Neil Young readies Pono music service for expansion Part 4

Wait wait wait.

They shipped a $300 media player in 2014.....that doesn't do gapless playback? My Sansa Clip+ that I got for $25 refurbished like 4 years ago has no problem with that.

 

Current firmware (version 1.0.4) fixes that. Here's the relevant part of the change log:
Gapless playback support for lossless files (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF)
Gapless playback is defined as two tracks played back to back as if they were the same track. We have add this functionality as a native function of the PonoPlayer for lossless file types only. Tracks for lossy file types (MP3, AAC) are played with no gap added by the player - however any padding added by the original file encoding process that is contained in the file itself is not removed.

My FLAC files are playing gapless. Both high-res and regular old 16/44.1.

Classical music sounds really neat on the PonoPlayer, especially on headphones. The PonoPlayer has a nice set-back soundstage that puts you several rows back from the stage. The headstage presented on headphones is presented in front of your forehead rather than between your ears. It's a sonic presentation that works really really well for classical. It's really really neat with classical. Especially on good headphones. If you do portable listening with headphones and want to listen to classical on a portable you need to try this player. Sonic magic.

 

Initial firmware didn't. Current firmware does gapless for lossless files.

 

Thanks for the update. Good to hear they've fixed this issue.

 

Can all of you who insist on talking about the Pono player use this thread?

 

You realize this thread started before that one, right?

 

Yup. But, as that one is designated for the hardware, and this one for the music service, why not just post discussions in the appropriate places? I get two or three off-topic posts, but when the Pono player issue continually takes up half the thread when one is available for it...

 

My comment was in reference to the constant Toblerone jokes infesting this forum, but it has gapless playback too, so I guess you're in. Enjoy.

 

I'm guessing that since the trolls steered it that way, and that the majority of folks might not see the differences in the two threads (Pono is Pono, in any detail), your wishes might fall on deaf ears.

 

Eduard Nuijen (Moderator)
Hi everyone, Pono has asked us to let you know:

Albums & Collections with multiple resolutions;
We are discovering that some of the albums and collections/box sets of albums within the PonoMusic store have within them tracks or albums of various resolutions. While there are not a lot of these types of offers, we want to make sure that we are making it clear as to what the resolutions are. Currently the displayed resolution for an album is taken from the first track of that product. We are working on rolling out a change so that the most common resolution within the album, collection or box set is what is displayed with the resolution color bar for the album and then at the track level, customers can see each track resolution listed. This change should be rolling out in the next few weeks and help to clear up any questions that folks have on the resolution of albums.

Box Sets

Yesterday at 7:27 PM ·

Larry Berg (Member), Michael Gearhart (Member), David Dunn (Member), and
Eduard Nuijen (Moderator)
@PonoMusic Store
Doug Adams (Member)
@Eduard Nuijen (Moderator) and Pono. Glad Pono is paying attention to this and trying to honestly rate what we are buying. It can't be easy. LONG LIVE PONO.
Karl Lee Soule (Member)
First off, thank you for NOT following the lead of other sites and upsampling all tracks to the highest resolution. (Looking at you, Linn Records!)
I experienced this first hand with Best of REM 1988-2003. It's listed at 48/24, but I was pleasantly surprised to find 96/24 and 192/24 tracks on the album!
In the interim, if Pono puts the graphic bar at the lowest value, and customers find higher-res tracks, you will earn a lot of goodwill!
kinch.3859 (Member)
@Karl Lee Soule (Member) what albums are you inferring that Linn Records upsampled?
Karl Lee Soule (Member)
This is a note from their Christmas sampler:

"Please note: Please note that the original recordings incorporated in this compilation were made at a variety of different sample rates, depending on the technology available at the time of the recording. To facilitate playing this compilation as a complete album, all the tracks have been re-sampled to a standard 192kHz / 96kHz."

Why do that?
kinch.3859 (Member)
If you had downloaded the individual tracks which Linn gave as a free gift each day of the 24 days prior to Christmas Day 2014, you would have found that they were at various resolutions. I don't know why they bothered re sampling the entire compilation gift package to 192kHz or 96 kHz, and then being brazen enough to admit that they had the cheek to re sample their gift items i.e. Gratis items. They ...
Karl Lee Soule (Member)
Lol. I know it's not the end of the world, and Linn has been a strong ally in the HD world. I just hate upsampling in any form.
Ian Kendrick (Moderator)
In our moderator conversation with Randy last night we discussed that this whole matter is out of Pono's hands. Is just how the files arrive, Pono are being transparent with this but there might be an impression that something wonky is going on between the files arriving at Pono and going into the store. Ain't so...
Doug Adams (Member)
@Karl Lee Soule (Member) my understanding of why Linn made every thing the same resolution is the reason they gave. There are playback programs/DACS that require stopping and resetting every time the resolution changes. For these people it would be impossible to play the Christmas Album compilation without a lot of stop and starting. This is the only way to provide seamless playback for these people/systems. ...
Ian Kendrick (Moderator)
@Doug Adams (Member) I didn't know that. Useful info. Thanks.

i
Karl Lee Soule (Member)
Hi Doug, that makes perfect sense, and I wasn't aware of it. Thank you. I would humbly retract my little 'barb' at Linn if I could.
At the time I wrote it, I had just moved the album off my player to reclaim some space, and that message about upsampling everything was forefront in my mind. I've never seen them do any other upsampling. I have seen some other offerings at HD Tracks that have, but again, ...
Karl Lee Soule (Member)
And that was a quick fix! Seeing all the individual track resolutions now!
Screenshot 2015-01-16 23.38.16

Download png(393 KB) ·

 

My question is why an album would have more than one resolution. What kind of funny business is going on with the labels? Are they putting up the first track in hi-rez only, knowing that's how Pono determines the overall bit-depth?

 

I didn't know that the Pono player came in different colors;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pono-Music-...973?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f44c5245

 

I think that this is mostly about compilations.

 

Still...

 

Wow, a clear one;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PONO-Player...696?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae33a9710

 

Here get with the program. From the original Kickstarter production no longer available except eBay as you have found.

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I wouldn't say they are trolls, it's just that people tend to follow the other person's lead.

I totally get that there are people who are only interested in the player, and others who are only interested in the music store, and out of those two groups, there are those who are only interested in discussing hi-rez, wherever it is. But, to keep the confusion away, just pick the appropriate thread.

Then, Stereosound above decides to post a loooong one about the player. Why didn't he pick the player thread???

Then, there are those who insist on debating the merits of hi-rez, and want to argue about A/B DBT, and all that crap. They should start their own thread.

 

Thanks.

 

I'm not sure about red book sex, but red head sex is hard to beat!

 

Actually, it's the hi-res deniers that are the flat-earthers, not the other way around.

 

I've never understood how it was determined... Please explain this test of 'flat earthiness'.

 

This is the Pono player thread, the Pono music thread is over here;

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/pono-website-dedicated-thread.405001/

 

Oh, the test is very simple...

Take a large set of people. Work through the members of the set in turn. Blindfold each person and place them randomly on either a planar Earth, or on a spheroid Earth as it has been actively promoted for these last few centuries. Each person is randomly placed for some interval, oh say, not exceeding 30 seconds. The gravity levels of the two Earths must be carefully matched of course. Each person gets randomly placed several times.

When the test is completed, the "flat-earthers" are those who say it is impossible for anyone at all to distinguish a difference, so anyone who does not believe the Earth is flat is just wasting money believing in some "snake-oil" hype of a planet...and that only "sighted" tests promote the idea there is some kind of planetary distinction.

 

If you took two seconds to notice it's because I was giving info. to therockman who may be interested to know more about what he didn't seem to know about until recently.

 

Look at the thread title and then tell me again.