Neil Young’s PonoPlayer is a pocket high-res audio Toblerone

You can listen to music on Toblerones now?
Quite possibly. We haven’t had the pleasure of munching away on a duty free slab of Swiss chocolate for a while now, but either way, you’re off the mark. This is music legend Neil Young’s weapon in the crusade against low quality audio: the PonoPlayer.

So… it’s an iPod?
It’s a dedicated music player, yes, but unlike the iPod (or smartphones for that matter), it’s designed to provide studio-quality music at the highest fidelity possible.

So it’ll make my music sound better?
Not quite. It’s designed to work with the upcoming PonoMusic service which will let users download Hi-Res albums from both major and independent labels. Your standard mp3s and headphones will still – in the words of many an audiophile – sound like tinny garbage.

READ MORE: Neil Young shows off Pono audiophile music player

But I’m perfectly happy listening to Avicii on my Dr Dre ear goggles…
And you’re exactly the type of person Mr Young is hoping to convert. Once your ears see (well, hear) the light then you’ll be so blown away that you’ll never touch a dirty MP3 file ever again.

Sounds… expensive. And heavy on memory
You do pay for quality with larger file sizes, but the 128GB Pono will store between 100-500 albums of hi-res music, and it’s got expandable storage for even more flexibility.

As for the price? US$400 (£240) on Kickstarter. Not exactly cheap then, but once you’ve tasted the sweet highs and deep, beautifully balanced bass drops of a high-res album, your ears won’t want to go back. The project will launch later this week.

READ MORE: Why you should be pumped about (and just a little bit sceptical of) Hi-Res Audio

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