[Koukol]

Thanks. Just to try something, I copied a track to my PC where I had issues with playback, deleted it from the card and copied there again and afterwards the playback seems to be fixed...

This should be the first thing anyone does if the problem is with only certain tracks.
And there would have been a online crap storm if Pono could only handle certain compression settings...so don't worry about that.
Haters looked for any excuse to bash Pono.

I'm glad you got the bottom of the problem.

 

[DizRotus]

New to this forum, but a very pleased Kickstarter Pono owner. I now have three Pono players, two black and a yellow. Despite their many real faults, Pono players, with their excellect ESS Sabre DACs and the ability to play in balanced mode, are the perfect pre-amps/DAPs to drive my DIY class-D chip amps. The portability aspect is almost never utilized, although one saved my sanity on a flight from Detroit to Hong Kong. The Pono players are primarily used to control two DIY chip amps. I'm not aware of anything that could do more for less than $500, or more. I'll probably buy one of the NIB players now on eBay as a backup. My yellow player seems to have died.

I modified a pair of Sennheiser cans to accept a balanced (B) signal from a Pono player. I also made an adaptor to quickly convert the Sennheisers back to single endeed (SE) mode. Literally everyone who has listened to both B and SE through the Sennheisers prefers B. The choice is made blind. The test subjects cannot see, and do not know, whether connected in SE or B. They start each test and control the volume from zero to whatever. When I say "literally," I'm not exagerating, I mean everyone. The typical comments are the sound has more depth, is more "3-D."

While not as dramatically noticeable as with headphones, the difference between SE and B from speakers is genuine; B is Better. In my small listening space the nearfield situation is almost like a giant pair of headphones. For background music SE is fine. For critical listening I strongly prefer B. I would not want to be forced to return to SE.

 

[doctorjazz]

I mostly listen balanced as well...the downside (since I do use it portable, not plugged in), is that the battery sends to go much more quickly. (I Have 2 black ones, one from the original crowdfunding campaign)

 

[barondla]

Have the KS yellow and 3 black players. Doubt we will see another player so focused on sound quality, for many years. Discrete components! Who else does that in a portable? No WiFi, Bluetooth, Android, EQ, or other junk to get in the way of the signal. Thanks to Neil Young, Ayre, and Charley Hansen.

I have started leaving the Pono Player internal memory empty. Seen too many players taken down by a defective file. Memory cards have so much storage now 64gb isn't worth the risk. Pono sounds amazing into the Koss Massdrop ESP/95X electrostatic headphones.

 

[DizRotus]

I too now leave the internal memory of my newer black player empty. My yellow player is now acting wonky after an ill-advised attempt to add files to the internal memory. My original black Kickstarter player still has a lot of music on the hard drive loaded before a software “update” made loading that drive excruciatingly slow.

I will buy one more player when the right deal comes along. The lack of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., is not a problem for me. IMO, the “focus” noted above contributes to the exquisite synergy when driving my TPA3255EVM class-D chip amp in balanced mode. If I want to emphasize convenience at the expense of SQ, a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver for less than $30 from Amazon enables that.

 

[Koukol]

Thanks for the heads up, guys.
Should I delete the files already on my internal memory or could this trigger a problem?

 

[BobStone]

Thanks for the heads up, guys.
Should I delete the files already on my internal memory or could this trigger a problem?

I’ve got the same question. My collection was slightly larger than my card capacity, so I ended up placing a few hundred songs on the internal memory. After a few years of trouble free use I’ve recently starting to have some occasional random events where the song will stop playing for a few seconds before starting again.

Would it be wise to delete the internal memory and buy a larger capacity card? Hopefully someone can chime in with some valued advice!

 

[barondla]

Thanks for the heads up, guys.
Should I delete the files already on my internal memory or could this trigger a problem?

Great question. We know the Samsung internal memory has failed on many players already. I lean towards taking all the music off the internal memory. With a properly working Pono Player, taking music off shouldn't cause a problem. If it does, it most likely means the Pono is already degrading. I've already heard of players that get stuck in boot up because of a corrupted music file. Sometimes there's no way to rescue an inflicted Pono. If the file is on a mSD card it is an easy matter to pull it out, basically "resetting" the player.

 

[maira]

I have no problems with the internal menory but had problems with the sd card that came with the pono after a few years (endless scanning). Havent tried another sd card yet... .

 

[Koukol]

Great question. We know the Samsung internal memory has failed on many players already. I lean towards taking all the music off the internal memory. With a properly working Pono Player, taking music off shouldn't cause a problem. If it does, it most likely means the Pono is already degrading. I've already heard of players that get stuck in boot up because of a corrupted music file. Sometimes there's no way to rescue an inflicted Pono. If the file is on a mSD card it is an easy matter to pull it out, basically "resetting" the player.

Cheers, Barondla

Since I might sell the player in the future I better take the files off now and see what happens.

 

[DizRotus]

I have deleted files from the hard-drive of one of my three black Ponos without a problem using just Micro SD cards. My original Kickstarter had many files installed early on before the excruciatingly slow file transfer issue surfaced. It still plays those files without issues. It also tolerates large capacity mSD cards with no issues. I will not try to delete files from, or add files to, its hard-drive. I’ll leave well enough alone.

A yellow player “died” when I foolishly attempted to force feed files to its hard-drive. Now it jumps in and out of “Scanning Music Library” but will not boot up to play files. Perhaps someday I’ll see a post on the Internet that allows me to resurrect it. Until then, it’s a parts car.

I just got a NIB black player from eBay for under $200.00. It arrived yesterday in its wooden box inside sealed original packaging. While I intend to set it aside as a spare, I did charge it up to confirm operation. It came with Neil Young’s There’s A World loaded on the hard-drive. Who ever decided that was a good demo song? Anyway, it played. It’s my recollection that my original player came with a 64g removable mSD card, this unit did not. The player quickly scanned the music library of a 128 card and played that as well. I plan to leave the newest player’s hard-drive alone. I also do not plan to update the firmware. I need this thing to work in the future to be able to continue to feed balanced outputs to my balanced class-D chip amps (main and subs) if my other two players fail. Pono acts as my pre-amp, as well as DAC and DAP.

At 71, I’m done chasing unicorns, now I just want to listen to and enjoy the music, not the hardware. Balanced Pono players and Class-D chip amps into horn loaded speakers and four tapped horn subs are the end of my audio journey.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Thanks to a previous post here, which praised the Sennheiser HD 660 with the Pono (balanced, I have been delighting in using my Sennheiser HD 598 headphones (single ended) with my Pono. Fabulous! My 598's never sounded better!

 

[barondla]

I have deleted files from the hard-drive of one of my three black Ponos without a problem using just Micro SD cards. My original Kickstarter had many files installed early on before the excruciatingly slow file transfer issue surfaced. It still plays those files without issues. It also tolerates large capacity mSD cards with no issues. I will not try to delete files from, or add files to, its hard-drive. I’ll leave well enough alone.

A yellow player “died” when I foolishly attempted to force feed files to its hard-drive. Now it jumps in and out of “Scanning Music Library” but will not boot up to play files. Perhaps someday I’ll see a post on the Internet that allows me to resurrect it. Until then, it’s a parts car.

I just got a NIB black player from eBay for under $200.00. It arrived yesterday in its wooden box inside sealed original packaging. While I intend to set it aside as a spare, I did charge it up to confirm operation. It came with Neil Young’s There’s A World loaded on the hard-drive. Who ever decided that was a good demo song? Anyway, it played. It’s my recollection that my original player came with a 64g removable mSD card, this unit did not. The player quickly scanned the music library of a 128 card and played that as well. I plan to leave the newest player’s hard-drive alone. I also do not plan to update the firmware. I need this thing to work in the future to be able to continue to feed balanced outputs to my balanced class-D chip amps (main and subs) if my other two players fail. Pono acts as my pre-amp, as well as DAC and DAP.

At 71, I’m done chasing unicorns, now I just want to listen to and enjoy the music, not the hardware. Balanced Pono players and Class-D chip amps into horn loaded speakers and four tapped horn subs are the end of my audio journey.

Glad you've found your endgame system. The only thing I'd rethink is the decision to not update the firmware. Why wouldn't you want the PonoPlayer performing at its top
level?

 

[DizRotus]

Updating the firmware was the beginning of problems in the past. It’s my understanding the firmware updates related more to the interface with now defunct Pono Music World (a JRiver derivative) than to the actual performance of the player. Since I don’t rely on PMW or JRiver to load music onto mSD cards, I see no reason to do to my “in case of emergency beak glass” backup player what I did to my yellow player.

Regarding the firmware in the newly acquired player, I’ll stick with the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it philosophy.

 

[barondla]

Updating the firmware was the beginning of problems in the past. It’s my understanding the firmware updates related more to the interface with now defunct Pono Music World (a JRiver derivative) than to the actual performance of the player. Since I don’t rely on PMW or JRiver to load music onto mSD cards, I see no reason to do to my “in case of emergency beak glass” backup player what I did to my yellow player.

Regarding the firmware in the newly acquired player, I’ll stick with the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it philosophy.

Depends on what one listens to. Firmware .05 added the ability to play DSD files. .06 fixed the glitch where DSD files only played about 4 minutes.