PONO portable music player for FLAC

[musicmafia]

someone just sent me a link to this FLAC music player, apparently being developed by Neil Young and some other industry heavies...looks pretty cool at first glance... 64G internal and 64G micro SD card...does anyone here know more about it?

[drjenkins]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

I think the triangular shape will limit it's appeal as a portable player. Not to mention the $400 price tag. I'm more interested in Pono's FLAC oriented online music service.

http://gigaom.com/2014/03/10/neil-young-wants-to-take-high-resolution-flac-audio-recordings-mainstream-with-pono/

[Thg6276]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

Please go to Slim Devices forum, there is thread on this

"Will Neil Young's PONO be the next SBT"

[garym]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

Please go to Slim Devices forum, there is thread on this

"Will Neil Young's PONO be the next SBT"

Or read here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=104960

or here:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/neil-young-readies-pono-music-service-for-expansion-part-2.346192/page-41*post-10227406

Early on Neil discussed this as if there would be a new codec (pono) that would be better than hirez. Now Pono has officially released all their info, and it tuns out that they will just be using standard FLAC formats (16/44.1, 24/44.1, 24/96, 24/192). And the Ponoplayer will also play other formats. And the "mastering" will be whatever the record companies provide to the Pono store. (which, like HDTracks, means it could be good, terrible, upconverted from 16/44.1, or almost anything). So bottom line: ponoplayer *may* be a nicely put together, quasi portable "ipod" which plays all sorts of digital files, including hi-res FLAC files. The player has no digital out. Only analog line out or headphone out. My prediction: *Fail.

(and I'm a huge Neil Young fan. But I shake my head when I read interviews he's done on Pono recently. He doesn't seem to have a good handle on digital music after all.).

[Spoon]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

I think the kickstarter will end up doing $8M to $12M, so by no means a failure.

There could well be a market for a small high quality player (which has broad marketing reach). There is certainly a growing market for FLAC downloads.

[garym]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

Also see pono's site which is now live.
ponomusic.com

[garym]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

I think the kickstarter will end up doing $8M to $12M, so by no means a failure.

There could well be a market for a small high quality player (which has broad marketing reach). There is certainly a growing market for FLAC downloads.

My only hope is that this brings FLAC, lossless files to the "mainstream" and creates more competition/choice to the lossless download market (of well mastered rather than brickwalled files). HDTracks is kind of a mess (hit and miss on what you get there, with almost zero transparency with regard to the source of their files).

[jfkaess]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

The appeal of the Pono Player to me is that it will be a portable player with support for my relevant file types (mp3, aac, alac, and flac) has a decent DAC and most importantly, has a good built in headphone amp and has a large capacity for files. This seems unique to me (as far as I know) and would meet a need for me. It doesn't break any new ground, but seems like it will provide all the important attributes in one device. The unknown at this point for me is the software on a PC or Mac. The entire ecosystem needs to work in order for me to jump from my Apple ecosystem, but I'm interested. My iPod classic is showing it's age, and its headphone amp is not exactly breath taking.

[pierrepfeffer]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

My only hope is that this brings FLAC, lossless files to the "mainstream" and creates more competition/choice to the lossless download market (of well mastered rather than brickwalled files). HDTracks is kind of a mess (hit and miss on what you get there, with almost zero transparency with regard to the source of their files).

Couldn't agree more, particularly with regards your comment on provenance of the hires files currently being sold. Hopefully it will force transparency on those sites that seem deliberately opaque. I'm comfortable with Linn. I'm comfortable with Blue Coast. I'm comfortable with B&W SOS. Getting more comfortable with Acoustic Sounds. But with HDTracks, not so much.

I did kick in for a Pono player. Not at all sure what I'm going to do with it - replace my ipod classic in my car maybe? I guess I got carried away with the testimonials at the kick-starter site. :blush:

BTW - what the hell are they hearing in that car? :smile2:

[thexfile]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

I received a FiiO X3 a week ago and it totally rocks. HD music is the way to go. :smile2:

[mville]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

In my opinion, useful hi-res players rely on large storage capacities or permanent internet connections for streaming (which in practice is difficult to achieve).

When 1TB and greater 1.8inch SSDs become dirt cheap, these players will be the way to go. Until then, I'll have to wait.

[Spoon]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

I think the average collection size is somewhere around 3K tracks, and in lossless that is about 70GB (CD quality not HD)

128GB and 256GB will become more common place, after all it is mainly Apple who are stingy on space (still plugging 8GB on base models).

[Spoon]

Re: PONO portable music player for FLAC

There is another interesting 24 bit music player on Kickstarter also: http://kck.st/1j4wQHQ

That ones a wireless speaker system.