Measurements - Performance
Below you can find all measurements with short comment how we interpreted them. We are not looking at the highest possible level but where is the highest point where we have the most vertical bars around 40Hz (shifter effect is set to 42Hz, SimHub test signal should be 45Hz). Left will be Shift Effect, right - SimHub sound test.
You will see below that the shift effect measurement seems consistent, but the SimHub effect not that much. This is mainly because vibrations build up and propagate throughout the structure. Also the mounting methods for exciters and full size shakers are quite different but still it is relevant indication.
We will be taking into consideration mainly the shifter effect and this paired with the subjective feel will sum up to the item's final performance.
When we speak here of "Volume" this is the volume set in SimHub option on every channel in device setup. Test SimHub sound always powers the channel at 100% - much more than we would actually use it. We use is 60% global and 100% effect volume in SimHub Profile. Again here the most relevant measure will be the shifter effects below.
This study paired with the sound output featured in the review video should give you good reference for each item's performance.
Dayton Audio TT25 PUCK Tactile Transducer Mini Bass Shaker
As expected the Dayton Puck being a proper bass shaker delivers solid performance in low frequencies but quite weak. Looking at below graphs we can see similar performance for both cases at around 0.002g.
Dayton Audio EX32U2-4 Sound Exciter
The EX32U2-4 turned out to be very powerful item, we did not expected such performance. At 100% volume it was constantly hitting the mounting surface and was unusable. This stopped appearing at 85% volume so we set it at 80% considering it safe reference. Both cases give solid shift performance at around 0.004g. The SimHub test effect on the other hand overpowers a lot the EX32U2-4 and we see extreme performance from that small unit. In both 80% and 100% this was performing around the stunning 0.035g!
Dayton Audio DAEX58FP Sound Exciter
We had high hopes for this exciter based on it's rated power but as you can see it turned out to be the weakest one for such application. Subjective test also confirms the same.
Dayton Audio EX30HESF-4 High Efficiency Steered Flux Sound Exciter 30mm
This is the second most popular option after the Puck for sim application. As it does not have spring spider it turned to be reliable and we could drive it at 100% volume constantly. Shifter effect is very solid around 0.003g, test effect is at 0.015g. Overall solid performance.
Dayton Audio EX32EP2-4 Thruster 32mm Sound Exciter
Same as the other spider exciter we found the orifginal model to work safe at 75% volume and we tested at first just that. Then we noticed that this particular unit behaves a little different. Because of the added height from the new mount we were able to push it to 100% without hitting mounting surface. We have not tested this in the long run to see if it is more reliable. Shift effect is weak ate 75% but quite solid at 100% topping above 0.002g. SimHub test confirms the same.
Dayton Audio BST-1 50W High Power Pro Tactile Bass Shaker
As expected the BST-1 hase very solid shift performance right below 0.005g. the SimHub teste effect shows also the difference in mounting positions - we have same performance in both tests. This is expected outcome as vibrations are pretty strong and with this configuration propaged very well throughout the whole shifter assembly.
AuraSound AST-2B-4 Pro Bass Shaker Tactile Transducer
Teh Aura shaker performs a little better for shift effect, tops up again right below 0.005g but we have much more solid graph there. For SimHub test effect though this are quite different. We see much better response at lower frequencies. We have very solid effect at double the BST-1 acceleration - 0.010g. also this is the clearest graph we saw in our test - very focused around 45Hz, which is the test frequency in SimHub.
Note: Comparing full size shakers to exciters is not at all relevant. We will be regarding both classes separately, ultimately the best product in both classes will get the highest score.
Now that we covered the scientific parts it is time to go through all the other criteria in Further Impressions and Summary: