I have a Pono and have heard a Codex. I suspect the asr review is a case of confirmation bias.
Pono and the Ayre Codex
Hi everyone, a recent review over at Audio Science Review made me put a few things together.
The review from 4/11/2019 is here:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-ayre-codex-dac-amp.7282/
Couple of things I have to wonder about. First, what’s interesting to me is how close the distortion and output impedance measurements are to the Pono, measured by Stereophile here:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/pono-ponoplayer-portable-music-player-measurements
The ASR reviewer (amirm) unfortunately measured the Codex before listening to it. I say unfortunately because honestly to my ears the Pono was one of the best headphone amps / DACs I’ve ever heard. In particular, I’ve never heard my Shure E4s sound as good as they did with the Pono, so the Codex has always been kind of interesting to me, now that the Pono is gone. I never ended up buying a Pono for user interface and size issues, but I have always kind of wistfully remembered it. Instead I’ve gone with Fiio.
It is impossible to tell if Amirm would have come to the same conclusions about the quality of sound if he/she had listened first.
As it turns out I’ve kept my desktop setup cheap and used a Topping which is quite nice.. but I wonder now and then if my memory of the Pono was wrong, or whether Ayre would ever make another portable amp, like say a module for the Fiio portable.
Sorry, this is a bit of a ramble, especially since I’ve not heard the Codex, and my time with the Pono was years ago.
For those of you who have heard either or both, what are your thoughts??
The review from 4/11/2019 is here:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-ayre-codex-dac-amp.7282/
Couple of things I have to wonder about. First, what’s interesting to me is how close the distortion and output impedance measurements are to the Pono, measured by Stereophile here:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/pono-ponoplayer-portable-music-player-measurements
The ASR reviewer (amirm) unfortunately measured the Codex before listening to it. I say unfortunately because honestly to my ears the Pono was one of the best headphone amps / DACs I’ve ever heard. In particular, I’ve never heard my Shure E4s sound as good as they did with the Pono, so the Codex has always been kind of interesting to me, now that the Pono is gone. I never ended up buying a Pono for user interface and size issues, but I have always kind of wistfully remembered it. Instead I’ve gone with Fiio.
It is impossible to tell if Amirm would have come to the same conclusions about the quality of sound if he/she had listened first.
As it turns out I’ve kept my desktop setup cheap and used a Topping which is quite nice.. but I wonder now and then if my memory of the Pono was wrong, or whether Ayre would ever make another portable amp, like say a module for the Fiio portable.
Sorry, this is a bit of a ramble, especially since I’ve not heard the Codex, and my time with the Pono was years ago.
For those of you who have heard either or both, what are your thoughts??
Showing 3 responses by beetlemania
How close do you feel they are in sound quality??I’ve only heard the Pono with headphones and my short demo of a Codex was with speakers. But, if you like the SQ of the Pono it seems you would like the Codex at least as much. Supposed to be similar topology but with better power supply and parts quality. Ayre is not a company that will charge you more for the same or worse SQ as you move up the product line. https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/ayre-codex-dacheadphone-amplifier/ https://darko.audio/2015/01/ayre-acoustics-build-on-ponoplayer-with-codex-1-dacamp-at-ces-2015/ https://www.audiostream.com/content/ayre-acoustics-codex-usb-dac-headphone-amp-digital-preamp Also, Jim Smith has credible ears, IMO https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/15/152594.html |
Whatever the guy measured, he can continue measuring, and I will continue to listen from the codex.Measurements can be helpful to engineers as they design, revealing problematic behavior. Measurements in the audio magazines (tip of the hat to Stereophile) are most helpful for loudspeakers, but even there you still have to listen to know/experience the sound. Ya know, using actual human ears? And for electronics? I suppose you can discern how well an amp might drive difficult-load speakers but most measurements barely inform what the amp will sound like. Even less so for digital sources, |