Audio nuts take note

[Link]

Pushes high end Grado cans very well. Zero complaints here, except that my girlfriend can here me playing in the other room with the cans & Pandora. Again, Thank You MWeston, great design ALL around.

 

[gruso]

A wild MWeston appears.

 

[levi]

Without headphones I've not had any mobile device that has any bass at all - what's the Pandora saying there, i guess for bass you need space or mad technology like those speakers off glass gadgets. Give me a device that lets me hear the bass on Bad Company's The Nine and I'm happy.

To hear bass you need a large surface area and a lot of movement at any distance, or a lot of movement and enough area to cover the area the ears can hear, for headphones.  A large area to resonate in helps improve the freedom of movement of the drivers at specific frequencies.  Put that together with the Pandora (or any portable device's) small area and you'll have difficulty getting much bass out of it without using headphones however you drive it.


I'm not familiar with 'those speakers off glass gadgets' but I assume they make the glass vibrate to act as the speaker.  I should perhaps also mention an x-mini speaker I recently bought, which is small enough to carry with the Pandora (arguably) but has a much larger driver, and can expand to allow the space to resonate passably.  It also sounds better if you place it on a large wooden surface such as a desk, as it moves sufficiently to make use of the thing it's standing on.  Honestly, it's a bit over-bassy for my tastes, and a bit vague in the top end and is only mono but more than passable for my needs most of the time, and does work well with certain types of music.  If I need definition I've always got headphones.

 

[Fzero]

Yeah that's as i figured that such portable devices just aren't large enough.


Here's a couple of those glass/surface speakers i mention btw, the wowee are fair priced i think, but I've not actually heard one myself so don't know if these produce bass but they claim too and i think the gadget show said the wowee did, if I'm remembering correct.


Take a look at their Sphere model


http://www.gigabox.co.uk/


http://www.woweeone.com/index.php?lang=us


Maybe that type speaker could be a feature of Pandora 2, the ability to turn any surface you rest it on into a speaker... maybe ?

 

[Lao Rebel]

Audio is very important to me, it should be for anyone. Audio is often overlooked in modern times and i'm impressed that you bring up Audio.

 

[BaDToaD]

The audio capability of the Pandora is indeed quite awesome, shame we don't have any audio software truly tailored to the Pandora. i.e. it would play with lid closed + use shoulder buttons to skip / pause tracks + use hold buttons etc.


I'm pretty curious as to what this means :

...I believe the Pandora's components have now fully burnt in...

Many of us audiophiles believe that components burn in over a period of time. i.e. they go through changes until they finally settle at a specific point. I have heard the effect many times but there are many that refuse to believe in the phenomenon. I tend to trust my ears.


Burn in is less pronounced on portable devices but on higher end audio gear it can be blatantly obvious even to the untrained ear. The Pandora's burn in has been subtle but noticible. You are unlikely to notice a difference unless you are using decent headphones.


Of course if you don't believe in burn in then that's fine too, let's just not start an argument here about it

 

[Asmo]

Very agreeable noises from my Pandora through Sennheiser 650s here.


On the subject of Bass through speakers, the ambient temperature makes a massive difference too - the quality of Bass response after a warm day in Summer is worlds away from that in winter, assuming your room isn't a year round sauna. It's like the difference between a ritz cracker and a pizza with everything. Except Anchovies.

 

[F_Slim]

Maybe that type speaker could be a feature of Pandora 2, the ability to turn any surface you rest it on into a speaker... maybe ?

Problem is that the result you get depends entirely on the surface you use. And in most (or all) cases that surface was never designed to produce good sound. I sure you'll be able to get some amount of bass out of it, with the bonus that you can feel it when you touch the surface and see everything on your table to vibrate with it, but I doubt that you could call it "quality sound".


Maybe I'm wrong, I actually never tried on of those things. I settled with a set of travel-speakers that are small but still give good sound for their size wherever I put them: http://www.hama.de/p...00014463abb.jpg


I don't expect an audiophile to go accept them as quality speakers either, but I am very happy with them for watching movies on my laptop or listening to music while away.


If I want good quality sound I use my Sony in-ear plugs or put on my big Philips headphones.

 

[Fzero]

I suspect your right F_Slim.


I'll most likely rely on my headphones too when i really want to enjoy some music on it, or playing one of the many games i enjoy playing for the music & SFX just as muct as gameplay [thinking streets of rage]


Also looking at getting one of those x-rocker chairs in a couple of paydays time, they meant to sound pretty decent and can have Pandora hooked up to that too.

 

[gadgetoid]

I'm pretty curious as to what this means :

...I believe the Pandora's components have now fully burnt in...

Of course if you don't believe in burn in then that's fine too, let's just not start an argument here about it

The concept of "Burn in" is a confusing mix of voodoo and simple electrical/mechanical fact. Of course components change over time, if they didn't they'd never wear out and would last forever, no?


Whether or not people can discern that change is a wholly different question, though. In the case of something as small as the Pandora it seems unlikely and I'd chalk it more up to acclimatisation of the listener.


For larger more complex gear it would be insane to assert that the physical change to components that we know as fact has absolutely no effect on the audio characteristics. Therefore if we can extrapolate this, so can manufacturers and thus it would be logical to assume that they account for changes in components over time and design in tolerances to achieve a peak audio performance not with stock components, but with ones that have worn for a while.


I'm no audiophile. I have a soundbar under my TV...

 

[slaeshjag]

The audio capability of the Pandora is indeed quite awesome, shame we don't have any audio software truly tailored to the Pandora. i.e. it would play with lid closed + use shoulder buttons to skip / pause tracks + use hold buttons etc.


I'm pretty curious as to what this means :

...I believe the Pandora's components have now fully burnt in...

Many of us audiophiles believe that components burn in over a period of time. i.e. they go through changes until they finally settle at a specific point. I have heard the effect many times but there are many that refuse to believe in the phenomenon. I tend to trust my ears.


Burn in is less pronounced on portable devices but on higher end audio gear it can be blatantly obvious even to the untrained ear. The Pandora's burn in has been subtle but noticible. You are unlikely to notice a difference unless you are using decent headphones.


Of course if you don't believe in burn in then that's fine too, let's just not start an argument here about it

Just a sanity-check here...


Would you consider spending more on a HDMI cable for the promise of better audio/video quality? How about a 99.99 % pure copper cryogenically frozen tripple-insulated power cable?

 

[NESnero]

When i read this post I just started listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack on the Pandora with my Sennheiser 515's. I never noticed how great it is, its the same as if listening on my laptop, if not better!


My new portable music player!

 

[BaDToaD]

Just a sanity-check here...


Would you consider spending more on a HDMI cable for the promise of better audio/video quality? How about a 99.99 % pure copper cryogenically frozen tripple-insulated power cable?

No I'm not one of those people


I'm all for good sound for as little cost as possible.


Recent purchases include Goldring DR150 at £30 (sold out now) Great out of the Pandora and ridiculous value at 30 quid.


Sony MDR-370LP at £5 (up to £7.49 on 7dayshop) The most balanced small cans I've ever heard. Less bass than my Koss Porta Pros and Sennheiser PX100s but a sweeter sound. A pity the girly pastel colours means I'll never wear these out and about.


For interconnects I tend to scour ebay for stuff made from decent cable with neutrik plugs circa the 20-40 quid bracket.


My main source is an Arcam DV135 DVD player released for about £900 but knocked down to £300 during the BluRay revolution With this there's a major sound change when it warms up. A sudden boost in detail and soundstage that would be obvious to a tone deaf chimp. This thing took 200 hours to burn in and sounded bland until it did. Now I love it.

 

[Nardella]

Why do volume wheels need two tracks, why can't they use one track on the ground?

 

[T.T.]

Why do volume wheels need two tracks, why can't they use one track on the ground?

one track for each channel.


I might be wrong though.

 

[TrashyMG]

Why do volume wheels need two tracks, why can't they use one track on the ground?

one track for each channel.


I might be wrong though.

Your not wrong, there was this crazy invention called Stereo.. it's been around for a while...


As for why not using the ground.. generally because ground is shared with other components and such.

 

[T.T.]

how hard would it be to get one track to control both channels?

 

[TrashyMG]

how hard would it be to get one track to control both channels?

Well most stereo potentiometers do track both channels with one control.. or are you saying you have a defective one and want to control both with a working channel?


You could tie both together, but you would loose true stereo..

 

[T.T.]

how hard would it be to get one track to control both channels?

Well most stereo potentiometers do track both channels with one control.. or are you saying you have a defective one and want to control both with a working channel?


You could tie both together, but you would loose true stereo..

well the imbalance may be caused by having the 2 tracks.


I'm sure there's some way to do it with one while keeping true stereo.


but it may not be worth it

 

[TrashyMG]

Well the two tracks on the potentiometer is how every stereo volume control works. And it seems only a few people have the same issue as you do.. My guess there is a bad solder connection or the potentiometer is bad itself..