[Turner72]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and want to report my experience with two products I have bought recently: the aune x1 DAC and the aune x2 amp. I'm for a long time in the hifi department and have a man high hifi tower as main listening system with DIY three-way active speakers. They are also almost as tall as I am. Since it happened that I listen more and more to my music on my computer, I thought it might be a good idea to invest a litte bit in my hifi equippment around my mac.

I ordered a headphone from beyerdynamic that has not arrived yet. I will report about that later. I also ordered a DAC and a digital amp from aune I want to report about.

Delivery and shipment

Since there is no dealer in Germany having this products in stock I ordered via ebay directly from a dealer in China. Price was ok and shipping with DHL was incredible fast. I was really impressed.

First Impressions

After unboxing the devices I first noticed that they sent me a power supply with that crappy UK plugs. So I had to heat up my solder station and insatll a new power cord on one of the supplies. Second issue I did not like was that both devices have no feet to stand on. Since the housing is not flat on the bottom side, this is a real problem if you want to store them on top of each other. I ordered some self adhesive feets from 3M on ebay that fit very well. Build quality of both devices is fine and i would say it is better than supposed for the price paid. The manual is short but has all the important information included to get the amps running. Don't mix up the power supplies of the DAC and amp or you will hear some really ugly noise!!!

Operation

I connected the DAC with an SPDIF optical connection to my iMac to get the best signal quality out of the mac. The DAC is connected with RCA cables to the mini amp. By now I have a pair of DIY two-way micro-speakers conected to the amp (they will be replaced by some DIY fullrange speakers soon). Since the DAC has multiple inputs, you have to choose optical-in via the selector. When the DAC is turned off and on again the last input is still selected. However, in case you use the the optical-in, youn don't get a signal immediately, you have to go through all the inputs again. When connected to an iPhone line-out via dock connector cable, the input signal is available immediately. Another really annoying thing is a very loud PLOPP from your speakers when you turn the digital amp off. I wonder why they did not implement some kind of transient killer in this device.

Sound

Since I do not have similar devices to compare, a review is nearly impossible. Additionally, my current speakers do not take advantage of all the potential this DAC has. At least I cannot notice any noise at all. Maybe I can add more on this topic when my headpones arrive (t50p).

Upgrades

Besides the 3M feets I attached I also have serious thoughts about making a new power supply for the DAC. The included supply is really very basic and I think sound quality can be enhanced a lot with a good power supply.

so long
Turner

 

[Turner72]

Just added two pictures.

so long
Turner

 

[Cecala]

Thanks for the review, I merely stumbled upon this amp/dac combo on ebay. Give us a general feeling about the sound quality - are you happy with it?

 

[malandrew]

Hi,just a comment on a couple of things.I to think that having no feet is a bit silly, as you said they are not flat units and are actually quite slippery, I have been importing these from the manufacturer as a dealer and they have been puting on feet for me, but just doing the same thing as you did.
second, in regards to the poping sound when you turn the amp off, I also experianced this and to avoid this happening you can actually turn the amp off from the top button on the front panel, by pressing and holding till it turns off, this method does not create the popping sound.this method is also not mentioned in the manual, I only found out when I contacted AUNE about the noise.

 

[jkilla]

Hey Turner, I just ordered the x2 amp and it should be on its way soon.

Do the speaker binding posts accept banana plugs? I can't really tell from the photos

 

[bundy]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum. I brought the aune DX 1 DAC & headphone amp about a month ago, i have been looking for a headphone amp to run my Sennheiser HD435. Straight out of the box i had the same problem everyone seems to be having "no feet" but after a dig around the trusty junk draw & It's my lucky day 4 rubber feet perfect size, 4 pieces of double sided tape problem sorted. I have connected the aune dx1 DAC to my laptop via the USB cable supplied. I have always loved my HD 435 when i used them through my yamaha amp but i was very dissappointed when i tried them on my new laptop. So i plugged my sennheiser HD 435 in & put on Allan Parsons Tales of mystery and imagination (Edgar Allan Poe) Track 1 A dream within a dream (instrumental) Wow  my HD435 just seemed to come alive they sounded open & full. To be honest i am no expert & this is the first headphone amp i have tried. I have been saving for a set of sennheiser HD 650 but i think i will wait a while i am enjoying the aune DX1 & HD435 mix.