Have tried playing with the gain switches?
yes, made no difference really in terms of sound quality, (exactly as expected), volume was fine out the box (it was actually already set the 16db)
K701 are definitely not the cans for bass heavy music, lol. Of course it sounds thin if you're used to EQ the bass. I would rather get another pair of headphones than EQing things too much. First get used to the K701-E12 combo without bass boost and then move to the T1 and do the critical comparison.
the k701's stay, they're my gaming headphones (competitive first person shooters), I would consider adding senn 650's, fidellio x1's, m50's- or eventually upgrading to audeze lcd2
but i don't really want to become a 'hi-fi nut'/audiophile, nor do I want to own multiple sets of expensive headphones
that being said, if I own the fiio e12 for the sole purpose of adding bass to the k701 (and that cost £110), then it would only be an extra £40 for the m50's
from the first second of owning the e12 and k701 I used the bass boost, I just needed it to make it sound good, my old headphones (k81dj) had been bass heavy so I was used to that sound really, it's not just the bass kick that the fiio e12 adds, it's the added weight to vocals. Sure a lot of music I listen to with limited bass actually benefits from the more detailed DAC/amps (best would be the audio engine d1), but for general listening (and an opinion echoed by other non hi-fi friends) is that in blind tests the e12 with bass boost is more musical, and downright pleasurable compared to running straight out the DAC- i'm not interested in transparency, or accuracy, just making music sound really lush
Your assessment that the T1 DAC is more impressive than the T1 amp is correct. The DAC is awesome, the amp is usually adequate, but not necessarily ideal (works great for my purposes though). People drop the money on the T1 because of the great DAC and tube swapping ability. Before you dismiss the amp, however, make sure you use max gain (turn the switches under the unit to ON) since you are trying to power AKGs. The volume knob on the T1 exclusively controls the headphone amp portion of the unit. If you use an external amp like the e12, then the e12 knob will control the volume. I'm not aware of another piece of equipment that sounds like the T1 but has the other features you seek, but maybe somebody here has some input there. I like the blue light so I have no experience changing it, but maybe somebody who has done it can make a walkthrough?
I suspected as such, the DAC is as detailed as the audioengine d1, but has a slight magic to it too- a hair raising sound, the D1 on the other hand sounded like it was expecting me to sit, take notes and become lost in audiophilia rather than becomming lost in music, I just never really warmed to it, which sucks because I wanted to love it. Amp wise I think the d1 has the better amp
the way I have it set up is the aune is neatly on the desk next to the screen, usb and power cable in the back, 2xrca going out the back too. The fiio e12 (with power, massive headphone jack, and the rca to 3.5mm adaptor) sits under the desk as its so messy, meaning volume adjustment is an absolute pain- so ideally i'd be controlling audio at the DAC stage, but i've set it to 24 bit and control volume from the computer, can't hear any noticable quality loss
What Sal said. AKG x70x series aren't known for their bass.
E: Try getting the AKG 702 Anniversary Pads. They supposedly seal better for better bass response. That might help a bit.
Try looking up the Maverick Tubemagic D1 or D1 Plus. It covers most of what you want except for the 2 lineouts. It has 2 lineouts but they're different. One is SS and the other is Tubed buffer. It's also similarly priced at $200.
If it's a short duration, leave it on.
from reading the thread on changing the pads it seems i'd lose some soundstage and clarity- 2 qualities I don't want to lose. I get that headphones are compromises, and at this price point (or any price point) there is no one size fits all fix, which is why some of you have 3 sets of headphones/DAC/amp's...
but still i'm happy with the k701's (especially for what I paid for them)
wil look more into the maverick, but as i'm based in the UK shipping can be a bitch- especially as i'm now so in love with the free shipping and returns from amazon prime
1) Volume knob on Aune T1 IS working very well, it`s smooth and with wide range. Remind yourself this is low priced bang-for-buck product that already does more than it`s meant imho. If you definitely wanted that knob control you should have read more carefully about that piece when you bought it. I also would like to have that option to control line-out but then again - is it really needed? Separate amp should control speakers and that`s the only right way to do it imo.
2) Blue LED? I think it`s more blueish-white and you can easily turn it into nice glowing color in ~5sec if you have right material and you are good with scissors
...like I posted few pages ago:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/633006/aune-t1-usb-tube-dac-amp-discussion-thread-see-first-post-for-faq/2700#post_9717729
3) Only 5% performance gain from super-cheap card? Lol! Sorry but I think it`s your ears. Not trying to attack your opinion or something but I can hear a big difference even between hyper-super-cheap ELE EL-D02 DAC (which is really good for its money) and Aune T1. Have you set up your USB output correctly for Aune T1 using WASAPI, ASIO or KSP? For me it made big difference avoiding OS based internal sound mixer. Are you even using USB input? or line-in RCA-in? Tube buffer only works if you are using USB input and it`s the main point of T1 and gives it`s sound character. 6922EH can get fatiguing with some music but seeing you are probably bass-head it really shouldn`t lack of bass (only bass tightness & kick). I think it all comes from you eq`ing things with bass boost on E12. And K701 definitely isn`t a can for bass-hungry ppl. Like Salvatore said, first get used with E12 without bass boost and then do critical comparing with Aune T1.
Talking about E12, Aune T1 and WA7 in one sentence? You can`t imagine WA7 being better than Aune T1? Have you even heard it? I haven`t but WA7 should be totally different level audio gear that just is not comparable with things like Aune T1. What is the problem that even WA7 wouldn`t solve? I think you are asking wrong questions and are kind of lost in the land of audio gear. You should start trying other cans for your bass need imo.
1) as was said below I was refering to it's lack of function in line out mode
2) cool, thanks
3) what % would you say it was then? if im being honest, the cheap card (which isn't a total POS, it still has a good DAC in it) has a certain low-fi quality I really like, the muddiness sounds musical, and warm- I don't listen to 'audiophile recordings', or chamber music, or classical, and a lot of what I listen to was mastered in a low end studio, but the forgiving xonar u3 smoothes it out, a high end DAC sometimes feels too sharp, revealing, clinical and fatiguing- I like the added 'thickness' that the xonar u3, (and also the aune t1) give to the sound, particularly with the low end- the aune retains clarity in the high end better, but it's not night and day- I could listen to the xonar u3 + fiio e12 and be happy, the aune t1 also makes me happy, but i'm still undecided if it's worth £130 extra. I'd like to do a blind ABX and see if I can actually spot the difference
(for what it's worth my job is a photographer, and the difference between a £300 and a £1000 lens is not that great, take a photo and blow it up to a poster print and even then it's pretty hard to spot the differences)
I could buy the wa7, the senn 650, the fidellio x1
if you haven't heard the wa7 and compared it against the aune t1 (in a blind test) then where's the evidence that it's 'different level'- maybe it is, but so far my experiences of going from just built in ipod output vs DAC/amp have proved that gains are modest, and the law of diminishing returns has a very very steep curve
if the wa7 had spdif input, 2 line out's, had the deep bass I was looking for and could be purchased from a shop for $1000 I would be picking one up (or at least auditioning it) tomorrow morning
Whoa! Slow down there CoiL. He merely has questions and comments. No need to jump down his throat, we were all new once right?
He doesn't have a problem with the quality of the vol knob, just wished that it had line level control. The WA7 doesn't either, the lineouts are preamp. And his other issues were options like optical/spdif which neither T1 nor WA7 supported. He does enjoy his T1 and I'm going to venture a guess that the 5% improvement is because he's still on the "stock" tube. He'll come around like we all have.
He is crazy tho for not thinking the WA7 isn't going to improve on things.
for sure the wa7 will be better, I would buy one if I was in the US- but $1000 + shipping, plus import tax gets expensive very quickly,
and $1000 is a lot of money- 5x more than the aune- saving $800 is a lot of money to invest in other things
it does look great though, I like the aune though too- it's rather art deco looking
i'm actually using the EH upgrade tube, but I don't really want to get into tube rolling- I actually just want to listen to music rather than endlessly tweak my gear
I know some dac/amp allow for line out volume control but it's far and between, people generally expect LO to be devoid of volume pot, and I agree that he's better off with bassier cans than trying to chase those holy grail dac/amp which could turn K701 into a basshead cans.
the audioengine d1 has a great line out volume knob, and the fiio e17 has a switch for EQ/volume control on/off on the LO- in fact the aune is the only amp I now own that doesn't do volume adjustment on LO. I'm not one for riding the volume knob but it is a hell of a lot easier to grab than the tiny fiio knob
Yeah I agree that it sounded a bit harsh. Hopefully firefly didn't get offended by our words.
Now to go back to that K701 amplification issue I have to agree that I sometimes feel that my K702 anniversaries could benefit from more powerful amplifier. I was heavily considering of getting M-stage to go with the T1, but then someone in this thread tested that combo and said that the M-stage didn't really make much of an improvement. I did experiment with higher gain settings, but I still prefer to use the lowest gain. Like MrEleventy said, K70X bass response can be amplified by getting the anniversary pads. They are quite expensive but gives you warmer bassier and more balanced sound while still maintaining those sweet forward clear mids and treble. In case someone is interested here is my pad comparison/review: http://www.head-fi.org/t/626971/akg-k702-65th-anniversary-edition/2670#post_9533670
thanks, i'll look intot he k702 pads- honestly I think the bass on the k701's is fine, it's deep, it's plentiful- it just needs a hardware/software EQ to reach it, and the volume needs to be quite high otherwise the bass suddenly disappears- there's definitely a sweet spot where the volume gets to a point where it suddenly sounds great, if the k702 pads could give the same bass but at lower listening levels I think my ears would thank me for it.
not too offended...
