Aune S18 32 Bit DSD Hi-Fi Digital Transport - Info and Discussion

[hakushondaimao]

Cruising the web, I discovered this tonight. Looks pretty interesting. Described as "A high quality multiple format master-tape-grade pure digital transport," it looks beautiful. Here are some images:
 

 

 

 

 

 


More at this link: http://en.auneaudio.com/html/en_products1/pc_hifi/189_14.html

 

[hakushondaimao]

@AuneAudio, do you have information on when this will be available in North America, or other world markets?

 

[hannyakabuki]

I have the aune s16 and i need a digital transporter for my music, i think about the soundaware d200 and the audiolab m-net, but today i order the aune s18, so in 2 weeks i got the device and i can test it

 

[hakushondaimao]

I have the aune s16 and i need a digital transporter for my music, i think about the soundaware d200 and the audiolab m-net, but today i order the aune s18, so in 2 weeks i got the device and i can test it

 
Looking forward to getting your impressions. It certainly looks like an interesting piece of equipment.

 

[hannyakabuki]

I let you know about my first impressions, the technical specs of the device looks interesting and the price is very okay

 

[bballas]

No inside picture,wan not work,but the price so friendly.

 

[hannyakabuki]

i received the device yesterday and i was very disapointed !
for introduction, i own the aune s16 and i was very happy with it, so i was thinkin that aune is serious.
but i was shocked about the aune s18, a peace of crap !
why ?
first i put the same card in the aune s18 that i use for the fiio x3, so far so good, i connect the aune s18 with aune s16 with optical cable.
a lot of music albums in flac i can't listen, the message on the display was "can't play" 
curious, because the same music i can listen without problems on the fiio x3, okay, try 24bit and higher sampling rates than 44.1, horrible !
a lot of noises and errors in the music, absolutely no plessure to listen, change other optical cable, no difference, change to coax, the same bad noises and errors. with the same coax cable i connect the fiio x3 with the aune s16 and all the hd music is no problem, no bugs, no noises, only music.
i have a michael jackson album thriller in 176.4khz, no way to skip tracks and the display shows weird times on.
okay, maybe i need a firmware update, connect to network and try very often to update, but it looks like a bug and the device reset.
the remote control looks cheep, when you shake it than you hear like its broken, 
i contact the seller and i send back.
500$ for that is to much, you can only listen to sd card, network is not working, no way to get your music from a nas, a horrible display with errors (some arrow-bugs are sometimes show)
to browse files you can't go more up than on top, for example, a band name with "z" you have to go all the way down, that means you push the down button very often
for my, i think aune needs some software programmer to make it more easyer for the user.
the seller ask for a change, but i want not, i pay 200$ more and i order a soundaware d200, for this price i get more connectivity, a better display, usb connection, and the possibility to controll it with a tablet, 
shame on you aune !
for later posts i have firmware 1.0.7

 

[AuneAudio]

Hello , thanks for that , we upgrade the S18 now , waiting for more suggestions , thanks for that 

 

[hannyakabuki]

i send back to seller and i was very disapointed
are you sure that all bugs are fixed now ?

 

[hannyakabuki]

it looks like aune uses the costumers as testers, not realy fair, maybe the quality control is miserable on the company and you need good luck

 

[AuneAudio]

I am sorry , i think you misuderstand for this , we have 100pcs of S18 at first time , and some of your problem we did not happen before , so if people have nay problem we will solve , also we will give new upgrade software if needed , still we are looking forward more suggestions , thanks for that 

 

[hannyakabuki]

It looks that i have bad luck with the aune s18, no hi-res audio working on the device was my personaly suicide for the s18, i should not be that a fiio x3 is much more easyer to handle as the aune s18, maybe some bugs and errors are from shipping i don't know, for me, i never will buy the s18 again without 100 % money back garanty and no additional fees for sending back (i pay 68$)

 

[hakushondaimao]

Have had a demonstration model of the S18 for the past couple of weeks and have been enjoying listening, first with the Yulong D200 and now with the Audio-GD NFB-15, and both with a variety of headphones. Am using primarily Apple Lossless music files, and find the delivery very clean and clear.
 
  

 

[hakushondaimao]

Still enjoying this a lot. Wondering if anyone else out there has one and can share user experience? Have to say sound quality is very good. Have had issues with some albums displaying (and playing) in reverse order, but other than that quite impressed. Hoping a FW update will be released that fixes play order (all tracks are tagged properly).

 

[zolkis]

@AuneAudio
 
Is the X5s / X5-A a newer version of a lower class transport, and the S18 the older version of a higher class transport?
 
It is interesting the X5-A supports only 32 GB SD cards, whereas the S18 supports 128 GB cards.
 
Not that the 32 GB limitation would be a big problem, but there is confusion about positioning the products. Does X5A (with good external PSU) sound the same as the S18?
 
Do (or will in the future) any of your DAP support digital output (coaxial SPDIF or I2S), or do you say the desktop solutions sound better as transports?