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Neil young announces the launch of ponomusic


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Seriously guys and gals? Catering to US is a big mistake. We can't even decide amongst ourselves what is best yet or even why. How would Neil possibly cater to ALL of us?

 

If not audiophiles, I don't know who the early adopters will be. The typical consumer electronics early adopter does not buy into the audiophile faith. Meaning that they will not be willing to spend $ for hi-res hardware and media if they don't believe the difference is audible. Sites like Engadget and Gizmodo that cater to early adopters, don't typically endorse audiophile claims and their comments sections ridicule audiophile "beliefs."

 

Perhaps the mainstream press will give Pono a lot of attention thanks to Neil's involvement. I think that is their best best for success, but will they have a business when the hype dies down? I have my doubts.

 

I really do wish them luck in bringing high quality audio to the masses, if that is their mission. I'm a huge Neil Young fan and will certainly checkout Pono due to that. Maybe enough others will feel the same...

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Most of us are passionate consumers of music and audio related products, not industry insiders. So, if the Pono PR has generated negativity, maybe that should be taken as a genuine reaction by consumers to the hype. Pono marketing would be wise to listen. Most of the posts I have read (or written) on Pono, express concerns but also praise Neil and his efforts to improves access to HD music.

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Without much information most people made this assumption.

 

Where could we have gotten that ridiculous idea? Maybe from you?

 

I asked the panel, "The worst kept secret in high end audio is the fact that Pono is crippled by Digital Rights Management. Are we really going back there?" Again, this question was addressed to the panel of high resolution music retailers. Suddenly the new CEO of Pono asked for the microphone and angrily tried to deny Pono was crippled by DRM. Maybe our exchange was recorded and will be available for download someday. Based on what I know from many sources, both under NDA and not under NDA, Pono is indeed crippled with DRM. But if you're under an NDA with Pono you can't refer to this DRM as DRM. I'd like to be the first to say R.I.P. Pono.

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If the lamp illuminates signaling pono quality and the reality is the files are mp3 upsampled to 192/24 I'm going to be one bummed dude

 

They have not spoken about how the light will work that I have seen. I'm guessing that it will not light for all 192/24, but will use meta data in the FLAC file to know if the file is certified. I'd like to know too.

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Thanks for posting the NY interview from AudioStream. NY said all the right things. I think he is clear that the mastering is far more important than the resolution. Also, he was open about there being really nothing new about Pono, as long as you are willing to shop around and put together the pieces yourself. I appreciate his stated goals and I think I will back the project even though I don't imagine having much use for the Pono player. Maybe my nephew will get it for Christmas.

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I find the bit about the light to be quite funny. It's saying that you need to see the light to know that you're hearing the best quality. So without the light, you wouldn't know?

 

If they define quality to include the mastering, how would you know by listening that you have the best quality? You would only know if you compared it to all the other versions of the album. If Pono bases this solely on bit-depth and sample rate, I agree with you.

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I ordered the black Pono too. Like Skeptic, I'm interested in the potential of better masters with documented "provenance." I have done ABX testing of 44.1 vs 96 vs 192 using a high-quality headphone setup and heard no difference that I could reliably distinguish.

 

[off topic: If you try such a test, be really careful that your tracks are all from the same master. Some people do this test using a track from HD Tracks vs their own CD rip (for example) and unknowingly end up comparing different masters. Also, I am told that some down samplers can cause audible difference. Not sure about that though.]

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Maybe I'm overthinking this, but if you persist in posting comments that our host then has to clean up, to me it's like being at a party at someone's house and dumping the ashtrays on the carpet.

 

When I'm at a party, the host does not show me ads or try to sell me a premium membership. These forums are as good as they are in large part because Chris allows free open discussion. If people have negative comments that are Pono related (and HD audio certainly is), why should they be self-censored?

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If you are going to censor my comments, just remove the whole xxxing thing. Don't be editing me.

 

I have no problem with you making $$$ off this site. In fact, I hope you make a nice living from it. However, lets no pretend that we are all buddies hanging in your living room.

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I think I was banned for foul language. Anyway, at the time, it was totally worth it. Sorry, if you are embarrassed that your site has been criticized for being negative about Pono. I will say what I please. If that is a problem for you, go ahead and ban me. At Least then we will all know what you are about.

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