How does your Pono sound?

vaggar99 said:

it would be interesting if someone conducted a 'Pono Challenge' much like the 'Pepsi Challenge' campaign from back in the day. that would be a pretty good indicator as to whether or not this thing has legs.

lolobugg said:

MedozK said:

lolobugg said:

I have only had a chance to listen thru my Sennheisers headphones but I plan on hooking it up to my audio system tonight.

Which Sennheisers are you using. I am contemplating switching from my Bose noise cancelling to a set of Sennheisers.

Let me check on that and get back to you with the model #
I think I paid about $300 for them if that gives you an idea.
They are studio/closed back for sure. kinda regret not going with the open back now but these are pretty solid for the $

lolobugg said:

pdalowsky said:

lolobugg said:

pdalowsky said:

lolobugg said:

Kev - Coat and Keys said:

lolobugg said:

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

Thanks Man - I was getting too frustrated by some people. I keep forgetting the music isn't the important thing for everyone. Fortunately it is for a lot of us.

MedozK said:

Hopefully this push towards Hi-res music will also push towards better mastering processes. Making something more loud, and taking away from the overall dynamic range is not good...even if its 24 bit.

Yes, that is it. The more Hi-Res players and users, will lead to more HI-Res being bought and so more will be available. I hope.

I find the PJ collector mentality a little weird. I mean I buy my share of merch but I would never buy a sticker because it has "PJ" on it. I think some people bought these just for the autographs.

and also I am hoping to see HD music get popular and hopefully drive some of these prices down. In some cases they are charging the same as the physical product. SACD, vinyl, etc.

ask yourself if those autographs or the name Pearl Jam wasn't important - why did they even make them? why didn't they just release the black and yellow general ones. Of course people bought them for the branding, that was exactly the idea and attraction

My point is that I would've bought one eventually anyway.
I am a fan of HD music whether it's vinyl, SACD, DVD audio, HD FLAC.
I find it weird that people are buying these with no intention of using them at all.
Yes, the PJ autographs and the exclusivity of the LE PONO appeals to me and probably helped me justify throwing down the $400 as an early adapter.
but people focusing strictly on the way the autographs look is weird to me.
to each his own.

After having said that,
I can tell you that it sounds amazing.
Vs., an album that I would say I am "familiar" with, takes on a new life.
granted, I haven't listen to the remasters but it is night and day from the original CD
the quieter passages like the acoustic guitar on Daughter sound like Stone was in the room.
the soundstage is really nice and separated, everything is crisp and you can hear small nuisances that are lost in the compressed formats. pretty much what Neil has been saying. Planning on trying to get the Cincinnati FLAC HD on the player tonight.

I have only had a chance to listen thru my Sennheisers headphones but I plan on hooking it up to my audio system tonight. I wish I had a tube amp unfortunately I only have a tube pre-amp. Anyone know if there is a way to turn off the internal pre-amp and compare the sound thru the tube.
I will try to give another review soon.

I really don't understand why you would think it weird. Its clearly made as a collectors item, otherwise they wouldn't have ever bothered with the artist series. The signatures were a selling point so of course people bought them for that attribute - otherwise they would have saved $200 and bought the standard version whilst it was on offer at $200.

Some of the artist editions will be kept pristine as a collectors item, much in the way records are (records that most would consider are made to be played), or like a limited edition boxed star wars toy will never get played with.

Well, some people probably think I am weird for busting open something that I could sell for double the price on Ebay. Sometimes I think I AM crazy too.

lolobugg said:

PP193448 said:

I haven't got my Pono yet, but I just ordered like new Sennheiser HD700 headphones from their outlet site. Shelled out little over $500 for these puppies but hoping they sound better than my Bose ones. Retail was like $750-800 I think. Better priced than the top shelf HD800's at about $1500. Crazy I'm sure. Wife doesn't know this so I'm good so far. Going to have to accidentally drop my Bose ones or let the kids play with them.

Man, those are nice.
Would you mind giving a review when you get them?
I love Sennheisers and I am thinking about trying out an open-back headphone.

fgalpern said:

Forgive me if this has been covered before or elsewhere, but does anyone in this thread know with certainty if there is a difference between Pono music files and HD Tracks files. I'm trying to figure out where to buy more music for this player.

MedozK said:

vaggar99 said:

pdalowsky said:

vaggar99 said:

it would be interesting if someone conducted a 'Pono Challenge' much like the 'Pepsi Challenge' campaign from back in the day. that would be a pretty good indicator as to whether or not this thing has legs.

kind of a blind listening test ?

yeah exactly. I would compare a full quality FLAC played thru a Pono player to a standard quality mp3 played thru a smartphone. something like that.

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.

I dont think you can compare a lossy mp3 to flac....that would be to easy to hear the difference.