Pono [UPDATED]

Steinberg Lounge
1

Pono
New audio format, you perv!!! :smiling_imp:
Discuss
[edit]

update here.

2

OK, I’ll put my head above the trench


The general music consuming public doesn’t buy tunes to listen to the sound, they buy them to listen to the music.

It is the music which engages them at an emotional level; the sound quality itself does not (obviously, the sound quality has to be at a sufficient level so as not to interfere with the emotional punch of the music).

MP3 and decades of FM radio have shown us one important thing: that the general music consuming public does not care about sound quality!

They only want music that is good enough quality to listen to. Anything beyond that would probably be a waste of time where most listeners are concerned (but a good way for old rock stars to generate funding to research a “new” audio format).

Only engineers and audiophiles care about sound quality, but we are only a tiny fraction of the music buying population, and so we don’t really count in the final sales figures.

Therefore, this new format is DOOMED TO FAILURE in the mass market! :mrgreen:

3

Interesting, no word in that video on what it actually is though.
He’s got some big names saying good stuff about it which I guess is a good start for a kickstarter. I’m not biting until I’ve heard it.

4

So this is marketing brand of Neil Young’s “high-definiton” audio? Poor old Neil. Either he’ve been misguided or is trying to do the largest scam in the history of music industry. I think I already linked this one: https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html the last time this was discussed. No, I’m not against uncompressed/losslessly compressed audio, but (when it comes to delivery format) anything above 44.1k/16 is just snake oil.

5

mmm
same old same old snake oil all over again, then?
Although Neil Old managed to trick an amazing array of celebrities who 
 should have known better?
And great link, Jarno! :sunglasses: I shall read it this time! :blush: :laughing:

6

I don’t want to put Old Neil down (pun intended). He’s a great musician (even though I hate his voice), but being a great musician doesn’t mean you are expert on digital audio, which is based on facts that are not so intuitive: more is sometime less. Maybe he got fooled too. And about all those other celebrities: how could they know? Does every office clerk know how his/her computer use quantum-mechanic tunneling effect of electrons to do it’s job?

BTW: Writer of that article also made a great video, where he shows in practise, how the digital audio works:

7

Oh dear, it gets more embarrassing.
His new “Pono player” is a strange triangular shape. Good grief.

edit: the RRP of this monstrosity is $399 !

8

Aloha guys and IMHO soooooo true.

I brought this up almost a year ago.

Sign of the times?

{‘-’}

9

Funny when Neil Young wrote “(I got it home it was a) Loada Crap”. :mrgreen:

And some of the most popular songs of the last century were less than pristine recordings. Office by day, studio by night affairs. Some I wouldn’t have any other way though.
Needles on plastic. Who’d have thought it? Name for a band?

10

Anybody actually tried and listened to it ?

Interesting development.

11

+1

12

If music is your top passion in life, better sound quality is obviously appealing, but I concur with the rest of the herd regarding the apathy of the general public on that front.

And I can’t say that they’re wrong. When I heard stuff on the radio that came off of a scratchy, crappy 45 RPM piece of vinyl and was transmitted over even crappier AM airwaves, I didn’t think, “Wow, it’s a shame the sound quality is so bad.” I thought, “Holy crap. That’s Aretha Franklin!”

13

UPDATE

dont buy what neil young is selling

do consumers really care about digital quality

14

Great articles.

Good to know. Sony manufactures (according their own words) poor digital audio gear which create “stair-step” waves unlike any other manufacturer. From now on I rather buy Behringer than Sony. At least they build D/A converters without any “stair-steps”.

15

I’m surprised he hasn’t jumped on the new, trendy vinyl bandwagon. Or maybe he’s concerned about the needle and the damage done? :wink:

16

HA! touché

17

The first comment in that Gizmodo article caused me to laugh out loud: “f* it, now I have to have a toblerone”.

Also enjoyed Jarno’s and Swamptone’s comments!

I have a couple of nephews who are going big into vinyl, and I have a lot of good ones to give them. I’ve been recording them into my computer first, and now I can put them on my old iPod. It’s funny because the tunes actually sound better after recording into the computer because the software automatically reduces clicks and pops, and normalizes (at album level). Best they ever sounded!

Although adding in those sharp corners would probably drive Neil Young crazy!

18

Yeah, I don’t get the whole vinyl trend other than it being a hipster thing. I always hated the pops, hiss, rumble and other artifacts on LPs and rejoiced when CDs came out. But then, I was never hip.

19

Just a few thoughts about Pono:
– I’d love to have Neil Young’s hearing measured by an audiologist and see the results
– if the sound is that much better, why don’t they allow us to download a few sample files, seeing as we all have gear more than capable of reproducing them faithfully?
– where else can I pay $400 for a triangular yellow plastic block to hang around my neck?

20

Mostly hogwash, as said “snake oil” but in audio form 
IMO

What we all need is to bring back the good old big speakers cabinets, multi-band graphic equalizers and stereo amps of yesteryear!