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The Pono Player Impressions Thread
Jan 24, 2017 at 8:40 AM Post #1,546 of 1,969
ffbookman said:
 
I think the clear one allows more electrolytes through the case, enhancing the sound. 
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I was thinking that the clear case actually created clearer sound. Pardon my misunderstanding!
 
Is there an electrolyte mod for the opaque cases? Perhaps using a laser to drill billions of nanometer diameter holes?
 
Jan 24, 2017 at 6:28 PM Post #1,550 of 1,969
Jan 27, 2017 at 10:00 AM Post #1,552 of 1,969
If anyone needs another Pono, Fry's Electrionics has them for $210 today. You must sign up for their email promo code. If their webstorsays they are out, switch to another Fry's.

A great Valentine's Day gift. Or backup.
http://images.frys.com/art/email/012717_fri231fhs/fri_web.html?promocode=8801138#set3
 
Jan 28, 2017 at 4:31 PM Post #1,553 of 1,969
This thing really pushes my buttons. I get why it's not super popular on here (No eq, no volume control with screen off, no mechanical sound signature, shape) but to me it sounds awesome! I have tried a bunch of fiio products that have great build quality and software to match but in the end it just does not sound like music to me.
 
Jan 28, 2017 at 5:34 PM Post #1,554 of 1,969
@Rdwng1975 agree with you. Believe many head-fiers aren't really into it for sound quality. They are into convenience, ways to play with the sound, and gimmicks. Look at the earphone threads. New model comes out, and people buy, judge, review and churn in a month or two. They have a fit if there isn't something new every few months.
 
Pono still sounds as good as anything out there. The one competitor might be A&K 380. Have a few friends with Pono and Fiio. Fiio gets used when they are mowing the yard or something. Never for serious listening. 
 
Jan 28, 2017 at 6:05 PM Post #1,555 of 1,969
barondla said:
  @Rdwng1975 agree with you. Believe many head-fiers aren't really into it for sound quality. They are into convenience, ways to play with the sound, and gimmicks. Look at the earphone threads. New model comes out, and people buy, judge, review and churn in a month or two. They have a fit if there isn't something new every few months.
 
Pono still sounds as good as anything out there. The one competitor might be A&K 380. Have a few friends with Pono and Fiio. Fiio gets used when they are mowing the yard or something. Never for serious listening. 
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Yeah, the Pono is the best kept secret in Head-Fi. And, I completely agree the only DAP that touches it is an AK380.
 
Here's a real "wow" experience I had. A friend, a guy I really respect and who has Golden Ears, read me the riot act when I told him I was going to use a Pono with his Golden Ears headphones. I said, let me send you mine with a balanced cable and then A/B it with your Yiggy/Rag stack, which he swears is endgame. So, a few days later he gives me a call. I can hear his head shaking over the phone. He says the Pono is 98% as good as his rig. And then he bought two :)
 
Jan 28, 2017 at 6:56 PM Post #1,556 of 1,969
Using it balanced with W40, lovely. I just got a back up from Fry's because the internal drove on mine has sine error, can't add or remove music from it (sd card still works fine).
 
Jan 28, 2017 at 11:19 PM Post #1,558 of 1,969
I have a Pono that I have been using with my Shure SE846. Is there a big improvement by upgrading my cables so I can use it in balanced mode? I have heard that some hear it as louder but is it better? By the way love the sound single ended and agree that it is a mystery to me that these are not more popular with the sound they produce, and when you include cost it is a no brainer.
 
Jan 29, 2017 at 12:02 AM Post #1,559 of 1,969
My experience is, even if it can drive the headphones adequately single ended (using it with a Elear, sounds fine single ended), going balanced (as with my W40) gets you a lower noise floor, better soundstage and imaging, just brings (a fine sound) up a notch. I used it just single ended for a long time, was surprised how much I felt it improved balanced.
 
Jan 29, 2017 at 2:46 AM Post #1,560 of 1,969
Cycle53x12, running the Pono in balanced mode reduces power supply noise. You can see this in the Stereophile review. This can be very noticeable with high efficiency IEMs. Lower noise floor, better soundstaging, etc.

Balanced almost always sounds better. Almost. Charles Hansen/Ayre despises negative feedback. Apparently, negative feedback is the only way to get ultra low output impedance. So the Pono has ~3 Ohms in single ended mode, and about 6 Ohms when bridged. Experts like earphone impedance to be more than 8X a component's output impedance. This can cause trouble with low impedance, multi driver IEMs.

When a source component has higher output impedance it has less control over the earphone's dips and peaks in frequency response. Your phones may not sound as neutral as normal. If I remember correctly, the shure are very low impedance. You need to try Pono in balanced mode to hear if it is an improvement. I would try inexpensive cables first, since the departure from neutrality could be much greater than cable differences.

I agree with Ayre's dislike of negative feedback.
 
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