RIP Pono and Pono Music Store

Are the most recent remasters of his solo albums any good or are they limited/compressed/poorly EQd like most modern remasters are?

 

They are outstanding. In fact, many, if not most, are better than the original releases.

 

Anyone know a good alternative for this?

PonoMusic | Store

I tried downloading it, but get this message instead.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ponomusicvault/PonoMusicVault_v1_1.exe

 

The difference between 16 v 24 bit is very minimal in my opinion.Recording and mastering techniques are far more important to overall sound quality.A superbly recorded album will sound superb on 16/44.1 .
What gets me is that people are paying top dollar for hi-rez downloads that are invariably flawed in some way,badly EQ-ed or even compressed.And thinking they are getting an audiophile recording just because its 24 bit.

 

For my ears, 16/44.1 is perfectly fine. I will look for those "CD Quality" downloads before going hi-rez - and enjoy the (usual) savings.

 

has it ever been made public how much money was lost in the PONO venture?

 

Our host has often suggested one way to hear the difference higher resolution makes over redbook digital using one of his mastering jobs. Whether or not this is a massive difference is inevitably a matter of opinion.

 

Maybe his remaster were just a bit better better than the redbook mastering,rather than the bit rate being a factor in any difference in sound quality.

 

I got mine a couple of weeks ago for Mac, but I can't remember where. In any case, is there a reason you want it? The Music Vault is really only good for interacting with the Pono site, which is essentially dead. If you want to add or remove music from your Pono, just "side load" it. Much easier and a whole lot faster.

John K.

 

I may be misunderstanding your point, but there are many discs where Mr. Hoffman did both the Redbook and DSD masterings. Why would he master one at a different quality compared to the other?

John K.

 

Are we saying that Steve found a significant difference between two identical masters that he did,where the only difference is the bit rate?

 

That was the point he was trying to make, I believe.

 

I’m looking for JRiver alternatives.

 

Would like to hear two files and see if anyone can tell the difference in a blind listening test?

I presume Steve did the 24 bit masters after the 16bit..Maybe his second master was better because of the experience and mistakes made doing the first one?? Maybe he took more time doing the 24 bit masters??

 

You can always do the test yourself. Here's one option:

Loggins & Messina <> Full Sail

John K.

 

My slightly different take on the comparison suggested above. Good luck... & post your ABX results.

 

I think you're mixing up two terms. Again, according to our host, the 16 bit and DSD were simply two digital transfers of the same analog master. It sounds as if both digital transfers could have been done simultaneously but the assertion seemed plain enough to me: the DSD transfer retained more musical information than the Redbook transfer of the same master all other things being equal.

 

IF being the optimum word..Science would have a hard time believing the claim that 16 bit does have a dynamic / frequency range capable of retaining every possible piece of musical information transferred.
But this is not the first time i have disagreed with our esteemed host.(such as Vinyl sounding closest to a master)..I do feel preconceived favouritism to certain formats does mean that any claims via listening tests must be taken cautiously..I know i would not be able to be totally unbiased when comparing a format i favoured against one i perceived as inferior before the test started.

 

For Pono or just music management in general. For the latter have you looked into Roon?

 

Music management. I can’t afford Roon at the moment, but have looked at it.

 

What about Audirvana?

 

Spectrum graphs from the test I put together (with Fortunate Son Hi-Res track excerpt taken from a DSD rip of AP SACD & its 16/44 home-made downconversion):

- Spectrum graphs + delta:


- Spectrum delta (close-up):



Now to spectrum of a null-test result of 2 track excerpts above (waveform delta):

- Waveform delta spectrum:



It was impossible for me to reliably tell the difference between the two in an honest blind test. Successful ABX test report anyone?..

 

I still use my Pono player, and I think the work Charles Hansen did on the unit was amazing, there is some sort of Mojo the Pono has that most other DAPs don't have in pureley electronics terms

My only bone to pick with the unit was copying files to the internal memory, they really stuffed up on that, it just doesn't work, dunno how they failed in that area so badly, the firmware is just rubbish or they built it with trashy onboard FRAM

 

Hm. I have a different recollection where he thought you couldn't tell the difference between is redbook and hi-rez. I thought that, anyway.

 

$150 new on ebay. I wonder if they'll drop more or go up as a rarity. Time will tell. I can pick up a Zune for $20!


Pono Music player 64gb | eBay