Ok, I've had about two weeks of daily use out of my Aune T1 with the stock tube, and figured it was time for my review on this badboy with my WS99.
I've been in the world of Head-Fi for a little over a year, so please forgive me if I don't know all the flowery words used to describe what I am hearing.
Rigs
Prior Setup
Creative X-Fi --> PA2V2 --> WS99
New Setup
Aune T1 --> WS99.
Past Setups
Creative X-Fi --> Razer Carcharias
Creative X-Fi --> PA2V2 --> HFI-580
The old set up was fair considering I am a big EDM fan and computer gamer. It did everything I needed and it did it with much delight to my ears. I did not have any real complaints on the old setup to warrant a change such as this, however the price I got for my Aune T1 was too good to pass up. If I didn't like it, I figured I could have just sold it on here for minimal loss. Besides, I always wanted to try tubes
Music (EDM - Trance)
The Creative X-Fi and PA2V2 paired nicely with the WS99 (herein after referred to as the old setup), it handled everything I threw at it with ease. There was, however, noticible humming and hissing on certain tracks at certain volumes, this did not bother me in the least. It also did not kill the sound quality of poorer tracks as my HFI-580 had a habbit of doing. I found that for my type of music, the WS99 and Aune T1 really improved over the old setup. The music was fuller, sharper, crisper, clearer and cleaner. I did not hear any humming or hissing either. I felt that the Aune T1 was reproducing the music better than the Creative X-Fi did. The bass did not overshadow the mids and hearing Emma Hewitt's voice on "Forever is Ours" gave me goosebumps. This proved true from low quality MP3's all the way to FLAC. The Aune T1 enabled me to appreciate my favorite songs all over again. I found myself listening to tracks I havn't in a long time and saying out loud, "Ho-lee -Sh...".
Such tracks include:
Lick The Rainbow - Mord Fustang
Satellite - Darren Styles
Zocalo - Armin Van Buuren (feat. Gabriele & Dresden)
In and Out of Love - Armin Van Buuren (feat. Sharon den Adel)
Airwave- Rank 1
I did not find the highs cumbersome at all for any of my EDM tracks, and although they were more noticeable than the old setup this did not bother me. There is a noticeable difference going from the old setup to my current and I
really like it, especially when it comes to Mids - I like them forward and slightly overshadowing everything else hence the WS99.
I use my computer for practically everything, it is my pride and joy and computer gaming plays a major role in my life - gaming at 1440P is sublime. That being said, I replayed two games on their most difficult setting in order to see how the Aune T1 and WS99 stacked up.
Note: Both games were originally played and being compared to my old setup
Games (Metro 2034 - Last Light)
Metro 2034 - Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033 a horror first person shooter based on the novel
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Gluhovsky. The game heavily plays upon your fear of the unknown and this is exacerbated by the music and ambient noise you hear as you creep and shoot your way through the Moscow metro. During this second playthrough, it seemed that I was hearing things quicker than I did the first time around on the old setup. Mind you, it has been a while since I first played this game and have played and beat atleast five other games since I decided to play this on the hardest setting. I recall saying to myself often, "I don't remember hearing that before..." This was most evident later in the game when you are making your way through a literal ghost town and you are hearing things that aren't there; growling, footsteps, whispering, children laughing and crying. I had no problem discerning where gunshots were coming from or where talking was coming from in order to position myself behind that person to take them out silently. The Aune T1 did an excellent job over my Creative X-Fi in this aspect (the proverbial go-to gaming soundcard).
Games (Bioshock Infinite)
BioShock Infinite is the third installment in the
BioShock series, and though it is not part of the storyline of previous
BioShock games, it does feature similar gameplay concepts and themes. The game has won over 85 awards, and next to
The Last of Us is widely touted as the best game in the last few years. It's a first person story based shooter taking place in a fictional skycity where the populous worships the Founding Fathers of the USA as Gods. As stated above, I really felt I was hearing things faster - bullets, footsteps, talking, ect. It is hard to describe, it's not like I'm hearing at 1.5x the speed or something as what can be done on some sources, just faster - I can't really describe it. This is not a drawback in the slightest, and made me really appreciate the crispness and fullness of the music, battles, and voice acting over the old setup. I felt much more drawn into the game this time around - hardest difficulty aside.
Conclusion
The Aune T1 has made me fall in love with everything computer audio related all over again. It gave me a new found appreciation for music and, in my opinion, blew the doors off my old setup. Everything just sounds better, not to mention trying all the different tubes to get a different sound boggles my mind. As a hardcore gamer and Trance Family member I highly endorse the Aune T1 for both and prefer it over the highly touted Creative X-Fi any day.
UPDATE: 9/30/2013
I'm still rocking the Aune T1 with my Audio-Technica WS99. Since this initial review I have had the pleasure of adding to my tube collection. Below, please see my write ups regarding my new tubes.
Russian Rocket vs Tungsram PCC88
Got my
Russian Rocket tube in the mail from Upscale Audio. I am really enjoying it, and generally prefer it over the stock tube and
Tungsram PCC88.
Music
The Rocket really has that tube sound everyone keeps talking about while I would say the Tungsram has a more full bodied sound than the Rocket. Each one compliments my EDM songs differently; some sound ok with the Rocket and great with the Tungsram, and vice versa. However, in the end, I still prefer the Rocket (maybe that's because it agrees with my headphones better - Audio-Technica WS99). The Rocket's bass is a bit punchier, with lush mids and an agreeable soundstage. The Tungsram's bass is on par with my cans, has acceptable mids and a wider soundstage. The highs on both sounded the same to me - not overbearing just the way I like them.
Track List:
Calvin Harris - Live from Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas 2013)
Armin Van Buuren - Live from Ultra Music Festival (Week 1 - Miami 2013)
Tritonal - Tritonia Radio Episodes 1 & 13 (2013)
Dash Berlin- Live from ASOT600 (Den Bosch 2013)
Gaming
I found the Rocket to be my choice for PC gaming as well, since at some points I found hearing people/baddies/ect, difficult with the Tungsram. With the Tungsram they all seemed to blend into one another, which I assume is due to the tube's transparency. Granted, I can still discern what I am hearing - but it was more difficult than the Rocket; thereby impeding my ability to play my best.
Games Played:
Dishonored
Dishonored - The Knife of Dunwall
Firefall
Obviously, this is my opinion and shouldn't disuade you from not buying one over the other. Try both and see what works best for you.
Philips SQ Miniwatt E88CC
Got my Philips SQ Miniwatt E88CC in last week. This is by far one of my favorite sounding tubes thus far. It compliments all areas of the spectrum perfectly while expanding the soundstage much more over my Russian Rocket logo tube. EDM sounds blissfull with somewhat forward vocals and it rocks my WS99 so hard. I even listened to a bit of rock and classical and liked what I heard as well. I either go for this tube or the Rocket logo tube depending on what mood I am in and if I want more of a "tube sound" or not.
As for PC gaming, I found that this did not impede my ability to hear enviorments within the game at all - unlike my Tungsram tube. If anything, it was able to bring out some of the lesser heard sounds within the game than other tubes. Granted, I was only able to play
two three games on it;
Batman: Arkham Asylum, Medal of Honor and
Payday 2: The Heist, but I still stand by my endorsement. If you can pick one up for a good price then I highly encourage you to do so - 9/10.
Lol, wood is used even on table under really hot pans etc. That tube will never ever get that hot to even "burn" any dark spots to wood. My speciality is design/woodwork 
