Put Your Headphones On – Over 120 Years of Music on the Go

An early use of headphones for music was the Electrophone system of 1895. Pre-dating broadcast radio, this system transmitted performances from opera houses to wealthy clients’ homes via telephone lines. During this time, moving-iron drivers having a thin steel diaphragm and a stationary coil were used. These suffered from poor frequency response and high distortion.
In 1910, American inventor Nathaniel Baldwin presented his design for modern over-the-ear headphones. Baldwin used the balanced armature driver, consisting of a coil suspended between a permanent magnet. These drivers are quite efficient and are still in use.

The next innovation was Beyerdynamic’s DT48 of 1937, which introduced the
electromagnetic or dynamic driver using a moving voice-coil and flexible cone diaphragm.

The DT48 set the architype for Hi-Fi headphones after the war.
The ‘50s saw the coming of true Hi-Fi audio and compact solid-state technology. By the end of the decade, music was becoming truly portable thanks to innovations such as transistorised portable turntables and pocket radios with earbuds.
The first stereo headphones were launched by the Koss Corporation in 1958. Coinciding with the heyday of Rock ‘n Roll, it was the beginning of the personal music revolution and headphone use flourished. Notable ‘phones of this era included the electrostatic Stax SR-1 of 1959, and the popular open-back Sennheiser HD414 of 1968.

Planar magnetic drivers exhibiting flat frequency response using a flat film diaphragm appeared in the 1972 Wharfedale ID1. The system was popularised by the Sansui SS100 and Yamaha YH1000 of 1978.

Another notable ‘70s design was the AKG K340, a dynamic-electrostatic hybrid from the Austrian manufacturer whose K120s’ of 1949 are also considered classics.

With the introduction of the Walkman in 1979, headphones attained a ubiquitous status through the ‘80s and ‘90s. A slew of cheap models appeared for the portable cassette market, along with improved higher-end offerings such as the Sony MDR-7506 and Sennheiser HD 600 which are still revered today.
The new millennium brought Bose’s first noise cancelling headphones and the first Bluetooth headsets.

Although the latter technology’s reliance on lossy compression saw it jilted by audiophiles, there is no doubt about the convenience it affords as evidenced by the present popularity of Bluetooth audio. Fortunately, considerable improvement has been made with the new Bluetooth 5.0 standard and high-end brands now offer flagship models in both the Bluetooth and wired segments that represent over 120 years of technological advances towards attaining sonic bliss on the go.

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