Graphene Transistors are Around the Corner...

[Iceberg]

Implications for audio?

Graphene Transistors that Can Work at Blistering Speeds

IBM shows that graphene transistors could one day replace silicon.

www.technologyreview.com

 

[solderdude]

Implications for audio?

Graphene Transistors that Can Work at Blistering Speeds

IBM shows that graphene transistors could one day replace silicon.

www.technologyreview.com

None, At these speeds we are talking about a few V max (think 1.8V to 3.3V)
For switching power(amp) applications a high voltage and current are also important.
Audio does not need high speed (well... high power switching amps running >1MHz do) and for digital audio there is no need for speeds > DSD256 and 768/32... well maybe if one wants that in 8 channels as well.
Perhaps, in the far future (> 10 years ?) and when they can be made cheaper and smaller than silicon chips we will see practical applications.

 

[Iceberg]

None, At these speeds we are talking about a few V max (think 1.8V to 3.3V)
For switching power(amp) applications a high voltage and current are also important.
Audio does not need high speed (well... high power switching amps running >1MHz do) and for digital audio there is no need for speeds > DSD256 and 768/32... well maybe if one wants that in 8 channels as well.
Perhaps, in the far future (> 10 years ?) and when they can be made cheaper and smaller than silicon chips we will see practical applications.

What about implications for things like DA conversion?

 

[raif71]

Upsamplers

 

[solderdude]

What about implications for things like DA conversion?

That is easy pease for current tech.
Artix 7A200T at 740MHz is fast enough to make a 1M tap filter to 768/24

 

[Katji]

Upsamplers

LOL Chord M-Scalar Mk.2 Graphene, $60 000

 

[symphara]

Call me when they make graphene cables.

 

[SIY]

Trendy, but ultimately irrelevant. Some years back, I made polymer transistors, caps, resistors, inductors, and wires. Great for getting grant money.

 

[tomtoo]

If they have influence on cpu,dsp prices than maybe.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

The problem these are meant to solve was solved decades ago, by vacuum tubes.

 

[egellings]

Audio does not need "blistering speeds" you might get from novel transistors. Audio, by and large, is a solved problem.

 

[Iceberg]

Audio does not need "blistering speeds" you might get from novel transistors. Audio, by and large, is a solved problem.

Many say that won't be true until you can no longer tell the difference between live and a recording.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Many say that won't be true until you can no longer tell the difference between live and a recording.

Faster transistors are not going to solve that problem. The concept of rattling a piece of wood pulp in order to make sound needs revisiting to find a better way (and not just rattling a piece of plastic or aluminum...).

 

[egellings]

Many say that won't be true until you can no longer tell the difference between live and a recording.

I suspect that not telling the difference between live and a recording is a long way off. You will hear the recording in a different room than the music was originally played in, that is enough to ensure that. An instrument like a trumpet won't have the same specificity of location when hearing playback vs. hearing the original live horn.

 

[solderdude]

Many say that won't be true until you can no longer tell the difference between live and a recording.

Many may say that, I ain't one of them. This is not possible... period....
Plenty of systems around that sound lovely and excellent but in the end the recording quality and room/speakers will be the bottleneck.
Not the electronics, not now, not decades ago nor decades in the future.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

This is not possible... period....

Short of direct brain sensory injection.

 

[ZolaIII]

Samsung will debate first commercial products based on the GaA lithography and all do it will be much more useful regarding analog and mixed circuits (including MOSFET's and GREC's) than FinFet ever whose don't expect to see any such application of it in a rather very long term. What I hoped will get a larger foot in the industry and would have been beneficial for consumer grade electronics of all kind as fairly affordable and with rather beneficial gains in the form of FD-SOI newer materialised and it's not I didn't ben waiting for it long enough. Just for fun IBM whose a first CO developer of SOI as a process more than two dacades ago.

 

[Iceberg]

Many may say that, I ain't one of them. This is not possible... period....
Plenty of systems around that sound lovely and excellent but in the end the recording quality and room/speakers will be the bottleneck.
Not the electronics, not now, not decades ago nor decades in the future.

Its not possible in a Mandelbrot sense, but something that convinces humans is possible.

If you were to playback the recording in the hall it was originally recorded, you would get a closer approximation. With an audience, even closer. With the same audience, closer still. Room temperature, even closer. And on an on. At some threshold the human ear will get convinced. I do agree with the comment above though, wafting air with paper pulp is not it, so if you pictured a pair of speakers in a concert hall, it wont be that. It will appear as magic to us, perhaps some kind of magnetic tool that can simply control the sound pressure of a room, attenuate it, adjust, and reverberate the conditions of the recording location (at you're volume of choice no less)

The technology that would do this already more or less exists, but we'd need some level of scientific control, perhaps a half mile radius around your home to test out. Well, according to Bob Lanier that is

 

[solderdude]

If you were to playback the recording in the hall it was originally recorded, you would get a closer approximation. With an audience, even closer. With the same audience, closer still.

The problem here is that this then should be done with measurement mics and not purpose made mics (that have a color to the sound) and reproduction gear that can reach the same SPL and is totally flat and has a good directional sense.
That 'image' thus would sound different from what once was in all but a few listening positions.

Also it is totally not needed (and does not depend on faster electronics for sure). All that is needed is skillful recording and good reproduction gear. Again, faster electronics is not going to improve anything here. It already is fast enough.

In the end it is about enjoyment of the recording (which is merely an impression recreated with 2 or a few point sources). As long as the recording is good, the transducers and room are O.K. it will sound good.
Convincing is already possible. Faster electronics isn't needed nor going to help in any way.
Its about enjoying the music for some and about enjoying recording quality for others and for some it is both.

Holographic recording might be what is needed. Only capture sound waves on one or more points and loosing directional info and reproducing something similar on 2 or a few points with very different directional cues will not be extremely convincing. One should also record the direction of sound waves and ensure propagation of it in reproduction. Perhaps with multiple points or over a very wide surface/wall.
Not going to happen though. multichannel is the best one can do a.t.m.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Its not possible in a Mandelbrot sense, but something that convinces humans is possible.

If you were to playback the recording in the hall it was originally recorded, you would get a closer approximation. With an audience, even closer. With the same audience, closer still. Room temperature, even closer. And on an on. At some threshold the human ear will get convinced. I do agree with the comment above though, wafting air with paper pulp is not it, so if you pictured a pair of speakers in a concert hall, it wont be that. It will appear as magic to us, perhaps some kind of magnetic tool that can simply control the sound pressure of a room, attenuate it, adjust, and reverberate the conditions of the recording location (at you're volume of choice no less)

The technology that would do this already more or less exists, but we'd need some level of scientific control, perhaps a half mile radius around your home to test out. Well, according to Bob Lanier that is

Acoustic Research and Wharfedale both gave live verses recorded demonstrations back in the day in concert halls using recordings made outdoors so there were no 'acoustics' built into the recording. According to accounts, they were successful in that the transisition from live to recorded fooled people.