Topic: My Bozo Bose/GBA Dream

[Sean]

Bear with me here.  Inspiration has struck.  Struck like a balpene hammer to the knee-cap.

Here's a goofy thought I had that sounds unbearably appealing to me, however impossible.  Imagine if the next iteration of the GameBoy (not to get too ahead--I don't want the GBA hardware to go anywhere anytime soon) had a sound system developed by Bose.  Of course, the speaker system itself would raise the GB by about 800%, but who cares!??  It would be amazing!  And, like I said, probably impossible, at this point at least.

Maybe the speakers (yes, speakers--I'm asking for something called stereo sound here, Nintendo) could be pulled from the sides or folded and twisted out from behind (so that the speakers would actually be hidden face down in the back when stored).  Anyway, the whole thing would somehow be a very small version of the Bose wave radio (the sound system, I mean), as acoustically miraculous as the workings of the inner ear (a simulated cochlea would amplify the sound inside the GBA and send it catapulting out of he speakers, changing your life with every note), and incredibly affordable.  See, it wouldn't be 800% more expensive after all!

What I'm getting at is this: imagine if the GB actually had good sound--or at least a little bass?  That would be cool, no?

There could even be a merger: NintenBose.

The blurb: "Be witness to the awesome sound clarity of the revolutionary NintenBose WaveBoy GameRadio (TM)!  One note will open your bowels and leave your shiny entrails a magnificent heap upon the earth below you--below you, indeed, because the NintenBose WaveBoy Game Radio (TM) will send you into the STRATOSPHERE!"

Okay, so that blurb's too long, but after reading it a few times, I can't imagine removing anything.....  

[RickPowers]

First, you will not get stereo sound from an included speaker(s) in a handheld system.  EVER.  Why?  Because it's a waste of money.  You simply can't get decent sound separation from two speakers that close together.

As for better sound quality, largely, you can only get that by increasing the size of the driver, and clearly we're running out of space.  In order to get decent bass response, you need to move air under the driver, and you can't do that in such a small enclosed space without some really neat tricks.  Tricks like the wave guide in the Bose Wave Radios.  Still, there's no room.

Seriously, the best sound you're ever going to get from something that small is going to be in headphones.  In fact, I'd rather have Dolby Headphone support, which gives you FULL SURROUND SOUND from your headphones.  How?  Well, you only have two ears, right?  Two speakers right on your ears are enough, they just use mathmatic principles to change the sounds to make them sound like they're coming from different places/distances.  Cool stuff, but takes a LOT of horsepower.

[Sean]

Rick, you're right.  In the end it was a dream for great sound no matter how it's done.  I knew it was pretty ridiculous (cochlea, anyone?  haha).

Headphones are the way to go, of course.  I'll tell you what though, headphones on the GBA can be pretty nasty.  Link to the Past sounds horrible in phones!  Very first-gen Genesis sounding.  I was disappointed.  Sounds great out of the mono-speaker by comparison.

I'm not big on the tech. side of things, so tell me someone: is asking for a soundchip in the GBA the wrong thing to ask for for better sound?  I've heard people say it has the GB's soundchip, and others have said it has no soundchip at all.  Are they both actually right and the GBA doesn't have a dedicated chip for the new hardware, so it has to use the GB chip or be done through software?

I'm probably getting mixed up about something, so set me straight.

[EL Pollo DIablos]

And I personaly wouldnt drag speakersaround or stick them to the GBA.
AndIthink it would affectthe battery use. And handheld games have never had stereo sound.
I dont miss it.Golden Sun for example has has great sound wheter or not it is stereo.
Good ideabut the prices would rise to.

El Pollo Diablos

[RickPowers]

Quote
And handheld games have never had stereo sound.

They most certainly have.  Most GBA games have a "Stereo" option, you just have to turn it on.

[Edisim]

Maybe it's not a pipedream... flat panel speaker technology is available and, I assume, always improving, just like all technologies. With a setup like the GBA SP, you could have the flat panel speakers slide out or flip/fold/swing out from the back of the flip-up screen. Since the screen is not directly between your hands like with the normal GBA, the speakers won't get in the way either. And you could potentially have them flip and slide out far enough that you can hear the stereo seperation. It won't sound great, but it will sure look cool. I think flat panel speakers tend to sound tinny, though, whatever the size.

And I've never really been a believer in two speaker (headphone) surround sound.. yeah, people hear 3d sound with only 2 ears, but that's not the end of the story. Whenever you see footage of animals like deer or rabbits, you see their ears turning and moving, usually one ear at a time; this is like pointing a satelite (how do you spell that?) dish at different angles/directions to get the strongest signal. So with animals, and with humans, when we first hear a sound, we can gauge general distance by the volume, and maybe know the general direction that it came from (if it's close enough and not directly in front of us or behind us so that the time it takes for the sound to get to one ear versus the other is long enough). But usually we need to hear the sound again as we turn our heads so our brain can confirm the direction.  I listened to and watched a demo video with "surround sound for headphones" years ago when it was first introduced (for the pc anyway). It wasn't very convincing. It was more disorientating than amazing, impressive, or anything else. But I guess this technology has probably improved since then..

[CrYpTiC]

Why dont they have a mini amp, or one of those really tiny loud speakers ( I have 3 in my room) and build the Game Boy around it? It would work fine dont tell me it wouldn't, it just might be a little big hehe.

[Sean]

Thank you, Edisim.  You make my dreams sound a bit less idiotic.  ;-)

Seriously, I just want really cool speakers for my GameBoy.  That's all.  Who doesn't?  Also, I'm not talking about having to plug speakers into your GBA--that was just an offhanded comment based on my messing around with my GBA and my PC speakers--avoiding headphones and that crap speaker in the system itself.