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Will an aune mk2 do Grado SR325i's justice?

post #1 of 4
4/24/10 at 4:38pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

First post so be gentle with me - I've recently taken delivery of a lovely pair of Grado SR-325is which I'm currently driving straight from an iPod. I realise I need an amp to get the best performance from the cans however.

I'd intended on using my normal desktop amp (an old Cambridge Audio A500) to drive the Grados, but in a fit of stupidity I completely forgot that the Cambridge doesn't have a headphone jack

So anyway, long story short - I started to browse and realised a headphone amp like the Aune MKII may be a good choice.

Will the Aune do the Grado's the justice they deserve? or should I be looking to up the budget a little? Having read the 16 page Aune thread it certainly seems to deliver bang for buck.

This is kind of unbudgeted expense as I expected the amp I have to drive the Grados without any issue - so the Aune seems like a good bet, even if I buy a better headphone amp later on I'll be able to use it as a good quality DAC for the PC <-> Cambridge A500 for driving my speakers.

Would love to hear peoples feedback!
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post #2 of 4
5/13/10 at 10:18am
Thread Starter 

Well nobody else replied, so I may as well update the post :)

 

I ended up buying an AUNE Mk2 off eBay which was delivered today. First impressions are that the audio quality is better than I was getting from the RealTek ALC888 built into my mobo.

 

I'm running the AUNE via the SP-DIF connector, rather than USB.

 

Can't really say specifically what's better but there feels to be more presence to the audio and the stereo seperation seems better. I guess I'll have to compare with more types of music to really come to a conclusion, but first impressions are good.

 

As to whether the Grado's could perform better with a more expensive amp, I don't know. Though I'd love to hear other feedback.

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post #3 of 4
5/13/10 at 10:26pm

They can go ampless but a good amp with a more refined sound will make them sound even better.

 

I've got an Audio-gd Compass for mine. My portable amp does very well with them as well.

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post #4 of 4
1/22/12 at 4:41am
Thread Starter 

Well over a year since I received the AUNE, so I would imagine it's well and truly burned in by now :)

 

I've since also aquired a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-1350's for use mainly in the office at work. The Grado's still sound the best, to my ears, but they're not ideal for the office with being open.

 

I've been driving both sets of cans from an iPhone 4 and now an iPhone 4S. This seems to work well with both headphones, there is possibly a slight improvement when listening via the AUNE, but it's very small. The ability to turn the volume up higher via the AUNE is the main difference.

 

Audio source is Lossless Apple (AAC) from iTunes, digital-coax from a RealTek 888 to the AUNE.

Same source files on the iPhone(s).

 

Hope that helps someone else finding the thread!

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