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from the digital-revolution-blues dept.
Marneus68 writes:
"Pono, the Neil Young-endorsed Kickstarter project, is drawing more and more pledges. Now past the $2 million mark (with an expected goal of $800K), this project aims to create a audiophile friendly FLAC player along with its ecosystem (and by that they mean their own music store and syncing application).
The device itself features 2 audio outputs, one 'specially designed for headphones' and the other 'specifically designed for listening on your home audio system'. The player is controlled by an LCD touchscreen, and its triangular 'Toblerone' shape makes it easy to hold it upright with one hand or to lay it flat on surfaces. The player, which has 64GB of internal memory, comes together with a 64GB microSD card.
The board and its components, as well as a 'pre-prototype' model, are pictured in the project's Kickstarter page.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NigelO on Thursday March 13 2014, @12:15PM
I'm using a Sansa Clip+, which supports FLAC out of the box, 32GB microSD, great audio, low price, etc.
It's also tiny, portable, and has a microphone and FM radio built in, with lots of add-on apps with the Rockbox firmware.
(Score: 1) by MikeRo on Thursday March 13 2014, @12:24PM
Exactly. The Clip has been around for years. And for far cheaper than this new hipster item.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nerdfest on Thursday March 13 2014, @12:37PM
I have a couple of Sansa Clip+'s, but their sound quality isn't even quite as good as some of their older models. I have an older E260 that sounds better. I think the goal of better sound quality is worth it, but we should be able to do it cheaper.
(Score: 2, Informative) by sharky on Thursday March 13 2014, @12:43PM
I think the point is that their "store" will sell audio with quality up to (From the site):
"Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files" ...and they are saying their player has a good enough DAC (which maybe the Sansa does not?) to play 192 kHz/24 bit audio. That's pretty insane IMHO (in a good way). I'm the type that thinks 44.1 kHz/16 bit is "great". ... I keep wondering how many full length albums 64/128GB etc would really hold at 192 kHz/24 bit.... probably not an impressive number (but certainly "useful").
(Score: 3, Informative) by sharky on Thursday March 13 2014, @12:48PM
http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t
(Score: 1) by NigelO on Thursday March 13 2014, @01:41PM
Thanks for all the follow-up notes and research - I stand corrected, yet still flac-entertained, albeit at a lower quality than the future holds ;-)
(Score: 1) by MrNemesis on Friday March 14 2014, @08:37AM
Forgoing modding you up to reply and add a "me, too!" I guess...! In a portable sense, I've been using the Sansa Clip/Zip loaded up with rockbox and a 64GB microSD card; it's a highly capable player on its own but with rockbox installed it's even betterer (especially in regard to battery life). Even my ancient Nokia can play FLAC if you install a (free) decoder, but the UIs for mobile phone music players always seem to suck donkey balls so I stick with the Sansa units.
I also don't really see the purpose of the device - doesn't the world and dog support FLAC now? My TV can decode FLAC, my AV receiver can decode FLAC, all the computers that are ever attached to them can decode FLAC... as well as a hojillion other audio formats, even the stupid "I really can hear a difference between 48kHz and 96kHz, I swear!" ones.
To my jaded and cynical self, this seems like blatant catering to the audiophile crowd with little-to-no technical nouse to make it worthy of an SN post.