Pono 2.0 In Preliminary Design Stage
We’re only weeks away from the first delivery of the Pono 1.0 players and the folks behind the effort are already talking about its successor. That might seem a little premature but planning for the next version of the device will begin shortly according to the developers and Charles Hansen of Ayre, the genius behind the existing hardware. The Pono 2.0 models are expected sometime late in 2015 or early 2016. What would prompt Pono to start thinking about their next design when they haven’t even delivered their first model?
Because every one of the roughly 15,000 Pono players that supporters of the Kickstarter campaign have pre-ordered will be obsolete when they receive them. The question was asked, “what benefits will the Pono players offer over Smartphones that have tremendous audio capabilities AND all of the capabilities of a handheld media device?”
Did you see the new Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus this morning? No, they didn’t announce that the new phones will be “high-resolution” capable nor do they sport stereo speakers like the HTC M8 Harman Kardon Edition phone offered by Sprint, but the inclusion of WiFi, better battery power and the anticipation of Beats headphones resolving HD-Audio locally means that the world of HD-Audio is just over the hill for Apple. And Pono knows it.
I listened as Charles Hansen of Ayre described the ecosystem that is beginning to emerge in the world of portable high fidelity playback devices. He and the head of technology considered making the first generation phone communicate via Bluetooth or WiFi with an iOS or Android phone. The Pono hardware would play the role of “high fidelity external DAC and storage device”, a small music server under the control of a remote touch screen of some type. The strategy would require you to carry two devices around with you instead of just one. I don’t really see that working as a long-term strategy.
While the screens of the next generation of Smartphones are getting bigger by the day (the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screens are 4.7 and 5.5 inches from corner to corner), what matters to me is increased audio fidelity, wireless communication improvements, longer battery life, and the extra on board memory…all things that will open up the devices to compete directly with Astell & Kern, Pono, and the rest of the “do one thing devices” being offered to audiophiles.
That’s why the question was asked. What are the people at Pono going to do about the fact that their device doesn’t offer anything substantially better than a good Smartphone. The Apple iPhone 6, their top of the line revolutionary new phone, with 128 GB of storage will cost $499. Who would spend $1200 or $400 on a one trick pono…pony? I certainly won’t.
Pono would be smarter to focus on the other end of the music pipeline. The Ayre-designed Pono player is not going to be capable of delivering “the soul of music” as promised in the materials provided by the company, if the sources for the digital files offered at 192 kHz/24-bit FLAC files come from ripped CDs…as seems to be the case with Omnifone on board. Neil says that the “soul” is only available at 192 kHz/24-bits, remember. The fidelity of CDs is likened to being submerged 200 feet below the surface among the dolphins. Here’s the diagram the Pono used to help make its case for the KS campaign.
Figure 1 – One of the graphics used to sell the Pono player during their KS campaign. Notice where CDs are ranked. [Click to enlarge]
With Omnifone readying their 35 million “High-Resolution” CD rips for the Ponomusic store, I’m not sure I’m ready to buy into the Pono equity campaign that has been extended to the end of the month. There is no way to make a Redbook CD into a 192 kHz/24-bit FLAC file and improve its fidelity. The file will be a whole lot bigger but the fidelity will still be CD quality.
I think Neil Young and his Pono initiative should focus on getting his artist friends and the labels to issue better versions of the music in the first place…or design Pono 2.0 as a high-end streaming service like Tidal.
I agree with you, Dr. Mark. HD audio is and will be great. But with all the snake-oil sales-pitches showing up, I cannot help but think that there is an equal part incentive to simply re-sell the old catalogue/files all over again.
B
Downloaded your sampler of hi-rez audio and thoroughly enjoyed the music. Sony’s latest smartphone was just announced (Xperia Z3) with hi-rez capabilities and a supposed 2 day battery life. Sounds interesting.
I will have to check it out…thanks for the heads up.
You do realize that CD only offer the highest bitrate of 44.1k/16-bit right? Getting 192k/24-bit out of a CD is not possible, and Pono is not claiming that it is.
Correct…the Redbook specification for CD describes format as 44.1 kHz/16-bit PCM in stereo. Pono and Neil Young have proclaimed 192 kHz/24-bits as the necessary spec for “rediscover the soul of music”. If they are going to offer things at that level and are starting with CD resolution then they will have to offer standard CD quality, which means abandoning the 192 kHz/24-bit requirement or upconvert the CDs to the higher spec, which as you say is a challenge.
I’ve gotta call you on this one.
$499 for a 128 GB iPhone 6!??? Even though I’m not an Apple fan, if you’re selling at that price I’m in. My carrier, T Mobile, wants $849. A little steep for me.
I have to admit I’m disappointed in you. For someone who constantly preaches about honesty in reporting cost/performance data, you’ve gotten sucked into the old “free phone” scam pretty easily. Obviously that $499 price is with a contract, the true cost hidden in monthly payments.
I also looked at the Sprint site to check the cost of the HTC Harman Kardon – $680 – not chump change either.
At this time I’ll have to take your word on M8 HK’s audio performance. The only reviews I could find were on “phone geek” sites and none of them even addressed the hi-res capabilities, other than to mention the pre-loaded files. Consensus seemed to be the sound quality was no better/worse than other top-of-the-line phones although there were comments, both pro and con, on the built-in audio processing options. What I’d want to see is a full audio-oriented review of the HTC, with comparisons to the established hi-res players out there and using a variety of headphones. All you’ve really said is that it successfully plays hi-res files and sounds good. I’m not saying it doesn’t perform, just that it deserves further study before it’s taken seriously as an audiophile music player.
Then a side point… I’ve loaded some of your 69/24 FLAC sample files onto my $400 (full cost) LG Nexus 5 smartphone and they play fine. (In fact, my 4 year old Samsung Galaxy S plays them too.) Does that make it a hi-res player? Obviously not. I have no idea what happens between the reading of the raw bits and the headphone output. I do know it does not sound anywhere near as good as my desktop streamer/DAC/amp. With my 300 ohm headphones, while it can generate adequate volume, music sounds all wrong – I wouldn’t expect otherwise. But with good quality low impedance phones the Nexus sounds pretty darn good – excellent in fact when sitting in an airport or walking down a busy street. Of course, in those situations it would be highly unlikely that I could identify differences between 96/24 and 320 MP3.
That said, I’m fully on board with your dream of having everything I need to listen to the highest quality music, in the highest fidelity, on any of my headphones , all right in my pocket at all times (and definitely not Pono.) I could get rid of my awkward desktop equipment. Play or stream anything. Anytime. Wherever I am. Wow! I just might pop $1000 for that. And get a nice phone to boot.
Oh, and why is the guy in the Pono graphic at the 192 K level drowning. Everybody else seems to be doing fine. He’s waving for a life guard. Is 192 K bad? You’ve repeatedly said that 96 K is more than adequate for listening. Just bring your snorkel. Evidently only angels can hear the glories of 384. And dolphins prefer CD.
That’s what it would cost if you walked into the Apple store, purchased the phone and a service agreement. Right. I understand the contract is part of the incentive get you purchase the new phone…but that is still the cost of getting the new phone if you do.
I’m hoping to get some hard specs on the HTC M8 HKE Phone…stay tuned.
Any phone that can natively play a 96 kHz/24-bit soundfile qualifies as a High-resolution playback device. Then you have to figure out whether the components (DAC chip, headphone amp and headphones) are worthy. I played a lot of my files on the phone into a set of PM-1 Oppo phones and into a set of JBL M2 Studio Reference monitors and it sounded amazing.
I believe Apple is going to enter the HD audio with the iPods and Beats tied togheter as a way to keep the device up to date and to make the consumer willing to buy it , since at this point with all the smartphones doing basically the same that an iPod does and much more , it is not probable you are going to spend your money on an iPod unless it has new features as HD playback capablities.
More of a question . I own 2 Ayre QB9 DACs. They are superior to cheaper DACs, I have owned. I believe Charles Hanson is the force behind Ayre. An Ayre claim to fame is a proprietary processor & other features. Does the Pono player offer this? I agree the source material is very important, but how important is processing? A Meridian CD player can sound impressive.
I can’t really say what the inner workings of the Pono player will be. I was frankly very surprised to hear that they were planning 2.0 version. I had thought that the KS initiative was just a catalyst to get them the money to launch the download service. I know that the unit I heard in Chicago was built by Meridian and sounded really great. I’m very confident that Charles can play in that league. But we’re still talking about a portable device with limited power etc. It will have to be dramatically better than the other portable devices to get any traction. They’ve pre-sold 15,000 or the 1.0 version…I don’t see them being a hardware company.