Samsung Newsroom spoke with Dr. Sean Olive, Acoustic Research Senior Fellow for HARMAN International, where he has worked since 1993. He directs the Corporate HARMAN X Sound Quality Group, whose research has mainly focused on the perception and measurement of sound reproduction including loudspeakers, room acoustics, automotive audio, headphones, and smart speakers.

Dr. Sean E. Olive, Senior Fellow, Acoustic Research HARMAN INTERNATIONAL

Q. What are the current music listening trends especially amongst a young generation and how does the context of listening to music influence our experience?

Music today is heard under many different contexts and environments often serving as an accompaniment to daily activities such as exercise, commuting, work, and shopping.

Among Millennials, digital streaming of music has become the preferred means to listen to music. They listen to 75% more music on a daily basis than Baby boomers.¹ A 2016 study from Northwestern University found that when it comes to music discovery, young people value convenience the most, favoring music services that are available across many platforms for easy access.

Moreover, new channels of digital music distribution such as music apps have made it easier for consumers to access a deeper catalogue of music from different artists and genres than ever before. Millennials in particular like to select their own tracks and tend to jump across platforms to hear the songs they like, and will skip songs they don’t like after hearing a few bars. We’ve moved from listening to entire albums from the same artist to listening to individual tracks from multiple artists across different genres, which has not only significantly affected our experience, it impacts how music is created, recorded and distributed.

Q. Does the equipment matter when we’re listening to music or does a great song suffice?

Good equipment can’t fix a bad song or performance but it can make it sound wonderful. Good equipment allows us to hear all the notes of the music from the lowest pipe organ note to the highest overtones of the piccolo accurately reproduced with correct spectral balance and dynamic nuances. There is nothing more exciting than to experience a Beethoven Symphony reproduced through your audio system at home at concert levels without strain or compromise.

Q. What are some practical tips on how we can improve the quality of the music we listen to on a regular basis, including improving our listening experience?

For headphone listening, the fit and seal of the cup or ear-tip is critical to hearing good bass. If sound leaks out of your ear you are less isolated from background noise and will hear less bass.

For loudspeaker listening, proper placement is critical to achieving balanced sound and stereo imaging. The stereo speakers should be equidistant from the listener at an angle of ± 30 degrees in order to hear instruments properly distributed between the speakers. Moving them 1-2 meter away from the walls can reduce excess bass or muddiness. The speakers should be angled towards the listening spot with the tweeter at the same height as the ears of a seated listener.

Q. What does a listener need to pay attention to when they choose the device on which they listen to music?

Many speaker systems, particularly portable Bluetooth systems have limitations in how much bass they can reproduce particularly at higher volume levels. To hide this fact they will sometimes add extra upper bass, or for active speakers, they will reduce the bass as you turn up the volume making it sound thin and anemic. Apart from that, listen to tracks with instruments that cover the entire spectrum and listen for how smooth and even-balanced the sound is. The spectral balance should be smooth and even and sound neither bright/dull, or too full/thin. When you turn up the volume, the balance shouldn’t change significantly or get harsh and fuzzy (an indication of distortion).

Lexicon SL-1

Q. HARMAN launched Lexicon SL-1 recently. What are HARMAN’s expectations for the launch?

Musicians are probably familiar with the Lexicon brand, which invented digital reverberation. This is truly a unique loudspeaker in that the sounds radiated from it range from a narrow focus for an intimate sound to a very broad omnidirectional pattern without a significant change to the timbre of the sound. This gives you the option of hearing a very focused sound or a very spacious sound depending on the choice of music, room acoustics or personal taste. The so-called stereo sweet spot can also be beamed to wherever the listener chooses to sit.

Q. With technological innovations in audio technology, can more people become audiophiles and learn to appreciate high quality audio production and subtle differences that elevate the music to another level?

It is clear from HARMAN’s sound quality research over the past 25+ years that most naive listeners can hear and appreciate better sound quality when given the opportunity to compare different products side by side whether it’s loudspeakers, headphones or lossless versus low-bit MP3 music. With the decline of brick-and-mortar audio stores replaced by internet sales there are fewer opportunities to test products side by side. So, we have to figure out how to educate and reach more consumers on what is good sound, better communicate the benefits, and make it easier for them to find and achieve critical listening. The opportunities are huge since audio is consumed everywhere (car, home, cinema, work, gym and on-the-go). For example, we are working on a consumer-focused version of our listener training software called “How to Listen” that we hope to make available soon.

Q. How can you meet the balance between professional level sound quality and popularization?

HARMAN makes audio products for both professional and consumers. The sound quality targets are essentially the same. Any film, television, or music track mixed on a JBL professional monitor or AKG headphone should sound much the same on our higher quality consumer products. The differences mainly lie in the industrial design, features and user experience.

HARMAN Luxury Audio Studio in Munich, Germany

Q. HARMAN recently opened a luxury studio in Munich, Germany. Could you tell us a little bit about the studio and the features of the studio that you want people to know about?

Dedicated to the Art of Listening, the new Luxury Studio celebrates and showcases HARMAN’s award-winning luxury audio brands through a uniquely immersive approach.

HARMAN’s Luxury Audio Group boasts five prestigious brands—JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon and ARCAM—which together deliver the most advanced high-performance audio systems available anywhere in the world. The HARMAN Luxury Audio Studio was designed to serve not only as a billboard for these remarkable, award-winning brands, but to offer HARMAN’s customers and partners the opportunity to interact with them in a wholly original way.

Resembling a musician’s loft, the studio contains a stereo lounge with a vinyl record wall and a conference room. Everything in the studio was designed using materials chosen for their acoustic properties, with vintage layers and textures throughout the space. Completing the studio is a state-of-the-art JBL Synthesis 7.4.4 home theater with Dolby Atmos® to be used as a testing ground for HARMAN’s latest products while providing a luxury in-home experience certain to impress audiophiles and audio professionals alike.

Q. Is there any HARMAN technology applied to Samsung products?

Yes, one example is the new AKG Headphones like the N5005 and N700, and Samsung Galaxy Buds. These new products are designed to conform to the HARMAN Target Curves, which is based on HARMAN X’s research into listener sound quality preferences. The sound profile is very precise and refined, and preferred by the majority of listeners we’ve tested.

In addition, there are already ongoing collaborations between Harman and Samsung in Lifestyle, Professional and Automotive spaces. HARMAN’s expertise, technologies and markets are a natural compliment to Samsung’s so it only makes sense that such collaborations continue.

Q. What will the future look like in the way we listen to music?

We listen to music today more than ever, and this will continue. Autonomous driving is one example where humans will have more free time to actively listen to music with full attention. As we better understand the science of how music and our mode of listening affect our health and wellbeing, we will become more aware and motivated to become active listeners.

¹ Digital Music News : Millennials Listen to 75% More Music Than Baby Boomers, Study Finds (June 2, 2016)

Gone are the days when your earphones were attached to the end of an electric cord. Losing the cables and mounted with Bluetooth technology, they have evolved into wireless earbuds. Users no longer have to worry about the cables getting tangled into a knot in their pockets. What’s more, wireless earbuds are now available in various designs that add a fashionable value.

Samsung Electronics’ all new ‘Galaxy Buds’ offers the best performance of all the advantages of wireless earphones. It is smaller and lighter than the previous generation, which makes for longer and more comfortable wear. With the enhanced battery efficiency, it offers longer usage time with a single charge. Perhaps most importantly, its sound quality has been improved with the technology of AKG, the premium audio brand of Harman.

The upgrade from the previous generation is clear in terms of specs. Samsung Newsroom has tried the product to experience just how much better it is when used.

Galaxy Buds is very lightweight that it is barely detectable in the palm of the hand. The size is also smaller than Samsung’s existing wireless earphones, ‘Gear IconX.’ Instead of hanging on the ears, Galaxy Buds ensures the best possible fit with its wing tips, and do not fall out easily. Even the largest wing tips do not press on the earflaps, making the earbuds comfortable and stable to wear.

The earbuds are a compact size that fits snugly inside the ears and the exterior that shows outside it is fashioned to a nicely rounded shape. The gloss of the surface material is quite natural and soft in color that it goes well with various kinds of styles. Users need not worry about whether the earbuds look good with their outfits.

Well-Balanced and Solid Sound Quality

‘Sound by AKG’ is etched on to the packaging of the product, showing the company’s confidence in the Galaxy Buds’ solid sound quality, which proved to be quite well balanced and consistent. It offers a deep, consistent base and a flat treble. For those who have their own taste for a certain sound field¹, use the ‘Galaxy Wearable’ app to choose one from the five EQ presets and customize the sound profile.

I tried listening to various genres of music for each EQ preset to figure out the difference. For emotional music such as ballads or jazz, the ‘dynamic’ setting was the best fit. For band or dance music, the ‘clear’ setting was a solid choice since it highlighted the differences in mixed sounds. According to the styles and ranges of vocals or instruments used, selecting the ‘bass boost’ or ‘treble boost’ was a nice pick. When I was enjoying music while concentrating on another task, the ‘soft’ preset was comfortable to listen to as it balanced different tones.

The sound quality during phone calls was outstanding in clarity, which makes for a pleasant experience to switch over to answering a phone call from listening to music. A good set of earphones maintains its sound quality not only when the music is playing but also during phone calls. Galaxy Buds showed consistent, solid performance on the subway or inside elevators and blocked out the noise well.

The two embedded microphones also controlled the volume of my voice according to the surrounding environment. During the several phone calls I made when I was using Galaxy Buds, I seldom heard complaints from the other person for not being able to hear me over the surrounding noise.

A useful tip for when making a phone call in a noisy environment is to choose ear tips that are a perfect, snug fit in the ears. This helps make a difference in blocking out the noise from the surroundings so that the microphone embedded in the interior nozzle of the earbud can pick up the user’s voice more easily.

Useful Features Including Seamless Connection and ‘Find My Earbuds’

Galaxy Buds automatically connects to the user’s smartphone when the case is open and disconnects when placed back in the case. With a simple touch on the surface of an earbud, users can play or pause the current song, or move onto the previous or next song. Users can even give orders or turn on and off certain features using voice command.

When the earbuds are misplaced, users can activate the ‘Find My Earbuds’ feature on the Galaxy Wearables app. The earbuds will start making a beeping sound which will help relocate them.

By turning on ‘notifications’, users can receive a voice notification in between the music when they receive a message or email. This feature is useful for those that always need to be available at work or when expecting an important message. Users can also manage notifications and turn them on or off for specific apps.

‘Ambient sound mode’ let noise from the surroundings flow into the earbuds without taking them off. It balances between the sound from the earbuds and from the surroundings. Using this mode, I was able to check work related videos while listening to what my colleagues were saying and listen to some music without missing any announcements in the subway.

Longer Battery Life and Easy Battery Charging

Galaxy Buds lasts up to six hours when used for listening to music, and five hours for making phone calls. Galaxy Buds lasted a whole day with just a single charge when I listened to some music and made a few phone calls during my commute and working hours. Of course, as the Galaxy Buds case act as a charger, the earbuds can last longer. It comes in handy while on a trip or on a long flight.

The newly mounted wireless charging feature also adds convenience. I just put the earbuds back inside the case and place it on a wireless charger or a Galaxy S10². It is completely wireless, in a sense that it doesn’t require a cable when being charged either. Thanks to this feature, users can be relieved from the stress of constantly checking the remaining battery life.

All in all, users are in good hands with the Galaxy Buds, in various aspects including sound quality and battery life – not to mention the sleek, cute design and a comfortable fit. Galaxy Buds handle quite nicely some inconveniences users might have experienced with other wireless earphones. For those who are looking for the ‘ultimate’ wireless earphones, Galaxy Buds will make a good choice.

¹ Sound Field is a virtual space created by sound to provide the most realistic listening experience. Sound fields are usually controlled through the residual sounds and equalizer.

² According to tests conducted by Samsung Electronics, the battery lasts 100 minutes after a 15-minute charge. The exact time may vary according to individual user’s tendencies. ‘Wireless PowerShare’ is limited to Galaxy S10 series and will stop sharing battery power once the smartphone’s battery falls below 30 percent.

As more people enjoy music and video through their smartphones, even greater importance is placed on the multimedia capabilities of our mobile devices. In the design of the Galaxy S9, Samsung set out to reimagine the smartphone’s speakers, joining with globally renowned audio specialists to achieve a premium stereo sound.

Sitting down with three of the flagship smartphone’s designers in the Mobile Communications Business – Dongsoo Kim from the Global Product Planning Group and Jaehyun Kim and Seongkwan Yang from the Audio Group – we took a closer look on how the speakers of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ were optimized for multimedia content.

More Speakers, More Sound

Dongsoo Kim reflected on what drove the team to bring the stereo speaker experience to the Galaxy S9: “As more and more people access content through their smartphones, greater emphasis was placed on the screen and creating bigger, higher-quality displays to view content with. Since display technology has already reached this point, we set out to design a high-performing speaker to equal the screen.”

The first step in Samsung’s journey towards stereo sound was equipping the device with two speakers. Whereas previous generations of the smartphone have placed a single speaker at the bottom of the phone, the Galaxy S9 has speakers at both the bottom and the top of the phone, creating a more immersive experience.

“The key was to develop speakers and amplifiers that serve the dual purpose of making phone calls and consuming media,” said Jaehyun Kim. “We poured our efforts into enhancing the quality of the sound and creating greater volume.”

The speaker holes were redesigned to be larger, producing higher quality audio, and the team was also able to increase the device’s volume, making it 1.4 times (3-4 dB) louder than the Galaxy S8.

Over 80 Designs Tested

There are strict procedures to ensure the reliability of Samsung products and multiple stages of testing were involved in designing the speakers of the Galaxy S9.

To achieve greater sound accuracy and precision, the audio designers paid close attention to enhancing the speakers’ dynamic range – the ratio of the quietest to the loudest sounds that the speakers can reproduce – and their frequency range, which controls the pitch.

“Our primary focus was to develop a speaker that is both high performing and stable,” Seongkwan Yang explained. “We carefully examined the quality of the components, testing more than 80 versions of the diaphragm before we were finally satisfied that we had a speaker that functioned seamlessly at both high and low pitches.”

Jaehyun Kim added: “We encountered unexpected challenges as we converted the mono speaker into stereo speakers, so we strived to optimize the device for viewing multimedia content.”

Partnering with Audio Experts

As part of their commitment to create a high-quality sound experience for the Galaxy S9, Samsung joined forces with two global experts in audio technology: premium Harman’s brand AKG, and Dolby.

The developers aimed to achieve high-fidelity sound quality and precision at any volume by leveraging the expertise of Harman’s AKG. Coordinating closely, it took half a year to fine- tune the speakers to meet AKG’s high standards.

“Users with a good ear for sound can immediately appreciate the difference. Samsung’s long dedication in search of enhanced audio, coupled with Harman’s expertise, resulted in the speakers satisfying both sound quality and volume,” commented Jaehyun Kim.

The Galaxy S9 also integrates Dolby Atmos® immersive sound technology, which brings entertainment to life with moving audio that flows all around you, be it over a device’s built-in speakers or through regular stereo headphones. Leveraging Dolby’s deep understanding of what listeners prefer in an audio experience, Dolby Atmos® on the Galaxy S9 makes you feel as if you are inside the action as the sounds of people, places, things, and music come alive with richness and depth and seem to move in three-dimensional space. This feature benefits other types of content in addition to Dolby Atmos® enabled content, through enhancements to sound quality and consistent playback volume across all content.

“During our testing, our results showed that immersive sound could bring a whole new experience to smartphone users,” Dongsoo Kim elaborated. “Since so many people now view premium content on their smartphones, it felt like the right moment to implement Dolby Atmos on our devices.”

Making the Most of an Optimized Audio Experience

The audio developers had plenty of tips about how to enjoy the stereo sounds of the Galaxy S9.

Jaehyun Kim recommended listening to classical music to gain a fuller understanding of the difference: “You can distinguish the individual sounds and characteristics of each instrument. It’s an amazing feeling to hear the audio how it was originally intended, picking out every interaction between soft and loud.”

“Head to the sounds and vibration settings on your phone,” advised Dongsoo Kim. “Take a look at sound quality and effects under the advanced features and turn on Dolby Atmos to enable immersive audio. Users can also enhance their headphone audio experience by turning on the UHQ upscaler and the Adapt Sound feature, taking their listening to a new level.”

Now, one month on from the launch of the Galaxy S9, the team is already carefully considering its next steps in audio design. Dongsoo Kim elaborated: “Our aim will be to create a mobile multimedia experience that is just like holding a cinema in your own hands.”