Ponoplayer

Ponoplayer

Hands on: Pono PonoPlayer review,24/96 WAV playback (in minutes)

PonoPlayer is a portable music player created by Neil Young's company, PonoMusic, as the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. In September , Neil Young appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman with a prototype PonoPlayer announcing his plans for the PonoMusic ecosystem. Early See more WebThe player device, called the PonoPlayer, was initially priced at $ and came with a maximum of GB of memory (64GB built-in plus 64GB on MicroSD card). The press WebMar 13,  · To manually update ponoplayer to Firmware version Download the file "pono_update" to any folder on your computer. You have to be able to see WebMay 5,  · - Connect the PonoPlayer and put a "pono_update" file on the /.pono/ directory - Craft a blogger.com file which is supposed to contain the current firmware WebGet the best deals on PonoPlayer MP3 Players when you shop the largest online selection at blogger.com Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable ... read more

MORE: High-resolution music - everything you need to know. We got our hands on one of the first PonoPlayers in existence at an Omnifone event in London. Omnifone is one of the largest business to business providers of music services in the world, and works with a huge number of services from Spotify to Sony Music Unlimited to Rara. And now Pono. Supposedly number nine of nine PonoPlayers in existence, we had some time to hear a little more about the player from Matt White, Omnifone's audio expert, get our hands on the device, take a look at the hardware and software, and of course give it a listen.

A hands-on review is always a quick first impression of a product, and in this instance we were told the PonoPlayer was still, theoretically, a prototype. We'd assume it should be pretty close to the real thing with the launch date so near, and we were certainly invited to judge the sound quality. But for now, we'll assume both the hardware and software could yet be subject to final tweaks. The angular design of the PonoPlayer has been the subject of plenty of column inches — and a fair bit of ridicule. It certainly looks big when you first see it in someone's hand, atuned as we are to slender smartphones or increasingly compact iPods, but we're happy to report we're much happier with the design once we get our hands on it. Firstly, it feels much lighter than we expect. Yes, it's absolutely chunkier than the average smartphone and most portable music players PMPs , but it is comfortable to hold, the shape fitting naturally within the palm of your hand.

The yellow rubber casing helps on the comfort front and should presumably offer some protection should you drop it. It feels solid, though this unit's finish to edges and joins certainly had the feel in places of an early unit. Still, the final model is unlikely to be susceptible to bending - not least as those angles should ensure you're not tempted to tuck it in your back pocket before you sit down. We're happy to report the Toblerone-shaped dimensions 5x2x1in don't look or feel ridiculous in a trouser pocket. It's slightly bulbous but arguably less restrictive than much taller, wider, super-size phones, such as the iPhone 6 Plus.

Pono says the design is due to the fact "it was not possible to put some of the large audio components into a thin package". This design allows for those better components, and for them to be given enough space to breathe to prevent electrical interference between them. It also means there's room for a cylindrical, more efficient battery. The PonoPlayer claims around 8 hours of battery life for continuous music playback. All told, it may be a Marmite design but we think the practicalities of the shape will be much easier to get along with in reality than many people predicted. We're yet to see a PMP that matches a smartphone for the usability and interface, and we fear the PonoPlayer will be no different.

There are three simple buttons for adjusting the volume and basic navigation, plus a touchscreen display. The buttons seem fairly responsive to our prods and while we wouldn't exactly say it's a premium experience, they do the job. And it's more of the same with the LCD screen. It feels like a 'last-gen' touchscreen compared to the flagship phones around and, while it worked well enough - and we may well not have been seeing the final version, according to White - we somehow doubt it will be more than a 'good enough' user interface. That's a shame, and while it may not bother many users who are largely interested in the sound quality it could be a barrier for a more mainstream audience coming afresh to the idea of a separate music player and expecting an experience akin to their Android and iOS smartphones.

Pono says squeezing in the better components is the main reason for the shape, but it also means the player can lay horizontally on a desktop and still have an easily visible display. The display flips between landscape and portrait as you manouevre the device. We can see the logic - Pono want you to use this player everywhere, not just on the move - though we're not convinced it's a deal-breaker. Ultimately, you're unlikely to be shouting from the rooftops about the PonoPlayer's interface and the overall user experience. As we size up the design, the first feature we notice is the two output jacks. Both can be used for headphones, and you can listen simultaneously with a pal should you so desire. And this works fine, though removing one of the jacks will pause the music for the other user pausing music when you pull out the headphones being a fairly standard and useful feature on any phone or PMP. One output is "specially designed" to act as a stereo output for connecting the PonoPlayer to an existing system, amp, powered speaker or other component.

This was the answer to whether the PonoPlayer could work with Sonos , for example: yes, you can plug it in to a Play The PonoPlayer comes with a 64GB internal memory and an SD card slot for expanding that further the Pono Kickstarter page says the player supports microSD cards up to 64GB and SDXC microSD cards of GB or higher. The PonoStore, accessible via the PonoMusic App on Mac or PC, will reportedly be live at launch and is set to deliver music in FLAC, but the PonoPlayer will support the usual array of file formats, AIFF, AAC, ALAC, MP3 and WAV — but not DSD. There's no support for WiFi or any mobile network connection, so it's strictly a music player not an internet browser or iPod Touch-alike.

There's a micro USB slot at the bottom of the device for charging and in order to connect to your computer to transfer files. Finally, a light at the top of the device is said to only glow when you're playing high-res music. We're not in the business of making snap judgements after a short time with a potentially unfinished device but, naturally, we weren't going to leave without a listen. Retrieved 8 July Retrieved 14 March c net. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 25 March San Jose Mercury News. Gawker Media. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 March He'll have some competition.

Already, services like HDtracks. Retrieved 25 October Retrieved 18 October Home Theater. Digital Trends. Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 5 October Wired UK. Archived from the original on 2 November Retrieved 28 April Retrieved 18 December The Independent. Retrieved 8 February Retrieved 9 March Pono, Neil Young Kills Off His Digital Player". BLOOMBERG L. Archived from the original on March 17, Retrieved 17 March Archived from the original on 10 December The Echo Nest. Neil Young. Crazy Horse The Stray Gators Promise of the Real. Greendale Prairie Wind Living with War Chrome Dreams II Fork in the Road Le Noise Americana Psychedelic Pill A Letter Home Storytone The Monsanto Years Peace Trail The Visitor Colorado Barn World Record.

Eldorado The Times. Time Fades Away Rust Never Sleeps Live Rust Arc Weld Unplugged Year of the Horse Road Rock Vol. Journey Through the Past Where the Buffalo Roam Philadelphia Dead Man Paradox. Decade Lucky Thirteen Greatest Hits. The Archives Vol. Live at the Fillmore East Live at Massey Hall Sugar Mountain — Live at Canterbury House Live at the Riverboat Dreamin' Man Live '92 A Treasure Live at the Cellar Door Bluenote Café Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live Songs for Judy Tuscaloosa Return to Greendale Way Down in the Rust Bucket Young Shakespeare. Hitchhiker Paradox Homegrown Toast. Soul " " Broken Arrow " " Expecting to Fly " " Sugar Mountain " " The Loner " " I've Been Waiting for You " " The Old Laughing Lady " " Cinnamon Girl " " Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere " " Down by the River " " Cowgirl in the Sand " " Dance, Dance, Dance ".

Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream. Music digital distribution platforms. Digital library Music streaming service Digital music store Music download. com Amuse Audacy Bandcamp Beatport Bleep.

PonoPlayer is a portable music player created by Neil Young 's company, PonoMusic , as the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. In September , Neil Young appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman with a prototype PonoPlayer announcing his plans for the PonoMusic ecosystem. Early announcements named Meridian Audio as the development partner, but that changed in when Meridian was replaced by Ayre Acoustics. The PonoMusic store opened pre-orders for PonoPlayer at the start of , expecting them to ship within the month.

While designed for use with the FLAC format lossless audio sold by the PonoMusic online store , the device could play other common formats including Apple Lossless ALAC , uncompressed PCM WAV, AIFF , DSD DSD64 and DSD2 DSD , and the lossy formats AAC and MP3. Any operating system that supported USB mass-storage and the exFAT filesystem, could add or remove music from PonoPlayer. A micro USB 2. The device was based around the Texas Instruments OMAP SoC , [3] which included an ARM Cortex-A8 , MB of RAM , and ran a modified version of Android 2. It had 64 GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot that supported SDHC and SDXC cards up to GB. A 64 GB SDXC card was included with the player. The audio output circuitry was designed by engineers at Ayre Acoustics , [1] and featured an ESS Sabre32 ESK2M digital-to-analog converter DAC. The DAC accepted stereo PCM input up to kHz with samples of up to 32 bits per channel.

The PonoPlayer measured 13×5×2. The device weighed g. Leo Laporte gave the PonoPlayer a "buy" recommendation. He praised the sound quality, but noted that "synchronization is fairly slow, this is a USB 2. Stereophile awarded the PonoPlayer "Digital component of the year" in The PonoPlayer was otherwise largely panned as " snake oil " by audio and technology enthusiasts like Linus Sebastian who were critical of the player's design, components, and performance especially battery life for its price point compared to similarly priced smartphone devices already capable of high resolution FLAC playback. In April Young announced the end of the PonoPlayer, [12] blaming record companies for charging too much for high resolution formats. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Wikimedia Commons. PonoPlayer Pono Player from first release of Kickstarter Back Up. Retrieved 17 January Retrieved 16 January Last year, Pono announced that it had teamed up with high-end audio company Meridian to produce the player in recent months, Pono shifted its focus and actually switched hardware partners, replacing Meridian with Ayre, another high-end audio equipment maker. Rolling Stone. Retrieved ESS Technology. Archived from the original PDF on 7 August Retrieved 5 February Retrieved 10 October April 22, Retrieved October 11, February 15, Categories : Portable media players Touchscreen portable media players Audiovisual introductions in Digital audio players. Toggle limited content width. Pono Player from first release of Kickstarter Back Up. PonoMusic , Ayre Acoustics [1]. Digital media , Portable media player.

October Kickstarter backers , February everyone. Android 2. TI OMAP ARM Cortex-A8 ARMv7. microSD slot 64GB SDXC card included accepts SD, SDHC , and SDXC cards up to GB. ESS Sabre32 ESK2M DAC , TI OPA amplifier, Two 3. touchscreen , physical buttons. PonoMusic online store.

PonoPlayer review: A triangle in the rough,PonoPlayer

WebThe player device, called the PonoPlayer, was initially priced at $ and came with a maximum of GB of memory (64GB built-in plus 64GB on MicroSD card). The press WebGet the best deals on PonoPlayer MP3 Players when you shop the largest online selection at blogger.com Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable PonoPlayer is a portable music player created by Neil Young's company, PonoMusic, as the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. In September , Neil Young appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman with a prototype PonoPlayer announcing his plans for the PonoMusic ecosystem. Early See more WebMar 13,  · To manually update ponoplayer to Firmware version Download the file "pono_update" to any folder on your computer. You have to be able to see WebMay 5,  · - Connect the PonoPlayer and put a "pono_update" file on the /.pono/ directory - Craft a blogger.com file which is supposed to contain the current firmware ... read more

Guardian News and Media Limited. Editor's Note: The review has been updated with testing for Balanced Mode playback, and the score has increased from 6. Retrieved 17 March Given that the future of music is undoubtedly streaming and offline downloads --which may even come eventually in high-res -- it's a shame that these players are stuck so firmly in the past. Both can be used for headphones, and you can listen simultaneously with a pal should you so desire.

The PonoMusic store opened pre-orders for PonoPlayer at the ponoplayer ofexpecting them to ship within ponoplayer month. MORE: High-resolution music - everything you need to know. microSD slot 64GB SDXC card included accepts SD, ponoplayer, SDHCand SDXC cards up to GB. Retrieved 17 March ponoplayer Social Links Navigation. A Rolling Stone report on Pono relayed generally positive anticipation, but quoted musician Jim James as asking, ponoplayer, "I've already bought Aretha Franklin 's ' Respect ' a lot of times. Bass deepens and midrange detail improves markedly.