Hi guys, first time on this forum.
Since I'm a pretty big novice when it comes to audiophile equipment and listening, you might be interested in my thoughts on the Pono. Got mine 2 days ago. I have a few high res files, and vinyl rips. But mainly listen to 320kbps mp3's, or 256 AAC. I am in a band who's recorded for years in super nice studios and have the pleasure of listening to our stuff through Oceanwaves several times a month. Not to mention the frustrations we've had with mixing, I might as well be a professional "mix" critiquer at this point. Other than that I am no real audiophile, but I trust my ears at this point.
I also have a few questions if y'all can help...
I usually listen to music either from my Mac desktop, straight into my KRK Rokit 5 monitors, or from my Mac through to a Headroom Airhead portable amp, and my Sennheiser HD 600's. I've thought about picking up a Valhalla, but haven't gotten that crazy yet. And this is my first time ever using a DAC. So I have no other experience with DAC's to compare it to. And unfortunately no experience with vinyls through a good soundsystem either, not yet...
My questions...
My first question is, can the Pono power the Sennheiser HD 600's no problem? or does it still need the amp? I couldn't notice much of a difference. And while we're at it, can the Iphone 6 power those cans or does it for sure need the amp?
Secondly, when I plug in my monitors straight to the Pono, using the line out, all volume options on the player freeze up, it doesn't let you control the volume through the player. Is that just a bug for me? Or does it go "max volume" so on high end systems you just use the systems volume? Well since, I can't control the volume through the monitors, I've been forced to use the headphone jack for the monitors. Which brings up my next question...How bad is that in coloring the sound? Using the monitors through the headphone jack instead of the line out? Does it matter? How would I get around this problem, unless they update the software to not freeze the volume up when you insert into the line out jack?
Thirdly, I can't seem to push my volume enough with my Pono and HD 600's. Even if I put the amp in between, it's still "3 mac volume notches" down from what my cans+airhead+mac are capable of. I wonder why that is?
Now for my thoughts on the player:
Through my KRK Rokit 5's (which I've heard can be a bit darker and boxy and "glue-y" and less airy compared to say, Adams, and this is through the headphone jack:
- I definitely hear what I perceive to be an "analogue" sound. It seems like there's more "glue" to the sound.
- Elements come off more realistic, sometimes even creepily in that it just doesn't sound as much of a digital representation. Snare sounds and vocals come off warmer, smoother and natural, overall more pleasing to the ears. Guitars have a nice grounded tangibility to them.
- There seems to be a slight touch of clarity loss, compared to listening straight through my Mac. A little bit darker of a sound, which reminds me of vinyl rips. But this also seems to bring out other elements, that aren't as easily perceived by the ears. Such as reverb on cymbals and stuff like that, which makes those elements almost even sound more clear, or at least more natural and realistic is my only way to describe it, like it's actually there, compared to just hearing a recording of the sound. I specifically hear this in the difference when listening to my hi-res 192/24bit Beach Boys Pet Sounds files. Specifically the intro the Caroline No, is astoundingly realistic sounding, compared to through just my mac. Which may be the case with all DAC's I'm not sure...But it's quite a nice special thing to hear you've been missing when listening to music.
- A slightly more 3-D type sound, once again, reminds me of vinyl rips.
- Overall despite what appears to be a very slight drop in clarity/high end, I appreciate the warmth, realism, and tangibility, even intimacy, compared to listening just straight through the Mac into the monitors.
Through my Sennheiser HD 600's, this all kind of falls by the wayside (though I did a 5 hour listen through first on these yesterday, then moved to my speakers later yesterday and now today, haven't given the cans a review today, but from yesterday:
- I hear a definite clarity or textural loss. Such as little sounds, that will be really articulated and vibrant through the cans+airhead+mac, here will be much more subtle and pushed back (though the "pushed back, could be due to not quite getting the volume at the same volume level as my cans+airhead_mac, though warmer.
- Vocals, as through monitors, have a more natural warmer tone to them.
- Kick drums seem to sometimes be more clear and warmer, or at times slightly held back, depending on the song.
- The sound as a whole comes off a bit more tinny and almost compressed. Where as cans with mac, it sounds bigger, wider and more "open".
- I hear a bit of that "glue" analogue sound for sure still, it's just not quite as appealing as when listening through my monitors, as sounds sound a bit more squished. Which really sucks. Maybe It's just a bit of a break in thing?
- There is a strange analogue "ear tickle" thing that goes on with certain sounds, that have some textures to them, and I mean this in a good way, it's a very pleasing, like tangible feeling. Like when sounds "whir" or "flutter". Yet I hear the loss of clarity at the same time. Seems to be a trade off.
- So far with cans, I definitely prefer my cans+airhead+mac listening. Hopefully this changes due to some change whatever it may be...
Other thoughts:
- Battery life seems to be incredible
- The player is a bit a oldschool, but it's also kind of nice/fun to use. Despite not quite being as precise and intuitive as it could be, such as when scrolling and it accidentally picking where you put your finger to scroll. Maybe an update will fix that.
- Doesn't say what quality file you're playing, it just gives you the khz, but not the bits.
- PonoMusic World is absolutely terrible, and horribly buggy. Though when i saw you can just search things, then drop and drag it got quite a bit easier to use, but any fast scrolling especially if it's in the left side panel will crash the app.
- While the idea of the hi-res track shop is great. I don't like being strong-armed into having to buy full albums, separate tracks say "coming soon", and who knows when they'll actually make separate tracks available. It seems other hi-res sites are like this, which is kind of BS, imo.
- I don't see that there's anyway to search for hi-res tracks, which funnily enough would lead to more purchases from me just to hear some more hi-res music through the Pono.
- There doesn't seem to be almost any "high-res" versions of albums I want. Only 44.1khz, CD quality files. Which while nice, is not really what we were promised which is super high-res files of all major label albums. Now of course, they're working on it and it will come in time (hopefully), but it's pretty lame to market this thing and then not have the high-res files to back it up. Instead forcing most people to listen to their 320kbps files.
As for me, Pono into my monitors (using the headphone jack?) has been really wonderful, to the point of giving me the chills on a fairly consistent basis, or maybe it's just cold in here. Where as I was pretty unhappy when first listening through my HD 600's...Well those are my initial thoughts, from a relatively nubile audiophile enthusiast. Cheers!