[Levanter]

  I see a lot of criticism (not just here) about this device being 'too expensive', and I have a hard time seeing what thats based on. Compared to what exactly, is 300$ expensive for a 128gb DAP that plays hires music and comes with a top of the line DAC and (supposedly) quality audio components?
It is cheaper than any other hires DAP I know of. It is cheaper than iPod touch. 300$ is not exactly a lot of money for a high-quality audio device, let alone one that comes with 128gig memory and a touchscreen. 
 
I'm not trying to sound like a fanboy here but I just don't really understand the price as a point of criticism. In fact, I was very surprised to find out that this device is offered so CHEAP, for what it is/claims to be (a high-end audioplayer).
 
I'm still unsure whether I want one, but that is for other concerns (how user-friendly will the UI be, will it be good enough to connect to a proper hi-fi system, how good will the headphone-amp section be, why does the battery last so short and can't be replaced, is the shape too awkward to carry in pocket, will it really be as high-fidelity as it aims to be, do I really need a portable player when my phone does a fairly good job, and finally, will enough hires-worthy material be released through Pono store to make it useful).
 
All of the above are concerns seem reasonable, but writing it off for being too expensive I don't get that. 

 
I think most of the criticism here is based on their marketing hype/celeb usage.
I don't think the price is expensive... considering the DAC used and implemented with Ayre's help, the price is quite reasonable. Most of them are just pissed since they are not revealing the tech specs.
Would be nicer if they used a metal casing instead of plastic though

 

[PalJoey]

There are a lot of people who are sniping for the sake of sniping, and also in the hope that they can say "I told you so" if Pono fails.
 
A lot of the criticism seems to be based on either uninformed speculation from people who haven't even read the official FAQs or boring old inverted snobbery. The twin building blocks of the internet, in other words.
 
Until people are able to search and buy from the Pono Store, let alone use the final production version of the Pono Player, we won't know if this project has wings.

 

[Kendoji]

I think most people have been quite open to the possibility of the player being good. It certainly sounds promising.
 
The way I see it, the only thing that is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way is the way the PONO material solely emphasizes the importance of file resolution in music quality, outright stating that MP3 and even CD quality is vastly inferior to what the artist intended and somehow 'lacking in emotion'.  Pretty much everyone here who has experience with compressed, lossless and hi-res files will know that this is quite misleading.  
 
I do have high hopes for the player - would be great if it's really amazing.  And equally great if we get access to really well-mastered copies of our favourite albums on the PONO store. But I do hope they change their marketing language to something that comes across more honest and believable - as at the moment they're needlessly alienating a lot of people.

 

[Saraugie]

I see a lot of criticism (not just here) about this device being 'too expensive', and I have a hard time seeing what thats based on. Compared to what exactly, is 300$ expensive for a 128gb DAP that plays hires music and comes with a top of the line DAC and (supposedly) quality audio components?
It is cheaper than any other hires DAP I know of. It is cheaper than iPod touch. 300$ is not exactly a lot of money for a high-quality audio device, let alone one that comes with 128gig memory and a touchscreen. 

I'm not trying to sound like a fanboy here but I just don't really understand the price as a point of criticism. In fact, I was very surprised to find out that this device is offered so CHEAP, for what it is/claims to be (a high-end audioplayer).

I'm still unsure whether I want one, but that is for other concerns (how user-friendly will the UI be, will it be good enough to connect to a proper hi-fi system, how good will the headphone-amp section be, why does the battery last so short and can't be replaced, is the shape too awkward to carry in pocket, will it really be as high-fidelity as it aims to be, do I really need a portable player when my phone does a fairly good job, and finally, will enough hires-worthy material be released through Pono store to make it useful).

All of the above are concerns seem reasonable, but writing it off for being too expensive I don't get that. 

Thank you. I've held back writing what you've put down so well. People have a need to complain so logic takes a back seat when they do.

 

[miceblue]

I think most people have been quite open to the possibility of the player being good. It certainly sounds promising.

The way I see it, the only thing that is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way is the way the PONO material solely emphasizes the importance of file resolution in music quality, outright stating that MP3 and even CD quality is vastly inferior to what the artist intended and somehow 'lacking in emotion'.  Pretty much everyone here who has experience with compressed, lossless and hi-res files will know that this is quite misleading.  

I do have high hopes for the player - would be great if it's really amazing.  And equally great if we get access to really well-mastered copies of our favourite albums on the PONO store. But I do hope they change their marketing language to something that comes across more honest and believable - as at the moment they're needlessly alienating a lot of people.

I definitely agree.

I have no doubts the player itself will be great, and having high-quality, not up-sampled CD-quality, well mastered albums would be awesome, but their marketing just doesn't work for me at all.

 

[Koukol]

Well I ordered one.
My first foray into the DAP World.
 
I was invested in SACDs but it seems only Classic Rock gets the treatment so I'm hoping Pono will be different.

 

[DigitalFreak]

Speaking of misleading, I really have a bone to pick with this kind if advertising

 

[skamp]

Speaking of misleading, I really have a bone to pick with this kind if advertising

What? It's obviously moar betterer!

 

[Kendoji]

Yeah it's really a shame - definitely leaves a bad taste in the mouth.  
 
/goes back to listening to his pitiful Spotify stream

 

[miceblue]

Yeah.....don't fall for the trap like I did with HD Tracks. HD is better because it contains 23948716895761349851 times more information than a CD, right guys? Right...?

 

[Koukol]

I hope it's in Dubly!

 

[Replicant187]

well, Sony did similar thing with ZX1 and some of thier IEMs (i still don't know what 'hi-rez compatible' even mean) so that's the way it is. i'm pretty sure iBasso or Fiio would do the same if they had resources to do it.
 
 

 

[Achmedisdead]

I just listened to some Neil Young MP3s and M4As earlier.....average bitrate of them, according to foobar2000, is 260kbps.  Guess I am missing out on a lot of "information" 

 

 

[epithetless]

  I just listened to some Neil Young MP3s and M4As earlier.....average bitrate of them, according to foobar2000, is 260kbps.  Guess I am missing out on a lot of "information" 

 
It's true. In HD, you realize Neil Young is actually an orchestra and a choir.

 

[warth0g]

After watching the video on the Kickstarter page, it's hard NOT to be sold on Pono. The cream of the music industry, and lots of them, all saying the same thing - that it sounds completely revolutionary, that they'd never heard anything like it before.
 
But Neil Young himself admits that Pono is nothing new, it's just about getting hi-res music to a wider audience than before. Source is from this interview with him in Audiostream:
 
ML: People have commented on AudioStream things to the effect of I can already buy HD downloads from a number sites and play them through my DAC. So what's the new thing with Pono?
NY: There's nothing, there's nothing new. There is no new thing. It's just available. It's available to everybody.
 
So it's not radically better than existing solutions from Fiio, iBasso, even Sony - it's just got more marketing behind it. That's OK I guess - but it does suggest that all of those people on the video were less than truthful - you're telling me that Springsteen, Elton John, Beck etc etc have never heard hi-res music played on an high-end system before?