Is Pono no more?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by conjotter, Nov 4, 2016.

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  1. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I can't say why he didn't want to listen but it sounds like he figured that due to the shape and screen it was never going to be that viable as a consumer product beyond those, like yourself, that are primarily concerned about SQ.

    Honestly, when it was first announced I was interested but when I saw how it was going to look I knew it couldn't work as my portable player like my iPod did so it didn't matter how well it sounded. The form factor made it too difficult cumbersome to use. The fact that my iPod sounded good for my purposes killed the deal even further. After that realisation there was no point in caring anymore. However, I did think that perhaps they would come out with a V2 at some point that made it more pocket friendly.
     
  2. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    Could be something to that, but, this was a cat working for a company who sold boutique IEMs that cost more than a lot of folks make in a month, so, I'm not sure he was laser-focused on a mass-market audience when he made his comments.

    My point is, listen (pun intended), if I'm in the audio business, and that's how I feed my family, I wanna hear everything I can get my hands on, especially a portable player that might go well with my product.
     
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  3. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    That's pretty absurd stuff. I will say that the plastic chassis and shape really didn't inspire confidence, but it smacks of amateur hour that someone selling IEMs wouldn't even try the thing. You'd think a person in that area would want to know the full field of options.


    Well, how about this - I'll tell you what I don't like about my Fiio X5 II, but live with. That may help you to figure out if you want to make the leap or not.

    For one, the necessity for an external MicroSD card reader is a head-scratcher to me. This thing is painfully slow to transfer files (i.e. you'd better let it run overnight if you're filling a 128gb card), so I use a USB 3.0 card reader to do file transfers. Massive improvement, but why not build that into the device itself? It's not like this isn't a player designed to play up to 24/192 files. Even if you were only transferring three albums, that's a lot of data to send down the pipe.

    As I mentioned, this is something I live with because the external card reader works.

    Secondly, if you have multiple card sets, as I do, you'll need to "update" the player's library every time you swap them out if you want to use things like shuffle. I believe this doesn't matter one way or the other if you're just browsing the folders. The update can take some time in larger libraries. I usually need to set aside 10 or so minutes to get my two 200gb cards scanned. This is an inconvenience, but no other players in this price range offer better, so it's just the cost of doing business as far as I'm concerned.

    I've seen a lot of complaints about the interface, but I have yet to encounter a single manufacturer who has managed to reinvent the iPod wheel. That was some elegance of design and more's the pity that iTunes was the millstone weighing the whole enterprise down. So, is Fiio great? Not really. It's functional and no-frills. As someone who has been very careful in how his music library is organized and curated though, I very much appreciate the folder browse option on my Fiio. My library is organized alphabetically by artist ("last name, first name" as appropriate) and, within the artist folders, the albums are sorted by release year (sometimes month and/or day if they were particularly prolific that year). Not even my iPod gave me the option to display albums in chronological order, so this second bit is a huge plus for me.

    With the newest players moving towards Android as the platform of choice, my few complaints may well be addressed one and all. I just can't offer any feedback on that front as I'm happy with my player as a daily driver and don't feel the need to splash out $400 to replace it. :D

    Anyway, if any of those are deal breakers for you, stand forewarned!
     
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  4. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    The sound quality of the Fiio players is the deal breaker for me.
     
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  5. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    How would you describe the sound? I came to Fiio from iPod, so it's likely that my frame of reference would make almost anything seem an upgrade. I have heard them described as harsh, overly digital, and other things that I don't hear when I listen on them. That said, the EQ options do make a huge difference in the sound signature.
     
  6. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    I really appreciate the detailed write-up, Runicen, thank you!

    I could probably try to hit up B&H to check one out, before the snow begins coming down heavy in NY and makes travelling in my motorized chair difficult, but, I will definitely say, despite not having heard any Fiio players, that I've known Ham around these parts for a good long while, and I know exactly why it is that he enjoys the Pono so much, and it's for a lot of the very same reasons that I do. Its sonic characteristics have a certain quality that is difficult to find elsewhere, regardless of price point. I fear that I would have to spend prohibitively more to approach the same ballpark.

    That's not a judgement of Fiio on my part, more so, the fact that I trust Ham's assessments when approaching a purchase. Ham has definitely seen and/or tried a great many pieces of desirable audio gear! That's not to say that you haven't, by the way, it probably just means that I've read more of Ham's posts! LOL

    Having said that, Fiio definitely deserves for me to form my own opinion, so I absolutely will give it a fair chance and a solid listen when I have the opportunity.
     
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  7. LEONPROFF

    LEONPROFF Forum Resident

    It was an awkward looking candy bar because it was designed to not only be portable, but also to work great through an existing stereo without the purchase of a dock. Pono sits on it’s side and does not need to be picked up to change albums. Streaming services lasted a month for me. Don’t need them.
     
    ramdom likes this.
  8. Dino

    Dino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City - USA
    @oneway - What do you think of the $200 PonoMusic Player offer mentioned a page or so back?

    Edit: I bought a spare Pono for $200 off the Pono site on a Father's Day sale.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2017
  9. LEONPROFF

    LEONPROFF Forum Resident

    Rebuy what? I bought maybe 10 albums from the Pono Store. Most everything on my cards are CD rips, some from albums i’ve Had since 1985.
     
  10. Dino

    Dino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City - USA
    When I read people talking about having about having to "rebuy music" for the Pono, I realize that they don't know much - at all - about the Pono.
     
  11. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    Hey, Dino...Great to see you again! Feel like it has been a little while...hope you are well.

    I'm definitely wrestling with the idea of buying another. On one hand, I just don't know what happens if something goes wrong like it has with my Metallica one. One day, Phil Baker is eventually going to stop responding to that e-mail address.

    On the other, I'm unlikely going to approach the Pono's sound quality for $200 or even the original retail of $400 (though I'd definitely be excited if another device would prove me wrong), so, it might be worth biting the bullet on one again. I'm not sure yet.
     
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  12. Drew769

    Drew769 Buyer of s*** I never knew I lacked

    Location:
    NJ
    One thing that gets overlooked often with the Pono player is that it is a fully balanced design, created by Charles Hanson of Ayre Acoustics himself. $399 for an Ayre portable player would seem like the bargain of the century. Fully balanced design is basically spiking the ball and showing off. It actually sounds great even in single ended mode. It will easily drive most headphones even with higher impedance ratings. When you have fully balanced headphones and the appropriate cables, however, the player enters an entirely different realm of quality. I recently bought the mass drop HD 6XX headphones and a set of cables from Venus audio on eBay, and the sound quality is ridiculous for this price level. It basically doubles the power output of the Pono player, while reducing the noise floor considerably. The music really jumps out from the blackness like never before. I listened to Steven Wilson‘s new album first, and I was really blown away. The second thing I listen to was Pink Floyd’s Meddle, a black harvest label edition, and it was equally as eye-opening. The whole set up including headphones and cable is $650. There is no way you could touch the sound for $650.
     
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  13. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    Definitely, but, if I could play Devil's advocate for a minute, a lot of that comes from Pono's mishandling of their marketing. They should have come right out of the gate letting people know that EVERYTHING sounds great on it. I know they had a store to push, but, they may still be around if they advertised that they were one of the only places selling both hi-res AND loseless CD-quality files. Still not too many places doing that with such a selection in the US.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2017
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  14. uzn007

    uzn007 Pack Rat

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    Wasn't the whole point of the Pono to play 24-bit music? There are plenty of players out there that will play 16-bit FLACs.

    When I want to hear CD-quality music through my stereo, I play a CD in my CD player.
     
  15. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    Drew, that's AWESOME. The new Steven Wilson through the Pono is something else. I've bought a bunch of cables from Venus in Wisconsin off of ebay as well. Great quality, fast-shipping, and Dale is an all-around good dude.
     
  16. Dino

    Dino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City - USA
    Not to my mind.
    Yes there are.
     
  17. uzn007

    uzn007 Pack Rat

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    It certainly was the point of the marketing.
     
  18. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    Add me to what you said above.
     
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  19. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    No, and that's entirely the fault of Pono's marketing.

    That's cool, and I'm glad it works for you, as it does for many others, but, you're not everyone. I don't know what CD player you own, maybe it's "better" than a Pono, maybe not, but, there's more than one way to...
     
  20. Dino

    Dino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City - USA
    Yes it was. I try not to buy anything expensive based on marketing alone.

    Edit: Corrected
     
  21. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    No worries, @oneway23 . I'm format agnostic, so if you're happy buying a NOS Pono, I'm just glad you're enjoying your experience. The only thing that makes me leery of fully endorsing that option is the mystery surrounding the state of Pono and whether there will be support if you get a lemon or something like that. I'd never say Fiio is the final word and, if someone handed me a player at the same price point that sounded better without adjustment, I might shed a tear for a player I've mildly anthropomorphized due to the joy its brought me, but I'd ultimately get over it and make the switch. :winkgrin:
     
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  22. dtuck90

    dtuck90 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    How does the Fiio X7mk2 compare to Pono in terms of sound?
     
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  23. E-Rock

    E-Rock I Got a Rock

    Location:
    Madison, WI, USA
    :agree:

    One can only imagine the hypothetical retail price (and reputation) of the player had it been released as an Ayre-branded device.
     
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  24. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    I love it...That cracked me up. Joy is the end goal, isn't it? :cheers:
     
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  25. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    A friend asked me whether I was enjoying my PONO and the easy answer is yes. Bargain of the century as far as I am concerned.

    I have actually ended up using it for my own CD rips which I feel are better through it than any other player I have used. The transfer rates are torturous and I have for that reason filled the main unit with essential music that will not be removed and then a few cards which I switch out.
     
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