Have Any Pono Backers Received The Email Their Player Has Shipped?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by tomd, Nov 2, 2014.

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  1. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    Except the reason I didn't order one is because of the bad.
     
  2. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    Do you know if the Deja Vu you got with your PONO is a different master from your CD?
     
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  3. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    Kinda looks like a Zune player, don't ya think?
     
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  4. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    Toblerzune
     
    Galley, tmtomh, goodiesguy and 2 others like this.
  5. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    Exactly. A few hundred quid / dollars for a remastered album hardly seems value for money to me. One might argue the player is just a (weird looking) trojan horse for selling the content at a premium.
     
  6. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    I didn't want to get into that, but you're absolutely right. Given all the pomposity present in that video, the strategically placed Bose ear buds (or any ear buds for that matter) completely pull the rug out on an claims of audiophilia.

    again, agreed, but this is largely true of any overpriced "audiophile" experience you'll see discussed on this forum.
     
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  7. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    also, I hate the word and pretty much refuse to use it ever but is metadata now considered curation? the unboxing guy sure seemed to think so.
     
  8. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    I am going to defend the PONO model. Before I do, I think that they are making a mistake in leaning much to heavily on Hi Res as the difference maker in higher quality music.

    That being said, the only chance to get most consumers to appreciate and demand better mastered, non brick walled music is to deliver it to them in the preferred portable hardware and with quality head/ear phones. This allows them to still have portability, but get higher quality sound. I think PONO has to market great cans and earbuds as well to win over the consumer.

    In my experience, although I have a pretty good sound system in my home, I dont hear all the advantages and nuances of a great master at 96/24 (compared to a lesser or brickwalled master on CD) unless I listen through my headphones
     
    Mike Marshall likes this.
  9. Steve Martin

    Steve Martin Wild & Crazy Guy

    Location:
    Plano, TX
    That is why it is a shame that the Pono store seems to be selling the same worse mastered brick walled music that other online stores do. It looks like they are just going to be taking the latest that the labels give them, think HDTracks. There will be some good and some bad, but that is up to the labels and not Pono.
     
    Ephi82 likes this.
  10. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    Plus it's a rubbish name.
     
    morinix likes this.
  11. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    totally agree about the headphones btw. while I can certainly detect the differences through speakers, headphones really take full advantage of the higher resolution.

    but, serious question, are there any earbuds that actually deliver audiophile quality audio?
     
  12. tman53

    tman53 Vinyl is an Addiction

    Location:
    FLA
    :confused:Anybody trying to do anything different = fail:wtf:
     
  13. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    What are they doing different, other than making something worse than what's already available? Go check out Head-fi.org for a whole forum devoted to products like Pono.
     
    chaz likes this.
  14. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    I have heard that they sound better than you would think, but at this point, they dont compete with mid to higher end cans.

    IMO they are certainly good enough to demonstrate how a high quality based master at 96/24 (or even 44,1/16) can beat the crap out of a brick-walled master delivered at MP 320 (or redbook)
     
  15. Bennyboy

    Bennyboy Forum Resident

    Why mix the mastering quality with the resolution? Its not about hi-res vs redbook or even high-rate MP3 (codecs being so good now that nobody can tell them apart) - it's about the relative qualities of the different masters.

    Which explains why this forum is filled with threads discussing how remasters of albums sound better or worse than other versions, rather than how much difference there is in 24bit versus 16bit takes on the same.

    Hi-Res is a con trick designed to rob you.
     
    GetHappy!! likes this.
  16. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    Just a comment:

    As the people on this forum seem to seek the best audio quality in music, and you want more access and availability to it, its seems unbelievably shortminded not to support PONO!

    Its true that their marketing efforts may be lacking, tremendously.

    However, they are the only corporate entity that I know of, that is trying to say to the mass consumer that there is better sound quality available to you, and you just might get blown away.....

    By the way, a commercially available and reasonably priced headphone/earbud with "surround" type capability would change the business of music. It would drive adaption of a PONO like device to a tremendous degree

    It's just my opinion, but I think it's like going from B&W TV, to color. I lived through those times

    One week Batman in B&W, the next in color! Blew my little mind!

    I do think that better mastered and quality versions of vintage recordings, and new ones, in hi res formats are a big pleasure over whats available. But, I am a music freak!

    That said, I have found that great 5.1 remixes and new recordings in 5.1 are just so, so much better, like color TV over B&W!
     
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  17. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    I agree with you violently.

    Read my post carefully. You will see that I state that there may not be a difference between 44.1/16 and 96/24.

    However, for the most part, artists and record companies are starting to only release "quality" masters in hi res formats, and continue to release brickwalled masters on CD and MP3/streaming versions.

    They are trying to get premium price for a differentiated master, something that probably takes 15 minutes to do!
     
  18. After having almost 90,000 lossless songs on my HD I can't see rebuying a hand full of albums of slightly higher Rez.
     
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  19. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    I have no horse in this race, first of all. I have some older music players but wouldn't mind an upgrade - but I've been watching to see how this Pono device pans out versus something like the FiiO, or whatever else gets promoted soon as a next-gen "high-res" player. So I don't really want anything to fail. On the contrary, if it's a good device at a decent price I would would it to succeed.

    But confirmation bias goes both ways, and someone who dropped $300 or $400 on a device they've never even seen, let alone tested, is someone who is likely going to look for the good over the bad once the device shows up. Not that I blame them of course, but it's not something I would personally risk for that kind of money before I tested it or read reviews.

    Going on the unboxing, I don't see anything terrible outside of the shape of the device, imo - if it's going to be portable, I'd like to be able to fit it in my pocket comfortably and I don't see that happening with that shape. But FLAC support is great, the USB-based AC charger should be OK assuming you can charge and transfer files at the same time. The touch screen seems a bit choppy, but that could be the user or possibly something that can be fixed with a firmware update. Same for gapless, although they should have really pushed for gapless from the start, especially on an audiophile device. And they should really attempt even a baseline EQ of some kind, again pretty surprised that was missing but something a firmware update could add.

    But I think the biggest concern I would have is that there's simply no "must have" feature. Something that sets it apart from similar devices. Except maybe the shape. :)
     
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  20. That shape in your pockets will cause other issues as well :tiphat:
     
  21. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    "Is that a Pono in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?" :)
     
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  22. botley

    botley Forum Resident

    Wow, no EQ and no gapless? Even my three-year-old iPhone running a $3 app called CanOpener supports those (plays FLAC too).
     
  23. Mike Marshall

    Mike Marshall Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC
    Like everything else guys, wait for the next iteration before jumping in. Just relax and all will be well.

    BTW, Pono is a great name!
     
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  24. tcj

    tcj Senior Member

    Location:
    Phoenix
    The people have spoken. If it's not built into a quality smartphone, it's not going to sell. That's why the iPod is dying. Why have multiple devices when one can do it all (music, internet, calls, games, notes, etc.) very well? Very, very, very few people care enough about sound to buy a device devoted to only good-sounding music. Very, very few people care about sound quality, period. Pono is a niche device and it will never be more than that.
     
    Nostaljack likes this.
  25. Except maybe the price! As advertised, if the thing pulls 80% of the Ayre audio experienced, as promised, then it's probably a good product, and it makes the short list of DAPs to purchase. As is, however, there's no way to hear one, so that's a no-go. Moreover, everywhere I've looked for reviews - besides people who are paid to review it: I'm talking the guys who've got them in the mail - they give one or two little blurbs about it and then they're gone.

    What gives? Buyer's remorse?

    Hell, might as well spend the 2K on an AK240 and not worry about it.
     
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