MiddlemanOne

Hi there, Happy New Year and sorry for the 'late' reply! About the setup, that's actually not the case. The sound and effects both come from the iPhone/iPad phone socket, since we are setting the sound output on the PC as UM-ONE. As it goes my preferred sound device is the original MT32, closely followed by the SoundCanvas app. I think the Roland module and app both just produces MIDI sounds that are just that much more crisper sounding and more realistic than General Midi. For the old Sierra and Lucasarts games, their games were specifically catered to the Roland as first audio device choice, which is why the music and effects sounded that much better, even compared to using a Soundblaster. I tried the Munt MT32 emulator with ScummVM and I did not like the sound it produced at all. Compared to the original MT32 it sounded way way different than what it was supposed to sound.

Well you were fortunate your SSD was able to be recognised by the GParted software. I've had cases where I've placed a used 256GB M.2 SSD into a small USB case to be formatted, only for the drive to fail rendering it totally useless because of some quirk in the setup. I'm not sure what the issue around the GParted non-reading of the drive is, but it sounds like its possible something akin to what we get when you have two of the same named volumes in a Windows PC which are direct copies of each other - only one ever appears on the desktop despite the 2nd being fully connected and working. Despite their supposed successes, SSDs are still likely to fail like any other electronic product. I've had more than a handful of SSDs fail (mainly 128GB types) because the drive just wasn't up to scratch when it came to proper usage (poor error correction in the electronics). If you want reliability, my go-to brand for SSDs is definitely Samsung.

The reason it's not being recognised by Windows is because its likely to be formatted as a Linux drive under the Synology OS, possibly as EXT3 or EXT4 formats and possibly encrypted. It's a similar issue I have experienced with Zyxel's drive, which has their own proprietary format for their NAS servers, which makes it very hard for them to be cloned should issues arise even with a standalone drive cloning dock. But it could also be your SSD could be in need of a firmware upgrade or maybe is not compatible with some drive dock electronics. Some cheaper SSDs apparently can never be used properly as normal HDD replacements (even with cloning) because they have a limited amount of cache headroom.

I have 3 pairs of the Reference series Klipschs - the R-15M, RP-150M and the RP-260F and also a pair of La Scalas (at work). For what is supposed to be a bookshelf and desktop speaker, the R-15M is probably one of the sweetest sounding speakers I've come across in quite a while (and I've tested many) and could easily be replacements for a midsized speaker. They sounded as impressive as the larger La Scalas and still able to produce enough oomph and ambience that convinced you it was in fact, a speaker twice its size. In fact the R-15Ms performance was so good with my hybrid valve setup for my office at work (especially after running them for 30 hours) that I'd decided to also replace the speakers I'd had at home with the larger Klipschs, the RP-150M for the bedroom and the RP-260F for the lounge. When sizing became an issue as the RP-150Ms were a little too big for the bedroom I swapped over the R-15Ms at work with the RP-150Ms and vice versa. This for me was just right. In sound terms, all of the new Reference series sounded great and did just as well as the original and larger La Scalas. In listening tests I'd affectionately called the R-15Ms 'Mini La Scalas' because that is what it felt and sounded like, a pair of La Scalas but in a smaller package. If you ever do test a La Scala, you'll know it sounds as realistic as things get, especially with live material. You get a huge soundstage, great imaging, clear highs and deep lows with the Klipsch hornload sound without feeling fatigued, on any type of music (which is extremely impressive). Now with a 'squarer' Tractrix horn, the vocal and upper end are spread a lot more even across the soundstage, so it sounds more natural. On some materials you could now even clearly hear the placement of say a piano and which direction the pianist is facing during the recording session. It is THAT good. Despite its small size the R-15M packs a punch with tight bass, and can run up to 85W of power, 340W peak, similar with the RP-150M, making it perfect as a desktop speaker. But I found that you need to break in the larger speakers bit longer than 30 hours (recommended is about 100-150 hours). My RP-150Ms are now at 40 hours and I'm still hearing improvements as I keep playing them. Also you may need a little bit more wattage to run the larger speakers (150M & 260F) in order to get the sound you prefer. I personally use a hybrid valve setup with a valve amp as pre and solid state as main. But once you've got them going you don't want to be going back to any other speaker, because they just sound so musical and so natural.

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/charlie-hansen-1956-2017/ Charlie was the founder of Ayre Acoustics, and was also co-designer of Neil Young’s Pono Player HI-Res unit. Also mentioned in the article was the passing in December ‘17 of Arnie Nudell of Infinity and Dick Shahinian of Shahinian Acousics.

Wonder if anyone here can help me. I am based in Asia and have a non-booting Pono digital player that needs repairs. I have checked the support groups online that I have to send it back to Pono in the States, most likely by Fedex with return packaging but also with relevant customs forms included for import & export. Question is, where can I find such forms, as noone on the groups I've been to has bothered to show them? Must mention the player also has a built-in lithium-ion battery.

My PonoPlayer has suddenly stopped working. I am not able to boot into it at all, the device just hangs. I found out to get it sorted I need to send it back to the States to Pono itself to get it fixed, along with a prepaid envelope and export paperwork for US customs. Does anyone have any experience of this? What do I need to fill in? Also for the courier who should I use ie. Fedex/DHL? Thanks in advance.

I just got word that Sony's latest update for the PS4 can allow it to play back HiRes FLAC files as well as upscale compressed audio to near HiRes quality. The update also allows it to work with the new PlayStation VR headset. Hooray for HiRes! Sony PS4 gets high-resolution audio support | What Hi-Fi?

Hi all, just letting you know that Uncle Art's new 2016 album of retro games music (remade) from games such as Starglider, Frontier Elite II, Carrier Command, Beneath A Steel Sky and Geoff Hammond's F1 Grand Prix is out now. I've heard it and it's terrific! Especially the live orchestra for Frontier's theme. The tracks are available on MP3 and FLAC format (to satisfy the HiRes audiophile within us) > A TEMPORAL SHIFT MP3 / Flac - A Temporal Shift

Guys I am happy to report I got my UAMP this morning! Although the package was slightly crumpled on the outside, everything was there - the unit, pouch, clip and cables. Above all the unit works. There was also a small card with the manual link download but it wasn't working yet at the time of posting. >

Hi guys, Just wondering if anyone has received the UAMP portable headphone amps from the Kickstarter campaign. The UAMP team announced on their last Kickstarter update June 28th that they would start shipping a week after the end of last month, but noone I've heard of has received theirs yet, and its becoming rather concerning...

Hi guys, Thought you guys might be interested in this cylindrical PC case, currently funding on Kickstarter >

Dave Needle, one of the most legendary hardware engineers of his time, has passed away on 20th February 2016. Dave was instrumental in the creation and completion of the Amiga 1000 (Lorraine) introduced in 1985, an incredibly revolutionary computer for its time. Especially regarding its custom chip set which he helped engineer, which could produce 12-bit 4096 RGB graphics and 16-bit 4-channel PCM based polymorphic sound which digitised sound sampled from real instruments. Apart from this, he also co-invented the Atari Lynx handheld and with fellow ex-Amiga engineer RJ Mical at Epyx helped developed 3DO's Interactive Multiplayer system. He was also VP of The 3DO Company for several years. Indie Retro News: Dave Needle - Amiga Co-Founder & Atari Lynx Co-Inventor has passed away

The Clarity Aura DAC I had ordered recently arrived yesterday! So this is my equipment. I have an iPhone 6S, Sony NW-A15, Pono Player and Cyberdrive Seiun Player. I've been putting it through its paces...and I have to say it is JUST SO GOOD. I was very surprised because at the price of $39 I didn’t expect the Clarity Aura to come so close that is almost overshadows the Pono Player in terms of sound quality. Using a pair of Grado SR80es as test headphones, I put the units to the test. On the Clarity Aura, the sound was quite amazing, in that it was not only detailed but certainly had a musical quality not dissimilar to Pono. Playing Kenny G’s Songbird at 24/192 on both the iPhone and Pono, the sound and imagery was clear and detailed. Whilst the soundstage wasn’t as slightly broader or defined as Pono it was close. Next I compared Anita Baker’s Been So Long 24/192 FLAC from her Rapture album. Testing this between the Clarity and the Pono, yielded virtually NO DIFFERENCE between the two. This was a big surprise. Both sounded fairly rounded, and balanced with strong imagery and detailed sounds. So I then tested it on the Sony, Seiun and iBasso. On the Sony, whilst the instruments, guitar and percussion was clear and fairly focused, the soundstage was a lot smaller than Pono and the Clarity Aura and the vocals had somehow become 2D, losing the sense of depth I could hear on the other two units. Having tested it before myself, the Sony is known to have a ‘glass ceiling’ in that it can’t break through its soundstage at certain pitches. I noticed this when testing Kitaro’s Aqua track a while back comparing to the Pono. Going back to the test, on the same Anita track the iBasso bass sounded less punchy overall than all the others even at the same volume, and the drums and bass sounded muddy. Then comes the Seiun. The Seiun is another surprise because, whilst it doesn’t quite sound as good as the Pono nor the Clarity Aura because it can’t seem to render high pitches well enough (they sound a little piercing at high volumes even when it has been burned in), it sounds better than the iBasso and in some ways the Sony also. However the Seiun Player does seem to exhibit some distortion on lower MP3-grade files. This I could clearly discern on Whitney Houston's Didn't We Almost Have It All at higher pitches especially crescendo. For the Anita track the Pono sounded the most rounded balanced and complete on the Pono in terms of soundstage and separation but the Clarity Aura comes a close second for quality. In addition to testing with the iPhone 6S, I also tried the Clarity Aura DAC with my PC running the Pono Music World app. Apart from running all the files with flying colours (MP3, FLAC etc) it also played my DSD files. The biggest plus of the Clarity Aura DAC is that it can playback DSD-256 files so-called Quad-speed DSD tracks. This is a phenomenal development by Cyberdrive - and it showed on my tests and setup panel (card could run at 24-bit with 352.8kHz sample rates). I ran a couple of DSD files on my PC and it actually sounded better than my PC’s internal Realtek chipset. So all in all a great unit to have!

Hi guys, Just thought to let you guys know (if you haven't already) I also came across these recently, which are ultra-cheap portable HiRes DACs for smartphones and Macs/PCs by Seiun > Clarity Aura | Cyberdrive These will do PCM 24/192 and Native DSD up to 256. And at the price range (an amazing $39.99 excluding shipping) it looks like Seiun is now moving really aggressively in the HiRes and DAC market...