Neil Young readies Pono music service for expansion Part 2

http://soundexpert.org/news/-/blogs/bluetooth-audio-quality-a2dp

Just as I thought.

The highest BlueTooth can go is an: mp3 345kb @ 16bit/48k.

So on a device like PONO, it would defeat the purpose of a Hi Res player.

 

I don't think it has Bluetooth.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

 

i hope the file names, seen on the device screen, are temporary. they're ugly!

 

I want the one that comes with

Dire_Straits_SultansofSwi
Unknown Artist

Loaded on it.

 

Thank you. I did not know that.

 

No they're always there. Notice they didn't tell you what two favorite albums were included with the $400 Ponos, and everyone likes Dire Straits and Dylan.

 

I wonder if that was intentional? To keep the sound a bit warmer

 

i mean in the way it's displayed.

"04_Old Man_192"
"05_Heart of Gold_192"
(http://time.com/18027/neil-youngs-high-fidelity-pono-music-player-is-still-coming-and-itll-cost-399/)

surely there's a nicer way to display the track names.

 

So they're FLAC files.

 

Crowdsourcing is popular.

 

I'd like to see a shoot out between the PONO and the FiiO X3

http://www.amazon.com/Fiio-X3-Maste...e=UTF8&qid=1394580352&sr=1-4&keywords=fiio+x5

 

They could try listening

 

Yes.

Is PonoMusic a new audio format? What about PonoMusic quality?

No. We want to be very clear that PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. It is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music in the highest resolution possible for that song or album. The music in the PonoMusic.com Store is sold and downloaded in industry standard audio file formats.

The PonoMusic.com Store uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio format as its standard, for compatibility, although the PonoPlayer can play most popular high-resolution music formats from other sources. PonoMusic has a quality spectrum, ranging from really good to really great, depending on the quality of the available master recordings:

• CD lossless quality recordings: 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) FLAC files
• High-resolution recordings: 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Higher-resolution recordings: 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files

 

That's a good point. The tagging of FLAC files is limited.

 

Bought the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young chrome engraved player, the video they put on the kickstarter site sold me, I think I saw my entire record collection (of those who are alive) worth of artists say this is the greatest thing ever, I'm excited, something special is going on here

 

I don't get why these tech sites bother being so anti-Hi Res. The albums are recorded at either 24bit/192kHz or 24bit/96kHz, and FLAC's aren't that much bigger than a 320 mp3 - so where's the trade off?

What? You listen to a song at the same resolution as the master? Oh dear, how terrible!

 

It's called marketing

 

Now... If it could replace this (when she kicks the bucket) I'd be in fer sure, now that more info has been released multiple times, I am interested in the Audio Store side of it now
, nice to see flac supported

 

I'm in, but have 2 questions. Are these audio files going to be new masters or are they going to be identical to what has been available on HDTracks? Next, will it be compatible with the Sync system in my car, which uses USB to play audio, displays track/album info and permits hands-free control?

 

many of the artists interviewed wouldn't sell out for anything, while some of them certainly would, but Neil Young doesn't come out of his Woodside, CA ranch (I grew up in the same town where he lives) to do anything except what he sees as worthwhile, certainly he is not marketing a product in the traditional sense, using kickstarter illustrated that

 

If the 24/96 or 24/192 download was the same price as the 16/44.1k, then I don't think there would be much concern.

But when the 24/192 download is 2x the price of the 16/44.1k download (using HDTracks here as a gauge) then that's a different story.

 

One maybe, Neil claims they were remastering everything but who knows.

Second, no I think the only out is analog audio.

 

And the FiiO X5 aswell. Along with the other available or soon to be available high res portables.

The thing with FiiO is that I've yet to hear a good amp from them. The sound from their headphone amps is just average middling unspectacular and generally lacking. Nothing spectacular. Nothing to get excited about. If a company can't make an amp that sounds good how are they going to manage to make a portable DAP that sounds good?

If the Pono can do great headphone sound without the need for an external portable amp then it will get my attention (and likely my money). The thing with portable headphone amps that are any good is that just the amp will cost as much as the discounted Pono. If the Pono doesn't need an external amp to rock my headphones it will be a relative bargain.

 

if the files are FLAC, then they can still be transcoded into mp3 (V0, etc). so i wonder if transcoded pono files will have anything over a transcoded cd file.

but it is entirely likely that i'm missing the point with that statement. ;-)

 

How is the tagging of FLAC files limited? These names on the display look like file names, not info from tags. Weird, really.