I just received mine tonight! Pretty excited to give it a go. I must admit that half the thrill of the thing to begin with is contributing to the Kickstarter campaign and actually getting something physical in return (it's the first crowd-funded 'product' I've actually received!)
First impressions
The packaging caught me off guard. It's impressive, immaculate, and so well done!
I plugged the player in to charge a bit while I fiddled with the Pono World jriver software... and fiddling it required, since it decided to choke a bit on the iTunes imported files I had. Tags were all over the place, and generally not good. Probably my fault, but I'll blame it on Apple and iTunes, haha.
Build quality on the player is good. The casing on the signature edition is very nice. The plastic end caps are fair. Overall, it definitely looks and feels like a first edition. Better than the cheap stuff out there, but short of an iPod, or modern mobile phones. The interface is a little chintzy, but again, it's the first for the company. The touchscreen seems to work pretty well, though my fat fingers (are they even really that fat? Come on...) may have some mis-clicks in the future, methinks. The OS isn't that fast, but neither is it too clunky... kinda reminds me of Sansas.
After transferring some files, I loaded up my usual test tracks: Jonsi's "Go", Explosions in the Sky's "The Earth is not a Dead Cold Place" and "Take Care, Take Care, Take Care". They sounded pretty good on my RS1i's. Instrument separation is excellent, bass is what I'd expect. Mids to me are a little light to my ears. I'll give it a while before I really give it some analysis, but first impressions are good.
Will it be a replacement for my at-home listening rig? Not a chance. Is it the best portable player I have? So far, I'd say so.
Good or bad, I'm glad I am a part of it!