Pono Player

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MadManCK
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The Pono player is a revolution in going back to basics, as it gives back the full spectrum of the original recordings.
A lot of details and warmth are digitized away with digital compressed formats, especially MP3 and Ipods. But even CD is limited.

With the new Pono Player that lets you experience sound quality, like from the master recordings in the Studios, a new era of enjoying pure music like the Artists have created it becomes available to your ears.
It sets the music free, like no other device does.

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http://www.ponomusic.com/#home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm really looking forward to this one. It will become available later this year with an own store with high quality music.
More about the used technology will become clear soon®, but it uses 192 khz samples, instead of the 44.1 used for CD quality to begin with, all taken directly from the masters. Maybe a bit similar to the DVD Audio quality (24 bit, 192khz) that are rarely available at certain audio specialist shops now.

:violin:

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[BBvideo 640,360]http://vimeo.com/91084885[/BBvideo]

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Some more info from the Q&A 8-)

Is PonoMusic a new audio format? What about PonoMusic quality?

No. We want to be very clear that PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. It is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music in the highest resolution possible for that song or album. The music in the PonoMusic.com store is sold and downloaded in industry standard audio file formats.
The PonoMusic Store uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio format as its standard, for compatibility, although the PonoPlayer can play most popular high-resolution music formats from other sources. PonoMusic has a quality spectrum, ranging from really good to really great, depending on the quality of the available master recordings:

• CD lossless quality recordings: 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) FLAC files
• High-resolution recordings: 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Higher-resolution recordings: 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files

How much will PonoMusic cost?

The record companies set their own digital music prices, label by label. High-resolution digital albums at Ponomusic.com are expected to cost between $14.99 -$24.99, and there may be exceptions. For this price you get the best quality digital music available anywhere, you own these albums forever - they don’t live only in the cloud, but also on your computer and backup disc, and you can play them anytime you wish on your PonoPlayer or other compatible devices.

We will also be offering many of your favorite individual songs. We'll let you know the pricing soon.

What are the specifications of the PonoPlayer?

The PonoPlayer was designed to meet or exceed the audio quality of portable devices and many home audio components:

• It is available in yellow or black with a soft touch finish. It weighs 4.5 ounces (128 grams) and comes in a box with:

• A 120/240VAC adapter/charger
• A micro USB cable for charging and syncing files from a Mac or PC
• 64GB of internal memory and a removable 64GB microSD card included (128GB total)
• Free downloadable desktop software (for Mac and PC) with a built-in music store to browse, purchase, manage and sync Pono certified tracks as well as others
• A user guide

• The dimensions of the PonoPlayer are 5” (H) x 2” (W) x 1” (D)
• It is powered by a built-in Li-Ion rechargeable battery for all-day listening (about 8 hours).

• It has very easy-to-use controls:

• The O button turns the player on and off.
• The + and - buttons adjust the volume.
• The illuminated color touch display lets you scroll through your music by album, song, artist, ..., and play, stop, fast forward, ...

It has a 1-year warranty and will retail for $399 at http://www.PonoMusic.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How much storage does the PonoPlayer have? Is it expandable? How many songs can it hold?

The PonoPlayer ships with a total of 128GB. 64GB of memory is built into the player and another 64GB of memory on a removable microSD card. The expansion slot can accept microSD cards of up to 64GB or SDXC microSD cards of 128GB or higher. Unlike many other portable music players, the microSD cards are designed to be easily swappable. For example, you can build a library of various playlists or genres on different cards and simply swap them in and out, much like you'd swap game cards on a portable gaming console. So in reality you have infinite capacity on the PonoPlayer.

How many songs can it hold? That depends on the quality of your music files:

• CD lossless quality recordings (44.1 kHz/16 bit): About 5000 tracks.
• High-resolution recordings (48 kHz/24 bit): About 3200 tracks.
• Higher-resolution recordings (96 kHz/24 bit): About 1600 tracks.
• Ultra-high resolution recordings (192 kHz/24 bit): About 800 tracks.

This is a LOT of high-resolution music, and we say, “the more the better”. You’ll get hooked on how good this music sounds.

Can I play digital music files I already own on my PonoPlayer?

Yes, you can and it will probably sound better on the PonoPlayer than you've ever heard it.

The PonoPlayer is designed to play PonoMusic with stunning clarity. However, the player can play almost any kind of music track including FLAC, ALAC, mp3, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected).

What this really means is the PonoPlayer can play all your digital music, and all of it will sound great.

I'm an audiophile. Explain what is so special about the PonoPlayer technology

The PonoPlayer was designed with a “no compromises” approach to sound quality. We partnered with the engineering team at Ayre (http://www.ayre.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) to include some of their world-class audio technology in our PonoPlayer. The Ayre team describes their contribution to the PonoPlayer design as follows:

• The digital filter used in the PonoPlayer has minimal phase, and no unnatural (digital sounding) pre-ringing. All sounds made (including music) always have reflections and/or echoes after the initial sound. There is no sound in nature that has any echo or reflection before the sound, which is what conventional linear-phase digital filters do. This is one reason that digital sound has a reputation for sounding "unnatural" and harsh.

• All circuitry is zero-feedback. Feedback can only correct an error after it has occurred, which means that it can never correct for all errors. By using proprietary ultra-linear circuitry with wide bandwidth and low output impedance, there is no need for unnatural sounding feedback.

• The DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) chip being used is widely recognized in the audio and engineering community as one of the best sounding DAC chips available today.

• The output buffer used to drive the headphones is fully discrete so that all individual parameters and circuit values and parts quality can be fully optimized for the absolute finest sound quality. The output impedance is very low so that the PonoPlayer delivers perfectly flat frequency response and wide volume range using virtually any set of headphones

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It looks interesting but what would I do with the thousands of songs I have on my IPod, also doesn't look as portable.
It's a nice idea for the music connoisseur but for the average music lover Apple has the market covered.
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MP3 or AAC really compress a lot of detail and expression from music.

And now bigger storage becomes available, the need for small formats is becoming obsolete.

While Apple is about quantity, this Pono is about quality all the way. Even ITunes songs will sound better on a Pono, due to the DAC and other high end components used.

I'll grab one for sure. :2thumbsup:
I have my whole music collection in FLAC already (from CDs) but being able to listen to 192khz, 24 bit FLAC versions of my favorite music will be something special. I already have some super audio CDs and music DVDs and the difference is clearly audible.

This will be the next level of portable music entertainment.

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Neil Young's current project eh, been hearing about it for a while. I'm thinking of one eventually, though the long term costs of buying albums will be high. Have to be selective on which albums to buy, only the ones that I have listened to for years, and still like.
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grimx133 wrote:Have to be selective on which albums to buy, only the ones that I have listened to for years, and still like.
Indeed. I will only pick a few that i think will be worth to listen to in full quality. Although 15 to 25 dollars for a full album is not unreasonable. Also it is good to know the short ties to the music industry will guarantee the Artists will get their fair share.
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I've got hundreds of cd's that I have personally ripped, all at 320kbps, so the quality is good compared to most. I could see buying 50 or a hundred albums at 25 bucks a pop, but over a few years. Young is a northern Ontario lad, same as I am, he grew up in Kirkland Lake, where my oldest granddaughter lives, though that's a long way from here. He did spend a lot of time in this town (Thunder Bay) back when he was starting out. Too bad he doesn't go back to his roots. I'd sure like to see him live.
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MadManCK
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MP3 at 320kbps does sound ok, but you still compress the music and take out some of the definition of it.

FLAC is already a lot better as it is lossless encoded, meaning you won't lose quality of the source, something that does happen with MP3.

But this player goes even further. It can play at a very high bit rate, revealing sound details you normally only hear in studio recordings and on very high end stereo sets.

There are a lot of skeptical reviews of it. Stating you cant hear those frequencies so why spend the money etc. But it is not just those frequencies but the digital compression that takes out a lot of the detail of music. And i think the Pono Player will deliver.
The argument that you buy music you already have bought over and over again, does not really interest me.
I will only pick those music Albums that really benefits from a higher quality, like classical music or vocal and subtle instrumental works.

For modern digital music it probably does not make too much of a difference.

Some of the more skeptical reviews:

http://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/blog/what- ... ry-nothing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... khz-review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://thequietus.com/articles/14724-ne ... yer-review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a video interview with John Hamm CEO of Pono

http://techcrunch.com/video/ponos-new-h ... 518204309/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Some background info about audio sampling

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=2381" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems to me that the quality of the playback hardware is more important than the insane sampling rates that are offered. According to these experts it is all marketing.
Both Pono and FiiO players offer excellent DAC and surrounding hardware. Turning the iPods in a cheap piece of junk, lol. :lol:

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