In a later post in the same thread, he says the A&K is going on ebay.
PONO - Neil Youngs portable hi-res music player
- Thread starter Currawong
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It depends. I'd say that the Pono using the onboard amp is not "flat"...but there is no onboard EQ...something I never used on my iPod Classic when I used that years ago. Personally I don't want a DAC to color sound.
I don't like the amp on the pono compared to the other options I've tried with it (Little Dot MK9 tube amp and a Ray Samuels Hornet Portable Amp). Both allow the Pono DAC to really shine...but you might not like the sound...it is airy and detailed. Really accurate drums/bass and sound staging with these other amps...which is important for me. The sound is much fuller, however, when you use the onboard pono amp. More dynamic (but in my opinion, less accurate) bass. I'm guessing this was a decision they made to try to lure over the iPod crowd...as opposed to people with higher end equipment like AK. Given most of the people I know with an AK240 are using an external amp with it. I'd say the pono DAC is incredible for the money. It really took down my $300 Meridian Explorer. I'm not sure whether it will equal the $2500 Lynx Hilo AD/DAC in my main system, however, I still need to do some rewiring and do a head to head comparison.
There are so many ways you can use a device like the pono that its hard to give a one size judgement. For $400 (I got the signature model) its a huge improvement for me as a mobile device...great using amp passthrough with my car stereo...great with my Ray Samuels amp at the coffee house...its even bumped my meridian to listen to music with Audeze LCD2's and my Little Dot MK9 tube at home. Using the pono onboard amp its better than listening to music through Shure ES535's connected directly to a Audioquest Dragonfly and my laptop...but in my opinion the sound dramatically improves by adding an external amp...but that might not be the case for you.
fleasbaby
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Thanks...that comment you made: "The sound is much fuller, however, when you use the onboard pono amp. More dynamic (but in my opinion, less accurate) bass." sounds promising to me actually.
Time to bump that classified I think...
$300 is 12 24/192 albums from HD tracks...to put it in perspective. If that dropped by $9 an album like I'm guessing from pono's current pricing structure. That would make the break even point about 33 24/192 albums. This is all conjecture at this point, however.
But I agree with several posters...truth in advertising from high res vendors and more accurate remastering is what I'm looking for from the high res market. With current pricing I almost always opt for vinyl instead and rip it myself to 24/96 with my Lynx Hilo AD/DA. If the 24/192 pricing came down to around $15/unit I'd be much more likely to go for that instead. I find myself buying a bunch of DSD files from people like Blue Coast Records when they run 50% off intro deals that bring the price down into the $15 range. That said Pono's lack of DSD support is a bit of a pain...have to rip the DSD files into PCM to use them. They should at least build that feature into the firmware...if not native DSD support...at least a decent DSD to PCM conversion feature. The Lynx Hilo AD/DA has native DSD support...and I've really fallen in love with the DSD sound.
Ableza
Headphoneus Supremus
I hope they do not waste time with DSD in the Pono.
If they want to play ball with the audiophile grade players they will have to...the best remastering (e.g., analogue productions) is targeting that format. if you want to listen to high resolution files from MOFI you will be ripping SACD isos into DSD files (unless you rip MOFI LPs to PCM files like I do). That said I doubt they can offer native support in their current player...I'm pretty sure that would require a different DAC and that's why it wasn't in the initial release. but offering a conversion feature like is available in programs like Audirvana (I believe also jriver) is just simple code and could easily be implemented in a firmware update. It would take a programmer an afternoon...the code is already out there.
If they just want to be an ipod replacement they can probably ignore DSD.
RRod
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Even most audiophiles don't bother buying an old PS3 so they can rip SACDs. Losing the $ from a niche-of-a-niche won't matter if they nab even 0.01% of the iPod audience.
Agreed...although I've done it with hundreds of SACDs...including many where the high resolution files are not available...and probably won't be available...some of the best remasters ever. Yes, after going to all that work, I could very easily make yet another 88.2 PCM version that I can use on my pono...but why not have a programmer take an afternoon to add a feature that they can market as an improvement for audiophiles? We'll see...they may not go that route because they don't intend to sell DSD downloads...and thus don't want to encourage anyone to buy from another high resolution file source.
PalJoey
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The mainstream audience don't know what FLAC is, let alone DSD. Got to introduce them to the soft drugs first... just ask your friendly neighbourhood pusher.
LOL
The "mainstream audience" streams tunes on their phones...or uses a nano to workout to. I seriously doubt any of these people will be buying a pono. If there is a target audience for pono aside from audiophiles on a budget its likely people who are still into owning music and would have bought an ipod touch...but want better flexibility in the types of files they can buy and play. Given the trust of the pono add campaign I'm guessing they are aware that they need something other than a compressed file. They probably have also heard of high resolution music...but probably don't understand it...they just want something better than the ipod touch.
Honestly I'm guessing even apple is planning to get out of this market given their acquisition of Beats Music...the future for the masses is a streaming service. Thus pono will almost certainly be a niche product...conveniently priced to compete with the ipod touch...but offering sound quality more like AK. There's a market...but it isn't huge. The bigger question is whether their music store can be competitive and change the pricing structure of high resolution music...but Apple may beat them to that game too.
In the meantime the new 24/96 remastered Maria Callas is sounding really nice on my pono...man could that lady sing!
PalJoey
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'Mainstream' should maybe be seen as a relative term in my previous post. Most people who still buy music (whether in disc or file form) don't know DSD from a hole in the ground.
Pono's problem is getting a foot in the door of that market. Not to become a majority product, but to get a foothold, just like the makers of decent headphones have managed to edge into the Beats scene.
Pono's problem is getting a foot in the door of that market. Not to become a majority product, but to get a foothold, just like the makers of decent headphones have managed to edge into the Beats scene.
batteraziiz
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I'm in BC, and I'm definitely looking at this page and there's a Buy Now option... Presumably for preorder.
There is a buy option for the player but it's only for U.S. customers. You can't put in a Canadian address unless something has changed over the last 2 or 3 days.
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