We were all waiting for musical salvation, a gadget that would overcome the woeful sound quality of MP3s, iTunes, etc. Along came the PonoPlayer with high expectations, but Slate's Seth Stevenson explains his very low assessment of this supposed superior iPod replacement.
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Sony has quietly come out with a new mp3 player that is terrific. It met all my criteria to finally upgrade my old Sony 16 Gb model (which still works fine):
High capacity - 64 gb with expansion via a 128 gb micro card.
Bluetooth capability (connects easily)
Loads music easily via Sony 'drag & drop" interface, no I-Tunes necessary.
Ability to play flac files (not really something I need, but audiophiles will appreciate it)
Long battery life - up to 50 hours on music playback.
The only drawback is the price, $299. That's the price of a halfway decent laptop, for example.
It's also a little hard to find. I got mine via B&H Photo with a 2 week wait. Amazon currently has it on 4-6 week wait.
In my situation anyway, since it met every bullet point on my wish list (electronics hardly EVER do that), I went for it, and I'm very happy with it.
It appears that Crutchfield has it in stock:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158NWZA17S/Sony-NWZ-A17SLV-Hi-Res-Walkman.html?tp=66503&awkw=90642154345&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=55323755425&awdv=c
Posted by: Ken K. in NJ | February 19, 2015 at 08:29 AM
I read Slate's Seth Stevenson article. I'll date myself as it reminded me of articles written back in the late '70s and early '80s.
The virtue of Class C amplifiers over the Class AB. The rational was when the output transistors switched one could hear the cross over point. After many years of A/B listening tests it was never resolved, much like the perceived differences in the article.
The real culprit in today's music is compression, and dynamic limiting.
Posted by: Stan | February 19, 2015 at 10:24 AM
The Pono player is at least a decade too late. Those in the know already have superior choices for audiophile-level equipment. The variety is at times bewildering. The rest of the world is fine with their sub-par music fidelity and their ten-dollar bottles of wine. Someone could make it their mission to "wake people up" to the poor quality of music recordings, but modern music being what it is, I don't think many people would notice or care enough to want to spend hundreds more dollars than necessary.
Posted by: Ulysses | February 19, 2015 at 12:50 PM