Critic's Corner

Posted by raya (P) on April 23, 2015 at 13:31:45

In regard's to this month's Stereophile I think John's thoughts were well placed and said. Although I haven't heard the unit, as of yet, I'm sure it delivers the goods. It might sound like I'm "drinking from the well" but Ayre makes great products and I confident that this unit delivers on their potential to put out a credible product. However, his comments extended far beyond Pono but rather in regards to hi-rez recordings in general and the value it extends towards our listening pleasures. That is something I agree with totally!

Back to the Pono unit. My only gripes with it is that it does not have a digital out or in and that it is not pocket worthy. Because of that I have personally went in a different direction, specifically Fiio.

Both the X3 and X5 deliver excellent sound with digital ins and outs, as well as all the other features that the Pono unit has, albeit, no balanced headphone option. Also, I'm sure that the DA in the Pono sounds better but the Fiio's sounds quiet good.

John, here is my challenge to you; do your Stereophile readers justice by introducing them to these units and other value driven portable players, e.g., under $500. For example, matched with the right headphones the X3 and X5 are an incredible value that can get folks into quality portable music without breaking the bank. My preference for a great portable headphone is Thinksound's MS-01's.

Further, as a server, using the line out, they make for a great dorm system and since they have a SPDIF out they can be used as a tightly packaged high end server that can be coupled to a DAC of your choice.

BTW, they have a USB in so they can also be used for computer playback and DSD decoding.

I hope the Pono review is just the beginning. There are a lot of great options out there that need to be evaluated and brought to everyone's attention.

BTW, I hope the Ayre picks up complete ownership of the Pono player, as I have heard from good sources that Neil wants out of the hardware and only wants to deliver Pono approved files. If they do, a generation 2 Pono player can address my gripes and I would then become a happy owner of a new Pono v2!!!!

Technology is our friend!

Edits: 04/23/15