Skip to main content

Neil Young’s Pono and Harman to bring sweet, hi-res music to the 2016 Lincoln Continental

2002 Lincoln Continental Concept
2002 Lincoln Continental Concept Image used with permission by copyright holder
Tired of the low quality of your car’s stock sound system? Well, you might not be for long, as Neil Young revealed during a CNBC interview that his Pono high-res audio player, with the help of Harman, will be coming to the forthcoming, and before-unannounced 2016 Lincoln Continental and future Tesla models.

This is big news … and not just because we hadn’t yet heard of the ’16 Continental.

Recommended Videos

Harman has been working to create eerily quiet cabins by installing its sound-cancelling technology into cars. With this revelation, we now know it’s working to do more than alleviate road-caused white noise. It also wants to fill your cabin with high-def music as well.

As a car guy, I don’t know much about Pono or high-def audio. So rather than fake the funk, let me have Ryan Waniata from the Digital Trends Home Theater section explain its significance.

PonoPlayer Scale Coffee
Pono player Image used with permission by copyright holder

For those unfamiliar, the PonoPlayer is Neil Young’s pyramid-shaped, high-resolution portable music player that has only recently made its way from myth to reality after earning an astonishing $6 million and change on Kickstarter. The player incorporates premium audio components, and high resolution audio files called FLAC files, which offer digital resolution far above CD-quality sound.

Perhaps most interesting, though, is the idea that the PonoPlayer’s hi-res music will go hand in hand with Harman’s noise cancelling tech, not only giving users a silent ride, but a cabin that is specifically enhanced to allow the driver to enjoy the precise detail and greater dynamic range afforded by hi-res music. We can only hope the rest of the system components will be up to snuff as well.

While we’re simply speculating at this point, we can imagine that Harman will install Pono’s high-def audio hardware into its in-car sound systems. Together with onboard LTE Wi-Fi, we can imagine owners will also be able to download tracks from the Pono music store directly to their car.

We’ll be sure to stay on top of this story, so check back soon for more details.

Nick Jaynes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick Jaynes is the Automotive Editor for Digital Trends. He developed a passion for writing about cars working his way…
Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2025 Awards
Top Tech of CES

Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers.

That means CES, the year’s biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year’s crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We’re in heaven.

Read more
Sony and Honda’s Afeela 1 EV makes more sense at CES than in the real world
Afeela 1 front quarter view.

The Sony car is almost here. After its creation via a joint venture with Honda in 2022 and two years’ worth of prototypes, the electronics giant’s Afeela brand is finally taking reservations for its first electric vehicle, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.

But will it be worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility brought updated prototypes of the Afeela 1 (as it’s now officially known) to CES 2025, representing what California customers (Afeela is only taking reservations in that state) who put down a $200 refundable deposit can expect when they take delivery.

Read more
Bose wants to dominate car audio, and I heard its next-gen 3D automotive speakers
Bose logo on a speaker grille

Bose’s automotive audio business is huge, and it’s set to get even bigger. The company has been making big plays in car audio for some time now. The audio company works with premium brands like Porsche, building high-end speakers that allow drivers to experience high-quality audio on the road, whether they’re carting the family around in an Escalade or weaving around the highway (don’t do that) in a Porsche Macan.

But while it has a solid selection of audio brands under its belt, the world of personal audio is also evolving. Mercedes-Benz showed off its Dolby Atmos system at CES last year, and now, a year later, plenty of other brands are joining the trend. At CES 2025, Bose walked me through its current lineup of automotive audio products, as well as a sneak peek of what’s to come.
Immersive audio
The big trend in all areas of personal audio right now essentially boils down to supporting 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos. Consumer home theater products are increasingly offering up-firing and side-firing speakers that can bounce audio around the room to simulate height and surround effects, while headphone brands are increasingly developing spatialized audio tech that can convert stereo audio into simulated spatial audio.

Read more