LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HARMAN, the premium global audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation group (NYSE:HAR), and Pono Music shared with attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas their vision for offering the highest quality music to the automobile market. Legendary recording artist Neil Young and HARMAN Chairman and CEO Dinesh Paliwal discussed solutions to offer the PonoMusic catalog and supreme, lossless HD quality playback in vehicles.
“We are excited to collaborate with Mr. Young and the team at Pono Music to expand their reach into the car and let people hear music as the artist intended, a mission of ours at HARMAN,” said Dinesh Paliwal, Chairman and CEO, HARMAN. “HARMAN is a company of musicians and engineers bonded together through our legacy of innovations developed with one goal – to make music sound amazing from the studio to the stage to the street and the car. By joining forces with Pono, we will leverage our collective talents and assets to deliver the best in audio to those who love music as much as we do.”
On display at CES is HARMAN’s new Harman Kardon® Omni HD-enabled multi-room wireless speaker system, launched in Europe this fall and set to ship in the U.S. in January 2015. Last year at CES, HARMAN revealed a software-based solution called Clari-FiTM to enhance digitally compressed music. This HARMAN technology today can be found in a variety of automobiles, consumer electronics and mobile devices, including the LexusTM NX, Hyundai ASLAN, JBL® Authentics and the HTC One® (M8) Harman Kardon edition smartphone. Also announced at CES, Clari-Fi has been ported to the Cirrus Logic Smart Codec platform.
“The PonoPlayer is not for audiophiles, it’s for music lovers, who come in all shapes and sizes. We want all of them to feel the power of true HD quality sound,” said Neil Young. “Our collaboration with HARMAN, the leader in branded car audio, is an exciting step forward in our journey to bring HD-quality music to people wherever they want to listen to it. As the company that brought us Studer, Soundcraft and Mark Levinson, HARMAN is the ideal partner for us.”
“Music is about the feeling you get when you listen to it. Up to 90 percent of a song’s nuances are lost in the digital compression process,” added Young. “I speak for many songwriters, performers, producers, engineers and fans, including myself, when I say, we all deserve better.”
About HARMAN
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson ® and Revel®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 16,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.6 billion for the 12 months ended September 30, 2014. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.
About Pono Music
PonoMusic (www.ponomusic.com) was founded in 2012 by Neil Young, the legendary musician who has been on a quest to revive the magic that has been squeezed out of digital music due to the popularity of compressed formats. Today you no longer have to choose between quality and convenience when listening to music – you can have both with PonoMusic.
PonoMusic is the world’s first end-to-end high-resolution music ecosystem, including the highly anticipated hi-res online music store officially launching at CES, the highly acclaimed and magical PonoPlayer, and the PonoMusic World desktop software used to purchase, download, and manage your music. The PonoPlayer is available for preorders now on PonoMusic.com, and is on sale at a number of high-end audio and record stores throughout the United States (http://retail.ponomusic.com). PonoMusic is also proud to announce that the PonoPlayer will soon be on sale at Fry’s Electronics and other high-end retail chains.
HARMAN at CES 2015
The HARMAN showcase during CES 2015 offers demonstrations of the company’s full portfolio of infotainment and lifestyle audio systems that enable the connected life. The HARMAN showcase is located at the Hard Rock Hotel. Follow HARMAN online during CES 2015:
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