Niel Young's Pono project is on its way. Here are some promo videos
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... vers-music
People describe the sound as varm and vinyl like ( see and listen to the first promo) which certainly make me interested. I really want a good sounding mobile device.
Pono is coming
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Yes, interesting.
Apologies for my scepticism, but: Will it sound musical or will it simply sound "nice and boring" like most products do that are labelled Audiophile? Neil Young has held strong opinions about digital for decades, but does he have any answers?
I notice the Ayre team behind the electronics claim that "all circuitry is zero-feedback". Although a popular cliché among audiophiles, it's often a recipy for disaster.
I hope my suspicions are proven wrong!
Apologies for my scepticism, but: Will it sound musical or will it simply sound "nice and boring" like most products do that are labelled Audiophile? Neil Young has held strong opinions about digital for decades, but does he have any answers?
I notice the Ayre team behind the electronics claim that "all circuitry is zero-feedback". Although a popular cliché among audiophiles, it's often a recipy for disaster.
I hope my suspicions are proven wrong!
I agree with your scepticism...of course we'll try it and see.
Just two things:
Make the test in a car is easy!(the sound pressure is simple to obtain, position of speaker etc)
All of them compare the pono experience with mp3, another easy way!
and the word "scene" was use too many time (it scary me!!!)
it will be a new "toy" like the Bose sistem...
let's see.
F.
Just two things:
Make the test in a car is easy!(the sound pressure is simple to obtain, position of speaker etc)
All of them compare the pono experience with mp3, another easy way!
and the word "scene" was use too many time (it scary me!!!)
it will be a new "toy" like the Bose sistem...
let's see.
F.
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macrotech2
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- Joined: 2012-04-27 07:58
Whether it meets our standard of quality or not, it will hopefully lead to hi-res music becoming more widely available and a greater awareness among the general public. For that alone, Neil Young is to be commended for doing a fantastic job.
Linn, Naim and others selling high quality streaming players could also benefit from this greater awareness.
Linn, Naim and others selling high quality streaming players could also benefit from this greater awareness.
This is my feeling about it as well. I was worried as it sounded like Pono was initially going to use some proprietary format, likely with some type of DRM. However, the format used is FLAC so for many of us Pono just becomes another source for high-quality downloads. Since they are claiming that all the major labels are on board it could become an excellent source for high-res music. It might also push Apple to get off their butts and make 24 bit available through the iTunes store. Regardless, it will certainly help the awareness of the importance of quality reproduction of music to the enjoyment of music's full benefits. I did, however, have to laugh at all the musicians "discovering" that high resolution sources are crucial to musical enjoyment - what a concept! (Don't you think you guys are a little late to the table?)lejonklou wrote:Good point!macrotech2 wrote:Whether it meets our standard of quality or not, it will hopefully lead to hi-res music becoming more widely available and a greater awareness among the general public.
Of course, if the player is also really musical, so much the better.
I just noticed that Gilad made a blog post on this a little less than a week ago. His sentiment seems similar to mine.
http://blogs.linn.co.uk/giladt/2014/03/ ... dustry.php
I remember he had a meeting with Neil Young a while ago and came back feeling that the idea was wrongheaded. I believe at the time Neil was talking about developing a proprietary format for the Pono. My guess is that he was going to do a special format with some type of DRM so as to get the industry to go with him on it. However, since that time it must have become obvious to the big 5 that they could either go with the growing interest in 24 bit audio or they could stick their heads in the sand and risk becoming obsolete. (I know, they are already obsolete but who knows if they will ever realize that!) Since Sony just embraced high-res audio big time (although trying to tell people they need DSD so they can get more license fees from it) and Warner and Universal have already made some of their content available it was really most of the way there. So there was no need for a special format and Pono music will be distributed as FLAC. This makes it a whole different proposition and one that appears to be grabbing the mass consciousness. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it will save the music industry as Gilad stated. But it will likely be a good thing for anyone who wants high-res downloads. It looks like they are trying to set a more sane pricing level than some we have seen as well.
Makes me wonder if I should get an old Buick, put an LP12 in it and start playing vinyl for musicians around the country? ;-)
http://blogs.linn.co.uk/giladt/2014/03/ ... dustry.php
I remember he had a meeting with Neil Young a while ago and came back feeling that the idea was wrongheaded. I believe at the time Neil was talking about developing a proprietary format for the Pono. My guess is that he was going to do a special format with some type of DRM so as to get the industry to go with him on it. However, since that time it must have become obvious to the big 5 that they could either go with the growing interest in 24 bit audio or they could stick their heads in the sand and risk becoming obsolete. (I know, they are already obsolete but who knows if they will ever realize that!) Since Sony just embraced high-res audio big time (although trying to tell people they need DSD so they can get more license fees from it) and Warner and Universal have already made some of their content available it was really most of the way there. So there was no need for a special format and Pono music will be distributed as FLAC. This makes it a whole different proposition and one that appears to be grabbing the mass consciousness. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it will save the music industry as Gilad stated. But it will likely be a good thing for anyone who wants high-res downloads. It looks like they are trying to set a more sane pricing level than some we have seen as well.
Makes me wonder if I should get an old Buick, put an LP12 in it and start playing vinyl for musicians around the country? ;-)