Pono

[Randy Myers]

I know it is not actually marketed specifically as an Ayre product, however they do promote Ayre all over the Pono site. They also specifically say powered by Ayre every time the unit is turned on, sooooo....

Excellent portable player. I feel one fine sounding portable, especially since Ayre choose to put the Sabre ES9018 (latest greatest) DAC chip in it. I believe this is the only "portable" music player on the market using this fantastic DAC!

The only change I would make is the power mechanism; holding down the "O" key for 5 secs to turn on or shutdown/sleep is a little bit of a pain. I think loading music is a tad slow, although the normal Windows copy files function is very acceptable. Being USB 2 it just takes some time. You can actually pre-load a MicroSD card prior to inserting into the player, which is faster. These are not terrible complaints, but just trying to be critical.

I do like that it stores 4 libraries which allows for multiple MicroSD cards to be switched out quickly!

[audiomania]

I'm a fan of the Pono as well. I own one and use it in balanced mode powering a set of Mr Speakers Alpha Prime cans. I don't have too many complaints either other than battery power and the clunky navigation screen which seems determined to "select" everything my fat finger tries to swipe.

Beyond that, I'm very pleased with its sound and the fact that it lets you use it while plugged into the wall. For 90% of my listening with this unit it seems to drive the fairly big Mr Speakers cans without too much trouble. There is a pretty big difference when I use my Benchmark DAC1 though. I believe it's the extra power that makes the most difference because if the Benchmark had the Pono DAC in it that would be the ultimate combo. That's probably why they make that CODEX thing I suppose

[Randy Myers]

I am sure that the DAC used is a "mobile" version of the chip and certainly differs from the versions used in component DACs. The ES9018 is a fabulous chip and works well in a variety of applications. In my W4S DAC1-LE I feel it is amazing, maybe one of the best on the market. In the Pono the version used is great, I am sure not as good as the component version, but amazing in what it does in a portable device. The use of the various versions come into play, however the bottom line is that the Pono works very well. I love the sound quality in a portable device!

[yage]

Originally Posted by Randy Myers

I am sure that the DAC used is a "mobile" version of the chip and certainly differs from the versions used in component DACs.

Yep, it's the K2M variant for mobile applications, the same one used in the Codex.

[eljr]

Originally Posted by Randy Myers

I am sure that the DAC used is a "mobile" version of the chip and certainly differs from the versions used in component DACs.

I don't think so...

Maybe you mean the Dac implementations differ?

[Randy Myers]

Hmmmm... I thought were a few different versions of the chip depending on application. I heard this but of course I could be wrong ...

Either way I believe that the implementation in the Pono is outstanding for portable use. It is not as good as what is used in my main system DAC of course.