do headphones sound diffrent on other planets
Oct 23, 2011 at 3:04 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 39

Youngblood

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I always thought that maybe because gravity on say mars was less that bass might increase while your on that planet. Also do you guys think that some planets might change soud do to diffrent acoustics or atmosphere?
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM Post #3 of 39
Definitely.

Mercury - Bright sound, hot highs

Venus - Veiled

Mars - Some claim fluid low end but it's buried deep under the overriding dry sound

Jupiter - Huge sound stage

Saturn - Stage not as big as Jupiter's, but still runs rings around the smaller planets

Uranus - Let's not go there.

Neptune - Cold clear sound, needs a very warm source/amp to make it more liquid

Pluto - not a planet, just a cartoon dog.


A guy, Gustav someone, did a test where he recorded the same track on each planet to show how different they sound.
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 3:33 PM Post #5 of 39
I'm not sure.

I could make a guess, or make something up, but I'm afraid someone will come along and tell me "you're talking out of the 7th planet from the Sun."
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM Post #8 of 39
We have to assume there is enough atmosphere to transmit the sound waves to your eardrums. The density of the gas or liquid will have a direct effect on the sound - think inhaling a helium balloon and then singing Ave Maria.

But all atmospheric variables being equal I'm not sure what else would affect sound. Temperature? I would think that in order for gravity to have any noticeable effect it would have to be drastically different than what we experience on Earth - approaching singularity levels. But my understanding of gravitational physics is almost as elementary as my chemistry.
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 4:04 PM Post #9 of 39
Maybe gravity will affect the movement of the drivers. Depending on how sensitive audio engineering is (I don't know), that could turn out to be a big difference.
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 4:24 PM Post #12 of 39
Gravity is a downward force and acts independently of horizontal forces like driver acceleration. What you're thinking of is air resistance and inertia. Inertia is based on mass, and gravity won't affect it. Air resistance will depend on the planet's atmosphere.
 
Now, if the headphone has a tilted driver, or the cups are tilted, gravity might have a small effect because some of the force is applied vertically.
 
Oct 23, 2011 at 6:16 PM Post #15 of 39
The sound will mostly depend on the atmosphere, on the moon there would be no sound at all, no air for the sound weaves to move through, extremely cold/hot too, depending on how you look at it.
On Mars, the atmosphere is very very thin, on Venus it's very very thick, on Mercury there barely is an atmosphere.
How it will affect the sound I donno, but the pressure and temperature differences on these worlds is of much greater concern then how the headphone will sound.
On Venus the headphone would melt, so no sound, on Mercury it's the same deal, at least during the day, at night they would freeze as if dipped in liquid nitrogen.
On Mars you might be able to make headphones work during to summer in areas of low elevation where temperatures at ground level go above freezing.
As for the sound, since the atmosphere is thin, I guess the voice of a person who inhaled helium might be a good hint as to how it would sound.
 

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