PONO Feedback? Anyone have one yet?

Why didn't you just exchange it for a new one where you bought it originally?

 

I finally got my Pono player and I'm really pleased with it

One thing, though. According to the quick start guide, it seems a full charge takes up to 4 hours, but I let mine for more than 6 hours and the icon wouldn't change to "charge completed" Do I need to leave it connected to the USB charger for more than 7 hours?

 

So do they still make and sell the Pono? Never hear about it out in the real world

 

Why do you ask? Music isn't really part of the real world any more either...

 

Because it was written about a lot and even in the music press I haven't read a thing lately. Just curious.

 

Yes, they do. You can buy one in yellow or black.

 

Fry's down the street from me has a display for Pono now with headphones plugged in to compare sound, but the couple of times I have tried there has been no audio playing and natch no employees around to ask about it. Im very very tempted to go run over there and buy one, but keep talking myself out of it since my phone (Oneplus One) will play lossless formats already, and I do most off my listening off my MB Pro->Amarra->Dragonfly v1.2->Harmon Kardon CL setup at work and am not convinced that the $ would not be better spent on another set of headphones and buying more albums.
I'm also sniffing around that Sony Walkman NWZ-A17, which is about $150 less and supposedly has a much much longer battery life. Really wish I could do a test listen to each so I could pull the trigger on one of these guys.

 

Consumer Reports has it in this months issue, along with a Sony and another hi-res player. They even wrote about an informal listening test they did where they reported that hi-rez did sound better to most of them. Surprising.

 

Thanks for the heads up in that! I'll have to pick up a copy when I get a chance but it looks like at least a portion of the article is available here: LINK

 

That is pretty much all that is in the magazine.

 

eeep just pulled the trigger on the Pono, off to go pick it up at Frys shortly

 

Should be a fun weekend. Let us know your first impressions!

 

After using the Pono pretty heavily for the last weekend I am very very happy with the sound and overall purchase. I will try to organize my thoughts more later for more of a review but my short takeaways are as such.

1. Setup was a pain at first but the firmware update to v1.0.5 seemed to alleviate most of the initial problems I had. The first 3 hours I had the player were spent fussing with the software and loading music.
2. So far it seems that side loading music onto the Pono is smoother than synching via the Ponoworld software.
3. The sound is absolutely lovely! Have used with a few sets of headphones, my car stereo, and with a Bose Cinemate 2.1 powered speaker deal plugged in and in all cases I was surprised with the quality of sound I was getting.
4. Holy crap the 24/96 Damn the Torpedoes files sound great in my car with the windows down and a nice breeze.
5. I would not say the battery sucks exactly, but I was kind of taken aback at how quickly it started to run down with heavy use. Id say closer to 6 hours than 8 and expect I'll keep it plugged in at my desk etc for extended stationary listening sessions. I have not tried this yet, so not sure how hot charging while playing will get the unit.

Ultimately I considered the Sony Walkman A17 but for the extra $100 the Pono seemed like a better buy to me. The extra 64gb card included is a nice plus over the Sony player, and the wood box and overall presentation was much more attractive to me than the blah blah Sony cardboard package. So holding both in hand, the Pono immediately excited me more and felt like more of a premium purchase. The Sony supposedly has a dramatically better battery. That and the $100 price difference were just about the only reason I considered the Sony, and at the end of the day the sound quality and listening experience is my primary concern and I did not want to trade off quality on the sound front for convenience on the battery side.

Im going to see how it works for me over the next week or so and will try to give additional feedback.

 

Pono humor in a comic strip:

 

Have you by any chance heard the Sony to compare? Must admit battery life is a big difference to me. Nice presentation boxes, not so much...

 

Nope, was wavering between the two but opted not to go with the Sony

 

No worries. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

I've been using my Pono player for a few weeks and I like it very much. However, my "once mild" tinnitus is getting worse and I wonder if there are some good sounding Pono-compatible speakers out there. I'm currently using a pair of Harman Kardon Soundsticks computer speakers, and the sound is OK, but I think there must be some better speakers available. Anyone? Thanks

 

I think I'm going to take the plunge and order a Pono this week. Please ignore or point me towards a relevant thread if it's O/T, but I wondered if anyone has any suggestions for some suitable headphones that will make good use of the Pono's output.

I want over-ear (with a tight fit), with noise cancelling, that can hopefully be folded up to take up less space when carrying. And possibly something that doesn't look too 'nickable' to potential muggers! I've never spent more than £30-£40 in the past for in-ears, but would welcome recommendations up to £200.

 

I have no experience with the Pono myself, but the review at Inner Fidelity mentions quite a few headphone recommendations in your price range. I think the recommendations are on the second page of the review:

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/pono-player-and-promises-fulfilled

 

There is no point to getting headphones with active noise canceling for use with the Pono. With the noise canceling you'll hear none of the Pono benefits. May as well just get a $100 Fiio player.

Closed headphones that do passive noise blocking could work well. As could IEMs (in ear earphones) that seal the ear canal and block outside noise. But anything with active circuits to cancel outside noise would be a no-go with the Pono.

 

Thanks, that's exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for.

I do use those type currently, but I think I have very strange shaped ears! Unless I get the left earpiece quite precisely fitting, I sometimes get some distortion in my left ear. It seems to create some sort of vacuum. When I get them just right they do sound great. But upgrading to a Pono I thought it's time to move to over ear ones.

 

Hmmm...

I tried to register for the Pono forums earlier, but I couldn't gain access and got the following error message....

That I could live with, but I've just recieved the same message when trying to buy the actual player. So basically I can't continue to the checkout to complete my purchase. Anyone know why this is? Is it because I'm in the UK?

 

When you tried to Log in, you clicked on "PonoMusic employee? Log in here:" Look to the left and under the "pono" logo is the regular log in area (log in and under is password). That will allow you to log into Pono Music World.

 

I have seen weirdness like that on and off over the last couple of days including an error message mentioning salesforce.com. They may be doing maintenance or something, but that part is not region specific.

I believe the music store for downloads is US only, but I am not sure if they are filling orders for the actual players to the UK.