Thinking aloud.
I come from the professional music/audio side, working or volunteering as an audio engineer for live events, or in a studio.
In that world, it is de-facto, if you want a really accurate representation, you do not use a dynamic microphone. You get a condenser(aka capacitor) microphone, and if you want a really accurate representation, you use a small condenser microphone, and if you want a really really really accurate representation, you use a very very small condenser microphone, such as the ones used as measurement microphones. Such as is made by Earthworks.
I understand that dynamic microphones, while they have desirable subjective, creative advantages, accuracy is NOT one of them. Case in point, lots of Youtubers love the sound of the Shure SM7 or SM7B, cos it boosts the low end, in a manner that is warm and cuddly, delivering that radio ready voice. But this is NOT an accurate capture, however desirable.
I understand that dynamic microphones, typically do not capture high frequencies well, e.g. in the Shure SM58 or Shure SM57- the worlds most popular microphones, but definitely not because of their accurate capture of the source audio, more for their durability and the character they add to the source audio, which is deemed pleasing.
I understand that dynamic microphones, will NOT have the most linear transient response, cos of the mass of the diaphragm, which has some āinertiaā, so it takes a certain amount of energy to get it moving, therefore it āignoresā low level details, such as reverberation in a room, and one has to speak fairly close to a dynamic microphone. Which is great, for use in a reverberant room, i.e, the features of a dynamic microphone, that limit its sensitivity, have become an advantage, for recording in certain kinds of environments, with lots of ambient noise or reverberation.
Thinking aloud.
Why then do we use such a driver - the dynamic one, in so many transducers, in speakers, headphones, IEMs, when we know this kind of driver has well known limitations?
What is the loudspeaker driver equivalent, of a condenser microphone, in the speaker/headphone/IEM world, which would confer on such a speaker, the same kind of accuracy we hear in a condenser microphone.
Apologies to anyone looking for measurements. I have none. I do hope you can see my dilemma .
Just thinking from 1st principles, in one area of audio, we avoid using dynamic transducers for recording, yet we embrace them in speakers/headphones and IEMs.
For example it is almost impossible that we would find anyone recording an orchestra with a dynamic microphone. So why are dynamic drivers, so common place, in audio reproduction, i.e. playback of audio, when we avoid their use, in the accurate capture of audio?
I have no measurements, only what I hear, and you are welcome to put me down, for the next thing I say below. Its an open world - free speech and all that.
Ever since I heard a planar magnetic IEM, the ARRTI T10, Iāve been struggling to explain the marked improvement over every other device I have heard - speakers, headphones, IEMs. Every time I switch back to the ARTTI T10, itās like - wow, this is different, when I compare its Frequency Response, with other IEMās such as the Zero 2, not too dissimilar, but upon listening, the Zero 2 and every other dynamic IEM I own, just sounds congested, and unnatural, especially when listening to the human voice, and a choir - which was where I heard the most difference. My dynamic driver IEMās sound artificial in comparison, when listening to the reproduction of human voices.
I mention human voices, cos thatās what we know best. Our own voice, and the voice of other human beings. So easy to know when we hear a human voice on a loudspeaker, we can tell that is a reproduction, and not a real voice. For some reason, I am hoping to get to the bottom of, the ARTTI T10, with its planar technology, just sounded so much more true to life.
And it set me thinking. Is there an inherent problem with the dynamic driver technology, similar to its limitations, in use within microphones, such that ideally we should not be using dynamic drivers, in speakers/headphones/IEMs.
I am asking WHY? Hope I get some conclusive answers. Cos if there is something fundamentally limiting with a dynamic transducer, why do we use them, for accurate reproduction?