[thatBeatsguy]

  They have to offer what the majority are searching for. A site offering mainly exquisitely-recorded acoustic jazz, ultra-conservative classical selections and a smattering of audiophile favourites will be forever niche. The catalogue's got to be big and populist as soon as it is launched. 

If Pono will try to appeal to consumers, they better properly master Top 40s or a lot of people won't be impressed. Then again, I'm betting a lot of people won't even notice the "dynamic range" masterphiles love to talk about, since Top 40 songs already have none of that.

 

[fiascogarcia]

  You make many good points in your post so but I disagree with this part because I think it will stand or fall based on having a better than average product + good marketing. It doesn't have to be the best but it has to be better than what most people have heard. Then marketing + hype should drive it and they can adapt their product. Look at beats, look at many aspects of apple products. Not everyone has time to research and find the best and if something is convenient, available easily, and hyped (along with some aspect of truth to its quality) then people will get it because they do want a good experience even if they can't research it themselves. 

So true!!  The vast majority of the music listeners just don't focus as much on their music as most Head-Fier's do.

 

[Mython]

  They have to offer what the majority are searching for. A site offering mainly exquisitely-recorded acoustic jazz, ultra-conservative classical selections and a smattering of audiophile favourites will be forever niche. The catalogue's got to be big and populist as soon as it is launched. 

 
 
True, but none of us are referring to such an exclusively niche approach.
 
 
As has been demonstrated by the likes of Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions (and others), even popular music from the 1950s can be mastered to sound incredible:
 

 
This is just a centre-channel (and therefore mono) rip of one of the Analogue Productions Nat King Cole SACDs, and even in mono, and even with Youtube  .aac compression, it sounds superb:
 

 
(by way of contrast, a full stereo sample of this mastering can be heard here)
 
 
 
 
So, the point is that, done right, even back-catalogue popular music can be mastered to a stunning standard. It's just that almost no one in the music industry is willing to put in the time and investment to bring it to market.
 
Even if he needs to enter the market with a PONO catalogue which is little more than re-badged existing masters, Neil could still show some real class by gradually building pressure (publicly or behind closed doors) on record labels to go back and properly remaster their back-catalogues to audiophile standards.  Now that would really be something good for him to include in his epitaph.
 
If, on the other hand, Neil sits back and just re-badges the same 'buyer-beware' hotchpotch of current 'so-called-HD' material, with Russian-roulette variability in mastering quality, then all he will have achieved is to take a sales commission for popularising high bitrate offerings of existing junk. Great for his retirement fund, but does nothing for the music-buying public - not even the non-audiophiles.
 
.

 

[Skylab]

So true!!  The vast majority of the music listeners just don't focus as much on their music as most Head-Fier's do.

And yet, what I see in this thread is mostly a bunch of head-fiers crapping all over an attempt to bring improved sound quality to more listeners. Hard for me to figure,

 

[Mython]

... crapping all over an attempt to bring improved sound quality to more listeners.

 
 
Mmmm... it remains to be seen whether it truly is an attempt to bring improved sound quality, or if it's just a re-hash of the same pseudo-HD junk already available.
 
Lossless compression and high sampling rate do not, in themselves, necessarily improve sound quality, do they?
 
I can't speak for anyone else here, but, speaking only for myself, I can assure you I will be supportive of Neil's venture if the masterings he's selling are up-to-scratch. I'll happily give him some of my hard-earned cash if his material is worthy of purchase, and I'll happily recommend friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances do the same.
 
But, until that point, I shall remain somewhat on the skeptical side.
 
There are a lot of people who will not be fooled by glitzy publicity drives, and who won't hesitate to call Neil out if he doesn't back up his talk with the real stuff, so the ball is very much in Neil's court

 
 
 
.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

Mmmm... it remains to be seen whether it truly is an attempt to bring improved sound quality, or if it's just a re-hash of the same pseudo-HD junk already available.

I can't speak for anyone else here, but, speaking only for myself, I can assure you I will be supportive of Neil's venture if the masterings he's selling are up-to-scratch. I'll happily give him some of my hard-earned cash if his material is worthy of purchase.

But, until that point, I shall remain somewhat on the skeptical side.

There are a lot of people who will not be fooled by glitzy publicity drives, and who won't hesitate to call Neil out if he doesn't back up his talk with the real stuff, so the ball is very much in Neil's court

what I want to know... Why he isn't hyping it here, on the (exactly) 3,000th most popular website in the United States, and 8,373rd most popular worldwide... Would this not be the place to market and hype a site with thousands upon thousands of lossless songs? http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/head-fi.org

 

[Skylab]

But the overall tenor of this thread isn't even neutral. It's negative. It's highly biased toward "it's a joke", "it's BS"... When NO ONE here has any idea at this point. And for a site that is about audio, I find that disheartening. I'm all for a wait and see stance, but wait and see isn't "it's crap until proved otherwise". Wait and see is "I will render a judgement one way or another once that's possible to do".

 

[smial1966]

I doubt whether Ayre would be associated with anything crappy sounding and so am very optimistic about the sonic capability of the Pono.

But the overall tenor of this thread isn't even neutral. It's negative. It's highly biased toward "it's a joke", "it's BS"... When NO ONE here has any idea at this point. And for a site that is about audio, I find that disheartening. I'm all for a wait and see stance, but wait and see isn't "it's crap until proved otherwise". Wait and see is "I will render a judgement one way or another once that's possible to do".

 

[Mython]

 I'm all for a wait and see stance, but wait and see isn't "it's crap until proved otherwise". Wait and see is "I will render a judgement one way or another once that's possible to do".

 
 
Neil / PONO have themselves to blame for the frosty reception - certain aspects of the PONO marketing have been downright misleading.
 
 
As far as content goes, the HD music content industry has demonstrated many times that they have no qualms whatsoever about polishing turds and selling them as diamonds, so actually, given that PONO are openly buying into existing music catalogues (Omnifone being one such example), yeah - I personally think it is crap until proven otherwise. NY has done a lot of talking, and I had hoped he would be cherry-picking decent masters and, in circumstances where no cherries currently exist, commissioning fresh masters, but my heart sank when I read the news that he was buying, en-masse, into existing meta-catalogues.

 

[Ableza]

The percentage of haters on this forum is much too high.

 

[fiascogarcia]

And yet, what I see in this thread is mostly a bunch of head-fiers crapping all over an attempt to bring improved sound quality to more listeners. Hard for me to figure,

Not commenting at all on the Pono or their technology, but it's probably just Head-Fier's that are circling the wagons around equipment they've already spent money on.  New products invariably draw some negative response as a result of this.

 

[bruce1967]

I'd be happy to buy my music from the Pono store if it is even only as good as CD quality. I'm quite happy ripping my CDs to flac but if the Pono store can offer good 24 bit downloads then I'd be happy to buy my music there and say goodbye to CDs. As far as the Pono player goes I'd love to have one but $400 is a bit too much for me. I find the FiiO X3 to be more than adequate. one thing will be for sure is that Neil young's music will be top quality so I'll buy his catalog yet again whenever it's available in Canada.

 

[PalJoey]

But the overall tenor of this thread isn't even neutral. It's negative. It's highly biased toward "it's a joke", "it's BS"... When NO ONE here has any idea at this point. And for a site that is about audio, I find that disheartening. I'm all for a wait and see stance, but wait and see isn't "it's crap until proved otherwise". Wait and see is "I will render a judgement one way or another once that's possible to do".

It has been the response from a wider group than just Head-Fi. So many online articles have just taken the decision (without any apparent attempt to find out about the concept) of just dismissing it. Many appear to have been written for the sole reason that the author can get his kicks from sneering at Neil Young or insulting the 'snobs' who care about their music. You know, us.
 
It could be great or it could be a dud - we won't know either way 'til the players are shipped and the website goes properly active.

 

[Ableza]

The anti-Pono attitude here reminds me of the reactionary anti-Apple or anti-Android crowds.  Only in the case of Pono, they spew their distrust and negativity without even having the opportunity to see or use the product.  The distrust is not only ignorant it's dogmatic.  I have no time for that and neither should anyone else who loves music and wants a chance at finding the best listening experience they can get. 

 

[Saraguie]

But the overall tenor of this thread isn't even neutral. It's negative. It's highly biased toward "it's a joke", "it's BS"... When NO ONE here has any idea at this point. And for a site that is about audio, I find that disheartening. I'm all for a wait and see stance, but wait and see isn't "it's crap until proved otherwise". Wait and see is "I will render a judgement one way or another once that's possible to do".

 
 

  The anti-Pono attitude here reminds me of the reactionary anti-Apple or anti-Android crowds.  Only in the case of Pono, they spew their distrust and negativity without even having the opportunity to see or use the product.  The distrust is not only ignorant it's dogmatic.  I have no time for that and neither should anyone else who loves music and wants a chance at finding the best listening experience they can get. 

Amen