[Saraguie]

There goal was $800,000 and in they just this minute went past the 2 $mill mark.  Going to be huge! And good news for bringing the spotlight to making music a better listing experience!

 

[Mimouille]

Only one answer to my post...what does it bring to the game besides being unwieldy. I do not mean for the lambda consumer but for us fools who have several DAPs and iems / cans already. Nothing in the specs says it absolutely will compete with the big boys. The main thing keeping me from pressing the button is this end of year delivery. By that time iBasso, Fiio and AK will have gone through 3 models. And as we all know they could be delayed.

 

[Saraguie]

Mim, for relatively cheap $$ you can be part of a new project. The limited edition players will be worth what we paid for them. The project/player cannot be a total bust, there are too many big players and artists involved.

 

[miceblue]

Only one answer to my post...what does it bring to the game besides being unwieldy. I do not mean for the lambda consumer but for us fools who have several DAPs and iems / cans already. Nothing in the specs says it absolutely will compete with the big boys. The main thing keeping me from pressing the button is this end of year delivery. By that time iBasso, Fiio and AK will have gone through 3 models. And as we all know they could be delayed.

...it plays high resolution audio.
...and it's shaped like a Toblerone.

 

[suicidal_orange]

   
 
I really think the PONO ecosystem can only be good for us, the pre-PONO audiophiles, if you will. Sure, they may not have anything actually original in terms of format or hardware, but they do have 1) an integrated ecosystem and 2) a good start on the marketing. If PONO is successful by any measure, its widespread adoption signals a huge change in consumer perceptions about audio and audio quality, which in turn will lead to more competition in the hi-res market, in music offerings and hardware both.
 
Maybe this will help bring down the prices of the gear we love to acquire––I know I'd love that. And perhaps, if we're lucky, the price of the actual music.
 
Maybe it will help bring "x" artist you always wish released his stuff on HDTracks to release on PONO (and likely HDTracks as well).
 
I think their marketing, however pretentious, will be a boon to us all once this market disruption has time to spread across the entire industry.
 
 
 
On another note, though, I was certain back when I first heard of PONO that it'd be a little more revolutionary, perhaps actually reMIXing the music (remastering alone won't cause the ears of the artists in that video to perk up like they did) or something along that line. I'm a little disappointed to see that it wasn't, but it makes sense. What label is going to pay to have their music mastered twice, or even thrice, depending on the mode of distribution?

One that actually cares, or thinks the artist's fans are dedicated enough to buy the album twice?  They could just do it right the first and only time from now on though - we can dream!

 

[Mython]

DELETE

 

[Mirininc]

I want Mr. Young to sit down and do a double blind test to see if he can actually hear the difference between "high res", whatever he means by that, and "low quality." I know there are people out there that can but as old as he is and as many concerts he has put on? I would bet my entire life savings that he couldn't tell anything with the best audio equipment.
 
Something that is good about the pono, they sure do have a great PR team. Even though their PR team lies about how much the device can store and that they say it is 64 gigs but the actual is contained in two devices. Also the specs of the device are pretty much non existent. I guess if I had more money then sense I would support "high res" music in this regard.
 
On another note, this PONO player has been in production now before 2012. Why now are they doing a kickstarter? I hope they are getting all they money they can on this to break even.

 

[Currawong]

Threads merged.

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

Only one answer to my post...what does it bring to the game besides being unwieldy. I do not mean for the lambda consumer but for us fools who have several DAPs and iems / cans already. Nothing in the specs says it absolutely will compete with the big boys. The main thing keeping me from pressing the button is this end of year delivery. By that time iBasso, Fiio and AK will have gone through 3 models. And as we all know they could be delayed.

 
I think part of the excitement is that it is being developed by Ayre Acoustics and the player may incorporate some of their technology that is used in their high-end offerings...  I am guessing only

 

[miceblue]

Yessss....this is what I've been saying.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/hope-pono

Here's the core problem: Pono wants music for the masses, and they're telling folks that hi-rez is better, and not talking about mastering quality. In my view, this amounts to a deception and a big chink in their armor. If Pono really wants better quality music for the masses, then a dialog about mastering quality in general and how it's an order of magnitude more important than bit rates is in order, as is their specific practices in acquiring the best hi-rez files with reasonable dynamic range compression from labels. The appearance of Pono will (crosses fingers) stimulate more conversation about the evils of dynamic range compression in the mainstream press. The question is: Will Pono be a leader in this area of desperate need, or will they become just another marketing organization using "hi-rez files" as a buzzword for "a better quality listening experience?" I think if they stick with the latter without addressing the former they're just opening themselves up to rantings on the web, which would hurt, or reverse, a grass roots, viral campaign on the web.
...
but what I want to know is if the masters of the music I'll be listening to are similarly superior

 

[GarySaville]

  There goal was $800,000 and in they just this minute went past the 2 $mill mark.  Going to be huge! And good news for bringing the spotlight to making music a better listing experience!

Huge is relative... Although they are now over $2million, there are only 6 or 7 thousand backers, and some of those could very well be duplicates, people who wanted two devices, and several hundred people who donated $5 for a sticker or t-shirt.
Another interesting aspect of the Kickstarter is the demographic it is indicating. The Neil Young, Crosby Stills Nash & Young etc are selling while newer bands are not. It seems to be the baby-boomers who are jumping on this. I would think most Perl Jam fans are well into their forties as well. The special editions of newer bands are not moving anywhere near as fast. Will younger people want another device other than their phone for music? I doubt it. If it is just the boomers, this will be a small niche indeed. 
These are not huge numbers by any standards. But, I personally hope it continues its momentum. Maybe they could move into hi-res capable android phones in the future... or some sort of convergent device.

 

[Saraguie]

  Huge is relative... Although they are now over $2million, there are only 6 or 7 thousand backers, and some of those could very well be duplicates, people who wanted two devices, and several hundred people who donated $5 for a sticker or t-shirt.
Another interesting aspect of the Kickstarter is the demographic it is indicating. The Neil Young, Crosby Stills Nash & Young etc are selling while newer bands are not. It seems to be the baby-boomers who are jumping on this. I would think most Perl Jam fans are well into their forties as well. The special editions of newer bands are not moving anywhere near as fast. Will younger people want another device other than their phone for music? I doubt it. If it is just the boomers, this will be a small niche indeed. 
These are not huge numbers by any standards. But, I personally hope it continues its momentum. Maybe they could move into hi-res capable android phones in the future... or some sort of convergent device.

Good points. There are a lot a boomers out there.  Look at the people buying the A&K's. Some boomers like me but also people in the 20s- 40s. Time will tell.  The push to better sounding music seems to be gaining a lot of momentum.  Like other folks here have said, if the source material becomes better as a result then that's a really good thing.

 

[goodsongs]

On the article sombody wrote

 OK, so it will play FLAC. For $400. For that I already have my Sansa Clip, for under $60 (audiophile's best kept secret). The key for me I guess is to get access to those ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files...

Is there really 192 FLAC files? How do you get such things?
 
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/12/the-mp3-player-is-still-rockin-in-the-free-world/

 

[thegrobe]

Either way, if Pono is a success, or a failure.....It has the potential to bring the conversation about better source material and the evils of dynamic compression to a larger audience that is interested in what it takes to produce better quality audio. This on it's own would be a success.

I don't see how Neil and the others behind Pono could be turning a blind eye to bad mastering practices. Perhaps, as the initial PR rollout, the pitch is a bit, uh... "dumbed down"? To get the masses (not just audiophiles) excited. (Hi-res! Just like HDTV right! It sounds like it must be better!). They could easily alienate non-audiophile folks who are otherwise interested by discussing mastering, brick walling, and loudness. Right?

The whole spirit behind this thing is getting the artists, labels, digital distribution, and playback device all on the same track. That goal is to provide the best possible digital music available. I have a hard time believing how that system would choose to squash dynamics and brickwall it's releases. It shouldn't happen. It would make absolutely no sense.

Maybe older releases, etc the damage is done and there's a limited amount of remastering that can be done. By Pono or anyone else. But any new output from this Pono "ecosystem" should be quality stuff. Then maybe once solid mastering practices are in place, others will follow. And then users can decide if 16/44.1 or hi-res is what you want. A personal choice.

Seems like a noble cause .... and hopefully will expand the dialogue of quality mastering past audiophile forums.

So I plunked down my $400 for the cause. If nothing else, I'll have a cool Neil Young signature paperweight.

 

[hearo]

yeah- i'm super curious to find out more about the evaluation method they used for all those artists. we all know how huge of a factor bias is- even for audiophiles. it wouldn't have been a valid test if it wasn't blind. and naturally, if Neil Young is asking them to make a comment about his product, they will say really good things. reminded me of the star-studded mega upload video that i'm pretty sure none of those celebs ever used mega upload but definitely knew how to do a promo, especially for swiss beatz. i trust neil young to be authentic though.