[tgdinamo]

Happy New Year!

 

[musicday]

I am interested to buy a Tera Player for a friend. If you have one, please PM to discuss.
Thank you.

 

[LuckyNat]

You must be kidding right, I use it everywhere, all the time, the Tera Player is the only music player that can be 100% operated from inside the poket.You can change album, artist, random, change volume, everything.
Nobody knows what you listen at, so if you can afford one, go for it. It will last you many, many years.
And there is no firmware updates, so is very stable, always be.

Much like an iPod shuffle.

Many DAPs can be played 100% from the pocket if you arrange the music in the same way that the Tera Player arranges it. It sees each folder effectively as one - a continuous list of tracks. Put all your tracks in one folder on any DAP and you can skip through every track in exactly the same way via the buttons. Now you have Tera-Player emulation!

It's funny that a limitation can be enthusiastically praised and said to be unique. One can choose to limit functionality of other players too, in this case via file organisation.

 

[shotgunshane]

No other dap I have tried, or read about, can go from shuffling all songs to playing that album in its entirety (when you hear a song that you want to hear the whole album) with the single touch of one button. Yes the lastest prices over the last couple of years have been ridiculously silly but I think the UI is genius.

 

[LuckyNat]

I use a Backberry and love it's physical keyboard but people don't seem to want it or care about this unique feature, no matter how I tell them how good one is...

Having a dedicated shuffle on/off button, you're right it's unusual (other than iPod shuffle). Not a feature I'd use or want to use because it would have to require tricky set up to be useful for my mix of speech, vinyl rips, long tracks etc. A feature a little too niche to be proud of.

But anyway I responded to a statement about being able to use a DAP in a pocket in a way that most people use one - i.e. going back and forward through tracks and changing volume. You can do that on most that have buttons for track skip and volume. When you consider the Tera has limited space, it's even easier to deal with on other DAPs too by self-limiting the amount of music you place on it to match the Tera.

I'm not saying the Tera is good or bad. Only commenting that it's limitations can be arranged on other players too by implementing those limitations.. if those limitations feel desireable to the user.

 

[musicday]

Nevermind, the player was released in 2011 and in 2019 is in my opinion still No.1 ultra-portable music player, when it comes about unique sound capabilities, size ,form factor and simplicity of use. The guy behind Altmann Micro Machines: Charles Altmann is truly a genius. Check out his latest inventions.

 

[LuckyNat]

Haha... I'm not sure why you feel you have to come along and sing his praises if I am discussing whether one can operate other DAPs from your pocket or not. You can.. so if this aspect has put you off other DAPs, you can now broaden your perspective.

Altmann is certainly .... something! If you can ask people to pay £6000 for a chip-amp made of £50 of parts and then £3500 to service a chip-amp made of £50 parts... and people still follow him in the audio world, he's clever or something.

 

[tgdinamo]

Tera is overall by far the best high end music player I have owned or seen so far (I would say not only best music player but also overall electronic gadget - and I have easily spend over $100K on all kinds of cool electronic devices/gadets over the last 30 years). It is the ONLY music player that I have found that I can fully operate when it's in my jeans pocket without even reaching into the pocket to touch the device. This is because I can feel and easily operate all the buttons from the outside of my jeans, and with only 5 buttons I can quickly get to any artist/album/song. The device stays completely cool when in use inside the pocket which is super critical for this type of use (unlike any other electronic device I have ever had, including various ipods), and the SQ is incredible - still one of the best available as far as SQ goes (although my Lotoo Paw Gold is a step up, but I think that's only due to more powerful battery which of course makes it much bigger and not usable in the pocket because it gets warm). The only downside to Tera is that it is extremely picky about the headphones and iem's. After I purchased it I first experimented with some cheaper IEM's first (not that cheap either, in the range of $400-$700) but found that only very expensive Tralucent IEM's (almost as expensive as Tera itself) are the perfect match to produce the optimal SQ.

 

[musicday]

Tera is overall by far the best high end music player I have owned or seen so far (I would say not only best music player but also overall electronic gadget - and I have easily spend over $100K on all kinds of cool electronic devices/gadets over the last 30 years). It is the ONLY music player that I have found that I can fully operate when it's in my jeans pocket without even reaching into the pocket to touch the device. This is because I can feel and easily operate all the buttons from the outside of my jeans, and with only 5 buttons I can quickly get to any artist/album/song. The device stays completely cool when in use inside the pocket which is super critical for this type of use (unlike any other electronic device I have ever had, including various ipods), and the SQ is incredible - still one of the best available as far as SQ goes (although my Lotoo Paw Gold is a step up, but I think that's only due to more powerful battery which of course makes it much bigger and not usable in the pocket because it gets warm). The only downside to Tera is that it is extremely picky about the headphones and iem's. After I purchased it I first experimented with some cheaper IEM's first (not that cheap either, in the range of $400-$700) but found that only very expensive Tralucent IEM's (almost as expensive as Tera itself) are the perfect match to produce the optimal SQ.

I agree with everything you said about the Tera Player. For me is the best portable music player in the world even in 2019.
The Lotoo Paw Gold sounded digital to my ears after few hours, where the Tera can play even 8 hours without interruption and no ear strain (fatique free ).
I wish it could read a 512 GB SDXC Fat 32 formatted ,so I can have all my music on a single card.

 

[LuckyNat]

It is the ONLY music player that I have found that I can fully operate when it's in my jeans pocket without even reaching into the pocket to touch the device. This is because I can feel and easily operate all the buttons from the outside of my jeans, and with only 5 buttons I can quickly get to any artist/album/song.

Other players have *added* functionality so that you get *both* the ability to use in your pocket and the extra features when you use the screen. One of those functions that a screen enables is organisation of albums, searchability etc etc - one doen't have to use it at all, one can just dump all files in one folder, numbered in order. The idea that it is unique in this ability is one, in my opinion, of psychology - that because other DAPs have screens and extra functionality, some people might feel compelled to use them.

The Tera feels "right" because you don't have this underlying feeling you're not using it to its fullest. Kind of a strange situation that this should then garner a premium due to being unique! haha. That's how marketing works, kind of anti-marketing in this case if you see what I mean (creating a kind of life-style image af going against the grain, and one of an emotional life, non-consumer... err whilst he pumps up prices 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x for no reason other than he wants your money).

 

[tgdinamo]

Other players have *added* functionality so that you get *both* the ability to use in your pocket and the extra features when you use the screen. One of those functions that a screen enables is organisation of albums, searchability etc etc - one doen't have to use it at all, one can just dump all files in one folder, numbered in order. The idea that it is unique in this ability is one, in my opinion, of psychology - that because other DAPs have screens and extra functionality, some people might feel compelled to use them.

The Tera feels "right" because you don't have this underlying feeling you're not using it to its fullest. Kind of a strange situation that this should then garner a premium due to being unique! haha. That's how marketing works, kind of anti-marketing in this case if you see what I mean (creating a kind of life-style image af going against the grain, and one of an emotional life, non-consumer... err whilst he pumps up prices 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x for no reason other than he wants your money).

No other player exists that has the ability to be fully operated without taking out of the pocket. Just dumping the files in one folder on the touch device and putting the device in pocket is not enough - not even close. You can't navigate the artists/albums/songs if the player only has touch screen and you put it in pocket (which you presumably turn off or lock in the pocket and it typically has no tactile buttons that are large enough so you can feel them through your pocktet). By the way, I'm not saying this because of whishfull thinking or marketing. I also own LPG which I also love. LPG does have SQ that is perhaps somwhat better then Tera, and it also has buttons but a screen as well (LPG buttons for navigation are better than most other players, but still LPG can't compare to ease of of navigating Tera in the pocket). And the other critical feature I already mentioned that makes Tera unique is that it stays completely cool in the pocket - unlike LPG or any other device I have ever tried.

 

[LuckyNat]

A bit like saying a calulator is better because it has just the basic functions and saying a scientific calculator is worse because it has so many other buttons and functions... but the scientific calculator can do all the *same* things as the simple one too.

Other than switching between shuffle and linear play with a button (I don't use shuffle) , I can and do control my AK 120 II (as an example) in the same way as a Tera from my pocket. I set up a play list if I want this over more than one album - lets say 10 albums like the Tera - and then press play and stick in my pocket. Something like a Sony DAP has volume buttons too instead of a wheel (whereas I have my hand in my pocket to change volume, a Sony can do it from outside).

If one is stuck on the comparing percentage of functions of a DAP that can be controlled from inside your pocket rather than comparing like for like the actual functions you can control from your pocket, then it's a psychological thing.

 

[tgdinamo]

I couldn't disagree more. Dedicated devices often do a better job at specific funtions than deviced that try to do it all. Even though smart phones can now take decent photos it does not mean they are better then DSLR's for photographers. Same as dedicated music players, and the unique thing that sets Tera apart are combination of great IQ, size, and ergonomics. You (and most other people) may not appreciate and/or need it, but it's much better device overall than the AK 120 (which I tested and not only it can't touch Tera ergonomically, the SQ is inferior as well). By the way, AK's gets warm (especially in the pocket) so there is no way to even compare them to Tera based on that fact alone.

 

[musicday]

Some people just like to criticize the Tera-Player and that's fine by me. Even a quick listening session, you can hear how awesome and different this sound compare to another music players.. And I agree with the above, all the players, including the Lotion Paw Gold, get warm, or even hot when playing DSD for example for a long time. Also the battery life is minimal. I do not do any marketing, and I gain nothing saying this, but they come now with 6 years warranty !
And there is another thing that people seem to forget. Tera has it's own algorithm so it will Never slower down, or need another firmware update.
In my opinion only Chord Electronics products will never need a firmware update, but then again they are DACs not music players.
What I like about the Tera Player in the fallowing order:
1.Sound !!!
2.Start up time
3.Simplicity when used
4.Form factor
5.Never gets, even warm
5.Real portable audio investment for many many years.

 

[mboerma]

Sound!

BTW, does anybody have one for sale?