I agree the Wave evolved into something which was much more sophisticated than it was originally intended to be, and the intention which drove it was good as well.
It will certainly be viewed positively by those whom are willing and able to wait for the delay in delivery.
But that's the problem. Some people aren't willing and able to wait. Most people in fact, I'd wager. Where LHL went awry was assuming that people only cared about the quality of the finished product. That it would speak for itself and be the sole qualifier of a successful campaign.
But they got it wrong. They failed to understand the audiophile market and the state of mind of a large part of their customer base.
This is an industry where, whether right or wrong, 'turnover' rates are high. I myself have used many different DAPs over the past 1.5 years since the Wave campaign kicked off. It's a hobby where people like to try things. To experiment. To do A/B comparisons. It's certainly irrational and unhealthy from a financial standpoint, but it's just the way it is. Such is the nature of the hobby. And portable source components in general are where the 'turnover' rates are highest in recent times. You can see the classic HD6X0 headphone series continuing on strongly even a decade after it first became popular. With amps it's not quite long, but certainly still considerably longer than DAPs. The AK100II which was all the rage about a year ago has become outdated by now. Better options for less money. More premium options available as well. The market has never been more saturated, and consequently the depreciation in price is also steep. The Wave looked fantastic a year and a half back. But look at the hottest new DAP right now. The Onkyo DP-X1. Tons of features comparable to the Wave. And anyone can get a set pretty easily for a cost much less than a fully loaded Wave. With almost immediate effect.
The Pulse campaigns were poorly handled but the Wave will eventually be the catastrophe that will seal the proverbial nail in the coffin for LHL. I'm sorry but there's just no other way about it, unless they can deliver a DAP which is so far ahead in sound quality that no alternatives that sound as good surface for the next 2 years.
If that is not impossible enough, given the trajectory of the portable source market, consider UI, reliability, customer service. Larry has already publicly confirmed that the UI is holding the whole project up. The reliability of the Pulse doesn't bode well for the Wave campaign either. Granted, the crowdfunding and open aspect of the Pulse campaign probably saw reliability issues becoming more publicized than usual, but if you look carefully there are plenty of indicators that reliability, crowdfunding or not, is indeed a huge problem for LHL. And when you throw in the incredible number of iterations of the Wave, its almost a dead certainty that QC will become very difficult. And the same goes for customer service.
Think about it. Every single additional day the Wave is delayed by, a new product hits the market. One which is better than the previous. And each day, the standards by which the Wave will be judged upon rises even higher.
The fact of the matter is that 'great sounding' is no longer good enough. People often have short memories especially when it comes to unpleasant experiences. LHL built up expectations, generated huge amounts of hype, and underdelivered spectacularly. People remember the false promises. The empty perks. The double standards. They will not forget. Their empty hands and the hole in their wallet.
I know this is incredibly harsh but we don't need the Wave project to come to fruition to tell that it already qualifies as an utter failure.
