Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 11, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The tablet market has for some time been experiencing an arms race of the kind previously known only from smartphones. Ever better displays, even more processors, larger hard-drive capacity, and high-resolution cameras are factors taken into account in this arms race. Sound and the speakers, in this case, are no more than the tail lights. Dolby now wants to intervene particularly on this last point and generate more quality through software by means of Dolby Digital Plus technology.
The background is that the integrated speakers in tablets are not exactly bursting with sound quality. With luck, distortion and tinny tones are limited. This is not only because the devices, tablets as well as smartphones, are becoming ever thinner and leave less room for proper speakers. In terms of price, cheaper speaker models are also more likely to be installed.
Particularly under this last-mentioned aspect, one wonders why Dolby wants to intervene. Software would, in principle, do little to solve physical problems. Nevertheless, Dolby is confident about improving the sound experience partially on tablets.
One approach to improvement is to use software filters to analyze high frequency ranges and compensate for occurring level peaks that arise when the volume is increased. Furthermore, dialogues are intended to be searched for specifically so that they can be separated from the remaining noises and raised. This is intended to prevent no words being understandable at lower volume.
Dolby is also working on emulating virtual surround sound, but for the time being this functionality will be accessible only to devices that also have two speakers installed.
Ultimately, for excellent sound quality, users will probably still have to resort to headphones, despite Dolby’s efforts to intervene with filters in real time. Unless high-quality speakers are integrated in the future, but on this point it is probably a matter of waiting and seeing.
Source: ars technica
