Neodymium or Ferrite

[jordanecmusic]

Hello Anandtech Forums! I have come to a stand still about what is the better material for audio reproduction. Is it Neodymium or Ferrite? I see that a lot of high end audio uses both. Neodymium can retain 3x more magnetic charge but does that do much of a difference for accurate audio reproduction. Help?

 

[Howard]

Neo is getting to be a lot more expensive now. Ferrite can typically be made almost as good, or just as good, for less money.

I wouldn't use magnet material as a factor in your decisions unless you need to hump gear frequently (but then you should be looking at overall weight, not speaker weight).

 

[kornphlake]

Some of the neo drivers are pretty good at squeezing decent low frequency response out of a small diameter cone, I'm not sure if it can't be done with ferrite or if it just hasn't been done. I'm not aware of any confirmed advantage one way or the other.

 

[Howard]

Some of the neo drivers are pretty good at squeezing decent low frequency response out of a small diameter cone, I'm not sure if it can't be done with ferrite or if it just hasn't been done. I'm not aware of any confirmed advantage one way or the other.

Doesn't have much to do with the magnet material.

 

[Midwayman]

The main advantage is a more compact driver. I guess it matters if you're trying to make the smallest enclosures possible.

 

[QuantumPion]

The main advantage is a more compact driver. I guess it matters if you're trying to make the smallest enclosures possible.

This. Neodymium is mainly used for headphone drivers. It may be more efficient and lighter but that doesn't make its sound quality better just by itself.

 

[BTA]

It doesn't matter. Whatever fits what that manufacturer was trying to achieve with the specific driver design.

 

[jordanecmusic]

Ok so in general practice with Studio Monitoring Headphones. What would be better? I see the Dr. Dre Beatz (waste of money, mind you) uses Neodymium, but my current headphones Sony MDR-V150 uses Ferrite but sound amazing. The upgrade pair I'm looking at uses Neodymium. Sony MDR-ZX300 in Red.

http://www.adorama.com/SOMDRZX300RD.html

I'm wondering if it was worth the upgrade, since my pair of Sony's are falling apart from constant misuse.

 

[Howard]

It doesn't matter what the magnet material is.