PONO Hands-on Review

John Atkinson is an editor and reviewer for Stereophile magazine.
Here's a link to the part of his Pono review that explains balanced mode: Pono Balanced Mode
Here's a link to Neil Young's manufacturer response to the review: Neil Young response

Balanced mode with headphones is a special way of driving the headphones. It requires 4 wires in the headphone cable. 2 wires for the left ear driver. 2 wires for the right ear driver. Balanced mode has the benefit of increasing the headphone amps output power, along with improving noise floor and channel separation.

 

I have to say: listening to the JJ Cale Japanese remasters on a balanced-mode Pono is some kind of nirvana.

 

What headphones do you use?

 

Hey, I'm no heavy-hitter like you, Hamster. Sennheiser 580s. I'm a babe in the woods with this stuff. (And it's thanks to you I investigated this at all. GREATLY appreciated.)

 

I'm always curious about headphones and what's working well for others with the Pono. The HD580 is one that is capable of taking you to nirvana. I still haven't gotten a balanced cable for my HD580. I need to, and I need to try them balanced from the Pono.

The HD580/HD600/HD650 are capable of doing the enveloping headstage thing I was talking about. They should do it with the Pono in balanced mode. CD Baby sells FLAC downloads of individual tracks. You could try "Hallelujah" from "A Drop In The Ocean" or "Amazing Grace" from "Into Unknown Worlds". Or any of the tracks from one of those two albums. Listen for depth, for how the sound seems to be out in front of your forehead, how the sound sound seems to surround your head. The Senns can do that. Though I haven't yet tried them with the Pono in balanced mode.

 

I got a PonoMusic Player last weekend. I had a chance to load some songs and listen a little last night. I loaded some more today and have been listening to a variety of music (at 16-44.1 and 24-96 and well mastered) for a couple of hours tonight. I'm very happy with the sound!

I never stuck with headphone listening. I enjoyed it but I always preferred listening to loudspeakers. I've been staying at my girlfriend's lately and in order to listen to music and not bother anyone, I bought a FiiO X1 and HiFiMan RE-400 IEMs. I've enjoyed listening to music with that setup. I hope I still can after listening to the Pono. The Pono is a whole different experience. It is not subtle.

I'm listening with the HiFiMan RE-400 since that is all I have here. Yesterday I spent several hours researching balanced headphones. I'm staying to a budget here. I ordered Sennheiser HD 650 headphones and Cardas Pono Player Balanced Mode Headphone Cable by Venus Audio.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171629420247?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I'm really looking forward to the arrival of these.

I have noticed that the negative comments I have read on the PonoMusic Player (sound-wise) were speculative and the positive comments were from everyone that actually heard one. For now, I'll just repeat the phrase that stuck in my head from those that have heard the Pono: "It just sounds right".

It is past the time that I should have gone to sleep. I just keep feeling like listening to "one more album".

 

My experience as well...I've had a lot of evenings like this since getting my Pono.

 

The "FiiO X1" sound differs from the PONO sound?

 

Yes - night and day.

I won't comment in detail since I have not listened to the PonoMusic Player more than a few hours. But, as the difference in not subtle, I feel that I can try to describe the differences a bit.

So far, I am using the same budget earphones (HiFiMan RE-400) to listen to both players. I've been listening to the FiiO X1 for several months now. I've been enjoying it. I think FiiO did a remarkable job creating a $100 FLAC player capable of Hi-Res. I would recommend the FiiO X1 for people who have a budget of $100 for a FLAC player. I quite like that I can easily (and discreetly) slip it into my pants pocket. I like that if something happened to the X1 (I dropped it and it broke or whatever) I would only be out $100.

The Pono seems like the bigger bargain (for me) even at the $400 price due to the sound quality. I bought it from Amazon. I could easily return it if I didn't think I got my money's worth. I can tell already, that is not going to happen.

The best way I can think to describe the sound of the Pono will not translate to everyone - but here I go anyway:

I have never heard real high-end digital. Since I've been on the SHF, I've read comments that lead me to suspect that I may be missing out on what digital can do. I plan to rectify my digital playback situation in the future. (I am leaning toward Ayre now.)

Given that, my greatest listening enjoyment is playing a great LP on my main system via speakers. There is a pleasurable quality to that which I have never experienced listening to digital. It is huge.

I am not in a position to listen to the Pono on my main system nor speakers period, at this time. But listening to the Pono, even with budget IEMs, I am experiencing something similar to that extremely pleasurable quality that I have only experienced by playing a great LP on my main system. The FiiO X1 does nothing like that.

 

Well put. I feel the same way, and it's been quite a long time since I've felt that way.

 

Good God, just when i though i was out (in no need of a Pono in my life) you pull me back in! I just wish Pono could store more music in it, much more than 64GB. Can we change its capacity? And i'm with a short budget right now: should i buy Pono, or should i buy some good headphones? Cause i don't have any real good ones right now, and there is no point in buying Pono without having awsome headphones around.

 

Don't forget, Poxy Bowsy, I had good things to say about the FiiO X1 in an earlier post, especially for it's price.

You can add a Micro SD card. There is a door covering a slot in the bottom of the Pono so it looks like it should be easy to put one in. It also looks like it would be easy to have several cards and swap them in and out as desired. The Pono will accept up to a 128GB card. That is in addition to the 64GB of internal memory. (Pono literature mentions Class 10 for the Micro SD card, BTW.)

I ordered two of these:
SanDisk Ultra 128GB UHS-I/Class 10 Micro SDXC Memory Card $80
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M562LF4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

That was for my convenience.

You can get more gigs for your bucks with these:
SanDisk Ultra 64GB UHS-I/Class 10 Micro SDXC Memory Card $25
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M55C1I2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

(They are what I have been using in my FiiO.)

I don't know what I would do in your position. I have been really enjoying the Pono with these, for now:

HiFiMan RE-400 $80
http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMAn-Electronics-RE-400-In-ear-Monitor/dp/B00AWLEAH6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1433379360&sr=1-1&keywords=HiFiMan RE-400&pebp=1433379346101&perid=02GZHHXDEDXGKGDCZB20

But, I have the itch to hear the Pono with better and balanced headphones so I have ordered Sennheiser HD 650 headphones for $360 and a balanced cable for $100. So if that happened to you, it can add up.

I had a hard time deciding between the Sennheiser HD 650 ($360) and the Sennheiser HD 600 ($270) and I saw less expensive balanced cables. Anyway, I chose what I chose.

I read about a lot of hardware and software on the Steve Hoffman Forum that I desire. I can't possibly get all of it. I just got the bug for a Pono and was in a position to afford it. I am very happy with the sound and thought I'd give a "Hands on Review".

Lots of times something better/better for the price comes along. You may want to wait. There have been many times that I was glad that I waited. In this case, the time was right for me to get a Pono.

 

Those balanced cables you got: do you need to take your headphones to some place so they can connect them?

 

The Sennheiser HD600 and HD650 have a removable cable. The cable can unplug from the ear cups. Converting those headphones to balanced requires just unplugging the old unbalanced cable and plugging in a new balanced cable.

Many of the good headphones now have removable cables and can be converted to balanced by purchasing the correct balanced cable for them. Some headphones though are hardwired in the ear cups. The cables soldered in the ear cups. Those headphones require that you send them off to someone to convert to balanced or faith in your own DIY skills to do the same.

 

I've had my Pono about a month and can say I'm very pleased with the sound. I use balanced HD600 (surf cable) and for MOST music it works and sounds wonderful. There are some albums, however, that are not reproduced loud enough for my tastes using the 600's (my Momentums are fine for volume, but quality suffers). This happens with both 44/16 cd rips or hires (192/24) downloaded files. Can anyone recommend any ripping software, and/or other software to increase the volume on individual albums or songs? Win 8.1 PC. Thanks!

 

RrRRrRRRrrR (Member)
Three days left on another Fry's promo code deal on Pono. Only $100 off this week and in-store only. But mine did come with the extra external 64GB card (just bought a second Pono there).

Looks like they might be unloading stock because of the new competition from Amazon.

 

I was watching some Pono reviews on YouTube (they're all terrible), and in one of them this guy says that you can use magnetic headphones (like HiFiMAN) with Pono, but you're not gonna get a lot of level out of them if you don't use them with a good amplifier. Is this true?

 

Not true. Don't believe everything you see on YouTube.

I have an Audeze LCD-2 (rev 2), and a HiFiMan HE-560. Both are big planar magnetics. Both can be played from the PonoPlayer. But here's the trick. And this is absolutely necessary. You need to use balanced mode from the PonoPlayer. Balanced mode is the only way you'll get enough power to drive those headphones. Bonus is that balanced mode on the PonoPlayer also sounds better. So it's a win-win. Balanced mode to get enough volume. Balanced mode to get the best sound quality.

I'm actually listening to my HE-560 right now from my PonoPlayer. In balanced mode, of course. Sound is good to me (though I do have issues with the sound of the HE-560).

The amp in the PonoPlayer isn't a miracle power house. Even in balanced mode. Both my LCD-2 and HE-560 will get loud enough for me from the Pono. But there are some songs I end up setting at 100% volume at times. 100% volume sounds good. No clipping. So the amp isn't struggling to do 100% volume. But it means that if I wanted to go louder there is no more MOAR to go. Not necessarily a bad thing. Cause it means the little Pono gets loud enough without letting you get into unsafe listening level territory with the LCD-2 or HE-560. Planar magnetics that are less efficient than the LCD-2 (rev 2) or the HE-560 will end up playing at even lower volume levels. But you really shouldn't be trying to play your HE-6 from a portable anyways.

 

A quick measurement with two albums. Measuring the volume level using an SPL meter and a baffle. dBA, fast mode. PonoPlayer at 100% volume. Balanced mode. PonoPlayer battery is below 25%.

HE-560
Wire: Change Becomes Us - volume during second song is bouncing around in the upper 80s dBA. Occasionally hitting 90 dBA or a little more.
The Beatles: Love (ripped from DVD-A) - volume during second song "Get Back" is in the upper 70s dBA. Occasionally hitting 80 dBA.

Wire was more than loud enough. Beyond what I consider safe for listening to an entire album. More than loud enough. Please don't listen this loud. You'll damage your hearing.

LCD-2 (rev 2)
Wire: Change Becomes Us - second song, mid 90s dBA occasionally hitting 99 dBA. Too loud. I didn't even put the headphones on my head. Too loud to even try.
The Beatles: Love (ripped from DVD-A) - second song, mostly in the lower 80s, with occasional bumps to 86 dBA or 88 dBA

The LCD-2 (rev 2) gets louder than the HE-560 from the PonoPlayer.
I consider the LCD-2 to be plenty loud enough from the PonoPlayer for what I usually listen to on the portable. I'm sure I could find some classical recordings that aren't loud enough. But the classical I've listened to so far on the Pono with the LCD-2 has been loud enough.

Both headphones are riding the border of I'd like them to be louder sometimes. But for most of what I listen to on a portable they are plenty loud and even dangerously loud enough.

The other thing to be mindful of is that the sound style from the PonoPlayer causes the volume to sound less loud than it actually is. This is a "problem" with good amps. My Cavalli amp has the same "problem". The PonoPlayer can play loud without it feeling as loud as it is. This effect may cause people to think the player isn't playing loud enough when in fact it is actually playing dangerously loud. I've been doing this headphone thing long enough that I know what "too loud" is when I hear it. And I know how to moderate the volume when listening with a good amp or a good sounding portable like the Pono. For people used to "iPhone loud" on headphones the "Pono loud" can be louder in dBA but not actually feel as loud. Be careful.

 

Been breaking in my Pono Player this week at work. I had enough mundane tasks where I've been lucky enough to use it 2-3 hours a day. I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD239 specifically for listening at the office as I'd feel kind of silly bringing in an HD800 or an HD650 to work. I wouldn't want anything to happen to those headphones either as they aren't exactly cheap. Anyway, I'm amazed at how well the modestly priced HD239 mates with the Pono. Plenty of volume for my ears in the office and even more surprising is that the sound quality is darn good. My Surf Cables are supposed to be in for my HD800 today so I'm hoping to be able to post some impressions on how a balanced cable works via the HD800 to the Pono at some point this weekend.

 

Apologies if this has been answered before or elsewhere, but does anyone know where you can buy a Pono player in the UK?
Has there been a UK launch? if not is one planned?

 

Re:Headphones w/Pono, I am currently using Sennheiser HD 598's in the house and Etymotic hf5's for travel and both of them get as loud as I need w/o distortion or clipping. I don't have any devices to measure it but I have no interest to see how loud it can get.

I must have misunderstood something when reading about the balanced cable because I thought the balanced mode took more juice and consequently produced a lower signal. It appears I have got things turned around. I've never owned a balanced interconnect of any kind but now I'm tempted to buy one.

 

Thanks for all the reviews guys - I've been on the fence for awhile now, but I'm ready to give it go!

 

I have to wonder if the PonoPlayer has been a boon for the sale of balance cables. Whaddaya think?

 

Could you please explain to me why do you use magnetic hedphones? I heard they have better bass, but there is something else? And what type of dynamic headphones do you use? Do you have any in-ear ones?