Collin GilletteThe world of entertainment is an ever-evolving industry, and the biggest part of that evolution is sound. How we get to hear our favorite content is something that people and organizations are heavily investing in nowadays. You see so many brands signing deals with athletes and other people to create new ways of listening to music, voice, or any other type of instrument of sound. However, among all the noise and confusion, one thing is making some serious hype. And in the words of all popular social media influencers, “the hype is real guys!”
This thing in question is not a product or anything of the sort, but a technology. A technology that is claiming to change the world of sound as we know it. Yes, we are talking about the wildly popular material for speakers, graphene. However, right off the bat, there is a big problem that people looking for graphene earphones end up facing and that is knockoffs. A lot of manufacturers claim to have graphene in their earbuds, but they are in fact using graphite which is really not the same.
Why Cystereo Chooses Graphene?
With all that fuss going around, one naturally starts wondering, why is graphene so important? Why is it getting so much hype and what makes it such a sought-after material? As it happens, graphene is actually one of the best materials humans have ever come up with for delivering sound. But before we get into that, you should also know what graphene’s general properties are which make it amazing.
Graphene is simply a sheet of carbon atoms that have a thickness of exactly one atom. The presence of graphene dates back to the year 2010 when Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim discovered it in the Manchester University. It is also the same discovery that got them the Nobel Prize for Physics in the year 2010.
Physical Properties of Graphene
Having a thickness of one atom does not specify anything at all. It is all about the structure and graphene happens to have the strongest structure of all. That single sheet of graphene is harder than even diamond, and yet, if you stacked one hundred graphene layers what you would get is a sheet that would barely be a millimeter thick! A single sheet the size of a football field would have a weight of only one gram!
There is a lot of elasticity in graphene as well since it can stretch by up to 25% and still retain its original form. Last but certainly not least, graphene is also a better conductor of electricity and heat than any other material known to man. The density of electricity that graphene can hold is a million times higher than that of copper! Suffice to say that graphene will be playing a key role in the future for many key products.
Why Earphones Use Graphene?
Playing back sounds is an incredibly simple process and yet there is a lot of meticulous effort required when it comes to perfecting it. That is what the inclusion of graphene in earbuds is all about. Traditional membranes in speakers have a lot of vibration happening when sound passed through them. However, this latest technology almost completely eradicates that vibration when something is playing. The result? Some of the clearest sounds that you will ever hear when playing anything on your earbuds. Recent tests by a number of companies who have invested in this technology show some really incredible results. The prototypes tested by industry-leading artists and producers have absolutely blown their minds, to put it crudely.
So naturally, what started off as a dream for the ultimate headset, is not being miniaturized for earbuds as well. Having the technology accessible to the masses is what it is all about. Keep in mind that the cost of producing graphene, at least currently, is not cheap at all. Therefore, having it in a smaller form factor makes a lot more sense for most people. Not everyone is going to play huge wads of cash to get their hands on a large pair of over the ear headsets with graphene-based drivers in them.
Graphene Speakers Technological Development
Currently, the industry developing earbuds and other types graphene speakers is not in any formal shape at all. It is all about innovation at the moment and that can be a bit haphazard without a formal structure. There are no regulations in place regarding commercial use of graphene and no oversight is present either. This causes two different types of issues that could actually hinder the development of graphene-based speakers and even other technologies:
- There will be no formal standard for measuring the quality of products and to see if they can truly be certified as “graphene-based”. A formal certification is necessary to ensure that companies developing graphene earbuds and other products meet certain criteria.
- Not having any regulation also means that a lot of people will try to sell graphite products by labeling them graphene. This could lead to a lot of customer dissatisfaction which would eventually harm the industry as well.
At the moment, there are only two or three companies that are truly using graphene to create earbuds and other sound equipment. These companies are the pioneers in developing a revolutionary sound experience, one like you have never heard before. One of these is companies that has made earbuds that use, Nanene, a coating layer that consist of multiple graphene layers in their earphone driver membranes. The earphones got approval from the Graphene Council, a body that is dedicated to ensuring quality of graphene products. It is also the closes thing to an actual regulatory body for graphene-based tech.
Comparison with Conventional Speakers
The biggest reason for the popularity that graphene-based earbuds, headsets, and speakers have gained is their sound quality. To understand how it is better, you should also understand the process involved in producing sound in speakers in general.
Graphene vs Membrane
When the electric signals from any device reach the speaker, they are converted into sound waves that are produced by a special membrane. In conventional speakers, there is a layer that vibrates to create the sound we hear. This is very much like the way our own voice boxes work. However, the biggest problem with this technology is that the membrane’s vibration causes it to shift around in its place, leading to distortion. No matter what company you decide to use for the test, you will be able to find some level of background noise, even if it is extremely faint.
The layer of graphene on graphene-based speakers is much stiffer and robust. This allows it to deliver crystal clear sound, the likes of which you will not find in any other conventional product. A lot of professional users, composers, and producers have been able to check the quality of graphene-based earbuds and their surprise is quite noticeable.
Graphene vs PET Membrane
To better understand its superiority, you can look at the traditional polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane that is used in most speakers, earbuds, and headsets. There are a lot of production issues with PET membrane as well like foaming thickness irregularities, pore sizes, and more. Even without graphene, PET does not have a good standing as a membrane for producing high-quality sound. In addition to that, the nature of the problem itself also means it can deteriorate much more quickly. This creates more than enough precedence for introducing a newer, more reliable technology like graphene.
Some Popular Options
Currently, there are a few companies that are well-known for producing great quality sound products, especially TWS earphones. They have also come up with products that they are claiming come with graphene membranes for better sound quality.
One such company has managed to create the level of clarity that they have been able to achieve is truly phenomenal. Similarly, another company also creates graphene-based headphones and they are very close to being finalized for mass production and the first batch is actually expected to be delivered this year. We are hoping that in the coming days, this list will grow exponentially.
Summing up
To put it all in simple terms, graphene has truly revolutionized the audio industry for good. This is especially going to show its effect when graphene becomes widely available in products like TWS earbuds. With everyone looking for a better listening experience, graphene is delivering on that very thought and making it possible to see new possibilities for the world of entertainment. This is even more noticeable, given the shaky performance of PET as the current material of choice for speaker membranes.
Additionally, you will also see this technology revolutionize an aspect of a much larger industry which is cellphones. With deals already happening between graphene research companies and tech giants, it is only a matter of time, after which devices like smartphones will also be able to provide much better sounding audio from their tiny speakers. All in all, we are very excited to see where the graphene industry grows and how it will become the key material that it is destined to become for so many industries.