Jargon buster
Digital-to-Analogue Conversion is where digital audio files are converted to analogue sound, which can be heard by headphones and earphones. Some phone manufacturers have opted to have a dedicated DAC, as it produces a more accurate sound.
This is often defined by the choice of materials used in heador earphones. Its definition isn’t set in stone, but is used to describe the way sound frequencies bounce off materials and resonate.
The sparkle in your music (cymbals and high hats, for example) comes from the highs. The better they are, the more sparkle you’ll have. Sometimes you might be treated with too much high-end frequencies, which leads to sibilance. A good extension of the highs can lead to a more open soundstage.
This term is used to describe the way the music is portrayed – poor imaging means the sound that is being reproduced isn’t accurate. Imaging is often linked with the soundstage and the decay, as it goes hand-in-hand with these two.
The term is pretty self-explanatory, but when talked about in audio equipment refers to the way instruments sound in different positions. Often when music is recorded, the sound engineer/producer will make a certain sound intentionally come from a specific direction. When coupled with the soundstage, the instrument separation aids in the immersion of the music.
Lows are known as the bass – it’s a combination of both the sub- and mid-bass frequencies.
The mid-range frequency, the ‘in-between’ of the low and high frequencies. This covers everything from a range of instruments and vocals. It can sometimes be split up again into the lower mid-range that transits off the bass and contains most male vocals, and the higher mid-range that projects most female vocals. If the mid-range is boosted and reproduced correctly, it can add a sense of clarity to songs. This is where a lot of portable amplifiers tend to focus on and where the term ‘cleaner sound’ comes from.
This is the bass slam – the more noticeable bass frequency found in almost every audio equipment. The best way to describe it would be the bass that comes from a drummer on-stage.
Output impedance in audio is the resistance and output that can be heard from an amplifier. In the case of a phone, this applies to the internal amplifier that’s used. The output impedance can create an absence of bass or a skewing of the frequency response of a source, in this case a phone.
These terms are used to describe the lows and highs. The low-end when not fully extended can seem cut-off, where a manufacturer has in essence not extended the lows. The term ’rolled-off’ works in the same principle, but is often used to describe the highs – where they sound soothed out, rather than extended.
The soundstage refers to the positioning and placement of the sound relative to your ears. A visual comparison would be contrasting an opera hall and a small room, where the latter would provide a narrower, more closed soundstage, while the opera hall