What does the ACE 2 have that the other doesn’t?
MEMS stands for micro electro-mechanical systems and if these work as advertised could be a really cool innovation in the audio reproduction arena.
Would you mind telling me more about why MEMS could be so cool? Never heard of that before.
I have worked in the audio field with MEMS in the past. Unfortunately MEMS drivers are not all they’re cracked up to be, they dont have the same miniaturisation capabilities as microphones.
The main issue with voice coil drivers in headsets is size and power consumption, particularly for low frequency reproduction. Drivers need to shift a certain amount of air to generate signal power = audio volume. Shifting the air requires both power and surface area. There is actually very little room to improve this in free-field.
Where there is room to improve is when you have a sealed cavity. Air behaves differently in a sealed cavity, so a small driver could potentially generate a lot of signal power. Unfortunately very few earbuds actually create a perfect seal in everyone’s ears, and many people don’t wear them properly. Therefore the biggest earbud makers will not consider a MEMS driver until it can produce acceptable signal quality in a cavity which is not properly sealed, because there is a lot of risk for people to have a bad experience and spread negative publicity due to using the earbuds wrong.
TLDR: MEMS drivers are only advantageous in a sealed pressure cavity, which is not always the case when wearing earbuds, and so they are unlikely to become mainstream until they have been further developed.
Thank you for specifying the acronym - I had no idea what it was at a glance or why it would be a big deal. Cheers!
Can you ELI5?
MEMS are miniaturised machines which use the production technologies of silicon chips to make mechanical systems at a micrometer scale. Instead of using a saw or press to cut pieces out of metal, you use photolithography to make them out of silicon, and make them extremely small.
Driver = loudspeaker
A MEMS driver is a loudspeaker which is made at a micrometer scale. They can work really well in very specific environments, but earbuds are not always (maybe never) used in exactly this perfect environment and so it’s risky to use MEMS drivers because placing the earbuds slightly wrong in your ear will make them sound awful.
Creative is taking a risk with this product, which bigger manufacturers will not take until at least several generations of MEMS driver have passed.
Could you explain to me what a “eli5” is?
Explain Like im 5
Wow creative is still around. I assumed they went out of business years ago.
They still sell the SoundBlaster bro
Generally speaking the only people still buying ‘sound cards’ are less tech savvy people.
You can usually get the exact same hardware (or better) cheaper if you search for a DAC instead. There are 1 or 2 edge case exceptions (ie Atmos/surround sound), but even in those cases there are other better cheaper options than anything with the ‘Creative’ brand name on it.
Pretty much all you are getting by paying more for Creative hardware is their audio driver. Which is of debatable quality.
I mean its better than the Realtek shit you get free on your motherboard I guess…
I’ve got one of their modern sound card that has optical-in (and a bunch of other useful ports). That and some Creative speakers.
I used to always have a Creative sound card in my PC until Windows 7 overhauled the way sound is handeled by the system. No more EAX or fancy hardware processing. I remember playing Battlefield 2 with EAX and it sounded great.
I tried adding a Creative sound card in my build years ago, but removed it. It doesn’t add any value over the built-in motherboard or using graphics card audio.
And if you’re someone doing something that needs more than the built-in motherboard audio can handle, you’re better off with a USB DAC anyway.
Not if you’re looking at their high end. I have their AE7 and like it alot better with my HiFiMans than with my Schiit stack.
I had a laptop with a creative card. I had to take it out because it failed and the laptop would get hung up on not being able to identify it.
I thought they went out of business when Apple stole their UI.
Apple stole their UI? That wasn’t very creative of them.
That’s what I thought.
Im probably a weirdo, but I prefer ear buds with ear clips on them.
My ear canals are just too small or oddly shaped. It’s usually a bad idea for me to use the little silicone things cause they always end up getting crushed in my ear and affecting the sound. The clips are at least the only way I can wear the ones without the silicone without the falling out constantly
You’re a weirdo. Then again I use wired earbuds a lot so I can find them if one falls out my ear while doing yardwork or in the shop.
I’m the same way. Can’t stand earbuds that are just sort of loosely dangling from your sound holes.
That being said, Bose has some good earbud design. The fittings that go into your ear also have little wing supports that fit snugly into your ear folds, and do a great job of keeping them stable without being uncomfortable.
My only issue is that they’re slowly dying, but I’ve had them for like 3 years at this point so I can’t really complain.
They literally fall out of my ear otherwise.
I love my Creative Outlier Pros, which I use exclusively to game, mostly on my Steam Deck. They punch far above their weight class. They sound great and their ANC is almost or as good as my AirPods 3. Not only that, but they even do spatial audio. They also do passthrough, and it works great.
For 50 dollars, they’re a great value.
Calling those things headphones is like calling contact lenses goggles.
As opposed to air pods which have a wire?
Man Creative in the day was my go to company for audio products. I still to this day miss my Creative Zen Vision:M.
MEMS have been used in cellphones for years but haven’t been capable of integration into earbuds until recently
This is all you need to read in the article to see the author doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
MEMS microphones have been used in cellphones and earbuds for years, because they are a mature technology that works very well and provides miniaturisation potential.
MEMS drivers (loudspeakers) are not used in smartphones at all because there is a very limited environment where they work well.
In short the reason why this is the case is because it is an awful lot easier to make something very small which can be moved by moving air rather than something small which can generate movement of air.
5Hz to 40KHz is an impressive sound range. I hope these are successful and they start shrinking the size of speakers. Especially subwoofers.
Getting deep base without needing a giant speaker would be great.
Check out tactile transducers. Mind blowing.
I still for the life of me can not understand how the absolute most unhealthy design for a headphone is still by far the most popular. Smh
What do they mean by “true wireless”?