vivo TWS 5: A "Music Revolution" in Earphones
In the TV series "Tao of Heaven", in the mid - 1990s, the story of the legendary businessman Ding Yuanying spending 400,000 yuan on a top - end audio equipment configuration is still talked about with great interest to this day.
A screenshot from the TV series "Tao of Heaven"
"For the same piece, 'Zigeunerweisen', Mutter interprets it with sadness, melancholy, and sorrow, while Friedman interprets it with grief, solemnity, and pathos. They are different," Ding Yuanying commented in the drama.
This fictional business genius's obsession with musical details once resonated with countless Hi - Fi music enthusiasts.
Extending from the delicate interpretation of a famous violin piece, the complexity of musical expression is more fully reflected in symphonies.
"Symphony is one of the most complex forms of music in human history. It has extremely rich dynamics and details. From the on - site feeling it presents, the style of the performers, to the characteristics of each instrument and its different frequency bands, it is all extremely complex... To feel this complex expression, professional equipment is needed for playback, but this requirement is relatively high. It is very difficult to fully restore the on - site sound with civilian equipment," Chen Shizhe, an associate professor at the Department of Music Engineering of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the director of the Music Technology and Art Teaching and Research Section, and a first - class sound mixer, sighed to 36Kr in an interview.
However, this problem is not unsolvable.
Since the emergence of the world's first recording device, it has only been about a hundred years, and the earphone as a form is a product of the past few decades. The pace of technological progress is faster than human imagination, and consumers' demands are also keeping up. As Wang Youfei, the general manager of the Intelligent Terminal Development Department of vivo, said, "Consumers' requirements for earphone sound quality have gradually upgraded from 'just being able to hear' to'real - life original sound restoration at the studio level'. And they hope to have a more immersive feeling in the music experience."
On October 13th, vivo officially launched the latest generation of vivo TWS 5 flagship true wireless noise - canceling earphones. This latest product, jointly developed by vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory and the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a top - tier music institution in China, is trying to bring the demanding appreciation of music details and spiritual essence by people like Ding Yuanying from the exclusive experience of a few to the general public.
vivo TWS 5 Hi - Fi version
The 'Golden Hall' in the earphones
The vivo TWS 5 comes in two models: the standard version and the Hi - Fi version targeting music 'enthusiasts' and those with high - bit - rate requirements. The standard version of the vivo TWS 5 is priced at 399 yuan, while the Hi - Fi version is priced at 499 yuan.
In terms of appearance, it continues the minimalist design of the vivo TWS series. It uses the second - generation ceramic tungsten original sound diaphragm. The weight of each earphone is controlled at about 4.8 grams, balancing comfort and wearing stability.
In terms of the most distinctive feature, the sound quality - this earphone is positioned as a 'flagship noise - canceling TWS earphone with professional sound quality'. Its goal is to allow users to have an ultimate listening experience in any environment.
To achieve this, in addition to the luxurious 'component stacking' that is almost at the cost limit, it must be mentioned that there is a deep cooperation between vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory and the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music this time.
vivo TWS 5 Hi - Fi version
First of all, relying on years of accumulated acoustic data and tuning experience, vivo and the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music jointly tuned the standard and Hi - Fi versions of the vivo TWS 5. They made a comprehensive and precise adjustment to the earphones from the acoustic structure to the audio algorithm, and breakthroughly balanced the acoustic indicators and the subjective listening experience of TWS earphones.
The vivo TWS 5 Hi - Fi version is also equipped with the 'Ultimate Master' sound effect jointly customized with the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Different from the parameter - based adjustment of ordinary sound effects, the 'Ultimate Master' sound effect is more like a delicate 'acoustic dissection'. The team deconstructed the resonance characteristics of 32 instruments in a symphony orchestra. From the 'breathing feeling' when the wooden cavity of the cello vibrates to the 'rustling feeling of gold foil' of the metal friction sound of the trumpet, they try to accurately restore the on - site experience of high - quality music through the cooperation of algorithms and hardware, and try to pack the most professional, authoritative, and user - friendly 'Golden Hall' listening experience into the 4.8 - gram earphones.
In addition, as the new - generation flagship earphones of vivo's audio team, both models of the vivo TWS 5 adopt a four - microphone active noise - canceling solution. Based on the full - link hardware system design solution, it can achieve a maximum of 60dB of 'Deep - Sea Smart Noise Cancellation'. The noise - canceling width can reach 5500Hz, and it has been specially strengthened for three common commuting noise scenarios for users: airplanes, subways, and buses. According to vivo's data, it can eliminate up to 99.9% of daily noise.
The ears of artists vs. the souls of engineers
When talking about vivo's TWS earphones, the 'Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory' under vivo is an unavoidable topic.
vivo Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory
This is a somewhat'mysterious' institution. From the interview video publicly released by vivo in 2021, we know that it is a team composed of people from different internal departments of vivo with professional backgrounds in music and technology, focusing on the research of good sound.
Wang Youfei, the general manager of vivo's Intelligent Terminal Development Department, described its positioning as - finding scientific evidence in the field of subjective music evaluation, establishing the recognition and standards of vivo's good - sound style, and providing users with an extraordinary sound quality experience.
In other words, it uses technology to implement the standards defined by art and bring the beauty of 'good sound' to users.
Take the vivo TWS 5 as an example. The acoustic achievements of this flagship TWS earphone are the result of repeated collisions and adjustments between the 'artist thinking' of the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the 'engineer thinking' of vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory. In the two - and - a - half - year cooperation on the cognition of good sound and human - factor research between the two parties, they faced numerous problems brought by music, mixing, tuning, audio and acoustic replay technologies. Each breakthrough brought them closer to the goal of 'popularizing professional sound quality'.
When talking about the significance of earphone acoustic tuning, Yu Yang, a professor at the Department of Music Engineering of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the director of the department, the director of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Music Acoustics and Art, and a composer, told 36Kr, "Products made by technology are often very data - driven, objective, with indicators and strict regulations - but they may not necessarily sound good. For example, a piano has hundreds of strings and 88 keys. If it is tuned completely by machine, it can be tuned very precisely, with the pitch of 440Hz being accurate to the smallest degree, but the tuned result may not be pleasant. We mainly combine the relatively subjective and common aesthetic standards with these objective data to achieve a suitable state."
Some equipment in vivo Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory
First of all, and one of the biggest problems: How to maximally restore the complex rhythm, melody, timbre, and harmony of symphonies on TWS earphones?
As mentioned above, "Symphony is one of the most complex forms of music in human history". Popular vocal music usually focuses on melody and rhythm, and the instruments are usually a combination of the four common popular instruments. However, symphonies have complex orchestration, large dynamics, wide pitch range, broad sound field, and great depth, which greatly tests the acoustic system capabilities of earphones. In other words, the success of symphony tuning will bring an almost 'game - changing' improvement to most audio sound effects.
However, it is very difficult to perfectly present all this musical complexity on wireless earphones with limited volume.
During the project research and development period, vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory and the tuning masters' team from Shanghai Conservatory of Music conducted nearly a hundred listening comparisons, and even had disputes over 'leading the market or catering to users'. Finally, the two parties chose symphonies as the benchmark to promote the improvement of auditory aesthetics.
In addition, the vivo TWS 5 team achieved 'Full - Link Ultimate Hi - Fi' for the first time in the Hi - Fi version - from lossless audio transmission, high - performance codecs to ultra - wideband, high - resolution speaker units, each link has been optimized for high - fidelity restoration.
Wang Xin, a recording engineer of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, a first - class recording engineer, and a first - class sound mixer
Moreover, Wang Xin from the tuning masters' team of Shanghai Conservatory of Music told 36Kr, "Everyone's ear canal is different, and the sound will be processed differently after passing through the ear canal. So in - ear earphones have personalized listening experiences for each person, and there are actual differences in the listening feeling." Associate Professor Chen Shizhe from the tuning masters' team of Shanghai Conservatory of Music added, "What we pursue is the sound restoration feeling at the best position in the concert hall."
Then comes the next question - the essence of 'tuning' is the aesthetic preference for music, which is undoubtedly a highly individualized preference. How to balance the music preferences of different users?
For example, in the early stage of the cooperation, both vivo and Shanghai Conservatory of Music found an interesting phenomenon: Most ordinary commuting users think that 'the heavier the bass and the brighter the treble, the better the sound quality', which deviates from the advanced balanced listening concept in Europe and America and the 'restoring the on - site sound' concept advocated by Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Finding a balance between 'professional standards' and 'public preferences' has become another problem for the team.
In fact, in the two - and - a - half - year 'Good Sound Cognition and Human - Factor Research' project between vivo and the tuning masters' team of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the two parties combined music theory, technical solutions, and human - factor research. They conducted research on the aesthetic standards of music production and replay, the good - sound styles preferred by users, the listening evaluation norms, and the tuning, and found the sound - quality style and standard curve preferred by most users.
The vivo TWS 5 Hi - Fi version has six professional sound effects suitable for different scenarios built - in. In addition to the 'Ultimate Master' sound effect jointly customized with the tuning masters' team of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, there are also the 'Standard Sound Effect' suitable for daily use, the 'Clear Vocals' that highlights the vocals, and the 'Ultra - Low Bass' that makes the bass deeper. Users can also customize the sound effects according to their own preferences, which is suitable for both 'novice' users in daily use and can meet the personalized needs of 'Hi - Fi enthusiasts'.
Some equipment in vivo Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory
In addition to sound quality and sound effects, the flagship - level noise - canceling performance is another highlight of the vivo TWS 5 this time.
Five years ago, if we talked about noise cancellation on TWS earphones, we would probably get a retort like 'Don't be too greedy'. However, five years later, with the further development and popularization of audio technology and noise - canceling technology, flagship - level noise cancellation has become possible on small earphones.
First of all, it must be admitted that previously, the noise - canceling pain points of users on TWS earphones have not been well solved.
Through user research, vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory found that the core scenarios for most users to use earphones are commuting (by airplane or subway), working in the office, and traveling. Among them, the noise in the commuting scenario is the most complex (including low - frequency rumbling, high - frequency station announcements, car horns, etc.).
For this reason, vivo's Golden Ears Acoustic Laboratory conducted special noise collection for these high - noise scenarios and optimized the noise - canceling algorithm for different scenarios. The earphones can analyze the audio characteristics of