Aune S17 pro

[Riversalt]

Hi, first of all thank you for your great tip to give the S17 pro the necessary cooling with a PC fan. I have also bought a Noctua NF-A12x15. However, not the model with FLX at the back, but with PWM.
I don't know if this is the crucial difference in my problem, but the fan doesn't start up by itself when I connect it to a 5 V USB. It twitches but does not start to turn. I have to set it in motion manually and then it turns and stays in motion. Have you perhaps also had this problem and been able to solve it?

No 5v

Yes 12v

 

[Riversalt]

D..

 

[Ilomaenkimi]

Aune S17 Pro's 100mA state; I have now accidentally proved to myself that the difference to the 50mA mode is big.
The amplifier was on for hours after listening in the morning, so the headphones were not connected.
(Obviously the headphone plug and cord also conduct heat away)
I sat down to listen to Police again from the beginning when I missed it in the morning.
I was surprised when the soundstage was very small and the dimensionality was completely exhausted, the sound was also thin; the smoothness and kick of the bass was gone. Such a mono-like flat cold sound. Sound was between the ears, didn't really leave the headphones airy and immaterial as usual.
I glanced over my shoulder and Aune had dropped to 50mA!

A huge difference at the push of a button.

Aune would not convince much if the sound was what the 50mA mode gives.

amp that has same soundquality as S17pro but without heat problem?
Aune S17 pro Evo?
Others, at the same pricerange?
How is Schiit Mjolnir?

 

[Erick Muller]

Aune S17 Pro's 100mA state; I have now accidentally proved to myself that the difference to the 50mA mode is big.
The amplifier was on for hours after listening in the morning, so the headphones were not connected.
(Obviously the headphone plug and cord also conduct heat away)
I sat down to listen to Police again from the beginning when I missed it in the morning.
I was surprised when the soundstage was very small and the dimensionality was completely exhausted, the sound was also thin; the smoothness and kick of the bass was gone. Such a mono-like flat cold sound. Sound was between the ears, didn't really leave the headphones airy and immaterial as usual.
I glanced over my shoulder and Aune had dropped to 50mA!

A huge difference at the push of a button.

Aune would not convince much if the sound was what the 50mA mode gives.

amp that has same soundquality as S17pro but without heat problem?
Aune S17 pro Evo?
Others, at the same pricerange?
How is Schiit Mjolnir?

Hi, I was an user of the S17 for a long time, moved on to other amps because I think my particular unit developed some issues that made it sound just wrong.

That being said, my current amp, the iHA-8 reminds me a lot of the S17 when it was working correctly, it unfortunately lacks a LOT of futures and creature comforts that the S17 does have, like pre-outs, a remote control, a proper screen and UI, etc., If those are a must for you and your use case, then I would not consider the iHA-8 at all and move on to other alternatives, the iHA-8 I think also gets as hot if not hotter after a few hours of use like the S17, but it doesn't revert back to a lesser operating function, it's a lot more stable in that regard. Soundwise, the iHA-8 is a more refine sounding version of the S17, with a little bit more driving power, the difference between being on hyper mode on and off is more noticeable than with the 50ma and 100ma modes on the S17, to the point that you might just stay on one of these modes all the time but I have found that with some genres I prefer the Hyper mode being on and with others I prefer it off, Hyper more is just a more intense and visceral sounding experience and a lot more incisive, you get a tighter bass response, it seems that the FR gets a little bit more v-shaped probably, vocals and cymbal hits can get a little bit to spicy tho, so if I'm listening to music that has a lot of vocals, specially female vocals, I tend to turn off hyper mode, bass is a little bit more lose and pronounce, but it works better for me with this kind of music. With EDM and Heavy Metal, Hyper mode all the way. specially with EDM. The iHA-8 you could argue it's kind of on the same price range as the S17, specially the new evo one, but again it's pretty sparse when it comes to features.

The iHA-8 also has another feature that helps in personalizing the sound a little bit more to your liking with is pre-amp mode, it basically makes it run as a pure power amp for your headphones and you have to control the volume from an external source, preferably a DAC with a proper pre-amp, that's what I'm doing with my serenade and iha-8 combo and the iha-8 takes a lot of the sound characteristics of the serenade while adding some of it's inherent sound qualities into the mix.

 

[Ilomaenkimi]

Hi, I was an user of the S17 for a long time, moved on to other amps because I think my particular unit developed some issues that made it sound just wrong.

That being said, my current amp, the iHA-8 reminds me a lot of the S17 when it was working correctly, it unfortunately lacks a LOT of futures and creature comforts that the S17 does have, like pre-outs, a remote control, a proper screen and UI, etc., If those are a must for you and your use case, then I would not consider the iHA-8 at all and move on to other alternatives, the iHA-8 I think also gets as hot if not hotter after a few hours of use like the S17, but it doesn't revert back to a lesser operating function, it's a lot more stable in that regard. Soundwise, the iHA-8 is a more refine sounding version of the S17, with a little bit more driving power, the difference between being on hyper mode on and off is more noticeable than with the 50ma and 100ma modes on the S17, to the point that you might just stay on one of these modes all the time but I have found that with some genres I prefer the Hyper mode being on and with others I prefer it off, Hyper more is just a more intense and visceral sounding experience and a lot more incisive, you get a tighter bass response, it seems that the FR gets a little bit more v-shaped probably, vocals and cymbal hits can get a little bit to spicy tho, so if I'm listening to music that has a lot of vocals, specially female vocals, I tend to turn off hyper mode, bass is a little bit more lose and pronounce, but it works better for me with this kind of music. With EDM and Heavy Metal, Hyper mode all the way. specially with EDM. The iHA-8 you could argue it's kind of on the same price range as the S17, specially the new evo one, but again it's pretty sparse when it comes to features.

The iHA-8 also has another feature that helps in personalizing the sound a little bit more to your liking with is pre-amp mode, it basically makes it run as a pure power amp for your headphones and you have to control the volume from an external source, preferably a DAC with a proper pre-amp, that's what I'm doing with my serenade and iha-8 combo and the iha-8 takes a lot of the sound characteristics of the serenade while adding some of it's inherent sound qualities into the mix.

What kind of issues?

 

[Erick Muller]

What kind of issues?

In order to preface this I have to state that I got the "second" batch of the OG S17 that already had the firmware update that address some of the issues with the volume control.

That being said, for several months, probably half a year or more, I have experience several bugs and issues like the unit randomly freezing and not being able to turn up or down the volume or change any of the settings or inputs(needs to be turned off and then on in order to unfreeze the unit)either using the remote or the volume wheel, the volume sometimes went in the complete opposite direction of what I was commanding it to do, unit reverts back to 50ma mode when it reaches 65-66 degrees instead of 69, really intense transformer hum/static noises that didn't went away even when touching the unit or putting a hum supresor on it, and the sound changed completely, all bass impact went away, really harsh and piercing high mids/treble, regardless of source being use or headphone or even trying to address the issue with EQ.

 

[Shane D]

In order to preface this I have to state that I got the "second" batch of the OG S17 that already had the firmware update that address some of the issues with the volume control.

That being said, for several months, probably half a year or more, I have experience several bugs and issues like the unit randomly freezing and not being able to turn up or down the volume or change any of the settings or inputs(needs to be turned off and then on in order to unfreeze the unit)either using the remote or the volume wheel, the volume sometimes went in the complete opposite direction of what I was commanding it to do, unit reverts back to 50ma mode when it reaches 65-66 degrees instead of 69, really intense transformer hum/static noises that didn't went away even when touching the unit or putting a hum supresor on it, and the sound changed completely, all bass impact went away, really harsh and piercing high mids/treble, regardless of source being use or headphone or even trying to address the issue with EQ.

Did you send it back for warranty repairs? Or did you buy it used?

 

[Erick Muller]

Did you send it back for warranty repairs? Or did you buy it used?

No, it was bought brand new, I didn't send it for repairs because I had to send it back to hifigo on china.... sooooo, nope for me.

 

[Shane D]

No, it was bought brand new, I didn't send it for repairs because I had to send it back to hifigo on china.... sooooo, nope for me.

Yikes! But they would cover the parts, labour and return shipping right? It will probably cost you about $100.00? Better than a $700.00 paperweight, isn't it?

I do feel your pain though. I had to return a Violectric amp back to Germany. Several months and I had to pay some money.

 

[Erick Muller]

Yikes! But they would cover the parts, labour and return shipping right? It will probably cost you about $100.00? Better than a $700.00 paperweight, isn't it?

I do feel your pain though. I had to return a Violectric amp back to Germany. Several months and I had to pay some money.

I ended up getting a new amp, the EF499 because I got it at a really good price and from there I was so convinced of the hifiman sound that I ended up buying the serenade, which was another huge improvement that really was more in line with what my preferences lie, more so than the S17 ever was, even when it was working correctly.

I might in the future still send back the unit to see if they can see what is wrong with it and get it up an running and sell it or giving it away to a friend.

 

[Shane D]

I ended up getting a new amp, the EF499 because I got it at a really good price and from there I was so convinced of the hifiman sound that I ended up buying the serenade, which was another huge improvement that really was more in line with what my preferences lie, more so than the S17 ever was, even when it was working correctly.

I might in the future still send back the unit to see if they can see what is wrong with it and get it up an running and sell it or giving it away to a friend.

That is what I would do. Just on principle I would want to get some money back out of it.

Also, it might be interesting to compare against the IHA-8?

 

[FPunktKPunkt]

No 5v

Yes 12v

Yeah, I should have read the manual
I ordered a step up converter 5v -> 12v and now everything works perfectly. Now 53 C stable at 22
C room temp with the Noctua low noise adapter.
Hey Aune, to which address may I send you the invoice?

 

[Riversalt]

Aune S17 Pro's 100mA state; I have now accidentally proved to myself that the difference to the 50mA mode is big.
The amplifier was on for hours after listening in the morning, so the headphones were not connected.
(Obviously the headphone plug and cord also conduct heat away)
I sat down to listen to Police again from the beginning when I missed it in the morning.
I was surprised when the soundstage was very small and the dimensionality was completely exhausted, the sound was also thin; the smoothness and kick of the bass was gone. Such a mono-like flat cold sound. Sound was between the ears, didn't really leave the headphones airy and immaterial as usual.
I glanced over my shoulder and Aune had dropped to 50mA!

A huge difference at the push of a button.

Aune would not convince much if the sound was what the 50mA mode gives.

amp that has same soundquality as S17pro but without heat problem?
Aune S17 pro Evo?
Others, at the same pricerange?
How is Schiit Mjolnir?

It's not quite in the same price range, but it would be something quite definitive I think, at least I really want to try the Flux Mentor dual mono 11w per channel class A.
1299usd without remote control

 

[Erick Muller]

It's not quite in the same price range, but it would be something quite definitive I think, at least I really want to try the Flux Mentor dual mono 11w per channel class A.
1299usd without remote control

I think the M-Field actually would be the more proper upgrade path from the S17 into this higher end amp offerings from FluxLabs.

 

[SmartCheetah]

I haven't listened to the Mentor, but I upgraded from the S17 to the M-Field, and it's not even fair.

I also had a chance to compare the M-Field with the Hifiman Prelude, both MOSFET-based class A amps. In my opinion, the M-Field is better, unless you're looking for a particularly warm sound signature with emphasized mids and bass, and rolled-off highs. The M-Field is more refined, neutral and technical, but still retaining musical warmth.