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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??
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,122 posts
 
It is also possible that Amirm is doing something I’m a little afraid I am doing.


He’s training his ears with his scope.


I’m much more sensitive to, and more accurate, than other audiophiles, when it comes to frequency response aberrations. This has to do with me using a measuring microphone as much as I have. Kind of like how working at a sandwich shop you end up learning to weigh exactly what 2 ounces of meat feels like. Use the scale enough times and you’ll be dead on.


It may also be that having Parasound and Class D amps I've trained my ear out of distortion which Pass and fanatics love. Maybe this is why my taste in amps and my utter dislike for Pass comes from. Ear/brain training.
yage
400 posts
 
I think the Pono and Codex have similar 'guts'. They sounded pretty much indistinguishable when I had a chance to listen back-to-back.

Having said that, when I had the opportunity to compare the Codex to the C-5xeMP and the QB-9 DSD, both of which I still own, I thought the Codex wasn't quite as good. It was less resolving and sounded a touch more forward vs. the older sources.
erik_squires OP
16,122 posts
 
@yage


The thing I loved about the Pono was how it handled my Shure E4 in-ear monitors.


It was really pretty eye opening. Not an experience I've heard repeated.


Have you found something similar in the Codex or Pono for you?
beetlemania
834 posts
 
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
yage
400 posts
 
I think when I first listened to the Codex with a pair of HD 600's in balanced mode can be counted as a highlight. I certainly felt that the Pono didn't give up much ground vs. the Codex in overall enjoyment, though it's much more portable.
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