PonoMusic - My Morning Jacket Artist Edition

Started by wonderfulman, Mar 12, 2014, 02:19 PM

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wonderfulman

For you Audiophiles out there, Neil Young and Pono are putting out a High Resolution Digital Audio Player. They are releasing special edition players for certain bands. You will get a chrome player with each band members signature laser-etched on the back. It also comes pre-loaded with the bands 2 favorite albums.

If you go to kick-starter, you can purchase the MMJ edition of the Pono player. It is a limited edition so only 500 MMJ players will be manufactured. Link below.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

Mr. White

I just became one of the proud 500 My Morning Jacket Limited Edition Pono Player owners! I am number 16! This is something I can really get excited about!
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011

Murph

Quote from: Mr. White on Mar 12, 2014, 07:51 PM
I just became one of the proud 500 My Morning Jacket Limited Edition Pono Player owners! I am number 17! This is something I can really get excited about!

Congrats man! That is really cool.  Please be sure to report back on the awesomeness of this thing, even though I'm seeing now that they arent being shipped out until October.  I'm sure it'll be worth the wait

GO4IT

I think I got 24 or 25.  This link arrived at a moment of weakness while I was listening to the 45rpm Circuital with amazing sound.  I trust Neil and MMJ so I think it will be worth it. :cool:

Dillsnufus

Gazziza My Dillsnufus

BigHerm

What am I missing here? Why not just play FLAC files on ipod/iphone/etc etc?

wonderfulman

You can't play FLAC files on any Apple devices (some Android devices can play them and can get the higher resolutions, but they do not have the audio equipment to sound as good as High Res players do). You will need to convert it to an ALAC or MP4 file before you are able to play it through iTunes. The highest resolution an Apple Device can play is 48-24 where as the Pono can do up to 192-24.

BigHerm

Quote from: wonderfulman on Mar 13, 2014, 02:25 PM
You can't play FLAC files on any Apple devices (some Android devices can play them and can get the higher resolutions, but they do not have the audio equipment to sound as good as High Res players do). You will need to convert it to an ALAC or MP4 file before you are able to play it through iTunes. The highest resolution an Apple Device can play is 48-24 where as the Pono can do up to 192-24.

Aren't there 3rd party Apps that play FLAC?

In your car you can buy a $70 Kenwood deck and pop a thumb drive in and play FLACS.

Aside from all of that there is this:
http://gizmodo.com/what-is-high-resolution-audio-1252637824/1541582373/+marioaguilar

Anyways don't mean to shit on the thread just dont see the use for this.


oistheone

There is some SERIOUS debate among audiophiles as to what exactly is up with Pono. Pono is being mysteriously silent on what exactly the parts are that make Pono unique. Lots of stereo receivers and car decks are equipped with excellent DACs (digital to analog converters) which are capable of playing 24/192 FLAC files. Pono would enable you to listen to these files "on the go", but I'm trying to gauge if it's worth it. $400 for a less user-friendly iPod is a lotta cash. And the prospect of buying "Pono Master Editions" for all the albums I already have (at $20+ a pop!) is a little daunting.

I almost impulsively pulled the trigger on one of these, but I think I'll wait until they are actually released and I can try one myself before plunking down half a grand.

Having said that, I love the concept of hi-rez audio and greatly look forward to hearing some reviews.


Santo

I know the player is getting a lot of press because of the Kickstarter page, but I get the feeling that the real point of Pono is the music service. Neil Young is on record for criticizing the sound of downloads from iTunes. It sounds like he is designing Ponomusic to be the go-to download store for the lossless format with the Pono player being the signature companion piece.

Mr. White

Here are a couple of their answers to FAQ's.

What's a PonoPlayer and why should I buy one?

PonoMusic is a complete digital music ecosystem: the PonoMusic Store and the PonoPlayer together deliver stunningly clear music, the next best thing to hearing it in the recording studio. The PonoPlayer is a purpose-built device, designed by world-renowned audio engineers, to do one thing, and one thing exceedingly well - to let you hear high quality PonoMusic in its original quality for the original experience.

The PonoPlayer meaningfully improves the listening experience with any quality of headphones, speakers, or playback system. However, when using higher quality headphones and/or speakers, the PonoMusic difference is profound. The PonoPlayer will show you, via its user interface and a special "light" (to indicate a certified PonoMusic song) exactly what quality level you are hearing - when you are hearing Pono quality, and when you are not. If the light is lit, then the music you are listening to is Pono-certified as the best available quality.

Should you invest in a PonoPlayer? If you want to experience your music, feel its soul, and have it run through your veins, then PonoMusic is for you. We want you to know that our Kickstarter campaign is being watched carefully by many key people in the music industry to understand the market interest in high-resolution digital music. Your Kickstarter pledge is not just a vote of support for PonoMusic. It is also an important voice for the momentum of the PonoMusic revolution - our movement to bring back the soul of music.

The PonoPlayer was created to bring PonoMusic to a broad audience of music lovers, certainly not just audiophiles. It's a portable player that breathes life back into music, it is easy to use, and it won't break your budget.

I'm an audiophile. Explain what is so special about the PonoPlayer technology?

The PonoPlayer was designed with a "no compromises" approach to sound quality. We partnered with the engineering team at Ayre (www.ayre.com) to include some of their world-class audio technology in our PonoPlayer. The Ayre team describes their contribution to the PonoPlayer design as follows:

• The digital filter used in the PonoPlayer has minimal phase, and no unnatural (digital sounding) pre-ringing. All sounds made (including music) always have reflections and/or echoes after the initial sound. There is no sound in nature that has any echo or reflection before the sound, which is what conventional linear-phase digital filters do. This is one reason that digital sound has a reputation for sounding "unnatural" and harsh.

• All circuitry is zero-feedback. Feedback can only correct an error after it has occurred, which means that it can never correct for all errors. By using proprietary ultra-linear circuitry with wide bandwidth and low output impedance, there is no need for unnatural sounding feedback.

• The DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) chip being used is widely recognized in the audio and engineering community as one of the best sounding DAC chips available today.

• The output buffer used to drive the headphones is fully discrete so that all individual parameters and circuit values and parts quality can be fully optimized for the absolute finest sound quality. The output impedance is very low so that the PonoPlayer delivers perfectly flat frequency response and wide volume range using virtually any set of headphones.

Is PonoMusic a new audio format? What about PonoMusic quality?

No. We want to be very clear that PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. It is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music in the highest resolution possible for that song or album. The music in the PonoMusic.com Store is sold and downloaded in industry standard audio file formats.

The PonoMusic.com Store uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio format as its standard, for compatibility, although the PonoPlayer can play most popular high-resolution music formats from other sources. PonoMusic has a quality spectrum, ranging from really good to really great, depending on the quality of the available master recordings:

• CD lossless quality recordings: 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) FLAC files
• High-resolution recordings: 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Higher-resolution recordings: 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
• Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011

buymycar

Quote from: Santo on Mar 13, 2014, 10:35 PM
I know the player is getting a lot of press because of the Kickstarter page, but I get the feeling that the real point of Pono is the music service. Neil Young is on record for criticizing the sound of downloads from iTunes. It sounds like he is designing Ponomusic to be the go-to download store for the lossless format with the Pono player being the signature companion piece.

I guess people don't know about HDTracks?  I purchased Beck's Morning Phase from there, and it sounds fantastic.  Albums on there are less than 20 bucks a pop, but I'm not sure they have the three (is it really down to three now?) major labels that Pono will have.

http://www.hdtracks.com

oistheone

There is speculation that HDTracks just upsamples a large majority of their offerings, while Pono will "reportedly" be offering Pono-authorized remasters. I'd love some concrete info though, because this Pono Store, if it does indeed offer complete remasters, would be pretty damn awesome. Expensive, but awesome.

Mr. White

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011

Mr. White

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011

Mr. White

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011

Somey

Official backer sucks I'm going to need to re buy live shows and stuff I bought but I can't wait to get my hands on this, Mmj signature series.

GO4IT

C'mon all you MMJ fans that didn't go to OBH and have all that disposable income :rolleyes:

MMJ is losing out to all the other bands' signature edition Pono players.  It's embarrassing.  We've got only 69 sold and only Lyle Lovett, who was just added, is behind us at 2. :grin:

Mr. White

Quote from: GO4IT on Mar 18, 2014, 07:51 PM
C'mon all you MMJ fans that didn't go to OBH and have all that disposable income :rolleyes:

MMJ is losing out to all the other bands' signature edition Pono players.  It's embarrassing.  We've got only 69 sold and only Lyle Lovett, who was just added, is behind us at 2. :grin:

We're at 70 now!
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) Member Since 2011