Portable audio ... a straw poll ...

[Audio_ELF]

In the discussion over PonoPlayer; Chris stated I actually like other players rather than my iPhone for travel and coffee shop surfing. I hate draining my phone battery. Plus, no text messages or emails can interrupt listening.

 

Now obviously posting here is already a narrow target audience and so the results will be skewed but I was wondering how this gels with other people's mobile listening habits.

 

So to ask a question... How do you listen to music when on the move?

 

In the above replies, I am considering a "phone" as an iOS, Android, Windows Phone or similar with the capabilities of playing music to a level similar to an iPhone.

 

This is not a question about how you might fit a Pono into your life, purely your current situation for on the move listening. My thinking is that people selecting options 2 or 3 (or even 4) are already in the situation where the Pono would slip into your pocket/life/listening habits easily so the interesting split will be between option 1 and those options.

 

Obviously some people may at times listen purely with their phone, and at other times with other devices so please select the option you feel fits most closely and explain further if you wish in a post.

 

Eloise

[Jud]

In the discussion over PonoPlayer; Chris stated I actually like other players rather than my iPhone for travel and coffee shop surfing. I hate draining my phone battery. Plus, no text messages or emails can interrupt listening.

 

Now obviously posting here is already a narrow target audience and so the results will be skewed but I was wondering how this gels with other people's mobile listening habits.

 

So to ask a question... How do you listen to music when on the move?

 

Depends.

 

Currently for travel involving airplanes, hotels and rental cars I use my laptop with a Dragonfly and headphones or a portable speaker (Jambox). For travel in our own cars it might be the laptop and Dragonfly as source with the Jambox or over the car radio, but more often it's my iPhone and the Jambox. For mowing the lawn (which takes about two hours with a riding mower), it's iPhone and headphones.

 

I might try Pono for travel, and perhaps even for lawn mowing.

[wkhanna]

I do not listen to music ‘on the go’.

It just is not a part of my personal routine.

 

For example, I am often asked, ‘why don’t you ride your motorcycle to work?’

Well, it is quite simple.

For me, my motorcycle is not for transportation.

It is an ‘escape’ from the daily grind & routine of modern life.

It is a form of mediation, relaxation & reflection.

The last thing I want to do on my motorcycle is be surrounded by rush-hour traffic while being committed to a time schedule.

 

I treat my music with the same ritualistic respect.

 

Yet there are occasional instances when it would be convenient to have a portable device with HI-Res capability that could be attached to some decent portable powered speakers or someone else’s system.

This is where a device like the Pono begins to look attractive to me.

[PorkChop]

I confess to carrying a Sansa Clip for walking, exercising, waiting for spouse at the mall, etc. It doesn't sound half bad with my custom IEMs. I would love a higher fidelity device that supports hi-res FLAC, but with portability like the Sansa Clip.

[mav52]

Well you didn't list radio since I use Sirius Xm when I travel and listen to Blues and Jazz non stop not to mention golf, racing, classic rock, classical you name it , if this media offers it you got it.

[Teresa]

I voted I don't listen to music on the move.

 

But I need to explain that, I used to have an iPod with 24/48 ALAC music files on it converted from my 24/96 music files using XLD, however I don't really like music at less than 24/88.2 so I had thought about the Astell & Kern 100 which can play my music files at their native resolution but it's $700, the Pono at $400 is a little more reasonably priced.

 

I am hoping in time with increased miniaturization that we will eventually have a portable music player no bigger than an iPod shuffle with 2 or more terabytes of storage that can play 32/384 PCM and 5.6MHz DSD or higher. I would imagine something like this will exist within 10 years. Just look at how much smaller memory has gotten in the last few years, it is amazing. I see no reason this miniaturization will not continue.

 

I personally would NEVER own a cellphone, if someone wants to contact me that badly they can call my home landline phone and leave a message on my answering machine, and I will call them back when and if I want to. I think cellphones are highly offensive, especially people using them in public. In my opinion they should be banned everywhere, not just while driving but everywhere in public.

 

So with that in mind how many of you actually own a cellphone? And more importantly, why do you own a cellphone? I could never understand this and perhaps never will.

 

I am seriously considering getting a Pono, however since I don't have a credit card and have insecure wi-fi internet thus do nothing financial online, I will have to wait and purchase one in person.

[NOMBEDES]

I do not have any music on my cell phone. I use an old iPod when I exercise on my Nordic Trac. In the car - it is SAT Radio.

[beetlemania]

As has been stated a couple or more times on the Pono thread, the Pono player is not aimed at audiophiles (although it's likely to be the best sounding portable device on the market). The real benefit to our community will be the great increase in the number of hi-res titles available. I say "EFF YEAH" and wish great success to the Pono team!

 

Another perspective: http://www.audiostream.com/content/sound-pono

[Audio_ELF]

As has been stated a couple or more times on the Pono thread, the Pono player is not aimed at audiophiles (although it's likely to be the best sounding portable device on the market). The real benefit to our community will be the great increase in the number of hi-res titles available. I say "EFF YEAH" and wish great success to the Pono team!

As I say this poll is in reference to Pono ... my thinking though is if audiophiles can't be persuaded to carry two devices, then will non-audiophiles?

 

Perhaps in the mid term Pono might look at creating PonoApps - then we might see if the 24/192 DACs in the new phones are really anything more than marketing numbers.

 

Eloise

[Teresa]

As I say this poll is in reference to Pono ... my thinking though is if audiophiles can't be persuaded to carry two devices, then will non-audiophiles?

 

Eloise

 

I am curious how many audiophiles or even non-audiophiles actually own and carry cellphones, as I asked in post 6.

 

I currently carry no devices, if the Pono is good enough I will carry one device (a portable music player), I will never ever carry a cellphone.

[NOMBEDES]

I am curious how many audiophiles or even non-audiophiles actually own and carry cellphones, as I asked in post 6.

 

I currently carry no devices, if the Pono is good enough I will carry one device (a portable music player), I will never ever carry a cellphone.[/quote

 

 

No cellphone, no credit card, no secure WI FI? I am surprised you have a computer.

[realhifi]

I voted that I don't listen on the move but with one caveat, the car. I listen to the radio in the car and once in awhile I will plug my phone into the accessory input and listen to a streaming service then.

 

The whole portable music movement is not of that much interest to me. Not crazy about headphones and hate earbuds. My phone is more for control of my music at home than a storage or playback device.

[Mark Manner]

I am curious how many audiophiles or even non-audiophiles actually own and carry cellphones, as I asked in post 6.

 

I currently carry no devices, if the Pono is good enough I will carry one device (a portable music player), I will never ever carry a cellphone.

 

Recognizing the danger of assumptions, I would be willing to hazard a guess that a significant majority of members here have a cell phone (cell phone meaning a cell phone as such or a smart phone). I don't find public use of them attractive, but I think most people find them to be fairly useful, personally and for business reasons. I think that recent info is that more than 90% of US adults have cell phones, up from 2/3 in 2005.

Mark

[esldude]

I don't listen to music on the go all that much. When I do I plug into my cell phone. The quality isn't too bad at all. More than good enough when I am on the move as rarely are those optimum listening conditions. I own a good battery powered headphone amp. About the size of a pack of cigarettes though a bit thicker. I have used it mostly for music in the bedroom or sometimes on the back porch. I find I just don't carry that device. Don't listen while biking as it is a safety concern. I do sometimes stop while out biking and have on occasion listened again over the phone.

 

So I like the Pono idea, and certainly anything pushing better quality music, but really I just couldn't find a place for it in my use. Maybe for someone who has no other high quality playback. It could be used as the main source in their home, traveling and at friend's houses or in the car. If you work in an office I can see a place for it in some circumstances.

 

So I thought pretty hard about whether to order one up on the kickstarter deal. I just couldn't convince myself I would find myself actually using it.

[realhifi]

 

I think cellphones are highly offensive, especially people using them in public. In my opinion they should be banned everywhere, not just while driving but everywhere in public.

 

So with that in mind how many of you actually own a cellphone? And more importantly, why do you own a cellphone? I could never understand this and perhaps never will.

 

I think it is more offensive to have someone nearly ignore the presence of another person while they are out in public listening to music with their headphones on. I find it much more isolationist then seeing someone taking on their phone in public. Of course if a person has bad phone etiquette then I find that offensive as well which means interrupting a conversation to answer a phone, etc while at dinner or out walking, etc.

 

I have mine for business. It has become an invaluable tool to me.

[beetlemania]

I think it is more offensive to have someone nearly ignore the presence of another person while they are out in public listening to music with their headphones on. I find it much more isolationist then seeing someone taking on their phone in public. Of course if a person has bad phone etiquette then I find that offensive as well which means interrupting a conversation to answer a phone, etc while at dinner or out walking, etc.

 

Full disclosure: I don't own a cell phone but my employer provided me one for use when in travel status. I've never understood people that walk out their front door on the phone, get into the car and drive away, talking the whole time.

 

Anyhow, not sure how use of head-phones is more "isolationist" than cell-users . . . but here's my favorite cell phone story. A few years ago, my wife and I were at a restaurant seated next to, as we discovered overhearing the waitress a few feet away, another couple on their anniversary. After ordering, the man called someone and talked for at least 20 minutes while his wife sat there. I was sorely tempted to grab the phone away from his ear and smash it onto the floor.

[Jud]

So with that in mind how many of you actually own a cellphone? And more importantly, why do you own a cellphone? I could never understand this and perhaps never will.

 

 

I own a cell phone because I commute an hour or more each way to work, and if I am stuck behind a traffic accident or my wife sees or hears news of a traffic accident on my route then we are able to contact each other so she doesn't have to spend hours wondering if I'm dead or alive.

[Skeptic]

I personally would NEVER own a cellphone, if someone wants to contact me that badly they can call my home landline phone and leave a message on my answering machine, and I will call them back when and if I want to. I think cellphones are highly offensive, especially people using them in public. In my opinion they should be banned everywhere, not just while driving but everywhere in public.

 

So with that in mind how many of you actually own a cellphone? And more importantly, why do you own a cellphone? I could never understand this and perhaps never will.

I don't think I have ever made a call in public with my cell phone.

 

Only friends and family get that number. Anyone else gets the landline which goes straight to the machine.

We mostly use text or emails, and it's mostly for common courtesy things such as "running late - will be there in 15 minutes"

 

It's either on silent or vibrate. Anything else is intrusive.

Why a smartphone and not a feature phone? Well a smartphone gives me 64GB of storage for music, a camera in my pocket at all times, internet access, access to apps for things like maps/gps, podcasts, music streaming (I can access my home library anywhere) etc.

 

 

While I agree that cell phones can be obnoxious, and smartphones can be a nuisance, it's all about how you use them.

I know people whose phones go off every few minutes and they will pick them and look at the screen mid-conversation without even thinking twice about it. It's incredibly rude.

 

I only receive alerts for a handful of contacts, and only because I know they won't message me unless it is something important.

If I have company, the phone is switched to silent and put away.

 

 

And for an even more basic example of why you might want to use a smartphone (or a modern iPod touch) rather than a "dumb" music-only player, there is a Dirac app for iOS devices which greatly improves the sound when using the standard Apple earbuds. It is shockingly effective.

 

Of course it doesn't suddenly turn them into high-end headphones, but it's a huge improvement.

You would never have something like that if we had stuck to using "dumb" devices like the old music-only iPods.

 

I think it is more offensive to have someone nearly ignore the presence of another person while they are out in public listening to music with their headphones on. I find it much more isolationist then seeing someone taking on their phone in public.

Maybe I don't want you bothering me with small talk just because we both happen to be waiting for the subway etc.

 

If you simply consider it rude that I am listening to music in a public place and ignoring you - well that's your problem, not mine.

[Musicophile]

On business travel, I usually carry 1 laptop, one company Ipad, often another private Ipad, my Kindle, and my Iphone. That's a heck of a lot of weight to carry, and I really cannot be bothered with carrying one more item, as I'm quite happy with the sound of my Iphone 5 into my B&W C5, listening to (quelle horreur) AAC256.

[orgel]

I chose "I use headphones plugged directly into my phone (or tablet)," but that's an on-again/off-again thing. I also have an iPod classic, and I tend to spend a month or two using the iPhone for music and then switch over to the iPod for about the same amount of time. In terms of sound quality, I give the edge to the iPod, but the iPhone isn't that much worse and offers some additional convenience. I have no particular problem with carrying multiple devices, so if it turns out that the Pono sounds fantastic (or I decide I can't live without a Herbie Hancock signature Pono), I think my lifestyle will accommodate one.

 

I admit to carrying a mobile phone pretty much all the time. I don't make a lot of calls and I don't like to talk on the phone all that much, but a number of people -- co-workers, spouse, daughter, some friends -- feel like they should be able to get in touch with me whenever they feel like it, so I cooperate. Truthfully, I get more use out of my phone as a portable computer (and music player) than as a phone per se. As someone with pretty much no sense of direction, I've become highly dependent on GPS. (BTW, for both music and phone, Bluetooth in the car is the best thing since sliced bread.)

 

I think it's pretty normal for people to carry mobile phones these days (on at least four continents, based on what I've seen) and for that to be their primary telecommunications device. Although I can certainly respect someone's desire not to have one, it's getting hard for me to imagine how someone can function socially or professionally without one. Similar to the way I feel about the few people I know in the DC area who don't have a car.

 

--David

[speavler]

ditched my land line and don't miss it at all. also, what is an 'answering machine'?

 

Music on the go for me means car, which means radio or streaming pandora from my iphone. I have a 32GB ipod touch, but navigating the menus is too much of a hassle to bother with while driving.

[Audio_ELF]

Can I ask this thread doesn't turn into "why do you have a cellphone" or even worse "why cell phones are the work of satan and anyone who used them should be doused in holy water and burned at the stake".

 

Let's stick to the poll topic - do you carry a separate music player?

 

Thank you.

[flatmap]

I almost always carry 2 iPods -- which provide easy access to the line out signal -- and a portable headphone amplifier. I do have some music on my iPhone just in case. So I carry a bunch of stuff around. When I get the Pono player, I will likely give up one of the iPods.

[realhifi]

 

 

 

Anyhow, not sure how use of head-phones is more "isolationist" than headphones....

 

Simple. You can hear the world around you with a cell phone to one ear while you are in a cocoon with a set of headphones on. Honestly? I'd rather see people walking down the street in a city chatting away on their phones than the blank stares I see on people with either ear buds or headphones on walking along trying not to look at anything.

 

I personally try not to use mine that often while in public but I can certainly understand why some folks do.

[Jud]

Can I ask this thread doesn't turn into "why do you have a cellphone" or even worse "why cell phones are the work of satan and anyone who used them should be doused in holy water and burned at the stake".

 

Let's stick to the poll topic - do you carry a separate music player?

 

Thank you.

 

Separate music players are the work of Satan and anyone who uses them should be doused in holy water and burned at the stake (possibly in reverse order, as burning then dousing would seem to make for much more effective burning).