I posted this little review back in January, via Twitter (hence the short sentences) -
The @pono player is a high quality player for all your audio files. Hooked up to your stereo or with good headphones, it sounds great.
The interface of the @pono player is rudimentary and jumpy, but it gets the job done. The desktop software, I find non-intuitive and frustrating.
Due to its excellent DAC and output section, lossless rips from CDs sound fantastic on the @pono player. Even lower bitrate files sing
I can -maybe- tell the difference between CD-quality and 24bit/96KHz on the @pono, on very good headphones, but it’s extremely minor.
Don’t waste your money on 192KHz versions for the @pono player; they won’t sound any different than 96KHz or 88KHz versions.
The pricing on the @pono store (and other hi-rez stores) is completely nuts. Just buy the CD and rip it to lossless format.
I don't mind the odd shape. But you can’t really put the @pono in a pocket without constantly pushing the buttons unintentionally.
For people with large collections, it's rather inconvenient that the @pono software doesn’t manage the internal memory and SD card in a unified way. It's all manual. (I realize this may be due to limitations of how the Pono handles multiple removable volumes, but there are ways to deal with this.)
I bought the @pono as a high quality player/decoder for my lossless music collection. It delivers that, so I’m happy.
The rest of the @pono 'hi-rez is better' pitch is largely marketing hype.
Happily, you don’t need the @pono overpriced-but-sound-the-same, hi-rez files to get fabulous sound. Get 16-bit/44KHz and be happy.
