I recently watched a video showcasing a new children's toy that plays music and sound effects, but the audio quality is reminiscent of recordings from the 1980s. With advancements in chip technology, increased memory capacity, and decreasing costs, it's surprising that toys still come with such low-quality audio. Hasn't this issue been resolved?
5 Answers
It's really about profit margins. When you factor in the cost of embedding a decent speaker in cheap plastic toys, you won't get great sound quality no matter how good the chip is.
Consumer preference tends to lean towards cheaper options. Even if high-quality sound is technically possible, it's often not prioritized in low-cost products.
It's all about cost and battery life. Higher sample rates lead to increased power consumption, which is a big deal for toys that need to last a while on small batteries.
The price of digital to analog converters is still a consideration. Higher-quality converters cost a bit more, while cheaper ones can be just a few cents. For toys and cards that are tossed out quickly, that extra cost just isn’t justified.
They might have done the math and found that better audio quality doesn't significantly boost sales compared to the additional costs.
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