extremely cursed indeed. You should probably at least move the S17 to the top of the stack.The superconductor in my Hugo TT is all messed up so I got a new toy in the meantime while I sort out repairs: the Hibiki SDS. DSD1024 upsampling on anything you feed it (yes, including PCM)... so far so good! In many ways in fact, better than my TT and also the TT2 I A/B tested it against
I am aware this is a cursed stack
Aune S17 pro
- Thread starter music_man
- Start date
-
- Tags
- aune aune s17 pro
I see you have an OG Focal Clear, just don't use the long XLR cable that comes with it and you should be fine with the temps on the S17. That cable tends to increase the temps inside the S17 when I was using it.
ngohw
Head-Fier
yeah, i did fix it shortly right after:
although, do take note that there was a two layered stand--so the DAC was not directly on top of the amplifier! there was a tray in between that provided a vertical gap in between.
been loving the Hibiki SDS so far. it's by far the best DAC i've ever listened (better than TT1, TT2, cyan 2), and has amazing synergy with the S17 pro. I've been thinking of using a tube preamp recently, but I think that might be taking things too far lol
elee703
100+ Head-Fier
Oh all good.....I use an after market xlr cable anyways. How peculiar....just that 1 particular cable
Perfection!!!.yeah, i did fix it shortly right after:
although, do take note that there was a two layered stand--so the DAC was not directly on top of the amplifier! there was a tray in between that provided a vertical gap in between.
been loving the Hibiki SDS so far. it's by far the best DAC i've ever listened (better than TT1, TT2, cyan 2), and has amazing synergy with the S17 pro. I've been thinking of using a tube preamp recently, but I think that might be taking things too far lol
Haven't heard of Hibiki tbh, seems interesting, did you said this DAC converts everything into DSD and how much money are we talking about with this DAC?
I recently got the Hifiman Goldenwave Serenade and I'm extremely happy with this purchase to the point that it has substituted my Cyan 2/S17 combo, not really looking to upgrade my DAC in anyway, just curious about what is out there, specially from brands I never have heard of before.
Also just today I got the Fiio FT1 Pro planar headphone, just started listening to it a couple of hours ago, it became an instant favorite of mine, specially because this is the first planar I haven't felt the need to EQ at all, sounds absolutely great out of the box, didn't even feel the need to apply a base shelf at all.
I'm kind of bass head myself and I wouldn't say this is a bassy HP per se, but it's punchy and I think this is the first time I heard a planar that out of the box is as punchy in the bass as a DD can, and in many ways it reminds me more of the sound of an open back DD headphone than a planar, really good timber and tonality, really natural sounding with good extension in the bass, somewhat relaxed and smooth on the treble but not recess at all, the midrange is good tho it suffers a bit from the "hifiman" tuck at around 1.5khz-2khz recess trick they do to make it sound more spacious and it has the usual effect on vocals as almost all hifiman open back planars have. I don't mind it at all but if I was going to EQ anything, it would be just that, other than that, Fiio FT1 Pro is a no brainer imho, highly recommended and I think it's punching way above it's weight.
Nope, there was another balanced cable I was using for my Koss KPH40 that was the biggest offender, that made the temps on the amp go up insanely fast and there's also another DDHifi cable I have for my Audeze HP that also has a similar problem like the focal stock XLR cable. Other users have reported similar issues with other cables in the past.
There was also another russian fellow in this thread that took measurements of this amp and he noticed that the amp tended to get "excited" in certain frequencies depending the cable you where using, also Aune commented that if the cables you where using where not properly insulated, this could cause the temps inside the amp to go up.
elee703
100+ Head-Fier
that's pretty fascinating....then again, take a step back and if you think about it....there's SO MUCH going on in such little real estate im actually surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often.
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
Presumably the capacitance, inductance, resistance of the headphone cable affect - individually or in combination - the Aune S17 pro temperature rise.
DeanoBravo
1000+ Head-Fier
I was using OpenHeart 16 core xlr with my Audeze and HiFiMan hp's. Amp temp using 100ma setting would get to 67 fairly quickly.
When Koala Cables had a sale I gave one of their xlr cables a try and amp ran 6-8° cooler.
ngohw
Head-Fier
the retail price is very, very painful at $3.8k and you'd have to ship it in from China. there are some EU distributors, but they're selling it for €4k. I bought mine second hand from a friend for £1.2k in very good condition, and also there's something about rare/difficult-to-get audio hardware that always grabs my attention hahaha! I did originally order the Serenade, but to me it just felt like another chip slapped inside a box. at this price range I'd like something unique and interesting, and when the Hibiki SDS came up it was hard not to cancel the Serenade order and go for that instead
yep, converts every sort of signal you give it into DSD 1024. the technology behind it is beyond me; I know there's basically two DACs inside, I believe the NOS side of things (where DSD upsampling is disabled) is R2R, whereas the upsampling is handle by two (yes, two) FPGA chips that's been custom programmed by the Chinese engineer behind this DAC. his nickname is SOSOLAR but there's not much you can find about him online; the only thing I found was that he made this DAC while studying in the UK, and that he previously worked at Arm (yes, the semiconductor folk). although, this is all hearsay--I have no evidence backing any of this up. super innovative design that I've never seen done before.
what I DO know though is that this sounds absolutely incredible. the NOS version is very good in its own right, having that R2R 'dark' sound while keeping the clarity I preferred in my Chord TT. speaking of which, I remember seeing a post here while I was researching the SDS that it outperformed the Dave, a £10k DAC. now, I don't know about THAT, especially since I've never listened to the Dave before, but I do know it's better than the TT2 and it essentially has MScaler/HQPlayer functionality built in, except even those two are limited to just PCM upsampling, not DSD. for me, while the NOS mode was very good, it was the DSD upsampling that sealed the deal for me
I've just decided it's a bunch of black magic and to enjoy the sounds it was making
the Fiio FT1 Pro looks very interesting; I've been looking for a pair of headphones that have 'WOW'ed me but have yet to hear a pair that was significantly better than my LCD-2 classics. I'll see if I can give them a try in the future; I'm leaning towards the Empyrean 2, however only because they're inherently a safe option. if I had to listen to a single pair of headphones for the rest of my life, I'd be pretty happy with that pick... but I don't know if it'll 'WOW' me. hifiman planars have always been a hit or miss for me; I see the appeal but their treble is still far too sharp for me, even though they're known for their 'warm neutral' signature. maybe i just really enjoy poorly measuring headphones
Last edited:
I have both the LCD2C with dekoni's version of the vegan pads that audeze no longer sells and the LCD-X 2021 version, the LCD-X is definitively better than the LCD2C with EQ and the pad swap, with the LCD-X I'm using the updated EQ from Jonne Haven and it would be the reduced base version and it runs circles around the LCD2C, the only thing that the LCD2C might have over the LCD-X is probably a slightly, just slightly larger soundstage, the LCD-X is kind of intimate sounding.the Fiio FT1 Pro looks very interesting; I've been looking for a pair of headphones that have 'WOW'ed me but have yet to hear a pair that was significantly better than my LCD-2 classics. I'll see if I can give them a try in the future; I'm leaning towards the Empyrean 2, however only because they're inherently a safe option. if I had to listen to a single pair of headphones for the rest of my life, I'd be pretty happy with that pick... but I don't know if it'll 'WOW' me. hifiman planars have always been a hit or miss for me; I see the appeal but their treble is still far too sharp for me, even though they're known for their 'warm neutral' signature. maybe i just really enjoy poorly measuring headphones
With hifiman planars, with all of them with the possible exception of the 2020 version of the sundara, I have to run them with EQ so I can enjoy them mostly because of the very energetic treble and the 1.5 khz tuck, regardless, the HE1000se is definitively the best headphone I have in my collection once I have it tuned to my taste.
I would hardly describe any of the modern hifiman open back planar offerings as "warm-neutral", to the contrary it would be "bright neutral" or in the case of the 2020 sundara, just neutral/natural sounding, if you're treble sensitive and if you're not willing to use EQ then stay away from hifiman open back headphones.
ngohw
Head-Fier
I’ve listened to the LCD-X a few times before, without any EQs or mods, and while it was good it again didn’t wow me the same way my modded and EQed LCD-2Cs did. I’ve also never listened to HiFiMan planars after EQ and I suspect I’ll enjoy them a bit more when I seriously bring down the treble, as the resolution and sound staging was definitely of note.
Does Jonne Haven have EQs for the LCD-2 Classics? My EQ is based on Oratory with a significantly larger 1.5 KHz tuck, as while the Dekoni hybrid pads improved the soundstage and recessed the vocals a little more to my preference, it did make the treble sharper. Additional mods I did to my LCD-2 Classics are of course a new balanced cable by Custom Cans, and also some new wooden side panels which have bigger holes and therefore added further improvements to staging and imaging.
I recommend this pads for the LCD2C, they're really good, tho they're not cheap at all and as you probably already know, it's a pain in the rear to swap pads on lcd headphones.
https://dekoniaudio.com/product/elite-microsuede-vegan-earpads-for-audeze-lcd-series/
As far as I know Jonne doesn't have an EQ profile for the LCD2C, but you can ask him directly, he's in this forum, he has developed EQ profiles for Beyer headphones and the LCD-X and XC variants, they're really good, he seems to be a big fan of the LCD-XC because with the EQ he has developed for it, he has it sounding like a subwoofer. The stock EQ profile that Jonne's offers are to bassy even for me but he gives instructions in which filters you can change to bring the profile more to your taste, if you need to adjust bass, mids, treble and even more granular adjustments, tbh I haven't seen a lot of people share EQ profiles with this level of attention to detail and even with instructions which is super useful and a lot more people should be doing imho. Oratory's EQ profiles area really good, Crinacle comes as close second, I'm usually jumping between the two when I see in AutoEQ page's theres EQ profiles for an specific headphone from both of them.
The stock tuning of the LCD-X, even the 2021 revision is not that impressive, I would say that stock to stock, the LCD-X is more balanced than the LCD2C with no EQ and zero mods, tho I'm unsure if there's really that big of an upgrade, the LCD2C it's a little bit darker sounding while the LCD-X leans more neutral.
Honestly given the gear you already have, you'll probably have to look to something like the Empy II or even the Elite, ZMF Caldera, LCD-5, probably also the ModHouse Tungsten, tho I'm not sure if the S17 can really drive the tungsten properly, it's a really demanding headphone, you'll need to move on to that kind of level of headphones to really notice a difference and improvement in SQ.
In the Hifiman range, people seem to be really happy with the new HE1000 Unveiled, reports are that it's a lot more balanced and the treble is a lot more controlled compared to the HEKse, tho it still leans on the bright side of neutral, so keep that in mind.
If you just want to have fun with no EQ or mods, I would highly recommend the Fiio FT1 Pro, it's a very punchy and fun sounding headphone without being fatiguing, Fiio really struck a good balanced of SQ while still being really engaging.
ngohw
Head-Fier
I'll keep those Dekoni pads in mind if my ear pads in the future start deteriorating, as you said given the pain you have to go through to install/replace ear pads and messing around with glue etc. I'd really rather avoid changing ear pads on Audeze when I can. I think not being able to pad roll is my biggest gripe with my LCD-2Cs!
I did try LCD-5 a while ago but the only thing I can remember was being really annoyed with the new design and where the mini-XLR ports were placed; whenever I turned away, it'll immediately hit my shoulders. They just stuck out too much.
I'm very interested in ZMF headphones. I've heard I'll like the Atriums, but if I'm not mistaken those are dynamic driver headphones; the Caldera, as you suggested, is their only planar ones, but I'd imagine a lot more difficult to find in the UK to buy, let alone to try on. The new unveiled line of headphones are also something I need to try; I did try the Susvara a while ago but remember thinking it was a little disappointing given the price tag, but maybe I was listening to the wrong type of music at the time.
Both generations of the Empyrean I'm looking at, I've heard the first generation is more warmer whereas the second gen brings it closer to neutral. By the sounds of it I might enjoy 1st gen more than 2nd, and they are easier to get second-hand, but let's give it a few years and see how it develops. The Tungstens do interest me, but besides being 'indie'-made and hard to drive, how do they stand up against something like the Empyrean or Elite where the sound and comfort is probably the closest thing we have to perfection? Although, again, perfection is entirely subjective.
I started dabbling with linear power supplies, using the FiiO PL50 plugged into my QU02 DDC. I can't notice a difference in sound
But so far no audio artefacts which was something I was experiencing after switching to I2S, hopefully it stays that way. Many thanks for your suggestions!
Last edited:
It seems you like a warmer/darker and more relaxed sound signature, if you can get hold of an Empy I in good condition and at a good price, then I don't think you're going to find something better for the price, it's going to be really hard to beat that at any price level.I'll keep those Dekoni pads in mind if my ear pads in the future start deteriorating, as you said given the pain you have to go through to install/replace ear pads and messing around with glue etc. I'd really rather avoid changing ear pads on Audeze when I can. I think not being able to pad roll is my biggest gripe with my LCD-2Cs!
I did try LCD-5 a while ago but the only thing I can remember was being really annoyed with the new design and where the mini-XLR ports were placed; whenever I turned away, it'll immediately hit my shoulders. They just stuck out too much.
I'm very interested in ZMF headphones. I've heard I'll like the Atriums, but if I'm not mistaken those are dynamic driver headphones; the Caldera, as you suggested, is their only planar ones, but I'd imagine a lot more difficult to find in the UK to buy, let alone to try on. The new unveiled line of headphones are also something I need to try; I did try the Susvara a while ago but remember thinking it was a little disappointing given the price tag, but maybe I was listening to the wrong type of music at the time.
Both generations of the Empyrean I'm looking at, I've heard the first generation is more warmer whereas the second gen brings it closer to neutral. By the sounds of it I might enjoy 1st gen more than 2nd, and they are easier to get second-hand, but let's give it a few years and see how it develops. The Tungstens do interest me, but besides being 'indie'-made and hard to drive, how do they stand up against something like the Empyrean or Elite where the sound and comfort is probably the closest thing we have to perfection? Although, again, perfection is entirely subjective.
I started dabbling with linear power supplies, using the FiiO PL50 plugged into my QU02 DDC. I can't notice a difference in sound
Users who are viewing this thread
