I have never seen such mixed and conflicting reviews for anything in my whole life. I literally have no idea what to think of the Pono, and no idea what to believe. I have seen totally opposed opinions from many people I would normally listen to, and industry reviews that vary wildly as well. It's bizarre.
Post edited by PJ_Soul on
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
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KV4053
Mike's side, crushed up against the stage Posts: 1,504
I have never seen such mixed and conflicting reviews for anything in my whole life. I literally have no idea what to think of the Pono, and no idea what to believe. I have seen totally opposed opinions from many people I would normally listen to, and industry reviews that vary wildly as well. It's bizarre.
It's an expensive, niche product. That explains most of the diverse reviews. Personally, I love it and want a second one for the office.
I know I was born and I know that I'll die. The in between is mine.
I have never seen such mixed and conflicting reviews for anything in my whole life. I literally have no idea what to think of the Pono, and no idea what to believe. I have seen totally opposed opinions from many people I would normally listen to, and industry reviews that vary wildly as well. It's bizarre.
I agree. I've never seen anyone compare it to its peers. A few years ago I bought a FiiO X3 for $200. It has a high quality DAC, plays all formats (include hd flac). It's a pretty good little machine (only wish it had touchscreen like my old cowon player).
Most of the reviews on the pono come from people comparing it to iphones, ipods, other cell phones or mp3 players. I'd like to know how it stacks up compared to other audiophile players and if it's price point is worth being that much more expensive than a fiio (or other companies players).
0
KV4053
Mike's side, crushed up against the stage Posts: 1,504
I have never seen such mixed and conflicting reviews for anything in my whole life. I literally have no idea what to think of the Pono, and no idea what to believe. I have seen totally opposed opinions from many people I would normally listen to, and industry reviews that vary wildly as well. It's bizarre.
I agree. I've never seen anyone compare it to its peers. A few years ago I bought a FiiO X3 for $200. It has a high quality DAC, plays all formats (include hd flac). It's a pretty good little machine (only wish it had touchscreen like my old cowon player).
Most of the reviews on the pono come from people comparing it to iphones, ipods, other cell phones or mp3 players. I'd like to know how it stacks up compared to other audiophile players and if it's price point is worth being that much more expensive than a fiio (or other companies players).
Simple review for the only other high end device I know .... Pono SQ is way, way better than my Cowon J3. Interfaces are both acceptable, not great. The only thing better in the J3 is battery life (60+ hours vs. 8 if you're lucky).
I know I was born and I know that I'll die. The in between is mine.
I have never seen such mixed and conflicting reviews for anything in my whole life. I literally have no idea what to think of the Pono, and no idea what to believe. I have seen totally opposed opinions from many people I would normally listen to, and industry reviews that vary wildly as well. It's bizarre.
One side has an agenda. Mixed reviews tend to mean 1 thing.
Sorry. The world doesn't work the way you tell it to.
I noticed someone above got offered $800 for their Pono with music on it. Ultimately, I hope people are happy with their purchases, but the few articles and videos that I've come across online after people have actually used the Pono player isn't all that great. For example,
If you can sell your Pono player for anything above cost, perhaps you should take the money and run.
Holy Balls! That's the most scathing tech report from Mom's kitchen I've ever seen!
Neil Young’s Pono Music will be offline for ‘several weeks’ The uncompressed music service is switching infrastructure providers after its partner got bought.
Hopefully the website comes back with a UK store. It won't, of course, but I hope things progress smoothly.
I spent a few hours the other week working up the old Pono. I moved all the PJ music onto the internal drive and then re-named all the albums ('001 Ten', '002 Vs', '003 Vitalogy'... up to '020 PJ20') so they now display in my preferred order on my preferred album view menu. The thing plays great and looks great. Good stuff.
Hopefully the website comes back with a UK store. It won't, of course, but I hope things progress smoothly.
I spent a few hours the other week working up the old Pono. I moved all the PJ music onto the internal drive and then re-named all the albums ('001 Ten', '002 Vs', '003 Vitalogy'... up to '020 PJ20') so they now display in my preferred order on my preferred album view menu. The thing plays great and looks great. Good stuff.
Can't sort by year?
1996: Randall's Island 2 1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2 2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel 2005: Atlantic City 1 2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Newark (EV) 2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4 2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2 2011: Toronto 1 2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore 2015: Central Park 2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD) 2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF) 2020: MSG | Asbury Park2021: Asbury Park 2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville 2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore 2025: Raleigh
I think the Pono is only alphabetical, but the way I do it would keep the live stuff together and after the studio albums. Plus when using external memory it means all the PJ stuff still comes first. (The extra 0s in my 'system' is to avoid 10,000 days mucking things up. Thanks Tool.)
If anyone has a Pono they don't want/need feel free to send it my way....
Love mine. Was hoping to get a deal on another one on black Friday but no luck
Yeah two years on I was kinda expecting it to have fuzzed by now, but my Pono is an amazing digital music player for every day use. Peace Trail is another solid album too, so always trust in Uncle Neil.
Love mine too. Just disappointed in the pono store and how long its taking to re-open.
^^^^This
Soldier Field, Chicago, IL 7-11-1995; United Center, Chicago, IL 6-29-1998; MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV 10-22-2000 ~PJ10~; Pepsi Center, Denver, CO 4-1-2003; Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ 6-7-2003; United Center, Chicago, IL 6-18-2003; Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI 6-21-2003; Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10-5-2004; The Gorge, George, WA 9-1-2005; United Center, Chicago, IL 5-16-2006; United Center, Chicago, IL 5-17-2006; Pepsi Center, Denver, CO 7-2-2006; Pepsi Center, Denver, CO 7-3-2006; United Center, Chicago, IL 8-23-2009; United Center, Chicago, IL 8-24-2009; Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC 12-4-2013; Key Arena, Seattle, WA 12-6-2013; iWireless Arena, Moline, IL 10-17-2014 ~No Code Show~; Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN 10-19-2014; Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI 10-20-2014 ~Yield Show~; Pepsi Center, Denver, CO 10-22-2014 ~PJ24~: Wrigley Field 1 & 2, 2016; Safeco Field, Seattle Home Shows 1 & 2; Wrigley Field, Chicago Away Shows 1 & 2....
The regional exclusive digital purchases and the prices Pono were offering on their digital albums ... sucked!!! How horrible it was that you live in Canada and wanted to purchase all the Rush 24Bit Flacs, and many other Canadian artists but you couldn't because the digital downloads were exclusive to USA Pono store only. It was so stupid which was why things failed.
I love my Pono player and I have a ton of 24Bit 192kHz Flacs on it. None of the digital downloads were purchased from the Canadian Pono store.
Yeah, being a UK-based Pono owner meant it was only ever a player to me. An extremely good one, of course. As long as the machine keeps going nothing has really changed with Neil's latest announcement/dream.
I think the gain from a mediocre dac (like on in a smartphone) to a high quality standalone device is night/day. On the other hand I think the gain from cd quality flac to hd flac is minimal.
This you don't really need store to buy music from. You can just rip your old cd catalog. Plus Pono isn't the only high quality player on the block, so there were a handful of great players that were alot cheaper than the pono.
PonoMusic went out of business December 2017. SalesForce has been kind
enough to allow us to meet here for free. We can't take advantage of
their hospitality forever.
This community is moving to a new location, using the Social Engine
platform. This site could be turned off at any time. There is no easy
way to reach everyone at once. If someone has already contacted you, we
apologize for the repetition.
The new community is up and running.There are over 400 members. It is
capable of more than this one. There are 3 administrators and 6
moderators. All your favorite topics and more are being discussed. Hope
you'll join us. Click the link below to ask for an
invitation.
Please contact missing friends using this PonoMusic forum. They will see
it and know the community is moving. Some lost hope and don't visit,
but a private message also sends them an email. We don't want to leave
anyone behind. Time is short.
Thank you
This is a thing I am happy to have ignored. I love Neil, but he freaking loses his mind from time to time and increasingly so as he his creeped into the back nine.
As much as I love Neil and like to support his projects I didn't think Pono was going to be successful. I opted instead to buy his hand-signed Carnegie Hall poster for $100. I figured even if Pono didn't last his autograph on a cool poster would. Interestingly, the 18" x 24" version of the poster that was advertised never materialized and what I received was the large (nearly 24" x 36") version of the Carnegie Hall poster that was sold at the concert (and signed later by Neil). I had to buy a 28" x 41" frame for it! Expressobeans shows the 18" x 24" version but I don't know if it really exists or was just a mockup. Would like to hear from anyone who actually received a small version.
As much as I love Neil and like to support his projects I didn't think Pono was going to be successful. I opted instead to buy his hand-signed Carnegie Hall poster for $100. I figured even if Pono didn't last his autograph on a cool poster would. Interestingly, the 18" x 24" version of the poster that was advertised never materialized and what I received was the large (nearly 24" x 36") version of the Carnegie Hall poster that was sold at the concert (and signed later by Neil). I had to buy a 28" x 41" frame for it! Expressobeans shows the 18" x 24" version but I don't know if it really exists or was just a mockup. Would like to hear from anyone who actually received a small version.
I also received the 24x36. Still in my portfolio because I haven't had the wallspace to put that up (or the desire to frame it).
Comments
Most of the reviews on the pono come from people comparing it to iphones, ipods, other cell phones or mp3 players. I'd like to know how it stacks up compared to other audiophile players and if it's price point is worth being that much more expensive than a fiio (or other companies players).
Neil Young’s Pono Music will be offline for ‘several weeks’
The uncompressed music service is switching infrastructure providers after its partner got bought.
I spent a few hours the other week working up the old Pono.
I moved all the PJ music onto the internal drive and then re-named all the albums ('001 Ten', '002 Vs', '003 Vitalogy'... up to '020 PJ20') so they now display in my preferred order on my preferred album view menu.
The thing plays great and looks great. Good stuff.
Plus when using external memory it means all the PJ stuff still comes first.
(The extra 0s in my 'system' is to avoid 10,000 days mucking things up. Thanks Tool.)
"Neil Young's Pono will launch an adaptive bitrate streaming service
It will adjust quality on the fly, based on your connection speed."
Peace Trail is another solid album too, so always trust in Uncle Neil.
I love my Pono player and I have a ton of 24Bit 192kHz Flacs on it. None of the digital downloads were purchased from the Canadian Pono store.
As long as the machine keeps going nothing has really changed with Neil's latest announcement/dream.
I think the gain from a mediocre dac (like on in a smartphone) to a high quality standalone device is night/day. On the other hand I think the gain from cd quality flac to hd flac is minimal.
This you don't really need store to buy music from. You can just rip your old cd catalog. Plus Pono isn't the only high quality player on the block, so there were a handful of great players that were alot cheaper than the pono.
From Pono Community ...
PonoMusic went out of business December 2017. SalesForce has been kind enough to allow us to meet here for free. We can't take advantage of their hospitality forever.
This community is moving to a new location, using the Social Engine platform. This site could be turned off at any time. There is no easy way to reach everyone at once. If someone has already contacted you, we apologize for the repetition.
The new community is up and running.There are over 400 members. It is capable of more than this one. There are 3 administrators and 6 moderators. All your favorite topics and more are being discussed. Hope you'll join us. Click the link below to ask for an invitation.
Please contact missing friends using this PonoMusic forum. They will see it and know the community is moving. Some lost hope and don't visit, but a private message also sends them an email. We don't want to leave anyone behind. Time is short.
Thank you
https://www.resono-community.com
http://www.hi5sports.org/ (Sports Program for Kids with Disabilities)
http://www.livefootsteps.org/user/?usr=3652