AJ, thank you for sharing your observations with us. You are certainly not alone id noticing that Korg handles the polyphony better than Yamaha does. Indeed, Yamaha (Tyros and Motif) has some voices with up to 8 samples per note (I think on PSR2000/2100 it is the maximum of 4), while Korg (and Roland, and GEM) use a maximum of 2 samples per note. Hence, if you were to use a real high quality voice on the Yamaha, you would only have a maximum of 16 voice polyphony, while Korg would give you 31 voices. I can not comment on how these sounds compare, as well as how Yamaha's lower-quality sounds, which only use 2 samples per note compare to the Korg's sounds. But I think, in our propensity to use the highest-quality sounds we end up unwittingly giving away the polyphony. It is my experience with the Roland, which also uses maximum of 2 and often 1 samples per note, that with its 64 voices I occasionally run out of polyphony (with the way I play, which might well be different from the way many others play).

The concern that I and others have is that 62 voices of polyphony is fine for a mid-range, $2000 keyboard, but buying a top of the line keyboard, costing nearly twice that, we would (rightly or wrongly) expect the polyphony not to be an issue, even if everybody else's instruments (which are also less expensive) did have this limitation. I don't need the CD burner (heck, I don't even need a joystick, though a breath controller would be nice). But having a top of the line instrument with 62 voices of polyphony is the same as building a big expensive house but not putting in a heater (or here in Phoenix the AC) to save money. It may be true that this house has more wall insulation than the average home (though with 110F outside for weeks this wont help too much). And sure, people used to, and some still do, live without the AC. But they do it as a compromise. If I am going to shell out for a big expensive house (or a keyboard), I want it to be better than the one I have now, and I don't want to make such compromises. Unfortunately, Korg is big and expensive but still forces me to make this compromise.

Like you, I will reserve my judgement until I can get my hands on the PA1X, but no AC is no AC, and no amount of insulation can replace that.

As to your other comment, I hope that you will be able to navigate the PA1X with its touch screen as well as you do your PA80 with the buttons surrounding its display, especially when playing live. My experience with the touchscreens (trying them at the store) has not been so great, especially when trying to change things on the fly like I may need to during a performance.

Regards,
Alex