WOW! That's crazy! That thing is nearly $600! That's more than e.g. an iPhone itself!...
This is why I love FiiO. It's hard to look at anything else nor did I before them. Nothing is worth more than the prices FiiO charges and until "higher fidelity gear" with similar functionality can be figured out to be made more cost-efficient, their existence is meaningless unless price isn't a factor, which regardless of someone's financial situation I think it should be. It's as pointless in my opinion as buying a Bugatti to drive it to the grocery store, or anywhere really, unless it's for the enjoyment of having the piece of technical art itself. Considering here we're talking about function, FiiO has it right and I disagree with the notion some people are suggesting for FiiO to release products in more expensive ranges to compete with the most expensive things which can be found essentially. FiiO is ALREADY competing with what they do with everything and anything else available. What they're doing in the current marketplace is beyond what anyone seemed to have been willing to do for so long (from when things started moving away from full-sized cans in the 80's to now - Apple earbuds) and that alone is real innovation, not to mention a realistically long awaited effort. When it comes to engineering/design creativity, it defeats the purpose when you're not objective about the value behind the ideas and their practicality.
In short, yes, I agree with the quoted statement
It's really discomforting; there's no reason that thing should cost even a small fraction of what it does! Oh no, digital out from an iPod! That's great and all but insane, especially compared to the appropriate $10 for a FiiO L11. I'd say even the cheapest computer motherboard has a more complicated circuit board and has much more expensive components than "Cypher Labs Algorythm Solo". Shouldn't this be an apparent relative fact to realize from the beginning?.. :/
Waiting for it 
