Neil Young PONO player Review

[CedarX]

the pono player had a concurrent system to listen to a track switching between ‘low res’ and ‘hi res’ as you played said track.

Just curious... Was it switching between 2 versions of the same track (hi-res / low-res)? Resampling / changing the bit depth on the fly from hi-res to low-res? Resampling / changing the bit depth from low-res to hi-res? Re-encoding a hi-res loosless track to a compressed, loosy (e.g. mp3) format?

 

[Smog]

Just curious... Was it switching between 2 versions of the same track (hi-res / low-res)? Resampling / changing the bit depth on the fly from hi-res to low-res? Resampling / changing the bit depth from low-res to hi-res? Re-encoding a hi-res loosless track to a compressed, loosy (e.g. mp3) format?

Hmm. This, I dont remember understanding the techniques behind it even if I did at the time (!).

I seem to recall the instruction was to have two files of the same song - lossy and hi res (for that definition I am including flac cd rates). And I seem to remember having to convert some flac tracks to mp3 on conversion audio software on my pc to have two versions to compare. Vaguely think this was astral weeks for some reason. Then i am surmising that the player flipped between the two versions for immediate comparison. Although just my recollection and have to remember we are dealing with unscrupulous grifters so who really knows, amiright?

 

[Jimbob54]

Hmm. This, I dont remember understanding the techniques behind it even if I did at the time (!).

I seem to recall the instruction was to have two files of the same song - lossy and hi res (for that definition I am including flac cd rates). And I seem to remember having to convert some flac tracks to mp3 on conversion audio software on my pc to have two versions to compare. Vaguely think this was astral weeks for some reason. Then i am surmising that the player flipped between the two versions for immediate comparison. Although just my recollection and have to remember we are dealing with unscrupulous grifters so who really knows, amiright?

I vaguely remember doing something like this on my Pono player too. IIRC I used the one free NY 192 track they included with the player (or free from pono store) - was one of the ones on Harvest. I seem to recall creating a down sampled version of the same and the device could A/B.

My vague recollection is that being a sighted swap- with a different coloured light on the display for the quality indicator. I am reasonably sure I probably "heard" the hi-res one being better too- little blue lights can do that to you!

 

[Smog]

I vaguely remember doing something like this on my Pono player too. IIRC I used the one free NY 192 track they included with the player (or free from pono store) - was one of the ones on Harvest. I seem to recall creating a down sampled version of the same and the device could A/B.

My vague recollection is that being a sighted swap- with a different coloured light on the display for the quality indicator. I am reasonably sure I probably "heard" the hi-res one being better too- little blue lights can do that to you!

Haha yes! NY made a big thing about the authenticating masters blue light I forgot about that. the evil bastard.

 

[CedarX]

I am reasonably sure I probably "heard" the hi-res one being better too- little blue lights can do that to you!

Being nice with NY , this was not a bad idea, but again, not well executed to be meaningful: the Pono should have implemented a blind A/B test, selecting the hi/low res track and blue light randomly when the user "switched" from one to the other, recording a user "vote" through one of the buttons, and keeping track of the score... Now that would have been something... probably destroying the whole hi-res premise !!!

 

[oceansize]

More about the different resolutions thing here

 

[Jimbob54]

More about the different resolutions thing here

Good to know my grey matter is still functioning reasonably well. Cheers.

 

[digicidal]

It's a vicious cycle:

1. See a good idea and dismiss it out of ignorance or cost concerns.
2. See it become popular and extremely profitable for the mavericks that were first.
3. Condemn, disparage, litigate, propagandize, etc. in an attempt to return market to previous state.
4. Attempt to tweak it slightly to claim ownership in the space.
5. Either get extremely creative (or malignantly litigious) or eventually fail completely.

For each "ridiculous" idea like the iPod, FLAC, Netflix... there's a Pono or Zune (sorry Amir ), MQA, Disney+, etc.

I'm sure there's ironclad NDA's in place to prevent him from ever admitting it... but my guess is Neil was the one being solicited as the "face of an exciting new player" - and handed the marketing materials, etc.

Either way, a shameless money grab ended in the appropriate way... they should have called it the MQA player - it would have lasted slightly longer.

 

[amirm]

For each "ridiculous" idea like the iPod, FLAC, Netflix... there's a Pono or Zune (sorry Amir ), MQA, Disney+, etc.

No need to apologize to me about Zune. My role in that product development was to tell the company in no uncertain terms to NOT develop Zune. I warned them of the competitive power of Apple and that they had no chance. Management above me (i.e. Microsoft CEO) didn't listen and gave the green light to Xbox team to develop Zune (I was in Windows). In short order, they had to write off millions of dollars in unsold inventory. Clear example of arrogance thinking they are so good that they could take on this challenge and win. This fiasco started me on the path of eventually leaving Microsoft.

 

[Smog]

It's a vicious cycle:

1. See a good idea and dismiss it out of ignorance or cost concerns.
2. See it become popular and extremely profitable for the mavericks that were first.
3. Condemn, disparage, litigate, propagandize, etc. in an attempt to return market to previous state.
4. Attempt to tweak it slightly to claim ownership in the space.
5. Either get extremely creative (or malignantly litigious) or eventually fail completely.

For each "ridiculous" idea like the iPod, FLAC, Netflix... there's a Pono or Zune (sorry Amir ), MQA, Disney+, etc.

I'm sure there's ironclad NDA's in place to prevent him from ever admitting it... but my guess is Neil was the one being solicited as the "face of an exciting new player" - and handed the marketing materials, etc.

Either way, a shameless money grab ended in the appropriate way... they should have called it the MQA player - it would have lasted slightly longer.

You’re way off about him being a face man. Completely and utterly incorrect in fact. He wrote a book about the project.

but other than that in the post, well you used words in semblance of right order.

Amazon.co.uk

 

[Smog]

And jeez, some of you guys… seriously.

 

[theREALdotnet]

As a reference, an Apple phone dongle has SINAD of 99 db, nearly 10 dB better.

Nearly 20dB better?

 

[Keith_W]

No need to apologize to me about Zune. My role in that product development was to tell the company in no uncertain terms to NOT develop Zune. I warned them of the competitive power of Apple and that they had no chance. Management above me (i.e. Microsoft CEO) didn't listen and gave the green light to Xbox team to develop Zune (I was in Windows). In short order, they had to write off millions of dollars in unsold inventory. Clear example of arrogance thinking they are so good that they could take on this challenge and win. This fiasco started me on the path of eventually leaving Microsoft.

Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy loves his Zune. I saw someone on the train using a Zune and I had a chat with him, he loves it because it's "cool" and "not an iPod". I think it has the same appeal as old Casio watches.

 

[Anton D]

A lot of spaghetti has been thrown at a lot of walls.

I’d love to meet someone carrying a Pono or Zune.

 

[Chrispy]

A lot of spaghetti has been thrown at a lot of walls.

I’d love to meet someone carrying a Pono or Zune.

Especially using actual hi res files!

 

[amirm]

Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy loves his Zune. I saw someone on the train using a Zune and I had a chat with him, he loves it because it's "cool" and "not an iPod". I think it has the same appeal as old Casio watches.

The second one "Zune HD" was very nice. But by then the battle was lost. Perils of management who got into a new business without understanding anything about it.

 

[Jimster480]

I remember these things! Not surprised to see their performance today being subpar...

 

[AudioSceptic]

Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy loves his Zune. I saw someone on the train using a Zune and I had a chat with him, he loves it because it's "cool" and "not an iPod". I think it has the same appeal as old Casio watches.

I wasn't going to buy one but it seemed like a decent product in itself. Maybe if it had better music support and a lower price it would done better?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Nearly 20dB better?

Worst channel was 77 dB, so that's 22 dB difference.

 

[Mulder]

Worst channel was 77 dB, so that's 22 dB difference.

But the Apple dongle is 48 khz only, so everything else than 48 khz are resampled.