PONO Hands-on Review

That site is blocked from the US.

So let me ask it again - are the 1.7M and counting tracks in Pono at the moment the largest lossless redbook or better library available for legal download in the U.S.? Just curious.

 

You worry too much, man. I did the same with my AKGs and there is NO DISTORTION PRESENT. NONE. Just music. It sounds dynamic and delicious.

You are one of those "glass is half empty" guys, aren't you?

 

I can't answer that. The high res files for "Damn the Torpedoes" and "Hypnotic Eye" sounded the same as the ones I already have. "Wildflowers" has never been released in 24 bit so this is a new version. It will vary with every title. The nice thing though about being a kickstarter contributor, is that if you buy a lower resolution title now and a higher resolution version of the album becomes available you get a free upgrade to the 24 bit version. Membership does have it's privileges.

 

I got in with Tor Browser. Once in, I selected UK as my country to view it in English.

 

PonoMusic has mentioned that they're willing to work with independents to get their music in the store. We'll have to wait till the store officially opens, and wait for the independents to learn how to submit their music to the store. And wait to find out how many independents actually want to. Then we'll find out how much independent music is in the PonoMusic store.

Qobuz does have some indie titles in high res that aren't available elsewhere.

 

I've used a VPN that relocated me to France to buy this: http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/innocents-moby/5060281616517
The high res version is better than the CD. Noticeably so.
That Moby album isn't on HDtracks or any other high res download service, other than Qobuz. I'll be very happy if that album in high res shows up in PonoMusic.

 

Yes.

 

Is this upgrading of files technically only for original backers? I'm not banking on this, but if they actually implement this, it will simply be a bonus. I do imagine they would have to limit this to a finite group.

 

Sadly yes - this is the deal for original backers.

 

Anyone done a comparison with the Fiio X3 or X5 to the Pono yet?

 

They will be accesible in US in 2015. But I read somewhere else that some of the Canadian customers 'were' unblocked after a mail to the customer support. But not everyone ... Maybe it's just a tryout. The Qobuz CEO told recently, that licensing for music was fixed worldwide already. The reason why they aren't available worldwide, was just because of technical reasons... They also make webvideos, podcasts, newsletters, promo-actions, hifi-reviews,.... Everything needs to be translated etc.

They have a huge amount of high-res music already. Not only classic rock, but als house, electro, latin music, chanson, country, indie,...

They also work with a "digital locker" that saves your purchases. You can re-download them at any time in 24bit, CD-Quality and Lossy formats (flac, alac, wav, wma, aac,...)

 

Great info, thanks!

 

The more HiRes download stores the better as far as I'm concerned. When the Pono store launches in the UK I will be using it definitely. At the moment I'm split between Qobuz and HighResAudio

 

The lack of EQ is a bit surprising, I was expecting at least some basic bass/treble controls. I use my Sennheiser PX 100's for portable and 'on the go' listening on my iphone (usually with the 'rock' or 'pop' EQ settings). Anyone think the PX 100's will be good enough on Pono without any EQ settings or would I need to wear my more cumbersome cans?

 

I have not missed having EQ settings one bit, and it makes sense to me why they were left off. If the recording is good and the phones are good, it shouldn't be an issue. I'm sure your phones would sound fine.

 

One possible reason that the player may not have an EQ is that good digital EQ that supports high-res requires a lot of CPU processing. EQing high-res requires more CPU processing than EQing 44.1. The CPU in the player may not be able to do it even if they wanted add an EQ. As an example, the Fiio X5 has an EQ but only for 44.1 material. No EQ for high res material.

 

I wish someone would. I would love to know how they sound in comparison with one another, as the X series seems to be the closest competitor price wise

 

I would think the Fiios would sound better as the Wolfson WM8740 in the X3 and the Burr-Brown PCM1792A in the X5 are both high quality DAC's. Don't high end receivers have Burr-Brown DAC chips in them?

From what I find Googling, the Pono has an ESS ES9018M.

 

That is what I understand too - the same one in the Oppo 105...which everyone here raves about. I don't know enough about the Wolfson or the Burr Brown.

 

Very nice. I am sure with the Ayre electronics and analogue stage it will sound great. I'd like to hear one.

 

This is really what has me most excited about the Pono. Ayre engineering for $400? Can't beat that!

The Internets have already started complaining about how $400 is incredibly expensive, though. It confirms my long-held belief that the price for a "budget" device tops out at around $299. Anything above that is "moderately expensive."

 

And yet people seem to buy $800 phones with unbridled enthusiasm.

 

Thanks all for replying. This is all good info. Sounds like there will be two new sources for large Hires libraries in US in 2015 - Pono and Qobuz. I guess we'll have to wait a few months to see the full catalog of each and the overlaps and differences. I'm very curious. I think it's a major step forward.

 

Does anybody on this board have an estimate of how many GFLOPS would be needed for "quality" 5 band graphic EQ at 192/24? Just curious. Sorry, my tech side is coming out.

 

I like how people mad for others being skeptical of PONO pseudo-science justify it with "don't be such a party pooper" or "a positive opinion is worth more than the haters", as if those aren't incredibly convenient logical fallacies when dealing with the audio equivalent of ritual shamanism and homeopathy