Neil young announces the launch of ponomusic

[kirkmc]

I was just thinking: shouldn't one be a bit suspicious of a musician touting a "better-sounding" music format and player when he has said: “I hurt my ears and they’ll never be the same again."

 

Neil Young suffers from somewhat severe tinnitus, and may use hearing aids.

 

Neil Young Knows when the Damage was Done to his Hearing | Connect Hearing Blog

[The Computer Audiophile]

I was just thinking: shouldn't one be a bit suspicious of a musician touting a "better-sounding" music format and player when he has said: “I hurt my ears and they’ll never be the same again."

 

Neil Young suffers from somewhat severe tinnitus, and may use hearing aids.

 

Neil Young Knows when the Damage was Done to his Hearing | Connect Hearing Blog

Good point Kirk. We should all have a bit of suspicion about almost everything. Corroborating evidence from others and one's own personal experience are there to help in these cases.

[robcentola]

Wow, it's clear folks are really getting worked up over nothing.

 

For me, the big complaints were that it looks too much like Neil Young (yellow model). That and my favorite band didn't sponsor one of the $400 limited editions...

 

The bottom line is this product is trying to fill a niche that isn't currently being filled. It isn't going to be "as something" as other products that fill a different niche. It won't make phone calls or play apps like my iPhone. It isn't small like my iPod/Sony Product/etc. It isn't really super expensive like my A/K. It won't play DSD like my dongle DAC.

 

But guys, it looks like it is going to be the best option for a hi res iTunes store that is still compatible with HDTracks and Acoustic Sounds, and all the other hi res storefronts. It only costs $300 early/$400 going forward. This is all a good thing.

 

The issues about features that seem to make sense such as a 128GB card are likely to come out on the next model they release. Look at the iPhone's first model and look at it now. Look at the A/K's first model and look at it now. These product evolve. I know folks know this but why pretend it isn't so?

 

The whole "what will the twenty somethings think" thing doesn't worry me too much. They love vinyl for all the reasons the experts say they will hate Pono.

 

I believe there is a movement against convenience over quality and I see this as part of that universal movement that is open to all ages, all genders, and (I hope) all levels of income. Slow food, not fast food. Conversation, not shouting. Full audio, not lossy audio. This is part of something that says, "I want more than my fits in my pocket MP3 player while I text fight with strangers over a Big Mac for dinner." This says, "I want real music while I exchange ideas with my friends over a home cooked, health dinner."

 

The funny thing is that there is something that caught my attention and that thing was Neil Young back in May 2011 saying that 2012 was the year that the music industry would put the soul back in digital music. I posted that odd announcement on one of my audio forums back in 2011 asking if anyone knew what this was all about. It turns out that following Neil's vision progressed in 2012 and 2013 to the point where I was thinking about "what is Pono?" but knew that if Neil was pushing it, it had to do with putting the music back into digital audio. Now I see this is far more open and accessible to many than I thought it would be (no special format, no DRM…heck, they use an open source format for crying out loud).

 

This is a good thing if you love music…

 

Best,

John

 

 

What he said.

[wkhanna]

I was just thinking: shouldn't one be a bit suspicious of a musician touting a "better-sounding" music format and player when he has said: “I hurt my ears and they’ll never be the same again."

 

Neil Young suffers from somewhat severe tinnitus, and may use hearing aids.

 

Neil Young Knows when the Damage was Done to his Hearing | Connect Hearing Blog

Look how bad hearing screwed up Beethoven, too........

[cirereta]

If I'm not mistaken, NY says that the Harvest version used in Pono is a brand new copy of the original master, transferred to digital at the highest quality possible.

 

He also said that if you buy an album at the current highest resolution, and a new, higher resolution version becomes available, you should be able to download the new, higher resolution version for free.

 

[beetlemania]

The Pono-as-DAC option would be great as a good entry level solution. I truely hope they will consider this.

 

It's not clear to me if it can be used as a DAC, per se, but there probably is an acceptable work around. First, I wasn't certain how this device could be connected to a pre-amp, but I checked on the Cardas website, as an example, and found the "ilink" cable which goes from mini stereo plug (on the Pono player) to two RCA connections. So far, so good. The next hurdle would seem to be whether the Pono can be used in "pass-thru" mode from PC to DAC w/o having to go thru the Pono interface. But even if it can't, the worse case scenario is that you would have to pre-load a playlist from the PC to the Pono. That might be a PITA, compared to browsing the library on your PC, but seems "acceptably" workable. So, it seems to me the Pono player could be considered a $400 made-in-China Ayre DAC with a limited PC interface.

[labjr]

Neil Young on MP3

 

"...like getting slammed in the face with ice cubes.."

 

LOL hahaha!

[flatmap]

Yeah, I don't see anything to make me think it can work as a standalone DAC.

 

And to be honest if you ask 100 people on the street if they want a DAC, only a very rare person will understand what you're talking about. Probably the best we can hope for is that they are successful up front and then maybe v.2 or v.3 will take on the computer audiophile use case: i.e., music library on a computer connected to a DAC.

[Booster MPS]

Sorry if I buried the lead in my previous post. Thought this was worth highlighting if it has not already been discussed.

 

Quote:

Young then presented a video of a long list of musicians raving after being played a demo of the player. Afterward, Pono CEO John Hamm took the stage for a Q&A session with Young and USA Today technology reporter Mike Snider.

And then things got awkward.

 

After addressing questions about Pono's ability to play existing digital music libraries (it can), its file system (it uses FLAC) and its somewhat awkward triangle design ("We wanted something iconic," Hamm said), the last question from an audience member shifted the tone of the entire presentation.

 

Taking the microphone, a young man asked: "What's your cut?" Referring, of course, to Apple's now-famous 30 percent cut of sales on the iTunes Store.

 

Hamm, after a flustered moment, responded, "It surprises most people that everyone who buys music from the record labels pays exactly the same amount." To which several audience members shouted, "What?!"

 

"That's a delicate question, isn't it?" asked Young.

 

After which, Hamm turned to the moderator, slightly flushed at this point, and said, "We can end it."

 

SXSW: Neil Young Introduces Ponos to the World -- While Its CEO Raises Some Eyebrows - The Hollywood Reporter

[labjr]

He also said that if you buy an album at the current highest resolution, and a new, higher resolution version becomes available, you should be able to download the new, higher resolution version for free.

 

Seems like that's what he said. That would be awesome if they negotiated a deal like that. But I can't imagine the record companies agreeing to this, the way they like to perpetually resell us the same material.

[beetlemania]

Seems like that's what he said. That would be awesome if they negotiated a deal like that. But I can't imagine the record companies agreeing to this, the way they like to perpetually resell us the same material.

I can't wait to buy the Beatles library for the 4th or 5th time!

[Savage]

Has anyone found what the output power and impedance are? Kind of a big deal for a headphone device these days & the Pono response was that they have heard of headphones and dropped a couple names.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Has anyone found what the output power and impedance are? Kind of a big deal for a headphone device these days & the Pono response was that they have heard of headphones and dropped a couple names.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11277[/ATTACH]

The PonoPlayer is still in its infancy after the switch from Meridian to Ayre. I don't even think Ayre knows what the final output power and impedance will be right now.

[Savage]

The PonoPlayer is still in its infancy after the switch from Meridian to Ayre. I don't even think Ayre knows what the final output power and impedance will be right now.

 

Thanks Chris that is a better answer. No answer had me thinking the had put the flee in flea-sized and didn't want to cop to it.

[Skeptic]

Has anyone found what the output power and impedance are? Kind of a big deal for a headphone device these days & the Pono response was that they have heard of headphones and dropped a couple names.

I would expect it to be less than 2 ohms output impedance - it would be embarrassing to have your high res player be worse than an iPhone.

[Savage]

I would expect it to be less than 2 ohms output impedance - it would be embarrassing to have your high res player be worse than an iPhone.

 

I was hoping for 1 ohm but the Meridian Explorer is 5 ohm and the Dragonfly is 12 ohm. Hopefully they do much better than these other early portables.

[PorkChop]

Look who's already trying to capitalize:

 

[beetlemania]

He also said that if you buy an album at the current highest resolution, and a new, higher resolution version becomes available, you should be able to download the new, higher resolution version for free.

 

That is also what he told Audiostream!

Hello Mr. Soul: My Interview with Neil Young | AudioStream

 

I wonder if the label execs know that there is a loose cannon stirring up trouble?

[beetlemania]

Look who's already trying to capitalize:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11278[/ATTACH]

Might as well . . . Pono might eat their lunch when it launches. I think the Pono catalog will be far bigger (tho' tip of the hat to HDT for what they've done). For example, do a "Neil Young" search at HDT and see what you get back.

[labjr]

Might as well . . . Pono might eat their lunch when it launches. I think the Pono catalog will be far bigger (tho' tip of the hat to HDT for what they've done). For example, do a "Neil Young" search at HDT and see what you get back.

 

I hope is does happen. The Chesky brothers have an all business attitude, virtually ignoring customer service. And they have no culiones to negotiate with the record companies for quality material to sell. They've sold a lot of garbage and denied any responsibility for it.

 

Maybe Neil is better at negotiating with the music industry because he's sort of an insider. So be it. HDT didn't care about their customers so who cares about them. Good riddance. NEXT!

[TimU]

I've read the NY interviews and thought about this product. I just have trouble imagining the thing really taking off at the quoted prices. The difference between 320 kbs and 24/196 is subtle, particularly if you are listening to the files over earbuds, computer speakers, or a car stereo. People just aren't going to pay double or triple iTunes prices for these downloads in large numbers IMO.

 

Now better masters sounds great in theory, but if I read a thread on,say, Steve Hoffman forums, no two aficionados seem to agree on which mastering of an old classic is the best one! I doubt Pono remasters will be so overwhelmingly superior as to convince those listeners, never mind the general public. Remember many of the titles NY refers to have already been "expertly" remastered several times over.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I've read the NY interviews and thought about this product. I just have trouble imagining the thing really taking off at the quoted prices. The difference between 320 kbs and 24/196 is subtle, particularly if you are listening to the files over earbuds, computer speakers, or a car stereo. People just aren't going to pay double or triple iTunes prices for these downloads in large numbers IMO. Better masters sounds great in theory, but if I read a thread on,say, Steve Hoffman forums, no two aficionados seem to agree on which mastering of an old classic is the best one!

Would you have ever guessed a former gangsta rap artist name Andre Young would get millions of people to pay hundreds of dollars for headphones that have his stage name of Dr. Dre on them? Plus the headphones are twice the price of Sennheisers of equal quality.

[REShaman]

Would you have ever guessed a former gangsta rap artist name Andre Young would get millions of people to pay hundreds of dollars for headphones that have his stage name of Dr. Dre on them? Plus the headphones are twice the price of Sennheisers of equal quality.

 

In a former life in the '60s when I was a copywriter at McCann-Erickson, Marketing Consultant, Norman B. Norman of Norman, Craig & Kummel, the keynote speaker at an Advertising Age seminar wow'd me with this perspective: (paraphrasing) Given an unlimited budget, I could sell poverty to the people. ?

 

Best,

Richard

[labjr]

I've read the NY interviews and thought about this product. I just have trouble imagining the thing really taking off at the quoted prices. The difference between 320 kbs and 24/196 is subtle, particularly if you are listening to the files over earbuds, computer speakers, or a car stereo. People just aren't going to pay double or triple iTunes prices for these downloads in large numbers IMO.

 

Now better masters sounds great in theory, but if I read a thread on,say, Steve Hoffman forums, no two aficionados seem to agree on which mastering of an old classic is the best one! I doubt Pono remasters will be so overwhelmingly superior as to convince those listeners, never mind the general public. Remember many of the titles NY refers to have already been "expertly" remastered several times over.

 

 

I hear a big difference with my notebook speakers. Differences in masters isn't the same as different sample rates or lossy compression. You should probably listen instead of reading opinions in forums.

[One and a half]

Just my 1c.

 

Commend Neil Young on starting hi-res awareness and may finally get people to understand that there is music that has realism to it.

Even though it is a business enterprise, the labels will determine what kind of music he can receive, Acoustic Sounds struggle enough as it is offering content, and then only it's USA/Canada based. The same can happen for pono, it won't be worldwide, no way! It took years for Apple to iron out EU complexities with taxes, wonder if it ever truly settled.

Once you overcome the licensing, will there be a flood of music....more like a stream during drought. I can see a nice market opening up for VPN after October.

 

Personally, the design of the Pono to slip in your backpack is not going to work. Hard edges get caught, and I don't recall seeing album art in colour displayed, maybe this will come later. Sony Xperia Z2, Samsung Galaxy S3 and certainly PowerAmp on Android can all play FLAC files, PowerAmp to 192/24 most likely with an SRC, but it doesn't sound bad at all. So if you have a portable device that can play FLAC, why use a Pono? If you want sound quality, AK120, or the Sony NWS1(?) are certainly double the price of the pono, but they are designed specifically for audio quality from the get go. Just because Pono has an Ayre affiliation, does that present an assurance of a certain quality....what's the bar, a QB9? Would it matter anyway if you have $20 earbuds? Would the young people buy it?