[miceblue]

On the article sombody wrote

 OK, so it will play FLAC. For $400. For that I already have my Sansa Clip, for under $60 (audiophile's best kept secret). The key for me I guess is to get access to those ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files...

Is there really 192 FLAC files? How do you get such things?

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/12/the-mp3-player-is-still-rockin-in-the-free-world/

http://www.head-fi.org/a/high-res-music-download-sites
http://www.24bit96.com/24bit96khz-download-sites/hd-music-download.html
http://www.whathifi.com/news/high-resolution-audio-everything-you-need-to-know



[rule]This is directed to anyone: be very, very, very careful about what and where you buy with these so-called HD music albums. A year ago I ventured into the HD music scam. High resolution music: offering many times more resolution than a standard CD. Must be good, right? More resolution is better, right? Awesome, they have Michael Jackson's "Bad" album! One of the best-selling albums of all time. This must be in my music library! *buys 24/48 version, thinking it's better*

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. This was probably one of my most regretful moments in my audio journey.

A: Loudness war (I had no idea what this concept was at the time)

^ you can quite easily see that this was remastered as it has a clear line as to where the music's dynamic part stops

B: CD-quality origin(?)

^ 44.1 kHz sampling rate is the Red Book standard; Nyquist sampling theory states that the maximum frequency obtained is half the sampling rate (44.1 kHz / 2 = 22.05 kHz); you can, again, easily see that the cutoff frequency was ~21 kHz here and there's added stuff above it in some parts of the song

C: Clipping. Clipping as far as the eye can see....

^ words need not to be said



As they say: garbage coming in, garbage coming out.

 

[twizzleraddict]

  If they could guarantee that Norah Jones would drop by and bless my PonoPlayer with her signature etched on it, I would seriously consider liquidating some savings for the pledge.

It would be just cool to have Neil Young hand out the his engraved Signature player to those in attendance. To have the rest of the artists do the same at the listening party? Ultra cool and hip. Marketing genius!
 
The rest of the folks here will be left to discuss the merits (or lack of) the player and the music store that will be launched. I'm not so interested in the player itself more so than what the content in the music store will contain. What are these artists talking about here? (http://www.ponomusic.com/#message) They are all describing a "warm analog" sound. And Neil has a whole lot of my favorite artists gushing over this... Will be interesting to see the catalog of music offered...

 

[alphabetagaga]

Only one answer to my post...what does it bring to the game besides being unwieldy. I do not mean for the lambda consumer but for us fools who have several DAPs and iems / cans already. Nothing in the specs says it absolutely will compete with the big boys. The main thing keeping me from pressing the button is this end of year delivery. By that time iBasso, Fiio and AK will have gone through 3 models. And as we all know they could be delayed.

but what do ibasso, fiio, ak, sony and all others bring to the game that hasn't already been done? the pono may or may not bring anything new to your game, only your ears can decide if it brings anything new or not. ayre aren't stupid. the designers aren't stupid. there is a reason why it is that shape. if it sounds as good as people are saying then bring on the shape. the ny signature only cost me £240. a risk going into the unknown? who cares. £240 is not a bank breaker and i'll have no problem whatsoever getting my 'investment' back if i so desire. the project is extremely exciting. the project is less than 2 days old and raised $2.2m.

 

[cooperpwc]

I suspect that marketing is a big part of the shape. Nothing wrong with that but I personally think that there are better ways to organize space.
 
I wish Neil good luck though I'm not really interested. Even if it is all a front for a decent sounding player plus better mastering, that's a step in a good direction.

 

[PalJoey]

His intentions seem to be good, but I really don't know what will come of this.
 
I quite like the look of the player, but it doesn't appear to have a digital output. 

 

[bcpk]

Can anyone shine some light on what their info page means in this statement?

 Ayre's custom designed and implemented digital filter. It is minimum phase, with no unnatural (digital sounding) pre-ringing. All sounds made always have reflections and/or echoes after the initial sound. There is no sound in nature that has any echo or reflection before the sound, which is what conventional linear-phase digital filters do. This is one reason that digital sound has a reputation for sounding "unnatural".

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Sounds similar to what the Fostex hpp1 has ( it has a choice of two filters).
But i never really understood it myself

 

[ExpatinJapan]

From the manual.

 

[Foolwolf]

After reading I have one giant fear - it will be the iTunes and iPlayer situation all over.
PONO-ecosystem is always in the referrals, the PONO app, sync files, use the desktop app to purchase, download and synch -
 
I don't want that - I want files to sort MY WAY, to play in whatever way I PREFER and I will drag and drop them on the player of MY CHOICE.
 
At first, yes a PONO player would be nice - but if it is locked in like it sounds - there's a nifty little button saying "cancel pledge".
 
Have put all of my fears into questions to the PONO people so I hope I will get clear answers, and not just the stupid sales text all over again.

 

[Sauntere]

  After reading I have one giant fear - it will be the iTunes and iPlayer situation all over.
PONO-ecosystem is always in the referrals, the PONO app, sync files, use the desktop app to purchase, download and synch -
 
I don't want that - I want files to sort MY WAY, to play in whatever way I PREFER and I will drag and drop them on the player of MY CHOICE.
 
At first, yes a PONO player would be nice - but if it is locked in like it sounds - there's a nifty little button saying "cancel pledge".
 
Have put all of my fears into questions to the PONO people so I hope I will get clear answers, and not just the stupid sales text all over again.

 
Please post the responses you receive.

 

[Bas72]

As it's possible to swap SD cards, I guess it's possible to drag&drop your files.
 
I took the gamble, I'll give Neil the benefit of the doubt. I hope it's as good as I think it will be. (And if not: look for me in the classifieds section of head-fi. ) At least I fully support Neil in his quest to bring back the experience in listening to music. There's nothing like full immersal in great sound.

 

[JacobLee89]

As far as I can tell. This may just be a useful reference for people without DAPs, and "potentially" an additional site for people to look for "music files".
 
I don't have a DAP yet, so the pricing does seem reasonable. But the question remains: What can it drive? does it stack up well with a portable amp? My Human Factors and Ergonomics mind is questioning the comfort of this in any pocket.

 

[whatisitsci]

As far as I can tell it has a Sabre DAC chip (or is it Ayre?). Does anyone know/can anyone estimate how this might perform side by side with a Fiio, etc with the same source material?

 

[meat01]

There is no way anyone can predict on how it will sound based on the DAC.

 

[whatisitsci]

There is no way anyone can predict on how it will sound based on the DAC.

Thanks for the reply