Inks
An expert on his own opinion.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2007
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I don't really know that the whole number of drivers thing means "squat" is completely true... I think it is impossible by the laws of physics that one single driver trying to make all the different vibrations necessary to reproduce the full frequency range of human hearing could sound better than 3 or 4 drivers tuned by crossovers to only have to reproduce a limited range each. One of the reasons why the W4 excells in being able to hear words and details you thought you couldn't hear before.
Just my 2c. but I do agree that just because an iem has a lot of drivers it is going to always sound "good". More factors are involved than number of drivers (which is what you are really saying anyway I think) however properly utilized multiple drivers can produce a superior sound than a single or double.
Depends on the bandwidth proficiency of each driver used. It's pretty well documented that the TWFK (dual-driver) set-ups have more treble bandwidth than the most expansive single BA IEMs (from Etymotic/FAD/Phonak). But then there are multi-BA set-ups with 3 or 4 drivers that have less bandwidth than TWFKs and even single BAs like the Phonak and Etymotics. There are tuning compromises that get made as you tune for a specific sound, the case that more drivers will always have a better reach is just untrue based on many well-documented examples, but the potential greater bandwidth is there with more drivers. Example the TG334 has less treble reach than the single driver ER4PT, despite using 4 drivers and likely less reach than a single driver FAD IEM in bass extension. In the end, the use of more drivers is more to tune for a specific sound rather trying to aim at extension. The W4 doesn't bring anything that I couldn't hear in single and deal BAs IME as long as it's the right ones.