[labeelen]

So, if I connect the dac via RCA or via XLR is it the same?

Correct

 

[motberg]

It's not 158...do you remember the post number?

sorry, it's at 168.

taking into account recent posts, I would think either the factory made a running change correction or there is some problem in the coding/interface that is causing variability. If they really corrected this to be in incremental 2db steps, that would be much different than my unit. My volume taper is similar to the one posted above .

It's been a while since I used a daw or worked in a studio setting, but my guess is that my 55/56 jump is at least 4db, probably more like 6db. Unfortunately that is exactly in the middle of the range I need, working as a preamp.

I'm using XLR in (Pegasus) RCA out (tube amp) low gain. It's already out of my system, so I'm not really interested in checking further.

Do you know if the high gain setting is class A or AB? Thanks....

 

[rupert3k]

keen yet with black friday imminent somewhat hesitant.
aune's page doesn't seem to offer australian shipping.
as others noted hifigo negates tax; pole position.
as a stingy brokedick i'm thirsty for a discount.
coming from L30 it's a tasty xmas treat.

 

[Dimitry188]

So, if I connect the dac via RCA or via XLR is it the same?

Only by volume.
If you have a fully balanced DAC, then the sound quality will be better when it is connected via an XLR cable.

 

[Marlowe]

My S17 Pro should be here tomorrow (Tuesday). Having a touch (or maybe more) of OCD, I've compulsively followed this package's rather circuitous route: Wuhan>Guangzhou>Hong Kong>Bahrain>East Midlands, UK>Leipzig>East Midlands, UK (yes, for a second time!)>London-Heathrow. (This last looks romantic to me even on the tracking sheet. As a 70-year old lifelong Anglophile who never had the means to get to the UK, I finally made it to London, if only vicariously.) It now appears to have updated its customs status this afternoon at JFK in NYC. Apparently DHL does not enter the US through Newark, which is unfortunate since tracking shows it is heading for their Elizabeth, NJ service area, which is closer to Newark Airport than I am (under ten miles). As Tom Petty said, "the waiting is the hardest part." And I've never learned patience--I'm still the eight-year old kid who ran all the way to the candy store underneath the el in Brooklyn, with a quarter clutched in his fist, to see if the new Batman Annual hit the rack a couple of days early. As a not-yet-30 Paul Simon presciently wrote, "After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same."

 

[Shane D]

My S17 Pro should be here tomorrow (Tuesday). Having a touch (or maybe more) of OCD, I've compulsively followed this package's rather circuitous route: Wuhan>Guangzhou>Hong Kong>Bahrain>East Midlands, UK>Leipzig>East Midlands, UK (yes, for a second time!)>London-Heathrow. (This last looks romantic to me even on the tracking sheet. As a 70-year old lifelong Anglophile who never had the means to get to the UK, I finally made it to London, if only vicariously.) It now appears to have updated its customs status this afternoon at JFK in NYC. Apparently DHL does not enter the US through Newark, which is unfortunate since tracking shows it is heading for their Elizabeth, NJ service area, which is closer to Newark Airport than I am (under ten miles). As Tom Petty said, "the waiting is the hardest part." And I've never learned patience--I'm still the eight-year old kid who ran all the way to the candy store underneath the el in Brooklyn, with a quarter clutched in his fist, to see if the new Batman Annual hit the rack a couple of days early. As a not-yet-30 Paul Simon presciently wrote, "After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same."

Curious to hear your thoughts. What headphones will you be running through it?

 

[Marlowe]

Curious to hear your thoughts. What headphones will you be running through it?

Mostly the Arya Stealth, but also the ZMF Aeolus. The only criticism I have of the Arya Stealth, which I love, is its lack of bass quantity (bass quality is terrific). My recent addition of the R-2R Denafrips Ares 12th-1 seems to have added a bit of bass and I'm hoping the S17 adds a bit more.

I also intend to give a try to a few headphones I haven't used in a while (like the Elex) and, especially the HD6XX. I'm not as big a fan of the 6XX/650 as most people are (primarily because I can't get past a soundstage that is narrower than most IEMs) but it does have wonderful vocals and I'm curious to see what the S17 does with that. The 6XX is the only headphone I have that lacks a balanced cable, but the S17 should drive it fine single ended.

 

[Shane D]

Mostly the Arya Stealth, but also the ZMF Aeolus. The only criticism I have of the Arya Stealth, which I love, is its lack of bass quantity (bass quality is terrific). My recent addition of the R-2R Denafrips Ares 12th-1 seems to have added a bit of bass and I'm hoping the S17 adds a bit more.

I also intend to give a try to a few headphones I haven't used in a while (like the Elex) and, especially the HD6XX. I'm not as big a fan of the 6XX/650 as most people are (primarily because I can't get past a soundstage that is narrower than most IEMs) but it does have wonderful vocals and I'm curious to see what the S17 does with that. The 6XX is the only headphone I have that lacks a balanced cable, but the S17 should drive it fine single ended.

I was hoping you might have at least one set of efficient headphones, but oh well.

Still curious to read your feedback.

 

[Marlowe]

I was hoping you might have at least one set of efficient headphones, but oh well.

Still curious to read your feedback.

I know we have different listening habits (I like it pretty loud; I'm usually around 11 o'clock on the Liquid Platinum) but none of these headphones are really hard to drive and I'd consider the Elex (80 ohms impedance, 104 dB sensitivity) fairly efficient. FWIW, I forgot that I'll also be trying out the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II IEM, not the most sensitive IEM at 36 ohms impedance, 108 sensitivity, but that might be closer to what you are interested in. I usually use the Monarch with a dongle or the FiiO Q7 at my night time listening spot.

 

[Dimitry188]

The only criticism I have of the Arya Stealth, which I love, is its lack of bass quantity (bass quality is terrific). My recent addition of the R-2R Denafrips Ares 12th-1 seems to have added a bit of bass and I'm hoping the S17 adds a bit more.

I also use Arya Stealth headphones . After switching from Singxer SA-1 to Aune 17 Pro, the bass quality of these headphones has noticeably improved. At the same time, the average frequencies became denser. Very good synergy is obtained.

 

[Marlowe]

I got the S17 Pro early this afternoon and, after letting it warm up for 35 minutes to just over 50°C, I've been listening for about three hours. There are a number of differences, mostly rather subtle, from the Liquid Platinum and I am very happy thus far. As I hoped, it does add a little warmth (not a lot, but a welcome smidge) to the Arya Sealth, bass seems to be a little more prominent in the mix, and everything seems to hit a little harder. The biggest difference, which was almost startling at first, was that the soundstage was not only more holographic, but it was immediately in my face; the LP soundstage was placed more in front of me by a couple of rows.

As I suspected, the volume issue is a non-issue for me. The Arya Stealth is the only full size headphone I've tried thus far and I got plenty of volume around 35 in high gain or 42 in low gain. I did listen to one album with the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II, which is more sensitive than any of my full size headphones, but is not particularly sensitive for an IEM. It was nice and loud at 32 in low gain. BTW, the temperature, which had risen to 64° actually dropped a couple of degrees while listening with the Monarch.

Finally, the S17 is really on the large size for a desktop unit (I was well aware of the dimensions, but seeing it in the flesh is a bit different). It overhangs the Denafrips Ares 12th-1, which is no compact unit, by a goodly amount on each side, although the Ares is slightly deeper. I wouldn't like to stack the S17 right on the Ares with the short stock feet due to the heat. I ordered the tallest conical adhesive rubber feet I could find on Amazon (.89 inches) which give quite a bit of clearance for heat dissipation, hopefully enough.

 

[Ichos]

I got the S17 Pro early this afternoon and, after letting it warm up for 35 minutes to just over 50°C, I've been listening for about three hours. There are a number of differences, mostly rather subtle, from the Liquid Platinum and I am very happy thus far. As I hoped, it does add a little warmth (not a lot, but a welcome smidge) to the Arya Sealth, bass seems to be a little more prominent in the mix, and everything seems to hit a little harder. The biggest difference, which was almost startling at first, was that the soundstage was not only more holographic, but it was immediately in my face; the LP soundstage was placed more in front of me by a couple of rows.

As I suspected, the volume issue is a non-issue for me. The Arya Stealth is the only full size headphone I've tried this far and I got plenty of volume around 35 in high gain or 42 in low gain. I did listen to one album with the Thieaudio Monarch Mk II, which is more sensitive than any of my full size headphones, but is not particularly sensitive for an IEM. It was nice and loud at 32 in low gain. BTW, the temperature, which had risen to 64° actually dropped a couple of degrees while listening with the Monarch.

Finally, the S17 is really on the large size for a desktop unit (I was well aware of the dimensions, but seeing it in the flesh is a bit different). It overhangs the Denafrips Ares 12th-1, which is no compact unit, by a goodly amount on each side, although the Ares is slightly deeper. I wouldn't like to stack the S17 right on the Ares with the short stock feet due to the heat. I ordered the tallest conical adhesive rubber feet I could find on Amazon (.89 inches) which give quite a bit of clearance for heat dissipation, hopefully enough.

Photos or it never happened!

 

[Marlowe]

Photos or it never happened!

LOL. You don't know what you're asking; the following is not a joke. While there are many things that I am good at, taking photos and working with them is decidedly not one of them (and that's an understatement). Believe it or not, I've had this phone (OnePlus 11) since February and this is the first time that I've tried to use the camera. (I bought the OnePlus since the consensus of reviewers was that it was very close to Samsung and Pixel flagships at a lower price with a decent but less capable camera as the biggest difference. Which bothered me not at all since I never use the camera.) I had little idea what I was doing, took a couple of pictures (neither very good, but I'm unlikely to do any better) then connected the phone to my laptop and tried to work out how to insert the picture. I'm going to hit post and see what happens.

OK, after some editing this, unfortunately, is the best I can do ATM. Apologies. I did try to show the difference between the stock feet and the feet I added and that seems semi-successful, if not very artful.

 

[Ichos]

LOL. You don't know what you're asking; the following is not a joke. While there are many things that I am good at, taking photos and working with them is decidedly not one of them (and that's an understatement). Believe it or not, I've had this phone (OnePlus 11) since February and this is the first time that I've tried to use the camera. (I bought the OnePlus since the consensus of reviewers was that it was very close to Samsung and Pixel flagships at a lower price with a decent but less capable camera as the biggest difference. Which bothered me not at all since I never use the camera.) I had little idea what I was doing, took a couple of pictures (neither very good, but I'm unlikely to do any better) then connected the phone to my laptop and tried to work out how to insert the picture. I'm going to hit post and see what happens.

OK, after some editing this, unfortunately, is the best I can do ATM. Apologies. I did try to show the difference between the stock feet and the feet I added and that seems semi-successful, if not very artful.

Great, thank you very much! With a little practice you are going to become an expert!

The S17 Pro with the Ares must be a very musical sounding combo.

 

[Marlowe]

Great, thank you very much! With a little practice you are going to become an expert!

The S17 Pro with the Ares must be a very musical sounding combo.

Yes, I'm happy thus far with the S17 and Ares since each adds a little (not a lot, but its noticeable) warmth to the Arya Stealth. Actually, Wave Theory, who did a typically deep dive into the Ares 12th a few months ago, found that the 12th edition was still a tiny bit warm but much more neutral than the original Ares II, which is still available as the slightly less expensive Enyo. (The newer Ares 12th-1 should sound the same; AFAIK, the primary difference is a new aluminum case, though I think there is a small tweak to the power supply.)