So, who's getting a Pono?

[charmingtedious]

My understanding is that loudness wars got started with jukeboxes.

The radio explanation doesn't make sense because--though what you say about soft signal and dropouts is true, every radio station employs a chain of limiting, multiband compression, 15 khz lo-pass, etc before the signal heads to the transmitter. these days it's usually in one unit called an "optimod"

[ampguy]

but there's little new there. my 2004 cd was out in DVD-A on cdbaby.com in 24/192. Derek Shivers(sp?) just asked that I label those clearly, that they wouldn't play on CD players.

When DVD-A was at it's lowest, many were regularly < $10 on Amazon. I still have a Sony DVD-A home unit, that sounds great through old '70s EPI 120 floor speakers.

What is this bandcamp you speak of?

Here's a blog post on the topic i wrote for my actual job.

If anyone wants to get rid of their DVD-As please send them my way!

[analogika]

My understanding is that loudness wars got started with jukeboxes.

The radio explanation doesn't make sense because--though what you say about soft signal and dropouts is true, every radio station employs a chain of limiting, multiband compression, 15 khz lo-pass, etc before the signal heads to the transmitter. these days it's usually in one unit called an "optimod"

Or, in fact, several Optimods in series, for whatever bizarre reason (yes, really).

Yep, but how long has that been the case?

[charmingtedious]

I think they've been using heavy compression/limiting as part of the standard signal chain in radio since the 50s-60s at least. Orban collapsed it all into one unit sometime in the 70s.

[charmingtedious]

(i should clarify, loudness wars on the radio are very real...stations in competitive urban markets apply heavier compression and limiting than stations in less competitive markets because everyone wants to be the loudest station on the dial. But that's done on the station's end; it shouldn't impact what folks are doing at the mix/master stage since it all ends up getting squashed by the Optimod anyway.)

[ottokbre]

I like the idea of, lets call it, audio-couture being the device and not just the headphones/cables part of the equation. Why not have people with expendable income get excited about music?

If you know anything about consumer spending, it's very much a U-shaped paradigm: cheap cheap cheap consumer goods with massive bells and whistles, and uber-expensive luxury goods. Pono would almost do better to be MORE expensive and elusive.

Having said that, I can't wait to see some start-up tech walking around downtown SF with a Pono in their pocket plugged into some Dr. Dre Beats or $5 earbuds.

Regardless, here are some potential adjectives for future Pono reviews: http://wathifi.tumblr.com/

[supafuzz]

I did a search today and found some really expensive wav file players on line..how is pono different?? That it plays higher resolution files or are the components of the player hi-fi? Wouldn't make a bigger difference in how it sounds?