How does your Pono sound?

MedozK

Like a lot of others, I am very interested in the sound of these new devices. I thought this would be a great thread to talk about the sound. So please leave "Signature", "Shipping" discussions in other threads. What we want to know about in this thread is the sound.

So, I will begin with the a couple questions.

1) How many Pono owners will rebuy a lot of music in 24 bit, to take advantage of the player. Or will they just use it as a 16/44.1 player? $20 an album for 24 bit music that one already owns will be an expensive investment.

2) I would love an A/B comparison between an 16/44.1 ALAC played through an ipod and 16/44.1 ALAC played through the Pono. Because anyone that has listened to well mastered 24 bit knows..they sound great....but I would love to hear comparison reviews of 16/44.1.

Please post your thoughts and reviews on the sound of the Pono.

on2legs

What's a Pono?

derbydave

I'm really interested to hear how the PONO sounds too...
I'd also like to know what headphones you are using to listen to music on the PONO!!
I love my Sennheiser Momentums and it looked like these were featured in a few of the pictures I saw posted for the PONO!!
Thanks in advance & looking forward to hearing your feedback!!

cifrancgx

on2legs said:

What's a Pono?

It's a high-resolution portable digital music player. The Pono player supports playback of high-fidelity audio of up to 192kHz/24 bit resolution. Pono's stated aims—to present songs "as they first sound during studio recording sessions", using "high-resolution" 24-bit 192kHz audio instead of "the compressed audio inferiority that MP3s offer".

The official site...
https://ponomusic.force.com/

buck502000

Rip those PJ vinyls and slap those suckers on your pono device. Best possible digital sound you are going to find.

evsgjamm

If they sound like they garner attention on the forum here, we're in for a shit storm of washed-out mixed reviews.
Does anyone here bongos on "Of The Girl" by the way? I'm currently being fucked in the brain by a man named J. Time to head over to AET I suppose, where I can ruffle a few pillows and calm some heads.

lotsalemon

No one's gonna open it

WhatYouTaughtMe

lotsalemon said:

No one's gonna open it

It seems like that is the case so far.

Colorado Fan

What is the point of paying that much money to have it sit on your shelf? You gonna hand it down to your kids so they can pay for college? Please.

dcp3y

Ordered mine on day 2 and still hasn't arrived. And will be opened upon arrival although I didn't get the PJ (or any other artist) signature edition. Very anxious to test drive it.

SP96445

I got the PJ limited version will open it and use it the day I get it. Just like I did with my singles box. Got delivery notice Sunday so should be any day. Upgraded my car stereo system just for the pono and plan to test cd vs pono of same studio album song of a few genres of music the first day or so. I hope to report my experience by the weekend

cp3iverson

Im wondering how it compares to the other HighRes players out there. Its not the first of its kind but it might end up the most popular (in an unpopular market)

2-feign-reluctance

http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

For those that are curious...a good read.

PJ_Soul

I have read some reviews from experts and the reviews have been very positive as far as sound quality goes. Not so good when it comes to that bulky design (which is what made me not buy one during the Kickstart campaign ... although I'm regretting it a bit now). I also read a review where they listened to it using super awesome high end head phones and cheaper ear buds, and the sound quality is supposedly noticeably superior even through the ear buds. That's what I read, anyway. Sounds good so far!

buck502000

a fairly recent hands-on review -
http://www.whathifi.com/pono/ponoplayer/review

pdalowsky

MedozK said:

Like a lot of others, I am very interested in the sound of these new devices. I thought this would be a great thread to talk about the sound. So please leave "Signature", "Shipping" discussions in other threads. What we want to know about in this thread is the sound.

So, I will begin with the a couple questions.

1) How many Pono owners will rebuy a lot of music in 24 bit, to take advantage of the player. Or will they just use it as a 16/44.1 player? $20 an album for 24 bit music that one already owns will be an expensive investment.

2) I would love an A/B comparison between an 16/44.1 ALAC played through an ipod and 16/44.1 ALAC played through the Pono. Because anyone that has listened to well mastered 24 bit knows..they sound great....but I would love to hear comparison reviews of 16/44.1.

Please post your thoughts and reviews on the sound of the Pono.

2-feign-reluctance said:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

For those that are curious...a good read.

was a really good read,

unfortunately a lot of what is said is lost on me, but the underlying message is loud and clear.

MedozK

2-feign-reluctance said:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

For those that are curious...a good read.

Very good read, Thanks.

2-feign-reluctance

I also have talked extensively with a friend of mine who has 2 degrees in electrical engineering and computer science about that article. He was a big reason why I am not certain I'll ever get one - even though my first foray into HD audio (with a PJ bootleg) I got really excited because I could tell a difference with playback through iTunes and a good pair of cans.

2-feign-reluctance

I simply look at it this way. This thing is marketed towards kids. The ones who grew up on and still listen to shitty mp3s - and for those that exclusively use their phones and crap computer speakers for their playback. For us audio nerds, there isn't much of an upgrade since some of us grew up listening to analog recordings, tapes and CDs, which were not digitized in playback formats.

lolobugg

They can break it down all they want in to technical terms.
I know what I hear when I put a vinyl record on vs. the CD version.
listen to NY and Crazy Horse.. Live Rust on both formats and then they can shove their sine wave science up their rear-end.
Hope that PONO captures that for digital.

buck502000

I suspect this thing will be cool. It was designed by Ayre and uses Ayre parts. They are a very much respected manufacturer in the audiophile community.

Kev - Coat and Keys

2-feign-reluctance said:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

For those that are curious...a good read.

Just checked on the Pono website community to see if there was any mention but that article is older than that site being set up so it isn't discussed. Interesting though, has the author posted something since now the player's exist and have been used?
Personally I'd been waiting for Pono to finally upgrade to a digital player, having drunk the Neil Young kool-aid probably, and am really happy to have by far the best sounding music I've heard with the normal $25 headphones I use.

lolobugg

Kev - Coat and Keys said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

For those that are curious...a good read.

Just checked on the Pono website community to see if there was any mention but that article is older than that site being set up so it isn't discussed. Interesting though, has the author posted something since now the player's exist and have been used?
Personally I'd been waiting for Pono to finally upgrade to a digital player, having drunk the Neil Young kool-aid probably, and am really happy to have by far the best sounding music I've heard with the normal $25 headphones I use.

Nice.... can't wait to pick mine up.
You had me cracking up in the other thread.

KV4053

2-feign-reluctance said:

I simply look at it this way. This thing is marketed towards kids. The ones who grew up on and still listen to shitty mp3s - and for those that exclusively use their phones and crap computer speakers for their playback. For us audio nerds, there isn't much of an upgrade since some of us grew up listening to analog recordings, tapes and CDs, which were not digitized in playback formats.

FYI... CD's are digitized

2-feign-reluctance

KV4053 said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I simply look at it this way. This thing is marketed towards kids. The ones who grew up on and still listen to shitty mp3s - and for those that exclusively use their phones and crap computer speakers for their playback. For us audio nerds, there isn't much of an upgrade since some of us grew up listening to analog recordings, tapes and CDs, which were not digitized in playback formats.

FYI... CD's are digitized

Yes, I know. I'm taking about the playback format. FLAC, mp3, etc., etc.,

on2legs

2-feign-reluctance said:

I simply look at it this way. This thing is marketed towards kids. The ones who grew up on and still listen to shitty mp3s - and for those that exclusively use their phones and crap computer speakers for their playback. For us audio nerds, there isn't much of an upgrade since some of us grew up listening to analog recordings, tapes and CDs, which were not digitized in playback formats.

I think if kids are the target market this thing will be a colossal failure. Like you mentioned... Kids have grown up on mp3's and listening to music on the computer. They've also grown up on 99 cent songs and downloading music for free. They like playing Angry Birds for free. I don't see many kids deciding that they need to buy a $400 device and start paying $20 plus for an entire album when all they want is one or two songs.

To me... this thing is clearly marketed towards people in their 30s and up who have been exposed to analog recordings in the past and have the disposable income to pay for the luxury of HD music.

I think aiming this thing at kids would be a mega failure.

scurtis

I'm guessing when they came out with this they figured if ppl are willing to pay $200-$300 for headphones, spending that on a superior playback device would be easy.

Only issue will be the amount it costs to actually buy the albums for it.

lolobugg

on2legs said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I simply look at it this way. This thing is marketed towards kids. The ones who grew up on and still listen to shitty mp3s - and for those that exclusively use their phones and crap computer speakers for their playback. For us audio nerds, there isn't much of an upgrade since some of us grew up listening to analog recordings, tapes and CDs, which were not digitized in playback formats.

I think if kids are the target market this thing will be a colossal failure. Like you mentioned... Kids have grown up on mp3's and listening to music on the computer. They've also grown up on 99 cent songs and downloading music for free. They like playing Angry Birds for free. I don't see many kids deciding that they need to buy a $400 device and start paying $20 plus for an entire album when all they want is one or two songs.

To me... this thing is clearly marketed towards people in their 30s and up who have been exposed to analog recordings in the past and have the disposable income to pay for the luxury of HD music.

I think aiming this thing at kids would be a mega failure.

Yeah. I fit your description except maybe the disposable income part
I threw down because I have never owned an IPOD
and was waiting on something that could play FLAC.
afraid that targeting the youngsters will fall flat....
as for disposable income...
just checked the Bay and two NY PONOs sold for over $1100.

october22

I read that article when it was published. It didn't have any impact. For me the argument whether or not to fund this was always, "Here is a digital music player for $300 with better components than an ipod or cellphone that can easily handle any file type and has expandable memory."

Either that appeals to you or it doesn't. Pono's marketing or those disputing their claims don't really need to enter the debate.

on2legs

I think if you are an uber Pearl Jam collector buying the PJ signature model was a good move if you can spare the cash.

If you are looking for a portable player capable of playing high quality digital files, I would wait for a later generation of these players. They will surely improve the design and portability in the next couple years.

Kev - Coat and Keys

It is gonna be marketed for audiophiles and I assume 30 somethings will be the youngest users.
Probably more from the Hippie generation who have spare money because they had to become lawyers, doctors and whatnot after having all those Free Love kids.
Surely Pono will be ineffective with the way modern music is recorded anyway and the point is if there is enough demand older music will get released in a digital format currently unavailable that is far better than how we can currently hear it?