[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> * las <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Mon, 17 Jul 2000
> | B but possibly also A<G>. Unless you are an executive at one of the
> | companies that manufactures both headphones and earbuds, there is know way to
> | know with perfect certainty that it cost more to make earbuds.
>
> Sure we can. We don't know how much different, and we can make some
> educated guesses. Earbuds cost more for equivalent sound quality for the
> simple reason that everything is smaller. Reducing size increases cost.
> That's basic manufacturing math.
Ahum.... give me a break. Reducing size decreases cost... Well, at least in
the business I work in. Example:
Take a 8" wafer. Take a die-size of 120mm2. An 8" wafer has a surface of:
(8"x25.4/2)^2*pi=32430mm^2.
You can fit about 270 times the 120mm2 dies in it, but you loose all the dies
that are on the edges. Which results in about 37 (8"*25.4/SQR(120))*2),
dies that aren't usable.. Ie, net you have 233 dies.
Lets take the die-size down to 62mm2 (the result of moving from the 0.25um
proces to the 0.18um proces). It will bring the yield to 523, but you loose
about 51 (8"*25.4/SQR(62))*2) dies at the edges... Ie, net yiel: 472....
Thus making the die almost twice as small, results in a yield that's twice as
big. The time and the number of manufacturing steps is the same for each wafer,
whether you produce one die or ten. This is the manufacturing cost that stays
the same. The net result means that if you make a die small, you've got a
higher yield, thus less cost!
> | If you took a dozen people and had a dozen pair of earbuds and asked each
> | person to audition them (using the same exact music music source and
> | reproductive system) you would get some interesting results.
>
> As if you wouldn't get similar results with the kind of crappy headphones
> that are bundled with portables.
>
> And that still doesn't change the fact that earbuds cost more to make than
> equivalent headphones.
Fact stays that earbuds or headphones, our 'good friends' at Sony and their
co-patriots sells us portables with low-quality earbuds or headphones. In
all cases, you're forced to buy some decent earbuds or headphones.
Cheers,
Ralph -> who's been to long a way from this list....
--
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Ralph Smeets Functional Verification Centre Of Competence - CMG
Voice: (+33) (0)4 76 58 44 46 STMicroelectronics
Fax: (+33) (0)4 76 58 40 11 5, chem de la Dhuy
Mobile: (+33) (0)6 82 66 62 70 38240 MEYLAN
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FRANCE
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"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then
something happened which unleashed the powers of our imagination:
We learned to talk."
-- Stephen Hawking, later used by Pink Floyd --
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