Neil Young readies Pono music service for expansion Part 3

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by stereoptic, Mar 25, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    The Pono player is not going to fit everyone's idea of a portable player. This is not a snobby comment at all but your description of your music sources tells me, yeah, maybe this is overkill for your listening situation. It's a lot of money if you aren't sure. You might as well wait until someone here actually has one and can give a first hand critique.
     
  2. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Pono has announced that the Herbie Hancock Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Headhunters - 96 kHz/24-bit
    The Imagine Project - 192 kHz/24-bit

    Pono has announced that the James Taylor Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Hourglass - 44 kHz/16-bit
    Gorilla - 192 kHz/24-bit

    Pono has announced that the Jackson Browne Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Late for the Sky - 192 kHz/24-bit
    Standing in the Breach (New Album) - 192 kHz/24-bit

    Pono has announced that the Arcade Fire Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    The Suburbs - 44.1 kHz/16-bit
    Reflektor - 44.1 kHz/16-bit


    Pono has announced that the Grateful Dead Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Terrapin Station - 192 kHz/24-bit
    Workingman's Dead - 192 kHz/24-bit

    Pono has announced that the My Morning Jacket Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Circuital - 44 kHz/24-bit
    Okonokos - 44 kHz/24-bit


    Pono has announced that the Lyle Lovett Artist Signature Series LE for Kickstarter backers will include:
    Pontiac - 44.1 kHz/16-bit
    Joshua Judges Ruth- 44.1 kHz/16-bit
     
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  3. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Seems odd to me to have 16 bit files here. No hirez files exist? Or analog masters?
     
  4. A theory: the record company and/or artist is skittish about releasing better-than-CD quality digital downloads. Perhaps they think it will cut into CD sales even more. Who cares? It's this kind of outmoded thinking that is killing the industry.
     
  5. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    That depends on if you are talking about analog recordings or not. 16 bit may be all there is on newer digital recordings. Analog recordings however may have just not been mastered higher yet.
     
  6. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Pono is specifically about hirez. It just seems to me you would want to demo hirez files from these artists. I bet Lyle Lovett has some analog tapes that can be transfered at high sample rates.
     
  7. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I'm a fan of Arcade Fire and would consider buying their player, but not for cd quality files. I don't get that!
     
  8. chosenhandle

    chosenhandle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minneapolis
    all I know is I ordered the Herbie Hancock and I am excited to receive it with those titles included.
     
  9. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
  10. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Ian Kendrick (Moderator)
    128 GByte micro SD cards and the Pono Player.

    This is one of the most asked questions. Pono has given us this information:

    Pono supports cards of the maximum size currently available, 128GB, Micro SD classified as SDHC and SDXC Type 10. We recommend SanDisk cards and will be shipping the players with a SanDisk card.

    Cards come preformatted and should not need formatting. SD card standards require cards sold to be FAT32 on all cards up to 32GB, and xFAT on all cards 64GB and higher. If there are any issues we recommend that people refer to SanDIsk website.
     
  11. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    There's 64GB built in, right? So you can top out at 192GB when you add a 128GB SDHC or SDXC Type 10 card? If so, that's pretty great.
     
  12. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I believe that is correct.
     
    Gabe Walters likes this.
  13. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    [​IMG]
    The new box set! Tasty! :bdance:
     
  14. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    Love the joke, but I expect the CD mono box will sound great on Pono. Time will tell!
     
    JeffMo likes this.
  15. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    Hi-res needledrops of the new vinyl will sound even better :winkgrin:
     
    jlc76 likes this.
  16. I fear that these two sentences together give the impression that the shipped SanDisk card will be 128GB. Has the storage amount of the shipped card been given anywhere?
     
  17. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    64GB
     
    sallymae_hogsby likes this.
  18. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    16/44 for Hourglass? There's an SACD and it's a 1997 recording, so -- at worst -- 24/44 native or 24/88 up-rezed should be readily available. Or choose one of the other recordings that was recorded analog for which DSD files exist.

    One of their signature products and this is what they deliver? So much for "constantly attaining the best listening experience"...
     
  19. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    The albums were chosen by the artist. Maybe James preferred the original mastering. Who knows.?
     
  20. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    Regardless of whether it's artist decree or Pono inattention to detail, if this is an introductory signature product, it's not reason for optimism that Pono will succeed in "constantly attaining the best listening experience".
     
  21. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    All subjective of course to the individual listener.
     
  22. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I suppose. But if they're just going to recycle CDs, they're certainly sending a contradictory message to the marketplace.

    For years, Neil Young was saying (and journalists have been repeating) that CD resolution wasn't sufficient for a quality listening experience. "Great" say the audiophiles. Now it's .mp3 that's not acceptable, but we'll gladly sell you a CD quality file (even when a higher resolution master almost certainly exists). "But I've already concluded that .mp3 is fine compared to CD...why would I do this rather than streaming" says the average Joe. Is the point to appeal to neither the audiophile nor the average consumer?

    Pono is already 5 years (and counting) behind its time...and sending a muddled message to go along with it. Maybe it will succeed in spite of itself, however it's not likely IMO.

    But it's definitely gonna make for a great business school case study some day...
     
    therockman, sunspot42 and ls35a like this.
  23. crossroads69

    crossroads69 Senior Member

    Location:
    London Town
    I am a potential Pono customer in the market for a portable music player that offers more space and better sonics than my iPhone. I did not preorder on Kickstarter but have been following the news and waiting for actual production model reviews to flow in from early adopters.

    I had read here about the Fiio X5 as another option in this space. But today I came across the new Sony Walkman A17 - it plays hi-res, comes in much slimmer form factor, up to 256 GB storage and at price of $299 (when released later this month). This looks quite attractive coming from Sony who have taken to hi-res audio hardware this year and might be the strongest competition to a Pono out there today.
     
  24. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I'm in your same position and will buy one of these in early 2015. Not crazy about the iPhone for music and my iPod classic is on it's last legs.

    Agreed - this is a puzzling and disappointing compromise that they appear to be making.
     
  25. jlc76

    jlc76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX, U.S.A.
    Actually Pontiac is an all digital [DDD] so I'm guessing they were only 16bit/44.1khz during that era.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine