Skip to main content

Neil Young’s high-fidelity music player to sell for $400, hits Kickstarter Saturday

Neil Young had audiophiles’ ears twitching with unbridled excitement a couple of years ago when he first spoke of plans for a high-fidelity music player, a machine which he claimed would be capable of reproducing audio close to the originally recorded sound. While news about project Pono has been a bit thin on the ground since then, it appears Neil and his team have actually been rather busy.

On Sunday it was revealed that the musician and his beloved PonoPlayer are set to appear at a special SXSW event this week, with the singer-songwriter offering details of an accompanying music service as well as a Kickstarter campaign to help get project Pono off the ground.

Recommended Videos

When the PonoPlayer eventually launches (no, we still don’t know when that might be), we’re told it’ll come with a hefty $400 price tag. However, pre-order through Kickstarter from this weekend and you’ll reportedly save yourself a few bucks.

We don’t know a great deal about the machine’s specs at this stage, though the Pono team has revealed it’ll launch with 128GB of storage, expandable via the device’s memory-card slot.

Content can be downloaded from the PonoMusic online store, though there’s no word yet on track pricing. According to Young, the major record labels have committed to digitizing their music catalogs for the Pono device, so the range of content should be pretty decent from the get-go.

‘Music the way artists recorded it’

The Toblerone-shaped PonoPlayer, which is being built in collaboration with US hardware company Ayre Acoustics, has been designed to allow music fans to experience “studio master-quality digital music….the way the artist recorded it,” PonoMusic CEO John Hamm said in a release that surfaced over the weekend.

Neil Young first talked of Pono back in early 2012, claiming at the time that MP3s only offer listeners a measly 5 per cent of the original sound produced during the studio recording, with CDs hardly any better, offering just 15 per cent of the true sound.

“The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn’t have to make that choice,” the Canadian musician said.

Late last year, Young, famous for tracks such as Heart of Gold and Helpless, wrote on Facebook: “Hearing Pono for the first time is like that first blast of daylight when you leave a movie theater on a sun-filled day.”

That may be so, but we assume you’ll need a pretty decent set of headphones – as well as a finely tuned pair of ears – to let Pono’s music really shine.

[Source: Computer Audiophile / Guardian]

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Still shopping? Amazon Prime Day deals going strong into day 4
We're bringing you the best Prime Day deals throughout the sales period
Best Prime Day Gift Card Deals

It’s the fourth and final day of the longest ever Amazon Prime Day event, and if you thought the best deals were behind us, think again. Amazon’s stretching this year’s event across four full days (July 8 -11 ) which means price drops are still rolling in hot, with fresh discounts landing on everything from big-name tech to everyday essentials.

There have been stellar savings so far, with the AirPods Pro 2 heading down to $149 as the best saving we've seen.

Read more
Our ‘best TV’ is on sale for Prime Day — 65-inch Sony A95L QD-OLED at 17% off
Sony A95L QD-OLED Review

TVs are among the most popular products to buy during Amazon's Prime Day, and if you're planning to get one, make it the 65-inch Sony A95L QD-OLED 4K TV. From its original price of $3,500, it's 17% off to $2,898, which is just several dollars higher than its lowest price ever. Even with the savings of $602, it's still a pretty significant investment, but it's a purchase that you'll never regret if you want an upgrade to your home theater setup. You're going to have to be quick in completing your transaction though, as we're not sure if the offer will remain available until the final minutes of the shopping event.

Buy Now

Read more
The Beats Pill — our favorite Bluetooth speaker — at lowest price for Prime Day
The 2024 model of Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker on a table near a pool.

Are you planning to shop for Bluetooth speaker deals this Prime Day? You're should go for the Beats Pill, which is again available for its lowest-ever price of $98 from Amazon for the shopping event. The 35% discount on its original price of $150 will let you save $52, but you have to act fast. That's because we're pretty sure that stocks are already flying off the shelves for this amazing audio accessory, so before they're all gone, secure your own by pushing forward with your purchase immediately.

Buy Now

Read more