i'm not an audiophile but I do like listening to music.

I have a pair of relatively good earbuds (Klipsch) and a pair of Sony over the ear headphones.

whether its basic conditioning of my ear due to listening to average fidelity music or simply because of age, the only time I can tell a difference in fidelity is if the difference is a FLAC ripped from a CD to a 192Hz MP3. Even then the difference seems more placebo and just the inflexibility of my tastes.

Since most of new music is simply made on digital equipment that has different and in many cases lower fidelity than equipment used in the 70's - 90's, the difference just isn't going to be noticeable.

In 15 - 20 years, there will be a greater need for recordings in higher fidelity because the recording equipment will be much better than today, but the Pono seems that it will be more hype than a must-have product.