[gungstar]

is it ok with Sony MDR-7506?
phones specs
 
Aune S16 specs
Headphone Output Power:
@ 600 Ohms   300 mW
@ 300 Ohms   600 mW
@ 120 Ohms  1500 mW
@ 32 Ohms   3000 mW

 

[Greggo]

Well, I am hoping to hear various feedback confirming that it does indeed outperform the NAD and Matrix mini as many of you expect.  I am in the same camp, with the NAD being my current reference and hoping that I can find something to be the heart of my digital hifi system (headphones and speakers) that is a clear step up but still under the 1k US dollar mark.  I don't want a preamp, I need to go straight to power amp and then to speakers.

 

[Aukisun]

Going to Beijing on New Year and now i don't know what to choose for my iMac and Sennheiser hd 650???)))
 
Yulong D200 vs GoldenWave Gd-01 vs Aune S16 

 

 

[mouwen]

I think there are not many implementations of these AKM chips
In the past Aune has made some good products for good prices
It seems the S16 is the most expensive DAC/AMP that Aune has released so far
I'm very interested in knowing how it sounds

 

[iceball]

looks nice, simple, black box, not so fancy like other brands.
how much of the unit weight? and wattage cost?

 

[stuartmc]

The S16 Just arrived at my door. I'll post some unboxing pictures later. It took EMS seven days from Wuhan to upstate New York, so I have no complaints there.

 

[adrenalight]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/740376/review-aune-audio-s16-single-box-dac-and-headphone-amplifier hey guy there is already a review thread of the S16

 

[stuartmc]

I've been burning in the S16 with my Purist Audio disc and each night I take a short listen, it's getting better and better. I like to get about 48 to 72 hours of burn in before any critical listening, but in this case, the anticipation got the better of me. At this point I'll just say that I'm seriously impressed. This dac/amp is the real deal and it's going to be a pleasure putting it through its paces.

I'm a wee bit picky/anal about the setup...in three days I've already gone through three different digital interconnects and four, yes four different power cords. This thing is so finely resolving, I can hear everything and it's maddening (in a good way). Good news is that this resolution is grain free and smooth as the proverbial baby's behind. Much more to come...

 

[hugoboss]

can you test all 3 input from usb then coaxial and optical. which is the best sound from all?
thanks
 

 

[oldson]

this is an interesting unit.
there is a lot of new products in this area though, as in.................
 Pioneer U-05 USB-DAC 
marantz HD-DAC1 
and countless others no doubt

 

[stuartmc]

  can you test all 3 input from usb then coaxial and optical. which is the best sound from all?
thanks
 

I will try to do that, but I'm afraid I won't be able to do much more than say, yup, this one works and sounds fine.  The reason is that I don't do much with computer/usb sound and my card doesn 't have an optical ouput. So to test the optical input, I have to use my sony SACD player as a transport.  Almost all of my listening will be with my Hidizs AP100 as transport with the coaxial digital input. There are just too many variables to make any kind of judgment call on the sound quality of the various inputs.

 

[karmazynowy]

Any news?

How do u think guys, will it pair well with Stax Lambdas?

 

[lestuan]

I've been burning in the S16 with my Purist Audio disc and each night I take a short listen, it's getting better and better. I like to get about 48 to 72 hours of burn in before any critical listening, but in this case, the anticipation got the better of me. At this point I'll just say that I'm seriously impressed. This dac/amp is the real deal and it's going to be a pleasure putting it through its paces.

I'm a wee bit picky/anal about the setup...in three days I've already gone through three different digital interconnects and four, yes four different power cords. This thing is so finely resolving, I can hear everything and it's maddening (in a good way). Good news is that this resolution is grain free and smooth as the proverbial baby's behind. Much more to come...

Could you share which cable and cord took you to your satisfaction ?

 

[stuartmc]

Lestuan,  I have a lot of cables and power cords held over from my days of reviewing highend big rigs. For the rca digital input from my Meitner CD-D transport, I ended up using the Acoustic Zen Silver Reference. It just sounded more open and relaxed then the dedicated digital cables I had, like the Illuminati. I'm sure the Acoustic Zen isn't 75 ohm, but the 1 meter length sounded best.  When I'm using my Hidizs AP100 as a transport, I use a 1/2 m. cable that has a 3.5mm jack on one end and an aes/ebu connector on the other. It's made by Cable Matters and I got it on Amazon.
 
Power cords seemed to change the sound almost as much as the interconnects. I had quite a few cords hanging around from my reviewing days. I had the Audience power Chord, the Tice Power Conductor 1 and 2, Harmonic Technology Pro AC-11, Golden Sound -Red, Analysis Plus Power Oval, and Acoustic Zen Tsunami.  Its kind of maddening to find the "one" for all music, because you can tune the system to a small extent with the power cord and that will vary with the music you're playing.  I finally decided that the Analysis Plus Power Oval gave the best overall sound for me. It provided the most fluid and delicate treble, the right amount of warmth in the midrange and really good low bass extension. The Audience and Acoustic Zen cords came very close and each had its own strong suit. If you were looking just for floating in space imaging with little concern for the other things, then the Tice cords are the answer. That crazy TPT treating really works.
 
Stu 

 

[Greggo]

Stu,
 
Can you confirm if the volume control is digital or analog, and if it applies only to headphone jack or also to rca and/or XLR outputs?  Also look forward to any comments you can share about DAC performance and then head amp performance.