[imackler]

  sounds to me like HD600 will not have enough treble for you

 
Word. 

 

[Ggroch]

Fry's has the  Pono Player for $250 with free shipping for those who have a promo code.
 
The online price says $400 like everyone else, but if you have a Promo Code from their daily emails, it drops to $250 with free shipping. The codes are individual I think.    I have not seen a discount on these yet, but it may indicate sales are not overwhelming. 

 

[abheer123]

  Fry's has the  Pono Player for $250 with free shipping for those who have a promo code.
 
The online price says $400 like everyone else, but if you have a Promo Code from their daily emails, it drops to $250 with free shipping. The codes are individual I think.    I have not seen a discount on these yet, but it may indicate sales are not overwhelming. 

after all that bad press, that isn't surprising. 

 

[doctorjazz]

Fry's has the  Pono Player for $250 with free shipping for those who have a promo code.

The online price says $400 like everyone else, but if you have a Promo Code from their daily emails, it drops to $250 with free shipping. The codes are individual I think.    I have not seen a discount on these yet, but it may indicate sales are not overwhelming. 

I'd ignore the press and go for it...I have multiple i devices, a DX90, an X3...haven't used any of them since I got the Pono, sound better then all of them imo. Not just my opinion, read Tyll's review, or John Atkinson in Stereophile. Has balanced option, line out, sound great...think I like it?

 

[doctorjazz]

 

Fry's has the  Pono Player for $250 with free shipping for those who have a promo code.

The online price says $400 like everyone else, but if you have a Promo Code from their daily emails, it drops to $250 with free shipping. The codes are individual I think.    I have not seen a discount on these yet, but it may indicate sales are not overwhelming. 

I'd ignore the press and go for it...I have multiple i devices, a DX90, an X3...haven't used any of them since I got the Pono, sound better then all of them imo. Not just my opinion, read Tyll's review, or John Atkinson in Stereophile. Has balanced option, line out, sound great...think I like it?

Think the press is more about bashing Neil Young and "proving" all players sound same as your phone...if that's how you feel, no point buying a dap, of course...

Considering buying a back up...

 

[money4me247]

In general, the DAP market is really an extremely small niche. Nowadays, it seems wiser to invest in an external dac/amp rather than a DAP. I personally would strongly recommend staying away from DAPs unless you really require very specific feature sets (small form factor for gym usage for example). An external dac/amp is much more versatile (most DAPs do not support streaming music services), and offer more competitive performance at the same price point.
 
The press is geared for the general consumer, and their assessment of the Pono is quite accurate for their audience. The main selling point that Pono tried to promote was the superiority of a higher bit depth and sampling rate. However, the current scientific literature shows that those factors will not improve sound quality as our current bit depth and sampling rates already provide bit perfect reproduction of all audible information. There are applications for a higher bit depth and sampling rate, but more for the professional audio engineers rather than for increasing audio quality for listening.
 

By design an audio CD contains PCM audio with 16-bit words and a 44.1 kHz sample rate. Sometimes people ask if it does make sense to rip to 24 bits and/or a higher sample rate. You can rip (or convert) to 24 bits. This will simply add 8 zero bits to each sample. This does not contain any additional musical information. As the sample rate is 44.1, the highest frequency on a CD is 44.1/2=22 kHz (in practice slightly less). This is inherent to the Shannon/Nyquist sampling theorem. Ripping to a higher sample rate won’t add audio > 22 kHz because it is simply not on the CD. Sometimes CDs upsampled to a higher rate (or upsampled on the fly) do sound different. This is because some DACs do change their sonic signature when feed with higher bitrates. Some calls this different sound an improvement, others a design flaw…

 
To get the 'benefits' of high-resolution, you must purchase specific high-resolution files (either in DSD or PCM formats) that were recorded and mastered at the higher bit depth and sampling rate. The differences heard using those files can be attributed either to the DAC's design or to the different master. The differences are not caused by the difference in bit depth or sampling rate. There has been no study demonstrating that humans can pass a blind test of a high resolution file against the same master at the standard bit depth/sampling rate.
 
For users who already have ripped their collection to a lossless compression from CDs, your collection will have a 16 bit depth and 44.1kHz sampling rate for all practical purposes (even if you upsample for higher numbers). You will need to re-purchasing your entire music collection that was recorded with the higher bit depth/sampling rate for the 'benefit' of Pono to kick in. The Pono music player does not really offer anything 'special' compared to the other DAPs on the market.
 
Only posted this information on this thread here as it is the deals thread, so people should be aware of what they are paying for.
 
edit: this by no means is me telling you whether the Pono is suitable or worth it for any individual. just posting some relevant information for prospective buyers.

 

[doctorjazz]

In general, the DAP market is really an extremely small niche. Nowadays, it seems wiser to invest in an external dac/amp rather than a DAP. I personally would strongly recommend staying away from DAPs unless you really require very specific feature sets (small form factor for gym usage for example). An external dac/amp is much more versatile (most DAPs do not support streaming music services), and offer more competitive performance at the same price point.

The press is geared for the general consumer, and their assessment of the Pono is quite accurate for their audience. The main selling point that Pono tried to promote was the superiority of a higher bit depth and sampling rate. However, the current scientific literature shows that those factors will not improve sound quality as our current bit depth and sampling rates already provide bit perfect reproduction of all audible information. There are applications for a higher bit depth and sampling rate, but more for the professional audio engineers rather than for increasing audio quality for listening.

By design an audio CD contains PCM audio with 16-bit words and a 44.1 kHz sample rate. Sometimes people ask if it does make sense to rip to 24 bits and/or a higher sample rate. You can rip (or convert) to 24 bits. This will simply add 8 zero bits to each sample. This does not contain any additional musical information. As the sample rate is 44.1, the highest frequency on a CD is 44.1/2=22 kHz (in practice slightly less). This is inherent to the Shannon/Nyquist sampling theorem. Ripping to a higher sample rate won’t add audio > 22 kHz because it is simply not on the CD. Sometimes CDs upsampled to a higher rate (or upsampled on the fly) do sound different. This is because some DACs do change their sonic signature when feed with higher bitrates. Some calls this different sound an improvement, others a design flaw…

To get the 'benefits' of high-resolution, you must purchase specific high-resolution files (either in DSD or PCM formats) that were recorded and mastered at the higher bit depth and sampling rate. The differences heard using those files can be attributed either to the DAC's design or to the different master. The differences are not caused by the difference in bit depth or sampling rate. There has been no study demonstrating that humans can pass a blind test of a high resolution file against the same master at the standard bit depth/sampling rate.

For users who already have ripped their collection to a lossless compression from CDs, your collection will have a 16 bit depth and 44.1kHz sampling rate for all practical purposes (even if you upsample for higher numbers). You will need to re-purchasing your entire music collection that was recorded with the higher bit depth/sampling rate for the 'benefit' of Pono to kick in. The Pono music player does not really offer anything 'special' compared to the other DAPs on the market.

Only posted this information on this thread here as it is the deals thread, so people should be aware of what they are paying for.

edit: this by no means is me telling you whether the Pono is suitable or worth it for any individual. just posting some relevant information for prospective buyers.

Oh no, not here too. Of course it's not for everyone ymmv. I have a few amp/dacs, a fine sounding full range stereo, listen to the Pono probably 90% of the time, because I can bring it everywhere, and it sounds great. I'm not getting into this discussion again, especially not on hi rez, if you think it might be of interest, just Google Tyll and Stereophile. Nuff said...

 

[lukeap69]

I've started with DAC/amp, E18 to Theorem 720. Now I mostly use AP100 DAP when out and about. The simplicity is sometimes more important. And I hate those rubber bands!

 

[doctorjazz]

If you need a turntable, don't get a dap
And, of course, don't get a Fiio, A&K, or iBasso dap either...
(They all play mp3, including the Pono, if that's your preference)

 

[RedJohn456]

https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales/thinksound-eec8c1a4-a5f2-4676-aeb2-a43b8556995d/on1
 
Touch of Modern has the Thinksound On1 for 169 at the moment. Looks to be a decent sale price. 

 

[doctorjazz]

Don't remember what I paid any more, but do like these headphones, they have a very loyal following.

 

[Kylv]

Just saw on slickdeals that Best Buy has their VMODA M80s on clearance for $80. White or black with free shipping.

 

[imackler]

Just saw on slickdeals that Best Buy has their VMODA M80s on clearance for $80. White or black with free shipping.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/v-moda-crossfade-m-80-on-ear-headphones-black-red/6357117.p?id=1219667741758&skuId=6357117

 

[Kylv]

Yeah, That one. Thanks. The text box always goes crazy when I try to post a link from my phone.

 

[money4me247]

AKG K7xx Massdrop 1st Edition drop now live!!! https://www.massdrop.com/buy/akg-k7xx-massdrop-first-edition-headphones
 
check out my review of the K7xx here: http://www.head-fi.org/products/akg-k7xx/reviews/13116