[AT Khan]

Lows are considerably less directional than miss or highs. I think your surround perception has more to do with your state of mind than the construction of the headphones.

That's true - but I referred to 'speed', and 'quick dynamics' in the bass, not the direction. You see, bass is where the driver has to work the most when pushing the most air, as fast and as quick as possible.

Besides that - I may be mistaken, surely. Again - it's just a hunch, and I could be terribly wrong here, so no real disagreement.

 

[bigshot]

I don’t see how “speed” could create directionality in low frequencies. In fact, delays are more important to discerning distance and direction than speed. I think a chunk of what you’re describing is placebo effect.

 

[AT Khan]

I don’t see how “speed” could create directionality. I think a chunk of what you’re describing is placebo effect.

Haha I know - but ok here me out: I didn't mention directionality here - I mean linearity... a more linear movement of the driver cone as a whole, like audioquest guys explain here:

Their design ........................ vs ............ conventional design

Of course this primarily has to do with the materials of the cone, but I wonder if the surrounds are also playing a role.

 

[AT Khan]

Course I may not know any better - I'm basically just describing what I'm hearing.
If it is placebo, then I rest my case.

 

[castleofargh]

I don't have enough understanding to weight in on design choices, but the pretty universal design for speakers was with surround, then headphones came to be. It would have been most logical to use what was known yet it didn't go that way in the end. Instead of being a standard, the use of surround became an exception in the headphone industry. There must have been be some pretty compelling reason for that to happen, but what was it? And is it still relevant today?
I'd love to know the answer to that from guys in the business. This is a big aspect of headphone's history that I missed.

 

[AT Khan]

I don't have enough understanding to weight in on design choices, but the pretty universal design for speakers was with surround, then headphones came to be. It would have been most logical to use what was known yet it didn't go that way in the end. Instead of being a standard, the use of surround became an exception in the headphone industry. There must have been be some pretty compelling reason for that to happen, but what was it? And is it still relevant today?
I'd love to know the answer to that from guys in the business. This is a big aspect of headphone's history that I missed.

count me in on the curiosity...

 

[bigshot]

Wasn’t surround sound mentioned? Maybe I misread discussion of the surrounds of the transducer. If so, never mind as Emily Latella says!

 

[AT Khan]

Wasn’t surround sound mentioned? Maybe I misread discussion of the surrounds of the transducer. If so, never mind as Emily Latella says!

Haha - yes I meant speaker/driver surrounds...

 

[Dogmatrix]

Course I may not know any better - I'm basically just describing what I'm hearing.
If it is placebo, then I rest my case.

You are 100% correct and your first post did a very good job of explaining the mechanical differences

 

[Dogmatrix]

I don't have enough understanding to weight in on design choices, but the pretty universal design for speakers was with surround, then headphones came to be. It would have been most logical to use what was known yet it didn't go that way in the end. Instead of being a standard, the use of surround became an exception in the headphone industry. There must have been be some pretty compelling reason for that to happen, but what was it? And is it still relevant today?
I'd love to know the answer to that from guys in the business. This is a big aspect of headphone's history that I missed.

The main downside of single piece construction is the effective area of the driver is restricted to the fixed volume within the voice coil diameter
So a 50mm single piece driver is effectively a 30mm driver and since you can still make a pretty decent pair of headphones with a 30mm driver the increased cost of greater complexity is judged unnecessary
Now that headphones can command much higher prices the cost to performance ratio has shifted and the designers are starting to win against the accountants