Neil Young PONO player Review

[diddley]

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.

It's interesting to read about your adventures at microsoft, thanks for sharing.

 

[AudioSceptic]

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

It supports 44.1 and 48 <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/> Anything more is pointless.

 

[Mulder]

It supports 44.1 and 48 <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/> Anything more is pointless.

Well. This is strange. When I connect my Apple dongle to my iPhone it resample 44,1 to 48. I use ROON ARC, and my settings are such that it resamples only for compatibility reasons. I just checked with an Apple USB-C dongle on an Android Samsung Galaxy S8. Same result. But when I connect the USB-C Apple dongle to ROON on Windows it use WASAPI and now it do not resample. Strange. Can anyone explain this?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Well. This is strange. When I connect my Apple dongle to my iPhone it resample 44,1 to 48. I use ROON ARC, and my settings are such that it resamples only for compatibility reasons. I just checked with an Apple USB-C dongle on an Android Samsung Galaxy S8. Same result. But when I connect the USB-C Apple dongle to ROON on Windows it use WASAPI and now it do not resample. Strange. Can anyone explain this?

I can't but does it matter? Is there likely to be any loss in SINAD in resampling?

 

[Mulder]

Is there likely to be any loss in SINAD in resampling?

I don´t know. Quality loss after resampling is due to the quality of the resampling. I don´t know how well resampling is done in my user case. It is my impression something is lost, but I am not sure.

 

[CedarX]

Well. This is strange. When I connect my Apple dongle to my iPhone it resample 44,1 to 48. I use ROON ARC, and my settings are such that it resamples only for compatibility reasons. I just checked with an Apple USB-C dongle on an Android Samsung Galaxy S8. Same result. But when I connect the USB-C Apple dongle to ROON on Windows it use WASAPI and now it do not resample. Strange. Can anyone explain this?

AFAIK, the Apple USB-C dongle is UAC-2 compliant, supporting 16/24 bit @ 44.1/48 kHz. So it exposes a total of 4x possible bit depth/sampling rate combinations for the host to choose from. I read on the Roon ARC forum, that ARC resamples to the native rate iOS reports back to ARC: 48 kHz, the default for both IOS and Android. Other Android App (not sure about iOS) implement a "direct" DAC support, capable of bypassing the default 48kHz sampling rate from the OS. I'm speculating that Roon on WIndows is smart enough to "pick" the available 16/44.1 exposed by the Apple dongle, avoiding resampling.

 

[formdissolve]

ARM Cortex-A8? Well, at least it can probably run DOOM.

 

[brandall10]

This was always one of those things where you read about that it's in the pipeline and you know - for certain and right away - that it's a bad idea and it's going to end badly.

If I knew him I'd have said to him 'Neil, mate, just leave it.'

He has made some of the greatest records of all time so he still gets a pass from me.

I was deep in the well of head-fi at the time so I was happy he was doing this, esp. as I also love him as an artist. Didn't seem like most musicians cared much about this stuff.

Now it reads like rich dude w/ inch thick power cables at home needs to preach audiophila to the world w/ snake oil business partner.

 

[audiotron]

Hype only, just like most other Kickstarter projects...

 

[375HP2482]

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.

Pretty well describes the reception digital audio got in Stereophile back in the 80s. For awhile they wouldn't say "recorded in digital." Instead it was "encoded in digital." You know, to remind us we were no longer listening to music -- we were now simply processing data. Like little accountants.

BTW...Watched a rebroadcast of an old tribute to Bob Dylan. Many A-list players (Clapton, Petty) on stage, but the standout was NY. Totally committed.

 

[Mart68]

I was deep in the well of head-fi at the time so I was happy he was doing this, esp. as I also love him as an artist. Didn't seem like most musicians cared much about this stuff.

Now it reads like rich dude w/ inch thick power cables at home needs to preach audiophila to the world w/ snake oil business partner.

by the time this came out I had already done the hi res blind test so knew it was nonsense. But he has made albums I don't just like but worship.

he's just a musician to me that's all, like any other musician I'm only interested in his music not his businesses, politics, personal life etc. No relevance to me.

 

[hyfynut]

I think Stereophile could review a pair of dixie cups and string and advocate for them. If they were potential advertisers of course. Kind of absurd this product does the exact opposite of what it is supposed to do. Embarrassing.

Only if the string was wound silver

 

[Jack B]

And the string would have to be supported off the floor (or table, or whatever) by a series of expensive proprietary magic columns made with unobtanium.

 

[Cbdb2]

At 70 something and standing in front of a guitar amp or studio monitors with 110db spl for 60 years he probably can't hear anything past 5khz. Yea thats who you want telling you what sounds good. What Neil has plenty of is ego. Spend less time ranting about digital audio and learn to sing in tune, Neil.