14 out of 15 listeners can't tell the difference between PONO & iTunes Store downloads on an iPhone

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by thestereofan, Jan 30, 2015.

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  1. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    It doesnt exactly slide right Into your pocket.
     
  2. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    because of the vast improvement in the quality of encoders, 128 kbps MP3s sound better than what passed for higher resolution MP3s 5-10 years ago.
     
  3. Jack Flash

    Jack Flash Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    It sounds exactly like 320 kbps MP3s I have. Which is just slightly below CD quality, if you have a discerning ear.

    I assume you checked 'high quality streaming' in the preferences menu on Spotify?

    You should check out Tidal, they stream at CD-quality (FLAC). I find Spotify just fine, myself.
     
  4. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    not even close. then again, I tend to be a lot more sensitive to audio encoding than most people. but I can plainly hear the deficiencies of Spotify playback when listening anywhere.
     
  5. Jack Flash

    Jack Flash Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    Yeah, but they're still noticeably worse than 320 kbps.
     
  6. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    than 320 encoded now? absolutely. than 320 encoded seven years ago? not so much.
     
  7. Jack Flash

    Jack Flash Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    You must be, because everyone I know thinks Spotify sounds great (with the Premium subscription).
     
    bpmd1962 likes this.
  8. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    Multi tasking listening to music so I can get everything I need to get done done and still listen to the music I love. When I have the time (which is incredibly rare) I will take the time and sit down and listen to my music and do nothing else. Unfortunately I am lucky to get 1-3 hours a week for that.
     
  9. Jack Flash

    Jack Flash Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    I'm talking about the ones now. If those artists were listening to 128s compared to Pono, that was pretty misleading. Pono was failing against Spotify-quality tunes in the listening tests in the article. That's a huge failure for something so expensive.
     
  10. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    been a premium subscriber (which I already mentioned) for 2 years. Spotify's sound is mediocre.
     
  11. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    No, but it will go there, and chicks will notice the manly bulge...
    [​IMG]
    Neil's no dummy. Let's see your Ipod do that!
     
  12. Tornado Red

    Tornado Red Forum Resident

    Location:
    Winnipeg, Canada
    This is what the general public thinks of us audiophiles ;)
     
  13. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    Spotify is mentioned nowhere in that article. Stop saying Spotify is equivalent to 320kbps MP3s because it's just not true.
     
  14. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    The whole "sound" issue is a load of bull anyway. I listened to vinyl since the 60s. CDs came along and sounded sharper, clearer. Some of my favourites sounded a little different. What the hell. I liked the fact that they sounded a little different. I heard aspects of the recording that I had previously missed. What the hell.
    I listen to MP3s at 32o kbps (well, I convert them to aiff and burn to CD) and they sound as good as the original CD. What the hell.
    If Pono pleases a tiny minority of "sound quality" freaks, then there's no harm in that but it will never work on a mass scale unless the sound differece is perceptable to everyone and if they can find a way to reduce the size of the files.
    Sorry Neil, I love you man but what the hell.
     
    Veni Vidi Vici likes this.
  15. ReggieTheVaper

    ReggieTheVaper Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I must admit, I do not use Spotify but I just checked their quality specs from their own website :-

    https://support.spotify.com/us/lear...e/What-bitrate-does-Spotify-use-for-streaming

    Premium rate subscibers get 320kbps Ogg Vorbis

    I must admit, back in the day, Ogg files were classed as superior to MP3.
     
    Jack Flash likes this.
  16. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    about 8 years ago. no one is claiming that anymore.
     
  17. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    I seem to recall a format called VQF that was maybe (supposedly) better than mp3 -way back in 199_ something, that was engineered by Yamaha -you could even get a VQF player with skins capability for your (back then) lighting fast computer.
    They made an encoder as well of course, but I'm pretty sure there are no VQF enthusiasts these days.
    Betamax, VHS, apples, oranges, DVD, it all gets replaced sooner than ever as that axiom of modern technology seems to ring true that science figures things out exponentially faster as each hour/day passes.
    OK, apples and oranges only get worse as they change though, via GMOs.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
  18. Mij Retrac

    Mij Retrac Forum Resident

    VLC is a program that plays all formats but I have never heard of it being a format before.
     
  19. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    That's right, now that I think about it that of course is a current media player, and what I was trying to recall is VQF, fer cryin out loud. I had a hard day/night yesterday..hello and duh! -I edited that post -but you got me! which is better than me wandering off and leaving it that way.
    thanks!
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
    Mij Retrac likes this.
  20. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Yes. Why? Because that one person was the person taking the test who KNEW HOW TO LISTEN. He listened and heard a DIFFERENCE between the two presentations The other women and men were clueless about aural cues, they probably weren't bothering to listen for the balance of brightness vs bass. So the 15th guy knew what to listening for and thought the iPhone sounded better. Well, that was probably RIG and MASTERING dependent. Those Sony headphones, if they're like the Sony V6 are very bright, lean headphones. Perhaps the bassier sound of the iPhone made those headphones sound better (you did have the EQ set to "flat," right, David?) which is why he CONSISTENTLY preferred the iphone. And the masterings of the songs they were listening to probably were different. So, again, maybe the iTunes files had less treble making the sound of the bright headphones more palatable in THAT RIG. You put some screeching earbuds in my ears and I'll prefer a 1956 reel to reel that doesn't produce frequencies over 6khz anyday!
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  21. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Do they have a decent DAC & can they drive a good pair of headphones? I've seen them come up in discussion & it's an interesting alternative to an iPod, but I've wondered about the sound & ability to drive decent headphones.
     
  22. That is one gross picture.
     
    rcsrich likes this.
  23. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    That is Hens Fjordsken, the lead singer for Viking Toothpaste.
     
  24. Jack Flash

    Jack Flash Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    Spotify streams at 320 kbps.

    From their site:

    Spotify uses 3 quality ratings for streaming, all in the Ogg Vorbis format.

    It sounds like you have an issue with Spotify, or you don't have 'high quality streaming' checked.
     
  25. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    Sorry to bust everyone's bubble, but this is what you need:[​IMG]
    Just throw the VPI cleaner in the trunk and you are ready! .. If you just need the hits, get this:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
    MultiMan, mmars982 and rcsrich like this.
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