How does your Pono sound?

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MedozK
MedozK Tennessee Posts: 9,212
edited November 2014 in The Porch
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.
Post edited by MedozK on
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Comments

  • on2legs
    on2legs Posts: 15,944
    What's a Pono?
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  • derbydave
    derbydave Columbus, OH Posts: 11,254
    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!!
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  • cifrancgx
    cifrancgx Columbus, OH USA Posts: 350
    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/



    George

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  • buck502000
    buck502000 Birthplace of GIBSON guitar Posts: 8,951
    Rip those PJ vinyls and slap those suckers on your pono device. Best possible digital sound you are going to find.
  • evsgjamm
    evsgjamm Posts: 2,108
    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.
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  • lotsalemon
    lotsalemon Boston Posts: 2,739

    No one's gonna open it :)
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  • WhatYouTaughtMe
    WhatYouTaughtMe Posts: 4,957
    lotsalemon said:


    No one's gonna open it :)

    It seems like that is the case so far.
  • Colorado Fan
    Colorado Fan Posts: 442
    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
    dcp3y Louisville KY Posts: 848
    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
    SP96445 Posts: 215
    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
    cp3iverson Posts: 8,702
    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
    2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,459
    edited November 2014
    http://www.cnet.com/news/sound-bite-despite-ponos-promise-experts-pan-hd-audio/

    For those that are curious...a good read.
    Post edited by 2-feign-reluctance on
    www.cluthelee.com
  • PJ_Soul
    PJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 50,650
    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!
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  • buck502000
    buck502000 Birthplace of GIBSON guitar Posts: 8,951
    a fairly recent hands-on review -
    http://www.whathifi.com/pono/ponoplayer/review
  • pdalowsky
    pdalowsky Doncaster,UK Posts: 15,211
    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
    MedozK Tennessee Posts: 9,212
    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
    2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,459
    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.
    www.cluthelee.com
  • 2-feign-reluctance
    2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,459
    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.
    www.cluthelee.com
  • lolobugg
    lolobugg BLUE RDGE MTNS Posts: 8,195
    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.

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  • buck502000
    buck502000 Birthplace of GIBSON guitar Posts: 8,951
    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.

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