Yeah, like kleinbl00 was saying, this article is riddled with factual inaccuracies, and I found it frustrating to read.

This whole talk about how the mainstream formats aren't high definition enough is just a bunch of bullshit anyway. Like he almost mentions, humans can't hear anything above 20kHz, meaning we only need to sample at 40kHz (Shannon-Nyquist). For good measure, we sample at 44.1kHz. This has been done since the 80s. For bit depth, 16-bits is more than enough, at least for a mixed and mastered result. Anything higher is a waste of space and computing power. This discussion should have ended years ago, but I'm sure it never will. In this domain, the PONO offers nothing useful, even my phone supports FLAC now, even if it's excessive.

However, when it comes to DACs (digital to analog converters), there is still potential for improvement, and I'm sure the PONO performs fabulously in that department. I can't help but wonder, though, how much difference that makes in an environment where a portable music player will be used? I think my phone sounds pretty good, and even if it had a much better DAC, how much difference would that really make in a situation as noisy as where I usually listen to portable music? Either I'm walking, and the audio cable bumps/scratches noisily on my jacket, or I'm sitting on a loud ass bus. Neither situation is ideal for getting the most out of your precious DAC.

Frankly I think audio technology has gotten so good, fidelity wankery like the PONO is just a way for people to feel superior over us "poor scrubs" who use phones for our music. 5 hour battery life? Give me a break.