Disclaimer:
1. This is an Aune B1 Canadian tour unit. The tour was organized by hakushondaimao, and many thanks for his efforts. I had the B1 for a week and as the last tour member I sent it back to hakushondaimao. This review is not a required precondition of tour participation.
2. I'm in no way associated with Aune.
3. I don't believe in burn-in. I almost always use stock cable or the cheapest one I can find and call it a day. I don't believe I can distinguish lossless formats from 320kbps mp3 in a blind test regardless of any gear used, but always use lossless where possible.
Gears used:
Source: mainly Astell & Kern Jr. Other source components include Schiit Modi 2U, Modi, and Wyrd, kindly loaned by mikoss.
Amp: ALO Rx (newer one for IEM).
Amp/Dac: Schiit Fulla, Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2.
Headphones/Earphones: TH900, HE400S, UERM
Notes:
1. Average usage was 2 hours a day at 20mA mode.
2. Most listening was done on-the-go with UERM. TH900 and HE400S were used occasionally. My UERM might be an outlier: it's slightly bassy, compared with say Noble 4.
Hardware:
- Runs very warm on 40mA mode.
- A bit too big for me. I have small hands.
- Nice finish. Button layouts are just right. Quite an eye-catcher.
- Volume pot prone to rubbing.
- Tons of power. As long as one doesn't throw an HE6 to it, there should be no big issue in terms of volume.
- The downside of the above one is that even at low gain, low-z-high-efficiency headphones/earphones don't have much volume range. I put the Jr+B1 stack into my bag and the volume pot was accidently touched ----> huge increase/decrease of volume. Quite a bit of hassle.
Sound:
- Overall, quite thick, not overly so. Unavoidable solid state grain. No glaring. Notes have good body. Plenty of driving power, but not brutal. Not an aggressive sound signature.
- A minor, but apparent bass boost. It doesn't add quality to bass, only quantity. In other words, things just get louder, but no significant improvements in definition. Depending on personal tastes, B1 lies on the boarder between neutral to fun. In no way offensive, and occasionally can make things fun. However, people who seek a strict neutral sounding portable amp should avoid B1.
- Smeared lowest/highest ends, particularly evident with UERM. I strongly suspect this a result of impedance mismatch. The output impedance of B1 may be over 5 ohm. If this was true, it's the biggest downside for me.
- Ultimately 2D soundstage. Good width but not much depth.
- Outstanding instrument separation to the extent that it might be distracting. An excellent trait in my book. My personal favourite trait of B1.
- Hot switching between 20mA and 40mA modes made no major difference for me.
- Higher volume levels may produce distortions and clicks.
Verdict:
- Maybe not a good match with my low-z-high-efficiency cans and IEMs. If I had something like HD650 in my hand, I would expect a lot of improvements.
- Slightly bassy for me.
- Considering most portable transducers are low-z-high-efficiency, B1 may be better considered as an around-home-kind portable amp.
1. This is an Aune B1 Canadian tour unit. The tour was organized by hakushondaimao, and many thanks for his efforts. I had the B1 for a week and as the last tour member I sent it back to hakushondaimao. This review is not a required precondition of tour participation.
2. I'm in no way associated with Aune.
3. I don't believe in burn-in. I almost always use stock cable or the cheapest one I can find and call it a day. I don't believe I can distinguish lossless formats from 320kbps mp3 in a blind test regardless of any gear used, but always use lossless where possible.
Gears used:
Source: mainly Astell & Kern Jr. Other source components include Schiit Modi 2U, Modi, and Wyrd, kindly loaned by mikoss.
Amp: ALO Rx (newer one for IEM).
Amp/Dac: Schiit Fulla, Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2.
Headphones/Earphones: TH900, HE400S, UERM
Notes:
1. Average usage was 2 hours a day at 20mA mode.
2. Most listening was done on-the-go with UERM. TH900 and HE400S were used occasionally. My UERM might be an outlier: it's slightly bassy, compared with say Noble 4.
Hardware:
- Runs very warm on 40mA mode.
- A bit too big for me. I have small hands.
- Nice finish. Button layouts are just right. Quite an eye-catcher.
- Volume pot prone to rubbing.
- Tons of power. As long as one doesn't throw an HE6 to it, there should be no big issue in terms of volume.
- The downside of the above one is that even at low gain, low-z-high-efficiency headphones/earphones don't have much volume range. I put the Jr+B1 stack into my bag and the volume pot was accidently touched ----> huge increase/decrease of volume. Quite a bit of hassle.
Sound:
- Overall, quite thick, not overly so. Unavoidable solid state grain. No glaring. Notes have good body. Plenty of driving power, but not brutal. Not an aggressive sound signature.
- A minor, but apparent bass boost. It doesn't add quality to bass, only quantity. In other words, things just get louder, but no significant improvements in definition. Depending on personal tastes, B1 lies on the boarder between neutral to fun. In no way offensive, and occasionally can make things fun. However, people who seek a strict neutral sounding portable amp should avoid B1.
- Smeared lowest/highest ends, particularly evident with UERM. I strongly suspect this a result of impedance mismatch. The output impedance of B1 may be over 5 ohm. If this was true, it's the biggest downside for me.
- Ultimately 2D soundstage. Good width but not much depth.
- Outstanding instrument separation to the extent that it might be distracting. An excellent trait in my book. My personal favourite trait of B1.
- Hot switching between 20mA and 40mA modes made no major difference for me.
- Higher volume levels may produce distortions and clicks.
Verdict:
- Maybe not a good match with my low-z-high-efficiency cans and IEMs. If I had something like HD650 in my hand, I would expect a lot of improvements.
- Slightly bassy for me.
- Considering most portable transducers are low-z-high-efficiency, B1 may be better considered as an around-home-kind portable amp.
