The first bluetooth headphones

Not everyone agrees that the space around us is actively filled with consumer goods and quality products become exclusive or disappear from the market altogether.

Who invented the world's first headphones and in what year. When did wireless headphones appear?

Fast access to voice assistants, maximum battery life, and minimal sound delay from the sound source to the receiving device are also important today. We think the most interesting developments in headsets will happen in the next few years.

Do you use headphones a lot in your life? Probably yes, because they are very convenient for driving, working, listening to music and making phone calls. Headphones have become an everyday companion today, and in this article you will learn what the first models looked like.

Apple launched its headphones at a time when accessories such as headphones were already very popular. Of course, headphones looked very different and the players were cassette recorders, but people often listened to music that way. In addition, the headphones were connected to the lip on top, which was not really practical for the user. Apple solved this problem and developed the first earbud headphones. The company's first earbuds were the Earbuds. They were attached to the ears and connected with two white wires. By the way, there were no other earbuds with white wires at the time. It became a trademark of Apple. The headphones appeared in 2001. They were released along with the player. Back in 2002, the company released updated Earbuds headphones, which remained unchanged until 2016, when the EarPods appeared.

Earbuds Update.

The already popular Earbuds got even better in 2007. They are softer, have a longer rod and a more comfortable cushion. Sound quality has also been improved. The headphones also have a microphone, which became very important when people saw the iPhone. The headphones were released for the smartphone in 2007.

In 2008, Apple released updated in-ear headphones for the iPod. They come in a triangular box with a handy cable storage compartment. They also come with three types of vacuum cleaner attachments. The difference with the headphones is that they have two audio speakers that produce a completely different sound. At the time, they cost $90, which was double the price of the first version of the iPod earbuds.

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It's been more than 100 years since the first prototypes of headphones were created. Since then, these accessories have undergone significant changes. In addition to overhead models, active noise cancelling headphones, earbuds (earbuds) and even bone devices have appeared on the market. Photos and more information can be found on Wikipedia.

Children's problems – grown-up solutions

The impetus for the company's emergence came when the son of the company's future creator, Jonathan Levine (Jonathan Levine couldn't find headphones that were compatible with a stylish look and sound quality at a reasonable price.

Seeing the gap between stylish Beats with mediocre sound and premium brands, Levine, who already had commercial experience under his belt, decided that producing quality accessories was his finest hour.

Military artifacts in the service of modern startups

In order to change the status quo and create a quality accessory, Jonathan Levine joined forces with Vicki Gross. This is how Master & Dynamic came into being in 2013.

The search for the perfect concept led the creator to a museum. There Levine noticed that the classic army headphones of the '40s used completely different materials in their construction than modern accessories.

The first line of headphones Master & DynamicMH30 and
MH40 models, upholds the tradition of its progenitor using steel, forged aluminum and tanned leather.

The MH40 "sound for creative minds" headphones went on sale in 2014, and immediately earned the highest marks from CNET, Wired and Digital Audio News.

First up: Bluetooth 1.0-1.2

In '98, it was the dream of many businessmen.

The firstborn of the wireless protocol was Bluetooth 1.0, announced in 1998. It was impossible to do without its shortcomings and mistakes.

Among the key problems were very unstable signal and constant connection interruptions. What's more, manufacturers began to point out the lack of proper compatibility between devices. For example, two different companies that put two compatible devices on the market could not be sure that the user would be able to connect them via Bluetooth.

They rushed to fix this and a year later introduced Bluetooth 1.0B. Things improved but they were far from perfect. Bluetooth 1.0(B) made it compulsory to give the address of the device which meant that there was no reason to talk about any anonymity. This was the main drawback of the protocol in its conception phase. In 2000, an updated Bluetooth 1.1 was presented. Users were now able to determine the signal strength of the wireless connection and transmit data over unencrypted channels.

Motorola's legendary Bluetooth 1.2 compatible headset

The first global update was Bluetooth 1.2, which received a number of improvements: from higher data transfer rates (up to 1 Mbps) and improved noise immunity to support for the A2DP profile, which enabled stereo sound transmission for the first time.

Time to grow up: Bluetooth 2.0 to 2.1 (EDR)

An amateur developer's dream – Bluetooth 2.0 module for Arduino

In 2004, manufacturers waited for Bluetooth 2.0. Among the innovations of this version:

• Increased data transfer rates. According to the documentation, Bluetooth 2.0 had a bandwidth of 3 MB/s, but practice is a merciless thing. The best Bluetooth 2.0 could do was 2.1 Mbps.
• The emergence of EDR technology, which signaled a more advanced version of the protocol, directly affecting speed.
• Additional bandwidth for synchronous connection of multiple devices.
• Slight reduction in power consumption.

The next update dates back to 2007. For three years, engineers have been working on the possibility of reducing the voraciousness of the protocol in relation to the battery of portable devices, and together with Bluetooth 2.1 announced a new technology Sniff Subrating. The energy efficiency of the new "bluetooth" increased up to 10 times, and the pairing of devices became much easier.

In the same year, NFC (Near Field Communication) technology is released, which is responsible for the proper protection of the connection.

It gets better. 2007 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR dots the second version of the technology. Five times reduced power consumption and improved connection security.

Solution price, no competitors for iOS

At a price of $159 (in Russia 12,990 rubles), these headphones turned out to be very expensive, as, however, this is always the case with Apple. The main criticism of them concerns music, in order to achieve a compromise, sound quality was sacrificed, which was noted by all those who had time to try them during the presentation. Some people said they sounded like wired headphones, some said they sounded a little worse. In my opinion, technically we are facing the same speakers as the EarPods, to which they added electronics and made them wireless. Considering that the wired music goes to 256 kbps, the wired ones should sound a little bit better. But here everything is individual and depends on your perception. Practice shows that most people are not familiar with what constitutes quality sound and they are quite happy with the sound of EarPods, so they will probably like AirPods too.

Many wireless headphones are suitable for the iPhone, they are universal after all. But in the absence of aptX support, their sound quality will be mediocre compared to the same songs on Android (assuming the same bitrate and aptX support). I'm sure that Apple's solution will look no worse against them, on the same level, despite the cheaper components and low cost of such headphones. Hence there may be a stereotype that your Sony (you can substitute any brand) play worse or the same as the Apple headphones. But this is not a problem of the headphone manufacturers, it is an artificial limitation deliberately put into their products by Apple.

Understandably, my story may elicit a sharp reaction from Apple fans, as it actually contradicts the stereotype that the iPhone/iPod/iPad has the best sound quality, and with standard headphones. The power of the brand is such that people continue to believe this, even though there is no technical justification for it. On the other hand, it is their belief that makes the iPhone sound the benchmark and allows brands to exist that focus on good sound and create their devices with an eye on sound.

What year did they come out?

The history of the headphones goes back to the XIX century. Perhaps humanity owes the appearance of this device to the company Electrophone. Its specialists created technology that allowed the company's customers to listen to musical works, including opera parts, without being in the theater. Customers received a massive structure that had to be put on their heads. The sound went into the speakers, which were placed in front of the ears.

It is impossible to call the world's first headphones comfortable, but that's exactly what they looked like. Of course, and this invention had predecessors. For example, radio operators had something similar. But there was only one earpiece, and its very quality of communication left much to be desired. And here it is definitely worth telling about the telephone company's assistant, Bella Ezra Gilliland. In 1881, the woman suggested attaching telephone parts to a metal bar. And the large three-kilogram structure was moved on its head. The solution may have seemed absurd and unnecessarily complicated, but it can be considered the first telephone headset.

Around the same time. Ernest Mercadier, a French designer, perfected telephone receivers and created sound repeaters that were compact. They were inserted in the ears and weighed 1 3⁄4 ounce. Well, the most famous and closest to the modern understanding of headphones is the development of Nathaniel Baldwin. The American from Utah invented a prototype telephone headset, and he sent his own designs to the state military department. Baldwin's invention was not immediately appreciated by the military. He was not given the money to build working models. So at first, the enterprising inventor began to do it for his own money.

Soon the Navy did pay attention to what Baldwin had created, several changes were made to his drawings, and an updated version became the basis for ordering head phones. The engineer was invited to join the military laboratory. But for certain reasons (Baldwin was a Mormon) he could not move out of state, and the big company had to build a factory in Utah. Thus, headphones began to be produced not only for military purposes, but also for civilian use.

Evolution

In the 1930s, headphones are already ubiquitous for communication, the devices appear in the homes of residents of large cities. And programs on the radio more and more often the listener decides to receive it is in the headphones. Of course, the very design and technological profile was still far from comfortable use. Moreover – listening to music in them was still a challenge, but the revolutionary beginning was felt, and people wanted to be its witnesses and consumers.

This demand was felt by Eugen Bayer, the 18-year-old Swede, at the time the "Ilon Musk" of audio engineering. In 1926 he founded the company Elektotechnische Fabrik Eugen Beyer, at first it specialized in the production of microphones, but in 1937 the production of headphones began. To say that these were all headphones for the mass consumer, however, is impossible. The world of technology in this regard has shaken another company only a couple of decades later.

But the next round of headphone evolution had to wait a long time, only in 1957 the Koss Corporation was able to create a stereo headphone. ДJohn Koss, the company's founder, understood that an invention had to be emphasized, and he was able to channel his energies into the creation of a private music-playing system. It became a phonograph, a loudspeaker and a jack into which the head phone was plugged.

But such a system was still not the headphones themselves, so Koss commissioned audio-engineers to improve the design. И The two talented inventors came up with a design consisting of two plastic cups with 3-inch speakers inside. This design became known as the Koss SP-3, and music lovers appreciated the "gadget".

Important stages in the evolution of headphones are as follows.

• 1964. At this time, the 3.5 mm audio jack appeared. Sony released portable radio, there was nothing special in sound quality, but the mini-jack connector was a revolutionary technological step.
• 1979. However, mass production with this connector didn't happen until 15 years later – Sony released the Walkman TPS-L2 stereo player.

One year later – Bluetooth 4.0.

Each new version of Bluetooth appeared faster than the previous one. For example, the "four" came out just one year after the "three". Mobile device manufacturers had not yet had time to master the purchased chips with Bluetooth 3.0, and already had to release device models with the updated standard.

A huge plus of the 4.0 is the low power consumption. It is so small that it is possible to install Bluetooth modules in small sensors, sensors and other devices. The energy savings are made possible by the fact that the chip is activated only at the moment of sending or receiving data.

As a result, a conventional CR2032 battery is enough for several years of operation of the 4.0 module. It is thanks to this feature of the fourth generation of wireless communication it became possible to produce search tags for keys, wallets, etc. Previously, this was impossible to imagine.

The fourth version increased the range considerably – up to 100 meters.

This version lasted for several years, with various improvements added in the protocol updates – 4.1 and 4.2.

And finally, Bluetooth 5.0.

On June 16, 2016, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) introduced the Bluetooth 5.0 specification. The radius has increased four times more, to 300 meters, and the speed, compared to the "four", by two, to 48 Mbit / s. Indoors, the wireless range is reduced to 40 meters, which is also very good.

In addition, this version managed to get rid of problems in the protocol that led to exploitation of vulnerabilities by attackers. We are talking about the BlueBorne problem, which led to the compromise of a large number of devices.

Bluetooth 5 is ideal for IoT devices because of its low power consumption and high data transfer rate. One of the advantages of this version of wireless communication is that it can work in very busy areas in terms of radio emissions.

Bluetooth 5 is used in a large number of devices, including industrial IoT, any wearable device from trackers to smart watches, smartphones, media centers, laptops, etc.

And also – the sound can be broadcasted to multiple devices at once, so that several users can connect to the same source at once. This capability has been improved in Bluetooth 5.2. It includes LE Isochronous Channels, a feature to support the new LE Audio transmission standard. It gives the ability to transmit time-linked data to one or more devices for time-synchronized processing (example: wireless headphones with separate receivers), as well as to broadcast in parallel to an unlimited number of devices. Version 5.2 appeared in early January 2020.

As for Bluetooth 6.0, a new specification is probably already under development, but no information on it yet, so we wait.

Westone and monitors for professionals and audiophiles

Westone originated in 1959 and began by making products for people with hearing problems and for the doctors who deal with those problems. Now Westone has a great variety of products in this category on its product list – that is, the entire range of products needed, from hearing aids to ear-socket models for polyclinics.

But we're curious about something else: How did this company get started producing headphones? It started, I guess, in 1985, with Sony helping to create comfortable headphones with quality sound. A couple of years after that, Etymotic, together with Westone, developed monitors for musicians: the main thing is not to damage the ear, such an important organ for musicians. Westone's medical expertise helped with this task.

In 1990, Westone began to use armature in headphones for musicians, and in 1996 together with Shure released universal in-canal monitors with balanced armature (i.e. armature).

In 1995, Van Halen, the band's sound engineer, assembled dual-driver headphones capable of blocking noise and producing a reasonably good sound. Realizing that many people liked his monitors, he founded Ultimate Ears. And Westone helped refine these headphones and began producing them. In 1998 The Rolling Stones, Enrique Iglesias and Red Hot Chili Peppers were among the clients of UE.

It was not until 2002 that the company released headphones for mere mortals under its own brand. It's the UM1, a headphone with a balanced anchor and a single transmitter.

Now all the headphones have become available to the average user. One of the latest is the W60 with six drivers, introduced at CES 2014. Their price corresponds to the level: there are no cheap armature ones.

Monster Beats.

You can't take words out of my mouth, and no matter how vulgar these headphones look in my opinion, and no matter how popular it is to fake them left and right, here I have to write something about the foundation of Dr. Beats. Dre and Jimmy Iovine headphone companies.

What other events and brands, in your opinion, have shaped the headphone market?

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