howdy peeps ... looks like neil dropped the needle a few days early on his sub service at the neil young archives website . put down my $20 for all access to this place . free is also there if your just curious .

 RichardPrins wrote: 
didnt realize there were apps to play flac files on an iphone (i think i have about 5 apps on my phone, including RP).  Thanks.  The only major difference in sound quality then is the internal DAC...and I can't believe Pono is that much better (particularly given the convenience and other capabilities of an Apple/Samsung... product).  Believe Ayre had something to do with development...so cant shift all blame on Neil.  The outputs are only analog too I believe, no digital...so not really something I'd want to use with my main system. 

A nice promo from Neil might have been to offer a free Neil music with each player (might be something down the road when sales flounder?).  By the way, assuming the Pono music store does offer superior digital versions, it looks like you can access it with other players...you dont need the Pono player to access Pono music. 

Of course if one seriously craves FLACs then there's still no real reason to buy a "P0n0". From 2012: Best MP3 players with FLAC | Flash MP3 players - CNET Reviews

Any decent smart phone (with a large memory card and decent CPU) can do it as well.

 black321 wrote: 
Neil has been a longtime critic of 44.1k/16bit (CD format) digital audio. Yes, a lot of the Pono hype is based around FLAC vs MP3. In that case, there's definitely a quality difference — especially if you're comparing FLAC to the crappy 128k MP3 files a lot of people have on their iPods.  

But it's easy enough to load an iPhone (or iWhatever) with 256k AAC files, or 320k MP3 files (wait, won't they also play Apple Lossless files — the same quality as FLAC?). Apple's devices feature very high quality analog audio outputs. Listen to one sometime with a very good pair of headphones. It's highly doubtful that Pono's analog circuitry is noticeably better. Then you have not only high quality music, but a phone, camera, GPS, video player, game machine, etc. In a sleek, fits-in-your-pocket package. For about the same price. Hmmm....  

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
Gotta be someone out there.
 
I actually do like a lot of it but DSOTM never needs to be played again ever. There's a lot of the Wall that is really impressive but it's like listening to Sandinista all the way thru... lots of filler.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Wait. Who doesn't like Pink Floyd?

Neil Young-endorsed music player Kickstarts past $1.6 million
Pono touts an affinity for higher bitrate files, even if some audiophiles disagree.

 

Wonder if Neil Young sets up PonoPlayers around his house to play "Heart of Gold" simultaneously, a la this photo?

Saying that he wants to "bring back real music," rocker Neil Young unveiled the PonoPlayer yesterday. Young put his high-end digital music player on Kickstarter with a relatively lofty goal of $800,000. One day later, his new device has doubled that goal, rocketing past $1.6 million.

The device is aptly described on Pono's page as a "Toblerone shape," looking about as long as an adult hand and reportedly weighing 4.5 ounces. It's packed with 64GB of on-board memory, along with a 64GB SD card. A small touchscreen, three physical buttons, and two 3.5 mm audio-out jacks round out the rest of the device. With no on-board speakers, video capability, or even pocket friendliness, this $300 device plants its feet firmly in its mission: to deliver higher-bitrate audio to the masses.

The campaign includes an 11-minute video of Young-era musicians like Patti Smith, Tom Petty, and David Crosby asserting how much "better" music can sound on a PonoPlayer. But the technical detail is mostly lacking from those musicians, as they merely assert that the device better replicates the sound heard in a music studio. In the clip, Young himself eventually talks about how much better music can sound at higher bitrates—not just CD quality, but 192kHz/24-bit. The FAQ section includes technical explanations about "zero-feedback circuitry" and hints about the device's digital filter and DAC chip.

What won't be music to Young's ears is the growing crowd of audiophiles who aren't convinced that higher bitrates alone do the trick. In particular, the xiph.org community, longtime backers of the FLAC file format, released an anti-Young salvo decrying the use of 192kHz audio as foolish at best and harmful to the source audio at worst. And while Pono asserts that music will sound better on any headphones or earbuds, the biggest benefits of PonoPlayer's high-res files will be lost on anyone whose cans don't have a nice handle on highs and lows alike.

Either way, $1.6 million has fallen into the laps of Young and co. (It's worth noting that $150,000 of that came from 30 backers who bought into a private dinner with Young himself.) The total number thus far might get music executives salivating, but their real excitement probably comes from the dream of a successful Pono online music store, where full album sales of higher-bitrate albums, according to a video on the Kickstarter page, start as high as $18. Time will tell whether the PonoPlayer and its online store will attain their launch estimate of October of this year.

So now reportedly $300...

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I knew some with state-of-the-art systems and not a particular large or even pretty limited collection of music. On the other hand, when I grew up, I had an uncle with a large (for the day) vinyl collection, and I could play whatever I wanted on his regular "stereo".

The bootleg scene is still very vibrant, with smaller digital gear, as well as people "taping" classical music with digital tuners from digital broadcasts.

 swell_sailor wrote: 
No I never actually bothered altho I thought about it a few times. This show, I was actually interviewing HD between sets and so had a recorder in the Roxy. Just pushed Rec/Play and let 'er go, using the little built-in mic.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Did you do that? I had a friend who did that. Had a nice Sony whatever tape deck and custom microphones for his hat. The posse would keep all the rowdies away while he positioned himself perfectly and remained motionless. I got some pretty cool stuff from him back in the eighties. I have an awesome Dire Straits and a pretty cool Stephen Stills among other things. 

 swell_sailor wrote: 
Or they start buying Pink Floyd remasters when they don't even like Pink Floyd.
 
And the last show I bootlegged was Husker Du ca 1987. Haven't heard it in decades, but interestingly the recorder was not in my pants but we did turn the box to the wall because it had a bright, obvious, red light And yes it's muddy because of that. I figured Husker Du would bounce off the walls just fine... 

 swell_sailor wrote: 
Of the ducks?  You can't eat them, it would take forever to start the coals.

I understand what you are saying about the quality and you are correct. As long as it doesn't become an impediment to the enjoyment. 

 islander wrote: 
But what about the nutritional value?

 islander wrote: 

That makes more sense than "I found myself listening to the sound not the music." (general quote I often hear) Um, really?

I suppose I get the point. Sometimes people are so fixated on working toward the perfect sound that it becomes about that......about the gear.......and they forget to listen and enjoy the music. I know gear-head skiiers, windsurfers, mountain bikers, photographers............ I get that. But I think it's possible to enjoy both the sound and the music. I do it all the time. I even listen to classic rock fm in my work van. I crank it up until the door panels and tools start rattling. I also like to sit on the sofa with my eyes closed and admire how beautiful the sound can be. That it's coming from a 40 year old restored (by me) turntable and speakers built by me adds to the pleasure. I can imagine Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, and Clifton Jones being in the same room with me. That's about as good as it gets. 

 steeler wrote: 
I have trained a brace of Buff Orpingtons to beat their wings to create a steady breeze when I start the coals. 

 islander wrote: 

Took the words right out of my mouth!   

*wonders what effect ducks have*

Oh, Malliard effect.  Never mind!   

 swell_sailor wrote: 
It's more like: I modified my Weber by calibrating all the air holes that I drilled with a russian diamond drill bit (african diamonds leave rough edges and create turbulence in the airflow that will impact the Malliard effect and cause the browning of the sear to be shifted 4% to the dark... duh). I then used a Hawaiian pumice hone to create a fractal pattern on the lid to enhance the reflectivity of the infrared spectrum inside the grill. This was further enhanced by the special polish made from aloe vera, Lithuanian sea salt and Brazilian puma live that I use on the 87.285% pure Titanium grates.....

There is a point of diminishing returns. And a lot of it is more religion than science (careful or you may find yourself arguing on the internet... <  introspective pause  >. ...). Like I said, my meter these days is good/bad. I did re-foam my speakers last year, but they were completely shot by the time I got to it. I notice a substantial improvement, but I was listening to music before and after. When I was really nutty about it, I would actually delay listening to things until I could recalibrate the amp, or add an extra 1mm spacer in the speaker to soften the internal sound pressure waves.

I really like music. I listen to it all the time. The speakers in my car rattle a bit when turned way up because the package shelf is made of 6 ounces of the lightest plastic board they had in Germany at the time. I don't care, I'm just happy I have a way to get RP (mostly) in my car. I also have several sansa mp3 players because they are cheap and I can take them anywhere. If I loose one, crush one, drop one in 600 feet of water, it's only $15 bucks. I reload my music on the next on and keep listening. The audiophiles will scoff, and offer you a $400 dollar player with a name that will make people blush and giggle if you mumble when you say "check out my new pono player".  I'll just keep collecting music I like and can play where ever I like. If it sounds too bad I'll tell SFW to take the recorder out of his jacket when he makes the next bootleg. 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I think it's Bluetooth.

 RichardPrins wrote:
 Is that USB?

 

 swell_sailor wrote: