Is Pono All It's Cracked Up To Be?

I do not know of any dap that does play it native. But there are portible dacs as in ifi dsd micro that do. And the one I just mentioned does do it well.
Over all some full size dacs okay it very well and it's not kept pure.
Al
 
Alrainbow said:
I do not know of any dap that does play it native. But there are portible dacs as in ifi dsd micro that do. And the one I just mentioned does do it well.
Over all some full size dacs okay it very well and it's not kept pure.
Al
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Yes, I have the iFi DSD DAC here Al. It will do up to 8X DSD.
 
Pono adopting DSD is good for all of us. He will hopefully push Sony to release more of their catalog.
 
True Native DSD - Aesthetix Romulus and Pandora Signature offer true native DSD 1x and 2x functionality over USB and 1x DSD over SPDIF (AES/EBU, RCA Coax and TosLink). The entire DSP processing section is replaced (pictured below). The new section includes an advanced Xilinx gate-array which allows the DSP to be completely bypassed for pure DSD 1x and 2x operation. No alteration of DSD data occurs. Many DACs in the market that claim to play DSD actually convert the data to PCM and thereby completely lose the purpose of DSD operation.

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Alrainbow said:
Hahhaaha this is for the link. But it is seriously low on meneory for the dsd task. And it should have an external Memeory slot or two.
Sorry for the misundertanding
is that a word
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The Pono takes replaceable SD memory cards for storage. So storage space is a non issue with it. You can buy 256GB SD cards for about $80 and 128Gb for about $50. I have even seen 500Gb for under $100.

Why do you think that there is no need for hi rez portable music? My son who is in college and a budding audiophile has a Dragon Fly usb DAC so he can play Hi-Rez music on his portable computer at school and listen with his AT M50x headphones between classes. There is a market for the Pono and it is for people that appreciate high quality recordings. Even Neil Young states that it was made for these people and that it is not for every one. I think it is a good product but will reserve final judgement for when and if I get to hear one.
 
Mechnutt said:
The Pono takes replaceable SD memory cards for storage. So storage space is a non issue with it. You can buy 256GB SD cards for about $80 and 128Gb for about $50. I have even seen 500Gb for under $100.

Why do you think that there is no need for hi rez portable music? My son who is in college and a budding audiophile has a Dragon Fly usb DAC so he can play Hi-Rez music on his portable computer at school and listen with his AT M50x headphones between classes. There is a market for the Pono and it is for people that appreciate high quality recordings. Even Neil Young states that it was made for these people and that it is not for every one. I think it is a good product but will reserve final judgement for when and if I get to hear one.
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Amazing that someone that hasn't heard or researched a product, feels the need to make negative comments.

I guess you just need to be an expert on "daps."
 
mauidan said:
Amazing that someone that hasn't heard or researched a product, feels the need to make negative comments.

I guess you just need to be an expert on "daps."
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I don't claim to be an expert on it. I have researched it and have seen Neil Young talk about it 3 times. I also have heard crap MP3 on portable players and they are not worth my time.

You need to get some skin on you and learn some manners. The forum is a place for discussion and to express opinions and idea's. People may have different opinions and just because mine is different than yours, you go on the attack. My comments were not negative, they were all positive. All I did was ask a question and state some facts and my opinion. I also stated that I will reserve final judgement when I hear one. I have contemplated buying a Pono for my daughter who uses a portable player and appreciates well recorded music and good sound.
 
Mechnutt said:
I don't claim to be an expert on it. I have researched it and have seen Neil Young talk about it 3 times. I also have heard crap MP3 on portable players and they are not worth my time.

You need to get some skin on you and learn some manners. The forum is a place for discussion and to express opinions and idea's. People may have different opinions and just because mine is different than yours, you go on the attack. My comments were not negative, they were all positive. All I did was ask a question and state some facts and my opinion. I also stated that I will reserve final judgement when I hear one. I have contemplated buying a Pono for my daughter who uses a portable player and appreciates well recorded music and good sound.
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I'm sorry, my post wasn't attacking you.

It was for the "dap" expert.
 
Pono is silly. Its just a way to control the marketplace by offering a proprietary format. And if the format is supposedly superior to wav alas flac... why do they remaster the albums. There should be no need for remastering. Its superior. Pono has failed already.
 
machinehead said:
Ok maybe its not proprietary. Just use an iphone and dac amp combo. And the shape is silly
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The Pono is 1 unit (no cable and external DAC needed), portable, has replaceable Micro SD memory cards for storing your music, does hi rez music which you can download and store on the SD cards, and it won't drain your cell phone battery. And the Micro SD cards are cheap, as low as $12 for 128 GB's of storage.

I really don't understand the animosity towards the Pono.
 
Mechnutt said:
The Pono is 1 unit (no cable and external DAC needed), portable, has replaceable Micro SD memory cards for storing your music, does hi rez music which you can download and store on the SD cards, and it won't drain your cell phone battery. And the Micro SD cards are cheap, as low as $12 for 128 GB's of storage.

I really don't understand the animosity towards the Pono.
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+1
 
machinehead said:
Pono is silly. Its just a way to control the marketplace by offering a proprietary format. And if the format is supposedly superior to wav alas flac... why do they remaster the albums. There should be no need for remastering. Its superior. Pono has failed already.
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I think you now realize you were way off base with that statement. Pono plays digital files up to 24/192 and now according to Dan, it can playback both DSD 64 and DSD 128 files. There is nothing proprietary about the types of files they are selling. I think many of us have come to the conclusion that PONO is going to be more about the software they make available for sale than they are the PONO player itself. PONO is basically trying to give people a high degree of assurance that if you download a file from them that it will be what they advertise. There has been plenty of monkey business with people selling DSD files that were nothing more than PCM files converted to DSD. There are sites that sold 24/96 or 24/192 files that were just RBCD files upsampled. The bottom line is that you don't need a PONO player in order to playback any of the files that PONO is selling.
 
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