On Tuesday, Neil Young is set to unveil his long-gestating high-quality digital music player Pono at SXSW. But before he introduces it to the public, details have been announced. The device, called PonoPlayer, will reportedly cost $399 and come with 128GB of memory. They'll start taking discounted pre-orders on March 15 via Kickstarter.

The press release (via Computer Audiophile) notes that the PonoPlayer, developed in collaboration with Ayre Acoustics, can store "about 100-500 high-resolution digital-music albums, depending on the resolution and length of the original recording." For those of you who speak audiophile, it's reportedly made with zero-feedback circuitry and a digital filter that stops "unnatural pre-ringing". Memory cards will be available for storing and playing additional collections of music.

PonoMusic is the device's accompanying desktop-based "media management" system, which allows customers to download and sync music to player. They'll reportedly offer "the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music from both major labels and prominent independent labels". Their online store will also offer "PonoMusic recommended earbud and headphone products".

Though details are currently limited, people have shared their skepticism about the early numbers. For example, commenters on Computer Audiophile have voiced concern about file size and compression considering the storage capacity.

In his book Waging Heavy Peace, Young talked about the early days of Pono (when he called it "PureTone"), saying, "An MP3 has about five percent of the data that can be found in a PureTone master file." More recently, he wrote, "Hearing Pono for the first time is like that first blast of daylight when you leave a movie theatre on a sun-filled day."

Update: An earlier version of this story indicated that Pono could store 1000-2000 albums. This has been corrected.