[castleofargh]

I'm not sure specs really tell you that much about the sound of gear-sure, an obvious horrible spec could mean trouble, but even manufacturers of cheap gear know how to put up good specs. And, in the tube vs solid state world, or the digital vs analog world, specs are on the side of solid state and digital, but many audiophiles would argue the sound is better from tubes/analog, specs be damned! just sayiin'

well most will cheat on the specs, so just like the loudness war, in the end they all use about the same tricks(distortion only at 1khz.  imd? ooops I forgot^_^.  frequency response with no load, and other such silly lowlife marketing tricks) so you end up with an OK way to compare 2 gears with 2 similarly pimped specs ^_^.
still thd+N and impedance tell me a great deal about what kind of IEM I can use(hiss or signature change), and max voltage into a load or power output give me a hint on what fullsize headphone it may or may not drive. so I do find specs interesting and important.
now about taste and favored sound, obviously measurements can't do much for a DAP as they all at least pretend to have dead flat signature and low crosstalk(forgetting to tell us that it may becomes a mess with a 16ohm IEM^_^).
 
ah well I certainly wouldn't cry if the audo world stopped lying about everything. I feel like a homeless guy begging for specs and knowledge: spare some change or an impedance value?

 

[drew911d]

My Noble K10's at about 35 ohms sound great with the Pono.  No noise I can detect at all.  Still waiting on my balanced cable to try that.
 
I also tried HD700 and while the sound was nice and crisp with great detail, the soundstage wasn't near what the K10 showed.  They just didn't have the bass and treble extension of the K10, but maybe they just need more power.  Again, that was only in single ended mode.
 
Does anybody know of any DAP for $400 that has balanced mode?

 

[summerteaser]

Hi to all Pono listerner, I'm planning to buy a Pono player and need some suggestions (sorry if it posted before, but 165 pages are too many to search into).
At this moment I usually listen through iPhone 6 with my AT-M50X at home, or HifiMan RE-400 for travel. The main reason I want to buy Pono is because the size of storage. Do you think it's going to improve the sound quality or should I stick with the iPhone?
Also, is it possible to play iTunes' AAC on Pono?

 

[Saraugie]

There is a search feature which will search this thread only. Good idea to get some baseline info before asking questions.

 

[doctorjazz]

Did anyone see the latest Stereophile magazine? Just came today (print version), John Atkinson, dean of Audiophiles and editor of the magazine, did a cover story on the Pono. Don't have time for too many details right now, but, long story short, he loves it. Says it sounds better than the A & K 1000, which was his previous reference portable player, not embarassed by slightly better equipment costing 10 times as much. Pretty much the way I hear it (haven't compared it to A & K gear, but think it sounds great). Has some measurements as well, some stuff people want. Going to a concert, getting picked up in a few minutes, post some more when I get a chance later, probably after the show.

 

[jlbrach]

He compares it to the very first Astell Kern model which has been improved upon night and day but on balance yes it was a positive review.I just finished reading the article myself.

 

[doctorjazz]

I realize it was the older model, which was still supposed to be great sounding...over all, it was a rave review IMO.

 

[Wyd4]

Still trying to get my hands on a pono. Rare as hens teeth in australia

 

[grrorr76]

Still trying to get my hands on a pono. Rare as hens teeth in australia

Hey fellow melbournite yes they are rare I may be one of only a few who do own one here in Melbourne.

 

[Wyd4]

Hey fellow melbournite yes they are rare I may be one of only a few who do own one here in Melbourne.

Haha. Pretty sure I have one if the only ref1 in Melbourne. We should catch up and form the rarest of combinations lol

 

[Koukol]

Can someone tell me all the formats the Pono can play now after the updates?

 

[olddude]

AFAIK it plays all the way down from DSD to MP3.
 
FLAC, ALAC, WAVE, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD + up to 192kHz/24bit lossless
 
FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD (requires firmware v1.0.5 or higher)
FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD (requires firmware v1.0.5 or higher)

 

[Koukol]

  AFAIK it plays all the way down from DSD to MP3.
 
FLAC, ALAC, WAVE, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD + up to 192kHz/24bit lossless
 
FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD (requires firmware v1.0.5 or higher)
FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC (unprotected), MP3, DSD (requires firmware v1.0.5 or higher)

Cheers, OldD!

 

[Headmusic]

I must say my Kickstater PON sounds great. Had it since mid-December the only complaint is it's battery life is crap, and it would be nice if it had remote smarts.
 
I have tried it against the AK100 and the AK sounded better, but the PONO is half the price. 
 
DSD and FLAC both sound wonderful, and after burn-in the device sounds utterly wonderful thru my PrimaLuna Valve amp - BETTER THAN VINYL!!

 

[Kerouac]

  I must say my Kickstater PON sounds great. Had it since mid-December the only complaint is it's battery life is crap, and it would be nice if it had remote smarts.
 
I have tried it against the AK100 and the AK sounded better, but the PONO is half the price. 
 
DSD and FLAC both sound wonderful, and after burn-in the device sounds utterly wonderful thru my PrimaLuna Valve amp - BETTER THAN VINYL!!

+1 on SQ

and +1 on batterylife

 
Like I mentioned before, I prefer the sound out of the Pono over that of the DX90 & X5
 
Concerning batterylife: what do you mean with crap? How many hours playtime do you get out of your full charged Pono?
One of these days I will check how much it is exactly for me, but I'm sure it comes nowhere close to the advertised 8 hours. I think for me it's around 3 or 4 hours.
Is this normal or do most of you Pono owners out there get more hours out of it?
 
When you have the chance you should try some 24bit VINYL rips on your Pono. Yesterday I listened to Led Zeppelin I & IV vinyl rip and oh man, does that sound good!