent regular speakers in cabinets. Let's look at the copy:
No, just no!
This is not entirely true, while I do see why someone can easily think this way.
While the PPI might be higher on a 8" non HD tablet compared to a 50" HDTV, The picture itself is not the same.
For example lets say you have a frame in a movie that has a persons head in it. On the (1080p) HDTV screen the head in this frame lets say is diplayed using 500,000 pixels, while this exact same frame on the tablet may be made up of only 400,000 pixels. Although the movie may seem just as crisp, in reality you may be loosing details on the face.
Waited? Was there some reason for them to expect that the info Apple posted on their own website and that if they waited it would change or be clarified?
Apple says "speaker" and makes no mention of stereo on their website. I just don't see how people thinking it's one speaker (mono) is the fault of anyone but Apple.
Thanks for clarifying that 720 actually is HD and that you're the only one who believes otherwise.
Well, even short one pixel you either have to crop the picture or rescale it. The line needs to be drawn somewhere - the fact is, the mini is unable to display HD content at the original resolution.
Stereo does not equal two speakers. Stereo is the illusion of directionality of sound: Stereophonic = Greek for solid + sound. You can create stereo with two or more speakers. A 5.1 setup is still stereo.
This is just as common a misconception as people somehow think schizophrenia = dual personality disorder. Both misconceptions annoy me just as much
A concept that was used inaccurately. The app store is not a loss leader. They plan to expand it and make it much more profitable. Just because it isn't the most profitable part of their business, doesn't mean its just there for hardware. It brings value in and of itself. No loss, no loss leader. Plain and simple.
It's not an illusion, the directionality is achieved by the speaker placement. The most common stereo signal is 2 channels, requiring 2 speakers, and in this case we know that there is no 5.1 involved.
I completely agree - the sound really is quite good for a 7" tablet - but it is most assuredly not as good as they claim. Well, unless you're used to a Bose home stereo. In that case, the Fire HD is likely superior.
Agree. For that you will need to have speakers much much bigger than found in any tablets. Besides tablets also don't have a dedicated subwoofer, so its even more impossible to have that deep and rich bass. I am not a sound pro, but I myself change and install my car audio systems (twice in last 2 cars) and I agree with you.
Good catch. And they still haven't corrected it.
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First off, when Apple makes it sound like mono on their website, why should anyone have to buy one and check to find out the truth?
Second, how would they check it? With the speakers that close together it probably still sounds like mono to most people.
False, HD starts at 720x1280. And they're not talking about what is available for sale, they're talking about what can be displayed on the device.
"Different"? Sure. But it's going to sound different between any two devices that have different speakers. What I'm saying is that proper stereo imaging requires proper speaker placement. And putting both speakers on the same side of the screen is terrible speaker placement. Maybe it sounds a tiny bit better than one mono speaker, but it's still vastly inferior to having the speakers on opposite sides of the screen (particularly in landscape).
Look at where the speakers are on the Kindle HD. Having them on opposite sides is going to provide a much better stereo image, and one that the user is actually going to hear. If every tablet had a layout as brain dead as the mini, it would be worthless but thankfully some companies are doing it right.
How is it not an illusion? If sound sounds like it is coming from right in front of you, but you have one speaker to your left and one to your right, there is no physical thing that is going on to create sound coming from the center. It is you brain interpreting level and time differences from those two sources, creating the illusion that sound is coming from in front of you.
The 2 and 5.1 examples were just an example as to the fact that both can be stereo.
In this case I'd hardly call the two speakers stereo as they are too close together to create any appreciable time or level difference - apart from maybe the very highs, effectively sounding like a single source.
In the second paragraph you answer your own question.
Yes, but I tried to appeal to take context into consideration.
While you're correct about recording, I'd argue that the term is appropriate for mono playback over two speakers. If you don't like the term, what would you suggest as an alternative?
Not in landscape mode. And positioning the speakers as far apart as possible is always going to be superior to processing to try and make it seem wider.