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So where's all the Pono comments?


kirkmc

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I think I have worked through the firmware issue and finally got some music onto it:

 

Blueixus, did you have to close and restart the Pono World software (like new_media suggested) in order to get the firmware to load?

 

Glad you're enjoying it.

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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I'm looking for a few beta testers for Pono. You will need the hardware device from Pono. You'll need to sign up on the JRiver forum, then send me your name and your forum username. I'll send you information on what to do next. Access is by invitation only.

 

There is a new Windows build there now. A Mac build will be posted tomorrow.

 

I'm jimh at jriver.

 

Thanks.

Jim Hillegass / JRiver Media Center / jriver.com

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Maybe the reason it is relatively quiet is that people are enjoying their Pono and don't have time to post here right now. I got mine a week ago and posted a couple videos (unboxing and first impressions) but have mostly been enjoying listening to it. I haven't had any problems with it. Not totally impressed with the software integration and still trying to figure out how to keep JRMC20 and PMW happy together.

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Hi Flatmap, truth is I am not quite sure how it finally loaded the new firmware, the beginning of the video on the Pono site seems to relate to what happened but somewhere in the second half of the installation I seemed to skip a step. Sorry for such an imprecise answer!

 

The new firmware is better but the volume level issue is something that is really bothering me. At full blast the player is going to destroy my headphones and twice I have found the volume setting at that level. Aside from that it is a lovely sounding player in fact it is better that that...

 

 

jimh, regarding beta testing I would help but my computer skills are moderate and I am a Mac user. I find the desktop software the Pono came with to be very very difficult to use.

 

1) For some reason it mentions (in Playing Now) a Blu-ray disc player - I don't have one of those.

2) Every time my mouse pointer stops on something I get a little pop up with expanded track info that covers other things

3) I can't ctrl click on things (like delete)

4) I can't get to look at my music library after the initial 'ingest', so it does not keep itself up to date with what i put in it.

 

 

Finally it is a very depressing black colour!

 

If anyone can help sort this desktop software it would be good as, compared to itunes, it is a real barrier to entry for me, which is frustrating given how good the player is!

Trying to make sense of all the bits...MacMini/Amarra -> WavIO USB to I2S -> DDDAC 1794 NOS DAC -> Active XO ->Bass Amp Avondale NCC200s, Mid/Treble Amp Sugden Masterclass -> My Own Speakers

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Maybe the reason it is relatively quiet is that people are enjoying their Pono and don't have time to post here right now.

Most of us are waiting delivery, I think. ;-)

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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1) For some reason it mentions (in Playing Now) a Blu-ray disc player - I don't have one of those.

2) Every time my mouse pointer stops on something I get a little pop up with expanded track info that covers other things

3) I can't ctrl click on things (like delete)

4) I can't get to look at my music library after the initial 'ingest', so it does not keep itself up to date with what i put in it.

1. Shouldn't be there.

2. That's a tool tip. You can put your cursor somewhere else, or turn them off in options.

3. I don't know.

4. I don't understand what you mean.

 

Primary support should be on the ponomusic.com forum.

Jim Hillegass / JRiver Media Center / jriver.com

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Mine will be delivered Thursday. Just got access to the Pono store as well.

 

Any idea when sales of music on the store will actually start? It's all still "coming soon". I am not interested in the hardware but still have high hopes they can change the game if they get the store right (high-res albums from well-treated masters at decent prices, easy to purchase/download/play on all devices).

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Any idea when sales of music on the store will actually start?

 

Perhaps they are having trouble finding high res material from the record companies that isn't restricted to purchasers in the USA only ? They really do need to get rid of this stupid Regional Zoning to succeed !

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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Any idea when sales of music on the store will actually start? It's all still "coming soon". I am not interested in the hardware but still have high hopes they can change the game if they get the store right (high-res albums from well-treated masters at decent prices, easy to purchase/download/play on all devices).

 

Once your Pono ships you can buy from the store. The "coming soon" changes to a purchase price when you log in.

 

I haven't bought anything because there is almost no hi-res available.

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They are being rolled on eBay already...

 

It looks to me that ALL of these (and there are surprisingly many) are from people who planned to cash-in on a collector's item rather than any statement of Pono quality.

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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So far. That's only during the beta period.

Oh, so that's why I can't buy anything!

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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My player has arrived and started listening to the CSN&Y tracks pre-loaded. For point of reference, I primarily use for portable listening - the AK240 with a Fiio X3 for the Gym. I listen in balanced mode primarily. Since I have the same albums on my home music system, I can compare at least these albums. More results to come...

Headphones: ZMF Atrium Closed, ZMF Bokeh, Audeze LCD-X, Meze 109 Pro, Focal Clear Mg, Noble Katana IEMs, Dan Clark Aeon 2 Closed
Amp/DAC: Decware MKIII Tube Amp, ZMF Homage, Schiit Bifrost 2/64, Woo Audio WA8, Burston Playmate 2, Mytek DSD192 DAC, Cayin RU7, Chord Mojo, Fiio M11 Plus DAP
Cables: Promitheus XLR Interconnects, WyWired red cables, Meze Silver, ZMF 6.35 ofc and 4 pin xlr stock, Arctic Cable, Audio Envy Cable balanced, balanced Silver Interconnects
Other: Aurender N100H, Macbook Pro (2023) running Audirvana Studio

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Pono site just posted the music software for Mac. I would say that my early testing was not very favorable - very little worked correctly. I am hoping that the improvements happen quickly.

Headphones: ZMF Atrium Closed, ZMF Bokeh, Audeze LCD-X, Meze 109 Pro, Focal Clear Mg, Noble Katana IEMs, Dan Clark Aeon 2 Closed
Amp/DAC: Decware MKIII Tube Amp, ZMF Homage, Schiit Bifrost 2/64, Woo Audio WA8, Burston Playmate 2, Mytek DSD192 DAC, Cayin RU7, Chord Mojo, Fiio M11 Plus DAP
Cables: Promitheus XLR Interconnects, WyWired red cables, Meze Silver, ZMF 6.35 ofc and 4 pin xlr stock, Arctic Cable, Audio Envy Cable balanced, balanced Silver Interconnects
Other: Aurender N100H, Macbook Pro (2023) running Audirvana Studio

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My player has arrived and started listening to the CSN&Y tracks pre-loaded. For point of reference, I primarily use for portable listening - the AK240 with a Fiio X3 for the Gym. I listen in balanced mode primarily. Since I have the same albums on my home music system, I can compare at least these albums. More results to come...

Terrific, looking forward to your comparisons.

 

Were you able to purchase balanced cables for the Pono player?

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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Mine got stuck the first time on the firmware update. I just shut it down and restarted and it was fine.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with the Pono overall. I just hope they address the gapless issue.

 

I got my NY pono the other day and the same thing with the firmware update.

 

The SQ is very good but I find it a shame they haven't brought gapless playback in yet.

 

In the Kickstarter comment section this was brought up several times during the initial campaign and there was finally a response from pono "We will support Gapless playback."... But I am little surprised and disappointed it hasn't been enabled yet. I think this will be a huge blow to the success of the PonoPlayer if this is not corrected.

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I have balanced cables that I use with my AK240 that should work with the Pono player. I will try tomorrow and let you know. The Pono site said that they would sell balanced cables, but I do not see any type of store other than the player and music.

 

Terrific, looking forward to your comparisons.

 

Were you able to purchase balanced cables for the Pono player?

Headphones: ZMF Atrium Closed, ZMF Bokeh, Audeze LCD-X, Meze 109 Pro, Focal Clear Mg, Noble Katana IEMs, Dan Clark Aeon 2 Closed
Amp/DAC: Decware MKIII Tube Amp, ZMF Homage, Schiit Bifrost 2/64, Woo Audio WA8, Burston Playmate 2, Mytek DSD192 DAC, Cayin RU7, Chord Mojo, Fiio M11 Plus DAP
Cables: Promitheus XLR Interconnects, WyWired red cables, Meze Silver, ZMF 6.35 ofc and 4 pin xlr stock, Arctic Cable, Audio Envy Cable balanced, balanced Silver Interconnects
Other: Aurender N100H, Macbook Pro (2023) running Audirvana Studio

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Just received my Pono (one of the Herbie Hancock LEs) and will report how it sounds against my iFi Nano.

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

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I've had my Crazy Horse edition for a couple of days now - and am real impressed with the Pono player. Using AKG 701 headphones (which i have never quite loved for their somewhat lacking midrange and somewhat hashy treble) - some albums sound amazing! My favorites so far are The Stones Let it Bleed and Beggar's Banquet (24/88.2 files from HDTracks - somehow these seem even more dynamic and rich than through my big rig), Willie Nelson's Taetro (low res Pono-purchased files - much more detail and sounds more like real music being played in a real room than my old CD ripped version of this album, even via Amarra). Yes - there are some user interface issues with the JRiver-based player (I'm new to this software and am working through the learning curve) - and i could care less about gapless playback at this point (seriously that's what people focus on/complain about?) - but those things can be sorted out through the beta period or solved with firmware updates. Not an issue. The bottom line is that i get music/sound that rivals or equals my big rig even when i'm not sitting in my sweet spot. Worth it.

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It is an understatement to say that there are some issues with the JRiver-based player, at least on a Mac - though I agree that it can only get better.

 

As for comparisons to the AK240 and Fiio X3:

 

- The AK240 is simply a much better player - sound SQ is superior, ability to play native DSD, balanced mode, (AK240 user interface could use some work).

- Pono is more enjoyable then the Fiio X3 - Sound SQ is richer (testing 40 songs on each player and user interface is better.

 

Chris

Headphones: ZMF Atrium Closed, ZMF Bokeh, Audeze LCD-X, Meze 109 Pro, Focal Clear Mg, Noble Katana IEMs, Dan Clark Aeon 2 Closed
Amp/DAC: Decware MKIII Tube Amp, ZMF Homage, Schiit Bifrost 2/64, Woo Audio WA8, Burston Playmate 2, Mytek DSD192 DAC, Cayin RU7, Chord Mojo, Fiio M11 Plus DAP
Cables: Promitheus XLR Interconnects, WyWired red cables, Meze Silver, ZMF 6.35 ofc and 4 pin xlr stock, Arctic Cable, Audio Envy Cable balanced, balanced Silver Interconnects
Other: Aurender N100H, Macbook Pro (2023) running Audirvana Studio

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It is an understatement to say that there are some issues with the JRiver-based player, at least on a Mac - though I agree that it can only get better.

 

As for comparisons to the AK240 and Fiio X3:

 

- The AK240 is simply a much better player - sound SQ is superior, ability to play native DSD, balanced mode, (AK240 user interface could use some work).

- Pono is more enjoyable then the Fiio X3 - Sound SQ is richer (testing 40 songs on each player and user interface is better.

 

Chris

I agree, I'm on a Mac and there are definite issue with JRiver and also the device itself. I've only been able to have the SDcard mount on my Mac 2 or 3 times.

 

I've also had issues with the PonoPlayer freezing and then a slight buzzing coming through the headphones while walking around. The four times this happened, I almost sure all the files were on the SD card while playing.... I emailed support on Wed about these issues and have yet to hear back.

 

Have others had this problem with the SDcard not mounting? Wondering if this could be a bad card as sometimes it mounts, but mostly it doesn't.

 

The SQ has been very good so far, and seems to be opening up more over time (probably around 15-20 hours on it now) and I'm sure these issues will be taken care of in future firmware and software updates

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