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# Neil Young’s PonoPlayer: “The Emperor Has No Clothes,” says Top Tech Reviewer David Pogue
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/neil-youngs-ponoplayer-the-emperor-has-no-clothes-says-top-tech-reviewer-david-pogue/
- Published: 2015-02-02T12:27:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-02-02T12:27:00.000Z
- Description: "The argument for the Pono Player sure is appealing – that we don’t know what we’ve been missing in our music," wrote David Pogue for Yahoo! Tech about Neil Young's $400 hi-def. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/02/neil-youngs-ponoplayer-the-emperor-has-no-clothes-says-top-tech-
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Music Business, Music Tech, Streaming, 3D modeling, 3D scanner, Acts of the Apostles, Apple Inc., David Pogue, music industry, Neil Young, Taylor Swift, Yahoo! Tech, YouTube, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28

[![pono](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d0cd63c6970c-150wi "pono")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d0cd63c6970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

"The argument for the Pono Player sure is appealing – that we don’t know what we’ve been missing in our music," wrote David Pogue for [Yahoo! Tech](https://www.yahoo.com/tech/it-was-one-of-kickstarters-most-successful-109496883039.html?curator=MusicREDEF&ref=hypebot.com) about Neil Young's $400 hi-def music player and $25 album downloads. "Unfortunately, it isn’t true."

"I’m 51 and a former professional musician," he continues. "I know how to listen. But when I bought Pono’s expensive remastered songs and compared them with the identical songs on my phone, I couldn’t hear any difference whatsoever."

Pogue's then blind tested 15 people of varying ages. On average, participants preferred their iPod and said that when they heard any difference, it was only about 10%. Here is the test:

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