Pyra audio - needs to be fantastic

[ekianjo]

last, here is a good review of the pandora: http://www.head-fi.o...ts/open-pandora

This is a better link :

http://pandoralive.info/?p=148

Same author, same content, but enriched and more readable  

 

[xiongxioi]

I think smal tweaks to the DAC is welcomed, but there's no need to change it.

Audio quality is somewhat a objective view, newer technology may sounds even worse.

Part of this is due to acquired taste. There's not much point in spending big money on new parts when the old parts are great.

I think, making pyra a more pleasant PMP is more crucial. How are we going to do that? I don't know.

Better UI, longer music playback time, prettier case desin, putting a small e ink screen on the outside.

 

[rSl]

last, here is a good review of the pandora: http://www.head-fi.o...ts/open-pandora

This is a better link :
http://pandoralive.info/?p=148


Same author, same content, but enriched and more readable

ah cool!
with the added images it's a lot nicer to look at.


pandoralive rocks!


thanks!


the review compares the pandora with the audioquest dragonfly dac, wich is verry nice,


because i got this dac (1.2 version) and a sweet beyer dt 990 headphone this xmass.

 

[rSl]

I wouldn't object to spending more on a better chip, but to be honest I'd rather that money be spent on getting the circuitry just so.

true, mweston really did a great job here!

i like to listen to free hires audio eg. from

https://archive.org/search.php?query=24bit%2096%20flac%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio


so a little upgrade to 96khz would be welcome.

 

[Letalis Sonus]

I just stumbled about this excellent article on xiph.org. It is a very detailed scientific explanation about why more than 16bit/44.1kHz for playback is not only nonsense, but in case of the sampling rate even harmful as it just adds more possibilities for interference distortions within the hardware.

 

[Binky]

Since human hearing maxes out at 20kHz or so, shouldn't the highest required sample-rate be around 40kHz?

44kHz sounds sensible, 190kHz is completely pointless

 

[TrashyMG]

^ Never underestimate what an audiophile zealot needs for proper sound.

 

[slaeshjag]

Don't forget the gold-plated toslink!

 

[levi]

The theory is that ultrasonics actually have important harmonic effects within audible scope. I don't really understand it, but presumably those frequencies can resonate off your furniture and your ears and other bits of equipment that microphones don't have and make audible frequencies that don't occur in the studio, making it sound more in-place. But as that article shows, those harmonics can actually be quite dangerous taken out of context, so you're better off clipping at the CD nyquist (22.05kHz).


Interestingly, that 30/33kHz flac sample played through audacious on my netbook makes quite a racket, mainly a tone close to the upper end of my hearing, and one an octave or two above the middle octave (I don't have perfect pitch I'm afraid). On Pandora I get similar, although it's capable of going significantly louder thanks to its amp. Back on my netbook, if I play the same file through mplayer on the command line, I don't hear anything, but I don't honestly know if that app is capable of playing 96kHz/24bit audio. Works fine for 44.1/16 stuff though.

 

[rSl]

Since human hearing maxes out at 20kHz or so, shouldn't the highest required sample-rate be around 40kHz?


44kHz sounds sensible, 190kHz is completely pointless

wow, thats really interesting.
just looked up the sampling theorem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_rate#Sampling_theorem


and i think you have a point here.


so the pandora dac is perfect, woohoo!


i really love this community, learning things rocks!

 

[rSl]

I just stumbled about this excellent article on xiph.org. It is a very detailed scientific explanation about why more than 16bit/44.1kHz for playback is not only nonsense, but in case of the sampling rate even harmful as it just adds more possibilities for interference distortions within the hardware.

good read, thanks!

 

[Kevin Osuna]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

 

[WizardStan]

I've seen that kickstarter posted elsewhere and every time I read it as "porno music"

 

[bzar]

^ I can relate. The word for "boss" in finnish is "pomo". There are oh so many fonts in the world where "m" is nigh-identical to "rn"

On topic: I'd be very glad to have the same DAC as pandora has. The higher bitrates and sample sizes are AFAIK for recording and archival. Those recordings are used to create samples with varying specifications, so higher precision makes for better source material.

 

[benoitb]

44KHz/16Bit is all I need, with a great DAC and Amp quality and careful design. Just like it was properly made on the Pandora.

 

[Mr_Loon]

+1 for 'if it sounds as good as the Pandora then it's good enough for me'.

I'm hoping the the on board speakers for Pyra will be significantly better than those on Pandora as from my perspective a significant compromise has been made to the keyboard layout for the sake of speaker placement.

 

[bukkit]

While we're at it, one shouldn't forget the physical volume pot. That's rather unique these days, and I for one would miss it dearly if it was gone.

(Was there any information on this? Couldn't find any searching. I understand it was difficult to realise, so it might be tempting to skip that with the Pyra.)

I also wouldn't underestimate the sound capabilities of the Pandora/Pyra as a sales pitch. It was what got most non-tech, non-gamer people I demonstrated the Pandora to interested. Some gamers, too.

 

[TrashyMG]

While we're at it, one shouldn't forget the physical volume pot.

ED got you covered.. at least in the dummy prototype it's there.

 

[levi]

I tend to think it'll become more important for the Pyra to be able to handle 96k/24b samples, even if those gets downsampled to 44.1k/16b before being produced. Those sort of samples will become more common, and while it'd make sense to transcode them down before taking them on the move, it'd be nice if instead of producing noise it produced something practically as good as the original tune. But I guess that's more of a software issue if it needs to transcode it on the fly. If the Pandora's DAC can handle 50k/24b then it's just a matter of throwing away half the samples.

 

[_wb_]

I tend to think it'll become more important for the Pyra to be able to handle 96k/24b samples, even if those gets downsampled to 44.1k/16b before being produced. Those sort of samples will become more common, and while it'd make sense to transcode them down before taking them on the move, it'd be nice if instead of producing noise it produced something practically as good as the original tune. But I guess that's more of a software issue if it needs to transcode it on the fly. If the Pandora's DAC can handle 50k/24b then it's just a matter of throwing away half the samples.

I don't think it will be a problem -- audio is trivial compared to video. The Pyra will probably be able to play any full HD movie just fine, even if the display is only 720p. Playing too accurate sound is easy: just throw away the least significant bits and average the samples.