The future of A(i)udio

[NicC]

I'm no scientist but I have a healthy passion for the curious. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the intelligent ASR community, especially those who have seen trends come and go, on this:
What do you think might be the next epoch in sound?
Have we reached the pinnacle of home audio, or is something revolutionary ahead?
Could AI or other tech radically push the boundaries in design, materials or the way we perceive sound?
When I think of the phonograph, we've come a long way. What could be next?
Who's got a radical idea they'd enjoy sharing

(I began thinking the above after this thought: why do we have speakers with just high, middle and low? Why not split sound into 10 frequencies for example, into 10 different drivers for more accuracy? It's just how my mind works. It got me thinking maybe AI could sort out any design complexities)

 

[Blumlein 88]

One that has been kicked around, but never made to something practical. Using ultrasonics that interfere to create a demodulated audible sound at places remote from the ultrasonic emitters. In theory this could place real sound sources anywhere in the room. Some functioning fixed versions have been made. If that were figured out you could have a large number of sound sources anywhere they need to be and no visible speakers. Probably what needs to happen for high channel count Atmos or similar to ever catch on.

This would allow something of a Star Trek like audio holodeck.

 

[Bjorn]

Better understanding and more focus on acoustics. It's still either being overlooked by most or there's a lack of knowledge where one for example transfers large room acoustics ideas incorrectly to small room acoustics.

A great room makes an incredible difference and in most cases has a much bigger difference than even speakers.

 

[rationaltime]

I'm no scientist but I have a healthy passion for the curious. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the intelligent ASR community, especially those who have seen trends come and go, on this:
What do you think might be the next epoch in sound?
Have we reached the pinnacle of home audio, or is something revolutionary ahead?
Could AI or other tech radically push the boundaries in design, materials or the way we perceive sound?
When I think of the phonograph, we've come a long way. What could be next?
Who's got a radical idea they'd enjoy sharing

(I began thinking the above after this thought: why do we have speakers with just high, middle and low? Why not split sound into 10 frequencies for example, into 10 different drivers for more accuracy? It's just how my mind works. It got me thinking maybe AI could sort out any design complexities)

Regarding accuracy:
Most music sounds are created from single instruments like guitar, vocal, violin.
They don't have all that much frequency range (say from 80 Hz to 2 kHz). Two
or three drivers with different physical sizes are enough to cover the range.
It could be argued that more than one instrument is used. Those sounds combine
in a linear way. The sound system is expected to have a linear response.

Splitting the signal into ten frequency bands requires filters. That implies introducing
non-linearity and delays. I think that would be less accurate than the current setup.

In my opinion the areas most needing improvement are the music mix and the
acoustics of the listening environment.

 

[Jim Taylor]

In my opinion the areas most needing improvement are the music mix and the
acoustics of the listening environment.

I agree. With the proliferation of small, cheap active speakers, I could see active signal cancellation as a viable method to control room acoustics.

 

[NicC]

I could see active signal cancellation as a viable method to control room acoustics.

That’s a really interesting idea Jim! Would it come down to figuring how to cancel reflections and such, without cancelling the wanted sound waves? That’d be a neat trick. My mind visualises something like a bunch of BOSE Project X speakers placed around a room with the ability you mention. Anti-speakers or something As mentioned, I am an idea-loving, non-scientific person.

 

[Soniclife]

To me the obvious first application is to tune room correction DSP, without test tones, just real time analysis, and also to minimise the circle of confusion.

 

[Audionaut]

Would it come down to figuring how to cancel reflections and such, without cancelling the wanted sound waves? That’d be a neat trick

The Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90 already does this. You can fully customize and control the sound and sound field within a room.

 

[Jim Taylor]

As mentioned, I am an idea-loving, non-scientific person.

The more you love ideas, the more you will appreciate thinking based on science. Our world today has too many Whatiffers and Whatabouters, and too few advocates of Letmeshowyouhowitworks.

 

[Audionaut]

What do you think might be the next epoch in sound?

I don't know what it's like worldwide.
In Germany, hi-fi is clearly the hobby of older gentlemen.
The trend is towards less quality and more mobility. Most of the younger generations listen either with a smartphone and BT headphones or with a BT speaker.

 

[NicC]

Too right Jim. The Letmeshowyouhowitworks is what I enjoy most about ASR. Last year music was just noise that came out of a box. This year, I’ve worn a patch on my head where I keep scratching it. I learned that in my classroom there is approximately 8 quadrillion air molecules, and the slightest whisper upsets them all. So now I tell my students to leave the molecules alone, and let me enjoy the peace

 

[NicC]

The trend is towards less quality and more mobility. Most of the younger generations listen either with a smartphone and BT headphones or with a BT speaker.

In my extended family and friend groups, same thing… Sonos is about as technical as it gets. I guess it’s all about how individuals ‘consume’ their music. This also makes me wonder about the future of audio.

 

[Somafunk]

Active all in one monitors with a similar feature set for streaming/room correction as a Wiim ultra at sensible prices which is all app controlled or it may be a soundbar with similar capabilities as how many folk have a speaker setup at home anymore?

 

[Vacceo]

I hope elements such as Wisa and Dante become more widespread and more plug and play. A kind of "start with this single piece and you can, if you want, expand to more channels".

While I don´t think passive speakers will dissapear in the short and mid term, actives allow more aggressive (compact, loud, deep) designs. Sure, you cannot defear physics, but active can pushed them further than passives.

 

[RDoc]

Personally, I hope someone or company digs deeper into why even high end audio systems still come up short reproducing what actual live singers and instruments sound like. We attend local live performances in small, acoustically messy rooms and the sound of the instruments have qualities I've not heard in any HiFi system I've listened to. The HiFi sound of some of these systems is excellent to be sure, but not like the live music.

I realize there's a very sordid history of listening tests of live vs reproduced sound, but I don't see any other way to make further advances. Something like a robot cello played in an anechoic chamber vs the same robot instrument and chamber recorded then played back with a state of the art system. Hopefully that would lead to an extension of the insights from Toole and Olive.

Currently, aside from snake oil, the main improvements are towards great sound for lower cost. Obviously a good thing, but the sound still needs quite a bit of work IMHO.

 

[middlemarch]

Add me to those looking for better room correction. If that can be made seamless, effective and low effort I suspect many more folks will come to appreciate good sound and keep audio going. There's so much processing horsepower available in the average home these days it seems a shame we haven't yet harnessed all that to this end. Audyssey seems tantalizingly close but seems to have hit a brick wall, and Dirac seems always "real soon now". I'm thinking it will take a big tech company with deep R&D pockets to put it all together.

The other, as also mentioned above, would be to establish some kind of best practices standard to the recording/mastering side of things. I'm finally at the point where I think my system is as good as I can make it. It's all in the recordings now, and the extreme ad hoc variety in recording quality is my last remaining bugaboo. The movie folks are doing better (by no means perfect) here, why not the music folks?