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In this, our modern world, tiny speakers are what most people listen to most things on, except maybe in their cars. Phones, laptops, tablets. The tiny speakers

In this, our modern world, tiny speakers are what most people listen to most things on, except maybe in their cars. Phones, laptops, tablets. The tiny speakers built into TVs, much smaller than even built-in speakers on CRT TVs used to be. Ear buds of various sorts, and smallish headphones. That’s most audio-listening accounted for (except in cars). Hell, I’ve got a good hi-fi setup and (separately) a probably-top-couple-percent 7.2 home theater audio situation (in one room… but not on the other TV) and even so I listen to things on tiny speakers more than on big ones.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago
> In this, our modern world, tiny speakers are what most people listen to most things on, except maybe in their cars. Hmm... I think you're probably right, but the one thing that gives me pause is the enormous market for Bluetooth speakers. I see Bluetooth speakers everywhere! I suppose most Bluetooth speakers are still "small" in the grand scheme of things, but they're certainly larger than phone and laptop speakers. Earbuds are similarly omnipresent. I'm not sure it's accurate to classify those as "tiny speakers"; the physics are different, because they only need to be loud enough to hear when they're next to your ears.
- johnwalkr 3y ago
  Good bluetooth speakers also use similar DSP to sound way better and louder than they would without it so I am not sure this is a counterpoint. The unique thing here is Apple does it on the main CPU, presumably because "why not", so you couldn't safely power the speakers of your mac while running linux until the related features were added.
  - sethhochberg 3y ago
    At this point even "bigger" speakers make heavy use of DSP, too - from household commodities like Sonos to higher end hi-fi powered speakers like the KEF LSX series, almost everyone in the industry making an active-amplified product has wised up to the idea that some processing can make use of clever acoustic tricks or compensations to make their products sound better (by whatever definition of better their brand sells) than they would being drive flat from the source. When you provide the whole integrated package its a no brainer.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago

> In this, our modern world, tiny speakers are what most people listen to most things on, except maybe in their cars. Hmm... I think you're probably right, but the one thing that gives me pause is the enormous market for Bluetooth speakers. I see Bluetooth speakers everywhere! I suppose most Bluetooth speakers are still "small" in the grand scheme of things, but they're certainly larger than phone and laptop speakers. Earbuds are similarly omnipresent. I'm not sure it's accurate to classify those as "tiny speakers"; the physics are different, because they only need to be loud enough to hear when they're next to your ears.

johnwalkr 3y ago
Good bluetooth speakers also use similar DSP to sound way better and louder than they would without it so I am not sure this is a counterpoint. The unique thing here is Apple does it on the main CPU, presumably because "why not", so you couldn't safely power the speakers of your mac while running linux until the related features were added.
- sethhochberg 3y ago
  At this point even "bigger" speakers make heavy use of DSP, too - from household commodities like Sonos to higher end hi-fi powered speakers like the KEF LSX series, almost everyone in the industry making an active-amplified product has wised up to the idea that some processing can make use of clever acoustic tricks or compensations to make their products sound better (by whatever definition of better their brand sells) than they would being drive flat from the source. When you provide the whole integrated package its a no brainer.