PONO

[Jondog]

I'm pretty excited about this, I hate MP3s. It launched on Kickstarter today where you can pledge money to help get it going. Looks like you can get artist signature models if you pledge enough. If i had a spare $400 I'd definitely be pledging for the Pearl Jam one.
scroll down and watch the video about 12 mins. All the legends speak seem to speak highly of it.
http://www.ponomusic.com/#top
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... vers-music

[OrangePaul]

Awesome

What people forget who argue that most can't hear much above 15k is that the frequencies you can hear are affected by the ones you can't. Or at least that's the theory...

[Jondog]

Just to be able to hear it the way it sounds through the mixing console monitors is amazing. Cd quality is great, but not the best. If you burn a CD to mp3 you really notice the degradation in quality. I've pretty much re-bought certain albums on on iTunes that I already have on CD and was amazed at how much was missing when putting the CD back on after listening to the mp3 for awhile. Even recording something on ProTools and than mastering it to mp3 sucks alot of life out.

[Invin]

That name being one "R" away from something else is somewhat distracting. "You spent how much on a porno?"

[myboss57]

Oh this is an excellent idea! I find it so funny to see some kid with Beats headphones on listening to what is undoubtedly a very compressed music file on a portable device. I really don't understand the idea of buying super high quality headphones to listen to compressed lifeless tunes.

For me, most of my listening is in my car with factory speakers. Between that and road noise mp3s or whatever else work fine - but man do I love the difference of playing some vinyl out of the home stereo! So much more dimension!

[myboss57]

That name being one "R" away from something else is somewhat distracting. "You spent how much on a porno?"

Dammit, I can never unread it that way now....

I do agree that the name is a little silly though. I get the idea behind it, but they should have thought that out a little more, imo.

[jesperbc]

I find it so funny to see some kid with Beats headphones on listening to what is undoubtedly a very compressed music file on a portable device. I really don't understand the idea of buying super high quality headphones to listen to compressed lifeless tunes.

On a somewhat subjective note I don't think that Beats are that "high quality". They basically just enhance certain frequencies, to make them sound "better", in the sense that most young kids want to their facial features shaken off through excess amounts of bass. Beats, Skullcandy, SMS Audio, it's all the same. I'd rather go for a pair of high quality Sennheisers and listen to my CD's and LP's through them.

Besides that, I can't hear any difference when driving in my car... Pono or Pono-no, erh, no Pono.

[Les Paul Lover]

I like that concept a lot.

How much is the pledge or the player?
At the end of the day, it's only a matter of time until a better format overtakes mp3s.

[Jondog]

You can pledge a $1 and up. If you pledge 200 you get the player. Its going to retail at 399. A $400 pledge will get you an artist signature model which are limited. They only need $800000 to get it off the ground, I guess to make sure theres interested. Last I looked a couple hours agothey were at $150000 and going up by the second. Kind of neat I think as its got the music listening involved in its creation. The player will play mp3 and wav files too so you'll still have all your previous formats. Neil Young is doing this for the music, not to make millions. If it were an apple product you could bet it'd cost double that. Possibilities for the technology go beyond that too I think. Imagine being able to download product demos in that quality. Hear what the amps really sound like!

[myboss57]

On a somewhat subjective note I don't think that Beats are that "high quality". They basically just enhance certain frequencies, to make them sound "better", in the sense that most young kids want to their facial features shaken off through excess amounts of bass. Beats, Skullcandy, SMS Audio, it's all the same. I'd rather go for a pair of high quality Sennheisers and listen to my CD's and LP's through them.

Besides that, I can't hear any difference when driving in my car... Pono or Pono-no, erh, no Pono.

Well, that was just making my point - Beats were just what came to mind.

[Jondog]

They're at $520,000 on the first day and have 34 days to reach $800,000. I think it's a go.

[Randy Bass]

There is a FLAC player app for iPhone/iPod that costs $9.99. I don't know how many people are going to spend the extra $390 for a dedicated FLAC player. It looks neat though.

[nlimbaugh]

16 bit is what we got... MP3's, yeah I can hear the difference. Even listening to 20 bit through the nice monitors on the recording machine is great... but the direct in's are actually 16 bit... hmm whatever... it still rocks hard. MP3's are a convenience format. I've hear audiophiles can't tell the difference between 12 bit and 16 bit and 20 bit... BS.... yes cassettes rule too... we've been tricked big time with the digital age.... can't even buy film for cameras anymore... we all got screwed in all reality. The gold standards got trashed....

[yossarian83]

There is a FLAC player app for iPhone/iPod that costs $9.99. I don't know how many people are going to spend the extra $390 for a dedicated FLAC player. It looks neat though.

Supposedly everything about the interface and DAC are far superior in the PONO. I'd love to try one out and see what kind of difference I can detect. I find it hard to imagine so much difference from a car stereo, though.

[bclaire]

Listened to the difference between vinyl acetate master and CD on a $400K system last weekend. You could really hear how much superior the vinyl was...