The last couple daily blog entries from Dr. AIX (AIX Records) I found pretty interesting, and I have my agreements/disagreements with all three of them:
Have you seen the latest videos and article to cast serious doubt on Neil Young and Pono initiative? I finally got around to viewing the David Pogue iPhone vs. Pono challenge. It's pretty disappointing...and not because the results fail to show that the Pono or even high-resolution audio files are persuasive. You can check out the video by clicking here: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/it-was-one-of-kickstarters-most-successful-109496883039.html
David Pogue used to be the tech guru at the New York Times. He would write on all thing tech including Apple devices and other compelling technologies. But he's also an audiophile. I interacted via email with David a couple of times about the virtues of analog tape. He's a member of a dedicated group of reel-to-reel fans that cling to their aging Technics RS-1500 and Revox machines in the mistaken belief that analog tape is the ultimate recording and reproduction format. I'm not going to punch into that tar baby but I can tell you that he wrote and said that he and his other analog tape devotees wouldn't be interested in new high-resolution audio recordings that originated in any other format than analog...meaning if I were to transfer some of my 96 kHz/24-bit real high-resolution tracks to first generation analog tape that the sound quality would somehow be compromised. A third generation older analog master transferred to another analog tape does excite David and his Yahoo group but getting better fidelity in every measurement you can imagine was ruled out.
David also became a celebrity hosting the NOVA science show that I used to enjoy so much. I don't anymore...the style of the program became intolerable to me. It's just me, I guess. Now Mr. Pogue is the guru for Yahoo in the world of tech and they produced the short video review of the Pono device. The Yahoo tech page also has a lengthy review of the Pono Kickstarter campaign and its progress through to delivery of the devices and site late last year.
You should read the review and draw your own conclusions about the quality of the tests he performed and the accuracy of the review. You all know that I'm not a fan of Neil's approach to high-resolution audio but David blew it with his "test" and review. For a guy that's an audiophile (more accurately an "analog tape-o-phile"), he doesn't seem to understand or even be aware of the "provenance" issue. He fell into the same trap as the Meyer and Moran discredited study.
He described his test:
The test
How does it sound? I found 15 volunteers, ages 17 through 55. Each subject put on nice headphones — Sony MDR 7506 — and listened to three songs of different styles (“Saturday in the Park” by Chicago, “Raised on Robbery” by Joni Mitchell, and “There’s a World” by Mr. Pono himself, Neil Young). I bought these songs twice: once from the Pono store, in high resolution, and once from the iTunes store.
To Be Continued...
This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Here's a link to the first half. Yahoo Tech editor David Pogue reviewed the Pono player and did an informal test comparing the sound of a "regular resolution file" from Apple's iTunes and a "high-resolution" version from PonoMusic's web store.
David Pogue used a Radio Shack A | B switch (that costs $16.99) to alternate between the analog outputs of an iPhone 5 and the analog output of the Pono. The 15 subjects in his "study" were free to switch between the two sources and evaluate which sounded more pleasing to them. The results favored the iPhone. The fancy electronics of the Pono player that had all of Neil's rock star friends amazed did nothing for the average music listener on the street. It doesn't surprise me at all.
For on thing, the custom audio system that was installed in Neil's 1972 Cadillac must have been very impressive. Robert Stuart told me that he had the opportunity to sit in the car and it was impressive...loud, immersive, and heavy in the bass department. Was it capable of high-resolution audio playback? Probably not, but it certainly was better than using ear buds or Sony MDR 7506 headphones as David Pogue chose to do.
David, a self proclaimed "former professional musician" and someone that claims to "know how to listen", didn't play any high-resolution audio in his evaluation of high-res vs. iTunes audio. All three of the sources were originally recorded on multitrack analog tape machines, mixed to stereo masters (also analog tape) and mastered using analog tape. By blindly accepting that the PonoMusic website is actually selling high-resolution audio tracks, David Pogue actually played "regular resolution" audio tracks packaged in a high-resolution bucket vs. very good quality Apple AAC versions. What conclusions can be drawn from his flawed approach? None. David and the Yahoo Tech site are all about pageviews and by the looks of comments (currently 440 plus); he's managed to keep his employers happy.
David continues his review by pointing out that "Pono is going to extraordinary lengths to acquire remastered versions of the songs in its catalog. 'If we are looking for a popular master and find it has not been sampled at the highest rate, we try to access it and, with the cooperation of labels and artists, maximize the recapture at the highest resolution,' replied Neil Young. What are extraordinary lengths? By Neil's own admission 99.99% of the available downloads are CD spec (not the 90% that David stated)? They get what they get from the major labels and sprinkle in a few dozen tracks that they have deemed worthy of new mastering session ("the most popular ones"). From what I've been able to find out...they have less than 10 albums that have been remastered.
In explaining high-resolution audio, Mr. Pogue once again veers immediately from the facts. He makes the tired claim that "higher numbers are better"...which is only true to a point. But my favorite line is the statement, "The songs you buy from Pono, on the other hand, go as high as 24 bit/192kHz. That means more bits of data per instant of sound, and more (smaller) instants per time period: higher resolution. It’s like having more color data and more pixels per inch in a photo. Yep, there it is again. The analogy that PCM digital audio is similar to digital imagery is simply not the case. Perhaps the tech geek at Yahoo should do a little more research before spewing misinformation in his reviews.
And his inclusion of the Meyer and Moran study as a "scientific study" is further proof that Mr. Pogue is an entertainment writer and not a reliable source of tech information. His assessment of the Pono player and PonoMusic web store has some valid criticisms...and I'm not shy about pointing out the flaws in Neil's plan. However, there's a lot more that David Pogue missed.
Near the end of his review he states, "When conducting the test with today’s modern music files, I couldn’t find even one person who heard a dramatic difference." What's modern about analog masters from the 70s? Try again David…or better yet let someone with some relevant skill in the area do it.
Botch here. I had to chuckle at Dr. AIX's assertion that Neil's car stereo was better fidelity than a pair of Sony 7506's. Interesting read regardless.
Have you seen the latest videos and article to cast serious doubt on Neil Young and Pono initiative? I finally got around to viewing the David Pogue iPhone vs. Pono challenge. It's pretty disappointing...and not because the results fail to show that the Pono or even high-resolution audio files are persuasive. You can check out the video by clicking here: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/it-was-one-of-kickstarters-most-successful-109496883039.html
David Pogue used to be the tech guru at the New York Times. He would write on all thing tech including Apple devices and other compelling technologies. But he's also an audiophile. I interacted via email with David a couple of times about the virtues of analog tape. He's a member of a dedicated group of reel-to-reel fans that cling to their aging Technics RS-1500 and Revox machines in the mistaken belief that analog tape is the ultimate recording and reproduction format. I'm not going to punch into that tar baby but I can tell you that he wrote and said that he and his other analog tape devotees wouldn't be interested in new high-resolution audio recordings that originated in any other format than analog...meaning if I were to transfer some of my 96 kHz/24-bit real high-resolution tracks to first generation analog tape that the sound quality would somehow be compromised. A third generation older analog master transferred to another analog tape does excite David and his Yahoo group but getting better fidelity in every measurement you can imagine was ruled out.
David also became a celebrity hosting the NOVA science show that I used to enjoy so much. I don't anymore...the style of the program became intolerable to me. It's just me, I guess. Now Mr. Pogue is the guru for Yahoo in the world of tech and they produced the short video review of the Pono device. The Yahoo tech page also has a lengthy review of the Pono Kickstarter campaign and its progress through to delivery of the devices and site late last year.
You should read the review and draw your own conclusions about the quality of the tests he performed and the accuracy of the review. You all know that I'm not a fan of Neil's approach to high-resolution audio but David blew it with his "test" and review. For a guy that's an audiophile (more accurately an "analog tape-o-phile"), he doesn't seem to understand or even be aware of the "provenance" issue. He fell into the same trap as the Meyer and Moran discredited study.
He described his test:
The test
How does it sound? I found 15 volunteers, ages 17 through 55. Each subject put on nice headphones — Sony MDR 7506 — and listened to three songs of different styles (“Saturday in the Park” by Chicago, “Raised on Robbery” by Joni Mitchell, and “There’s a World” by Mr. Pono himself, Neil Young). I bought these songs twice: once from the Pono store, in high resolution, and once from the iTunes store.
To Be Continued...
This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Here's a link to the first half. Yahoo Tech editor David Pogue reviewed the Pono player and did an informal test comparing the sound of a "regular resolution file" from Apple's iTunes and a "high-resolution" version from PonoMusic's web store.
David Pogue used a Radio Shack A | B switch (that costs $16.99) to alternate between the analog outputs of an iPhone 5 and the analog output of the Pono. The 15 subjects in his "study" were free to switch between the two sources and evaluate which sounded more pleasing to them. The results favored the iPhone. The fancy electronics of the Pono player that had all of Neil's rock star friends amazed did nothing for the average music listener on the street. It doesn't surprise me at all.
For on thing, the custom audio system that was installed in Neil's 1972 Cadillac must have been very impressive. Robert Stuart told me that he had the opportunity to sit in the car and it was impressive...loud, immersive, and heavy in the bass department. Was it capable of high-resolution audio playback? Probably not, but it certainly was better than using ear buds or Sony MDR 7506 headphones as David Pogue chose to do.
David, a self proclaimed "former professional musician" and someone that claims to "know how to listen", didn't play any high-resolution audio in his evaluation of high-res vs. iTunes audio. All three of the sources were originally recorded on multitrack analog tape machines, mixed to stereo masters (also analog tape) and mastered using analog tape. By blindly accepting that the PonoMusic website is actually selling high-resolution audio tracks, David Pogue actually played "regular resolution" audio tracks packaged in a high-resolution bucket vs. very good quality Apple AAC versions. What conclusions can be drawn from his flawed approach? None. David and the Yahoo Tech site are all about pageviews and by the looks of comments (currently 440 plus); he's managed to keep his employers happy.
David continues his review by pointing out that "Pono is going to extraordinary lengths to acquire remastered versions of the songs in its catalog. 'If we are looking for a popular master and find it has not been sampled at the highest rate, we try to access it and, with the cooperation of labels and artists, maximize the recapture at the highest resolution,' replied Neil Young. What are extraordinary lengths? By Neil's own admission 99.99% of the available downloads are CD spec (not the 90% that David stated)? They get what they get from the major labels and sprinkle in a few dozen tracks that they have deemed worthy of new mastering session ("the most popular ones"). From what I've been able to find out...they have less than 10 albums that have been remastered.
In explaining high-resolution audio, Mr. Pogue once again veers immediately from the facts. He makes the tired claim that "higher numbers are better"...which is only true to a point. But my favorite line is the statement, "The songs you buy from Pono, on the other hand, go as high as 24 bit/192kHz. That means more bits of data per instant of sound, and more (smaller) instants per time period: higher resolution. It’s like having more color data and more pixels per inch in a photo. Yep, there it is again. The analogy that PCM digital audio is similar to digital imagery is simply not the case. Perhaps the tech geek at Yahoo should do a little more research before spewing misinformation in his reviews.
And his inclusion of the Meyer and Moran study as a "scientific study" is further proof that Mr. Pogue is an entertainment writer and not a reliable source of tech information. His assessment of the Pono player and PonoMusic web store has some valid criticisms...and I'm not shy about pointing out the flaws in Neil's plan. However, there's a lot more that David Pogue missed.
Near the end of his review he states, "When conducting the test with today’s modern music files, I couldn’t find even one person who heard a dramatic difference." What's modern about analog masters from the 70s? Try again David…or better yet let someone with some relevant skill in the area do it.
Botch here. I had to chuckle at Dr. AIX's assertion that Neil's car stereo was better fidelity than a pair of Sony 7506's. Interesting read regardless.
