[firefly89]

Quote:

 
You obviously know what you want which is a good thing. Seems like you got everything covered with K701 + e12. It's true that you gain and lose some with the anniversary pads and I'm not sure if they can provide you enough bass. You could read the review from MLE's gaming headphone guide if that helps. Another option would be to get X1, but like you said you don't need more headphones and after K701 you'd lose some details with X1 and I'm not sure if you'd like those cans after all.

 
 
I'd like to try the aniversary pads in the future, from what i've heard the q701, k701 and k702 all use the same drivers, so any sonic differences come from the pads- so that's interesting
 
I read MLE's guide, it's what made me get the k701's- after getting them I went 38-2 in call of duty, so I know what he means when he says 'aural wallhack', he rates the X1's pretty highly too, so might try them some time too. So if I got the x1 and loved them (and didn't need the bassboost eq) I would still have the e12 as a portable amp set up, and as someone already said the T1 dac is great but the amp not so much, so even if I got sennheiser 650's, or the x1's i'd still probably run them through the aune/fiio combo (as the fiio is a great amp, it's their flagship product, and it's obvious they're very proud of it)
 
So I think keeping the fiio e12, and the aune t1 is the best course of action, keep the 701's for gaming and maybe in the future i'll get different headphones, might actually opt for the m50's to replace my k81's as my travel headphones
 
 
Quote:

Tubes are the point of Aune T1. You don`t have to endlessly tweak your gear. At least get the Amperex OG tube to get the "real taste" of Aune T1.

 
 
I will look into the amperex OG- thanks
 
Quote:

This. The EH "upgrade" is a waste IMO.

 
it was only like £10 more, no big deal
 
Quote:

+1; 6922EH is ok and doesn't wow out of the box like some of the other good cheapies. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not picking up another tube.

 
well it wowed me out the box, if another tube is even better, then maybe i'll try that

 

[stjj89]

Just pulled the trigger on a 1978 Vokshod 6N23P Rocket (I heard the 70s ones are better), and have a Russian 6N23P-EB on the way (thanks to joeq70!). I'll be setting aside some time over the next few weeks to write up my impressions/comparisons of these two tubes alongside my Amperex 7308 JAN White Label and EH6922.

On another note, this being my first discrete DAC/amp, I have a few questions:

• How much of a difference does tube rolling make in the DAC output buffer (like in the Aune T1) compared to tube rolling in, say, a preamp or power amp?
• In the long term, would it be a good idea to keep the Aune T1 as a DAC, and route it to a more powerful amp like the Schiit Lyr? Is there any worry of the Aune T1's tube DAC being a bottleneck in this chain with a more expensive in any way?

 

[Salvatore]

Quote:

• How much of a difference does tube rolling make in the DAC output buffer (like in the Aune T1) compared to tube rolling in, say, a preamp or power amp?

 
With T1 the differences should definitely be more subtle.
 
Quote:

• In the long term, would it be a good idea to keep the Aune T1 as a DAC, and route it to a more powerful amp like the Schiit Lyr? Is there any worry of the Aune T1's tube DAC being a bottleneck in this chain with a more expensive in any way?

 
You might be interested of reading this: http://www.head-fi.org/t/633006/aune-t1-usb-tube-dac-amp-discussion-thread-see-first-post-for-faq/885#post_9185553 also remember that in Lyr you should have matched pairs of tubes.

 

[stjj89]

Quote:

You might be interested of reading this: http://www.head-fi.org/t/633006/aune-t1-usb-tube-dac-amp-discussion-thread-see-first-post-for-faq/885#post_9185553 also remember that in Lyr you should have matched pairs of tubes.

 
Thanks for the link! It seems like one user reported them being a bad matching because of lack of matched pairs of tubes, and another reported having good results with it (on another amp). I guess the answer is that the Aune T1 can hold its own as a standalone DAC even with a higher-end amp, though it would depend on the synergies between the sound signatures produced by both components?

 

[Salvatore]

If I was personally thinking of getting Lyr I would probably consider matching it with something very transparent and neutral sounding DAC and let the Lyr / tube rolling do the coloration. Therefore ODAC seems like a good option like toschek did there. T1 / Lyr combo is probably not the ideal combo because you are increasing the tube rolling variation. It could be that the great T1 tubes are not so great anymore with such combo. I would either pair T1 with more powerful ss amp or pair Lyr with something like ODAC. This being said T1 can indeed hold it's own against more expensive pieces of equipment and hence offers a great value for money. You get a taste of tube rolling and only need single tubes to do that. Ebay is full of great single tube deals but to find such deals for matched duals or quadruples... well that could take forever.
 
So I suggest people to go with T1 if they want a) a very nice DAC which can be later paired with a more powerful ss amp and/or b) to try tube rolling.

 

[firefly89]

Quote:

 
So I suggest people to go with T1 if they want a) a very nice DAC which can be later paired with a more powerful ss amp and/or b) to try tube rolling.

 
agreed, I think it sounds wonderful with the fiio e12 (solid state amp), the e12 is a really good performer, it gets great reviews, it's plenty powerful, and IMO works well with the bass boost, if you don't like the bass, or don't need the bass boost on your headphones then just leave it off
 
 
 
I have a question, earlier in the thread I was recommended to try the Amperex OG tubes,
are those the ones linked at the beginning of the thread? the 'holographic' tubes or a different set?

 

[Salvatore]

I think the recommended OG's are part of 6DJ8 tube family and are not as transparent/holographic as the 7308 (they look something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMPEREX-ORANGE-GLOBE-6DJ8-ECC88-VACUUM-TUBE-1967-K-MATCHED-PAIR-SWEET-TONE-NOS-/221271442158?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3384ce42ee).
 
Quote from Joe's tube lore: "Amperex 6DJ8, Orange globe logo, Holland (shield, steel pins,) Much better than the above tube No comparison in fact. Warm, vibrant, lively, grainless, transparent Amperex sound. Killer tube. Almost as good as my reference Amperex 6922s (coming up soon). I slightly prefer this tube to the best of the Siemens 6DJ8s, 6922s & 7308s."
 
Check out the link in my signature to find tube reviews and more info about amperex tubes.

 

[CoiL]

If you are buying Amperex OG`s my recommendation is to prefer them in following code order: GAC > GA8 > GAE

 

[teb1013]

I think the recommended OG's are part of 6DJ8 tube family and are not as transparent/holographic as the 7308 (they look something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMPEREX-ORANGE-GLOBE-6DJ8-ECC88-VACUUM-TUBE-1967-K-MATCHED-PAIR-SWEET-TONE-NOS-/221271442158?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3384ce42ee).

Quote from Joe's tube lore: "Amperex 6DJ8, Orange globe logo, Holland (shield, steel pins,) Much better than the above tube No comparison in fact. Warm, vibrant, lively, grainless, transparent Amperex sound. Killer tube. Almost as good as my reference Amperex 6922s (coming up soon). I slightly prefer this tube to the best of the Siemens 6DJ8s, 6922s & 7308s."

Check out the link in my signature to find tube reviews and more info about amperex tubes.

The Amperex 7308 is my favorite due to the very transparency you mention. I am currently trying out a Siemens E88CC gold from Joeq70 which has a wider soundstage than the 7308 but seems less transparent, at least for the short time that I have been using it. I will see how it seems after a few more hours listening.

 

[teb1013]

After several hours of listening to the Siemens E88CC, I find this to be a nice laid back tube with a smooth sound and wide soundstage. Going back to the Amperex 7308, I find a more detailed and more liquid sound (especially in piano and female vocals). I am still not good enough in analytical listening to explain the difference, but, I like the Amperex a bit better. It is interesting to note that I found the Siemens pleasant to listen to and only appreciated the difference when I switched back to the 7308 in the middle of a song. By comparison I found the Voskhod too forward and tiring to listen to for very long. I can listen to the Siemens or Amperex without limit.

 

[xkonfuzed]

I have a couple of questions if you guys could help me out: 
 
What kind of adapter does it have (US or UK)? And would it fit something like this?
 

 
My other question is that would it work fine with a headphone like the MDR MA900 which has an impedance of 12ohms only? I don't fully understand the 1/8th impedance rule here so help me out. 
 
One last question, has anyone tried the T1 with 6N1P tubes? 
 
Any help will be greatly appreciated. 

 

[Loquah]

I recently tried the T1 and found a noise continually present on upper frequencies around 800-2000Hz. It's like a metallic buzzing sound when there are any volume peaks in those frequency ranges.
 
I tried a number of different tracks and used both MediaMonkey and Foobar in case it was the software. In MediaMonkey I used WASAPI and DirectSound with no change. I also tried a few different headphones.
 
Any ideas what could be causing this noise? Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[joeq70]

I recently tried the T1 and found a noise continually present on upper frequencies around 800-2000Hz. It's like a metallic buzzing sound when there are any volume peaks in those frequency ranges.


I tried a number of different tracks and used both MediaMonkey and Foobar in case it was the software. In MediaMonkey I used WASAPI and DirectSound with no change. I also tried a few different headphones.

Any ideas what could be causing this noise? Has anyone else noticed this?

Have you tried more than one tube?

 

[Loquah]

Quote:

Have you tried more than one tube?

 
Yes (and thanks for asking). It does sound like tube noise, but occurs with multiple new tubes.

 

[CoiL]

Try USB cable +5VSB pin cut-off from the PC end, might be grounding issue? And what are the tubes causing that "buzz"? Just in case asking, maybe using wrong tubes? 
Never occurred this problem with my unit.