AUNE T1 (MK1 + MK2) discussion

Psycho Sonny

Psycho Sonny

Psycho Sonny

Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,367
Just ordered the MK2 as well as a military grade NOS 6N23P.

Anyone know much about either of these?

Also my PC is far too loud (got something like 16 fans inside it). I wasn't into all this headphone malarky when i built it and the ambient noise is quite bad.

So I am planning on now using the laptop as a source for music/movies, since both my indoor cans are open.
 
well the MK2 comes with a better tube than the MK1 as well as some slightly better internals and USB support.

so I will test both tubes (stock and the one I bought) and see if I can tell any difference before trying others with different signatures.
 
Apparently a few members on head fi have opened up there AUNE T1 and found it has inferior components to original review units sent out. Specifically the capacitors are crap and could fail easily.

Also apparently the power supply could do with a bit of an upgrade, a cleaner input will give a cleaner sound. as well as changing the fuse to one with 0.5-2 amp (comes with 13 amp).

I'm hoping that the MK2 doesn't have the crappy capacitor issue. Guys on head fi have simply been soldering better cap's into the AUNE. They don't cost much but I don't really have the know how or equipment to pull off such a job.

As for tubes they are basically similar to light bulbs and they have a average life of around 10,000 hours if they are half decent.

That's why the price of tubes goes up year on year as when the vintage ones are gone they are gone forever and not many people are making new ones as people move onto solid state.

I know I'm focusing on the bad but I think people should know this.

The good point is that tube DAC's tend to sound a lot better than solid state stuff with the right tube. It's a really great device and you won't get better for the price.

I think I will in future pair it with a Topping TP60 (or a newer version when they come out) and some floor standers.

Then a few years after that sell it all and get a NAD D 7050 (or a newer version if they come out with one).

If your wondering about what DAC/AMP to get I think this is the best one for under £200. Also to note there is nothing wrong with the new 6922 tubes that come as stock. They are very good and easily replaceable for cheap (as they are new and in production).

If anyone is interested in buying a "rocket", I should have a spare very soon ;)


Anyone put off with some of the above should just get a EPH ODAC + O2 amp
 
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rids57 said:
I just waded through a few hundred posts in that HeadFi thread :D

The only problem with the power supply is that it ships with a 13 amp fuse.

The capacitor "issue" got totally overblown and just seems to involve two secondary supply capacitors. Could this have been why you thought there were problems with the power supply?
Originally these capacitors were shown as a named brand in promotional photos but have since been replaced with generic capacitors. This kind of thing happens all the time in electronics, just because early versions use a certain brand doesn't mean that later editions will be the same. All it probably means is that in order to shave a bit off the cost they used generic capacitors in parts of the circuit that don't need top grade (expensive) variants. I also read about fake capacitors but that would have to include most electronics manufactured in China.

Regarding the capacitor changes COiL wrote the following...



He replaced all of the caps with high grade Nichicon and Panasonic and discovered that it sounded worse. He then put all of the old ones back in and it sounded great again. He wasn't the only one, in fact the person that brought up the whole issue eventually came to the conclusion that the only two capacitors that he wasn't happy with were the two generics and that was mostly because he doesn't like generics. Also, the whole scare came about due to one person measuring the capacitors in a single T1 and finding the two generics to be out of tolerance (all of the others were fine) - Someone else has since measured another pair and they were spot on.

The capacitor upgrades they are doing now seem to be adding oversized ELNA Silmic II capacitors in place of all electrolytics, which some claim to improve the sound but they end up having to shoehorn them into the case because they are way too big and don't fit in place of the originals.

I think I'll leave mine as it is :D
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I was speaking to Mike from Rock Grotto. This is an email he sent me last night.

"The weakest part of the T1 is the switched mode power supply...... It's ok but a linear / regulated PSU really does take it to a different level."

He is a great guy, helped me a lot and he sells tubes privately. I ordered one from him and a couple from ebay.

If you could read through this thread here

http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/8297/aune-bit-valve-tube-dac

and give me your thoughts I would be very grateful. I was up quite late last night reading so I was tired and skim reading a lot of stuff. But he makes power supplies for other dac/amp's but modified one of them to work with the AUNE T1 I believe (he doesn't sell that version though from what I can see on his site) so you will either need to make your own or see if someone else does something similar.

This guy is an expert, he is well known on head fi (banned for talking against sponsors products) and even has someone who is pretending to be him on head fi (same avatar, tagline, etc but is a noob). Rock grotto is his own forum after he left head fi.
 
PapaLazaru said:
Sonny, your best bet, if you have one nearby, is to go to Richer Sounds. If you talk to them nicely they will give you a minimum 14 money back guarantee on a DAC. Normally 30 days on any Cambridge Audio equipment.

Join their VIP club and you can get further discounts like the Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 100 for £149.00 - http://www.richersounds.com/product/dacs/cambridge-audio/dacmagic-100/camb-dac-mag-100-blk
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My local one is a hole.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.8...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sQswXR9YkXccdkgViVZ_UYw!2e0

It's also in a dodgy area full of drug dealers, brothels, pimps and ladies of the night.

The next one is over an hours drive away.
 
PapaLazaru said:
Well my point is, that they will let you take stuff home to try with a money back guarantee. Much better than ordering and returning stuff off the internet.
Click to expand...

I may pop into one in future and do this. But the AUNE T1 ticks all the boxes for me atm.

I have already ordered it and it is currently "Awaiting dispatch".

In the future though I will try something more expensive and see if it's worth the jump in price. The AUNE T1 is highly recommended on head fi.
 
that is rather strange.

he's offered to send me one of his little pinkie things in a month to see the difference between the ones he makes and the stock one.

do you have a mk1 or mk2?
 
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yeah i guess your right.

I intend on getting a few more as well. I will stick with the ones that are in the post for the moment but I will get a couple of these types each E88CC, 6DJ8, ECC88.

It's usually a lot cheaper to buy pairs than singles. So I will be buying pairs and keeping the other as a spare or maybe even as a investment or sell/swap them on.
 
My AUNE T1 MK2 should arrive tomorrow.

My 1980's vintage new old stock valve from a military batch. rocket logo Voskhod out of the Kaluga factory, with closely matched sides should also arrive tomorrow. £19

6N23P = E88CC = ECC88 = 6DJ8 Matched/Selected Pair Voskhod Rocket NOS Strong are coming from Ukraine no idea when they arrive. £18 (for two - matched pair)

ECC88/6DJ8 SIEMENS Ei NOS BOXED VALVE/TUBE ordered tonight should hopefully ship tomorrow and be here for saturday/monday from England. £19

I'm done with valves these 3 plus the stock one is enough to do me for now. If your interested in buying my spare rocket pm me.
 
I can hear it from 4 feet away - it's not a faint hum but it's not particularly loud either. The only other sound in the room is all the fans from the PC.

I also seem to have issues with windows consistently picking up the aune. Is USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 best?

Sometimes it works but now I have restarted 3-4 times and it's not picking it up at all.
 
Right it only seems to work with USB 3.0 ports for some reason on the PC.

I am getting constant clipping though on everything I play on youtube. Going to try a blu ray then some mp3's. Then spotify normal.
 
same issue on blu rays - it's either the tube or my settings somewhere. may even be the power supply never know

well I moved the power supply directly into a socket rather than extension - hum which could be heard from 4 feet away can only be heard when i place ear near to the brick.

so that solves that issue - it needs to be plugged directly into a wall.

now i also solved the clipping issue. it clips with 44.1 khz and 96 khz.

32, 88.2 and 48 seem absolutely fine.
 
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I have it on 0db gain with fidelio X1's in a USB 3.0 slot. all rates work but 44.1 khz and 96 khz clip for some reason.

sound is magnificent using it on anything other than those 2. music feels alive, quite bright and forward.

i am using the tube I got from Mike, stock tube is still in it's box.

I shall have to get the laptop out and experiment on that but i'm enjoying it too much atm, listening to some tracks off youtube.
 
Cookeh said:
Wait until you use it with some tracks from a decent source then, that haven't had the bitrate spanked by YouTube :p
Click to expand...

rids57 said:
I use MusicBee with it's built in WASAPI mode for bit perfect sound - it keeps the signal away from Windows' insatiable appetite for resampling everything. :D
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yeah - i will be doing that in future. it's the first day and i'm just playing with it atm.

now the clipping has disappeared it sounds fantastiche (bellismo).

need to go out and cut the hedge as quickly as possible so i can come back in and play with this some more lol, also contemplating getting some HD600's
 
I'll be ordering HD 600's tonight. Holiday got cancelled as I have been given an opportunity of a lifetime so I cancelled my ticket and dropped the wife off at the airport on Monday to go on her own.

So all the spending money I've been saving up is bursting my wallet lol.

I wasn't going to get the aune t1 but I just went for it. Flubit came back with £201 on HD 600
 
HD600's ordered.

The power supply is still humming but when I put my Fidelio X1's on (with nothing playing) it dampens out the hum that's why I couldn't hear it before. I can hear the hum from 10 feet away without any headphones on. It's not loud but it is annoying. Not loud enough to head with headphones open headphones on so it's fine but was wondering if that was normal.

A lot of people though cannot hear this buzzing. I used to be able to hear it on my old LED backlighting for my plasma and it was annoying but I swapped them out for USB version and now cannot hear any hum from the new ones.

A lot of people also cannot hear plasma hum but I can.

Anyway time to expirment some more.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oizzthyw2kfmo7g/2014-06-20 11.31.02.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9gm3cypxfd00owx/2014-06-20 11.31.26.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r69t93z2394g3v4/2014-06-20 11.31.43.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mefyhrbeftp0rv8/2014-06-20 11.33.20.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eteca6ot4erpxxc/2014-06-20 11.33.27.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qi2szjrxe03beq4/2014-06-20 11.57.09.jpg
 
RavenXXX2 said:
HD600, why?
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Well all my other headphones are mid-fi. HD600 are audiophile level. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and the difference between mid-fi and hi-fi.

They are also currently on offer at the cheapest price they have been in 4 years.

If I don't like them I can most likely sell them for a profit in 6 months time.
 
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