[krismusic]

The Nano went long ago. IPhone ever since. No problems.

 

[Ruben123]

According to this quote (which Ive seen quite some times coming by) you need a Sony ZX2/AK240.
 

 On any smartphones, the sound can seem different based on how their hardware are, but all in all, the definition , pronunciation, impacts, field, are neither accurate, defined, or realistic. Simply put, smartphones = music, notes, beats Vs ZX2 = music, instruments, tonality, realistic timbres. An example would be from bass, on smartphone you hear boom boom, on ZX2 you hear Drum Beats. Was it clear enough ? I compared it to the Note 4 Exynos with wolfson DAC, iPhone 5s, 6+, Z3.... Etc.

 

[krismusic]

According to this quote (which Ive seen quite some times coming by) you need a Sony ZX2/AK240.

Nah. I'm good thanks!

 

[FFBookman]

the ponoplayer sounds far superior to any iPod or iPhone ever made.
 
it works just like an old iPod, except the audio is no compromise and it takes external cards up to 128gb each. 
 
the shape is also perfect for an audio player, much more convenient and useful than the slab shape of iPods.
 
it's basically the iPod Pro if apple ever bothered to make one, and if they were an audio company, which they are not.
 
put it this way - apple's products do amazing things with $5 worth of audio components.
 
but you can spend $100 for a fiio and hear an improvement, and you can spend $400 for a ponoplayer and hear professional audio.

 

[Stereocilia]

 
http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-6-plus.htm
 
"Apple has more smart engineers and far more resources than any other audio specialty company. It makes perfect sense that the iPhone output should be spectacular."
 
Ken has a point
 
Products with 100 million plus dollar R&D budgets, in most cases have a lot to show for it, Another mega buck R&D product example would be the mid 90's Sony Playstation 1, models SCPH-1001 and  SCPH-5501, as CD players

 

[castleofargh]

  the ponoplayer sounds far superior to any iPod or iPhone ever made.
 
it works just like an old iPod, except the audio is no compromise and it takes external cards up to 128gb each. 
 
the shape is also perfect for an audio player, much more convenient and useful than the slab shape of iPods.
 
it's basically the iPod Pro if apple ever bothered to make one, and if they were an audio company, which they are not.
 
put it this way - apple's products do amazing things with $5 worth of audio components.
 
but you can spend $100 for a fiio and hear an improvement, and you can spend $400 for a ponoplayer and hear professional audio.

what a genuine objective opinion. my favorite part being "the shape is also perfect for an audio player". I can't stop laughing.

 

[Stereocilia]

 
I got the chance to demo the PONO pre-loaded with "High Rez" files, the sound did not wow me enough to buy it. Neil Young raised 6 million dollars to bring this product market, that buys a lot of quality audio engineering. I feel that the golden age of portable music is now   

 

[Stereocilia]

 
HiFiMAN has a solid contender, I'm working my way around to it and if it's anything like the other HiFiMAN products I've heard, I'll buy it

 

[Stereocilia]

Last and certainly not least the AK240 but I'll never know because I'm not willingly to spend this kind of cash on portable, I do most of my critical listening at home and I'm completely in love with all things tube. I can live with iPhone quality on the go plus I know I'm going to need a phone handy, advantage smart phones
 
P.S. AK240 is so sexy, like a Korean Airline commercial    

 

[bigshot]

SUCKERS!

 

[Ruben123]

Isn't ffbookman that pono troll?

I like the quote he made about that it changes cheap speakers in a totally different beast, much better sounding.see the pono thread.

Guess his cheap speakers are not very forgiving on cheap 21st century amps and music players then.

 

[FFBookman]

Yeah I'm a troll.   You guys have heads up your head-fi asses.
 
I produce audio. I record audio. I've done music and radio production. I've been mixing digital audio for over 20 years. I can cut tape. I heard 24bit audio in the 90's.
 
I'm the troll?
 
Anyone who thinks mp3 sounds "good enough" for music shouldn't be on forum called head-fi.  Goodbye.
 
Anyone who thinks iPhones are audio devices shouldn't be on a the forum either.  Goodbye.  People in a subforum called "sound science" pissing in the face of obviousness -- like 256k/sec can't sound as good as 4000k/sec -- that's the very definition of a troll
 
Explain to me scientifically how 256 = 4000 again?
 
Then after that, you get to analog, something most of you are ignorant of.
 
It's called basic signal chain. Forgotten basics in the digital age.
 
Good source + good DAC + good analog amplification = good sound. Doesn't matter as much about cables or speakers, because they all have a base level of competence.
 
The Room is very important when using speakers, but that's up to the end user to tune or change, manufacturers can't do anything about that.

 

[FFBookman]

I'm not sure of your confusion. Let me restate --
 
 
Good source through a good DAC though a good analog stage will make any speakers sound better. Even "cheap" ones.  You disagree with this?  Have you tested it?
 
 
 
You know speakers are easy make right, You know not much has changed there in 80 years, right?
 
It's signal chain -- and speakers are second to last in that chain, so they can't be the most important. sorry.

 

[RRod]

 
I'm not sure of your confusion. Let me restate --
 
 
Good source through a good DAC though a good analog stage will make any speakers sound better. Even "cheap" ones.  You disagree with this?  Have you tested it?
 
 
 
You know speakers are easy make right, You know not much has changed there in 80 years, right?
 
It's signal chain -- and speakers are second to last in that chain, so they can't be the most important. sorry.

 
Yeah man, going from a Modi to a Bifrost on these bad-boys was like entering a whole new musical realm of possibilities. It was like going from being a dolphin to a kind of flying angel-dolphin:

 

[Ruben123]

@FFBookman
 
So at getting another DAP, there are few opinions.
 
Getting another one:
-Makes a difference like night and day (Seen many times at paid reviews or people trying to justify their insane high$$ purchase it seems to me)
-Does only matter when you have good speakers/earphones
-Has a very slight, hard to notice -but noticeable- difference
-Has no difference as long as basis physics requirements are met.
 
You seem to be in the first group. OK that's cool.
 
 
Anyone who thinks mp3 sounds "good enough" for music shouldn't be on forum called head-fi.  Goodbye.
Anyone who thinks iPhones are audio devices shouldn't be on a the forum either.  Goodbye.  People in a subforum called "sound science" pissing in the face of obviousness -- like 256k/sec can't sound as good as 4000k/sec -- that's the very definition of a troll
 
Well I think for that youre in the wrong place as the consensus here is that a good mp3 format will be the same as a good flac.
 
 
Explain to me scientifically how 256 = 4000 again?
All has to do with the human hearing my friend. Blue is orange, a horse is an airplane, scientists are mad, everybody knows. Try mp3ornot.com (really do!) and post your results.
 
Then after that, you get to analog, something most of you are ignorant of.
What is that analog sound you (and others) are talking about?
 
Good source through a good DAC though a good analog stage will make any speakers sound better. Even "cheap" ones.  You disagree with this?
Yes I do because Im not in that first group. Even if there are audible differences between various amps, DACs, DAPs... IF there are any, they are very small and not audible in cheap (what is cheap? $30 cheap speakers or $500 cheap speakers) equipment. But no I dont disagree 16 Ohm hard to drive speakers, driven from a 10 watt amplifier, from a 128kbps mp3 file, dont sound the same as the same speakers through 320kbps mp3s and a good amp.
 
It's signal chain -- and speakers are second to last in that chain, so they can't be the most important. sorry.
Well they ARE. Have you ever heard the same sound with 2 different speakers on both another signal chain?