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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2012 17:03:00 GMT
They look good enough to eat, Chris. More like pastels.
Are you going to get a listen?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2012 23:32:32 GMT
Hi Ian I was referring more to that comment. It doesn't mean that there is a problem, but it would be nice to see the reason why explained, as Aune would trust what you report hearing. I wonder how it would look in Cherry Red ? I agree with everyone that it is indeed exceptional value for money, and the build quality appears to be well above average. It would make a nice Xmas present for older teen members of the family, many of whom may not even know what a vacuum tube is. Regards Alex
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ronzo56
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Post by ronzo56 on Sept 9, 2012 4:55:04 GMT
It would make a nice Xmas present for older teen members of the family, many of whom may not even know what a vacuum tube is. Regards Alex Or perhaps a nice Xmas present from an older teen to their over worked high school teacher. Ian, I was wondering if you still have a K701, and if so, did you give a listen through them? This thread has me really interested in giving this amp a listen. I too listen for the emotions that music brings to the brain, not just the frequencies, distortion etc. of the compressional waves impacting my eardrums. Sometimes great things happen with gear that may not pass the "ultimate in hi-end" test. It doesn't matter the price if it pushes the right emotional buttons and puts a smile on your face at the end of the day; that is the whole point of this wonderful hobby. At least for me.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 7:55:42 GMT
Hi Ronzo. I no longer have a K701 but it was very similar to the K601. The main difference seemed to be the 'steely' treble for me. The weird thing is that I really like the K601 for certain music. I battled with the K701 for a very long time. I always felt bad about not really liking a headphone that is almost universally accepted as a good one. Don't get me wrong - it's not a 'bad' headphone and is brilliant for pulling recordings apart and reviewing gear. In the end, I just accepted that it wasn't for me. In the end, I found myself more and more drawn towards headphones with a raised bass. Not flat, but for me, it feels way more natural to hear more presence in the bass region in particular than I was getting from the K701. On the one hand, I felt this was kind of 'wrong' but on the other hand, I much prefer it. BTW, I don't mean bass as in bass head - just a solid floor for the music. Some on here may not like that type of sound. Then I found a cheap D2000. That suited me pretty well. It's a bit heavy sounding but I prefer it that way to thin. The T1, almost feels like a 'physical' bass on the D2000. I noticed that immediately. So I cross referenced it with another 'warm' SS amp - the Neco Mossfet. interestingly, the Mossfet showed almost the same quantity of bass but the way it attacked on the T1 was slightly different. It seems to have a stronger initial attack which dies quickly. I also then noticed the slight treble roll off. Not as much as the Bravo series, so I then started to think more about the 'meaner' sounding headphones. Ie, the K601. With that, once again, the attack is there but not quite as strong. The top is slightly rolled off so everything remained constant so I knew it was the amp doing it. However, my first thoughts were of the people who have the K701, but are like me, not entirely happy with its sound. It doesn't change it into another headphone but it does slightly calm it down and give it help with bass attack. It could be an answer for those people. It has the power to blow your head off on a K701. So technically, we're not talking 'flat amp' stuff here but it does provide a nice, fast, valve type sound. If you aren't keen on valves (which I really do understand), then this wouldn't suit. I was brought up using valves on everything so I hope it's not just nostalgia but the sound is attractive and has a lovely presence. It's also very quiet in operation. Earlier, the lovely Dave put it up against another amp I reviewed which also uses valves and he rightly said his amp was better. However, it's not huge and (I'm guessing now) he detected better extension on his amp. I agree with what he said - his amp is extremely good - and some could find it quite strident up top, but we're putting the T1 up against a combo that retails at 3, 4 or 5 hundred (ish) with a good power supply!! That also made me wonder about Mike's Little Pinkies. They are also quite superb and may lift the dynamics/noise floor (although that isn't a problem) to a new level. However, it would STILL be cheaper than what Dave uses. That's where Aune can win out and is exactly what I discussed with the maker of the other Excellent amp. The price is a no brainer. Solid, warm tube sound. Powerful. Musical. Clear of noise. Good image. Lovely retro look. Gold plated sockets. Stays still on the desk 'cos it's weighty. Excellent, smooth vol pot. Variable gain. It gives anything else I have here a run for its money, I can tell you. Aune has done a lovely job here but the key is ........ £124. At least that's what it cost me. I'd heard it for a day and was convinced. Aune have trumped many other amps by the price for quality of sound. Not to mention FREE postage! What more can a company do? They have good gear and realistic prices. However........ Please remember, it's not claiming to be what purists might want. Hi fi people do have a habit of getting on a high horse about quality of sound. It's just a good, honest valve amp that delivers pretty well. I love the honesty with a really fair price which is something that many amp makers need to look at. Sorry about the long reply, but I'm just trying to say exactly what I see. I have loads of amps and don't really need another but I really wanted to get one of these!! Also, I will never forget the EXCELLENT customer service I got from Candy when the Little Ape they sent me went missing in the UK post. The daft buggers delivered it somewhere else. (it's not easy to find where I live in all honesty) candy instantly started a procedure to get another one out. No bother whatsoever. They are a good company and I would always return to them. I also need to say that this is a subjective review and I don't have gear to measure what's going on. I don't particularly care for these measurements if I'm not aware of it in my unreal world. However, perhaps someone along the way may get at it and find some dreadful technical problem that I can't hear. Thereby putting the kybers on the 'less secure' listeners who like reassurance. Remember- it's a valve amp with inherent things that valves produce. It is not a top of the range amp. No need to be snooty about it or it's measurements. Magic number to keep in mind. £124 delivered. Compare that price with others that are similar or even kits. It stands up incredibly well in sound. Sent from my iPod touch using ProBoards
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Post by absorb on Sept 9, 2012 9:03:58 GMT
Great information here guys. I must say first off that I am a complete audio noob. I have been scouring the internet for info on the T1 as I ordered one a couple of days ago. Good to see suggestions on upgrade tweaks already Being on a modest budget I spent weeks on the internet trying to figure out how to get the most out of my audio gear using the PC as the source and a Yamaha amp and Wharfedale speakers and was looking at getting a top end pcie sound card when I found you guys. This thread has also sparked an interest in getting some headphones myself so I can bypass my amp and speakers and get an idea of exactly what you guys are talking about in sound quality. Thanks heaps for all the info and opinions. Cheers Chris
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 9:24:40 GMT
Great information here guys. I must say first off that I am a complete audio noob. I have been scouring the internet for info on the T1 as I ordered one a couple of days ago. Good to see suggestions on upgrade tweaks already Being on a modest budget I spent weeks on the internet trying to figure out how to get the most out of my audio gear using the PC as the source and a Yamaha amp and Wharfedale speakers and was looking at getting a top end pcie sound card when I found you guys. This thread has also sparked an interest in getting some headphones myself so I can bypass my amp and speakers and get an idea of exactly what you guys are talking about in sound quality. Thanks heaps for all the info and opinions. Cheers Chris Hi Absorb, Welcome to RG. Your avatar made me nearly pass out!! Can I use you as an example? Here is a guy who wants to get into quality digital audio, playing into speakers and now he's starting to think .... better quality, what headphones could give me better 'quality' than my speakers. Exactly the market that Aune will reach with this device if they market well. Trouble is, at the moment, you have to look for it. Absorb, I have ordered one too so it's a race eh? Unfortunately, I can't keep the review one, but believe me, I would if I could. The T1 is brilliant value and an excellent introduction to the beginning of real hi fi using a valves to amplify the signal. If you then play around with different valves, you will start to hear tiny little differences in sound that you were never able to detect before but with experience, become really obvious. (It's quite strange how that happens) Before long, you'll move on to higher end tube or SS stuff and actually be able to discern the minute differences that you can hear in different types of build which when put together, really enhance your listening a lot. I guess you paid around £124 as well?
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ronzo56
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Post by ronzo56 on Sept 9, 2012 9:33:26 GMT
Hi Ian, I appreciate the time you and Dave have taken in discussing the T1 and the different reactions you have with different headphones and music. I completely understand your battles with K701. I've been battling with them for over 6 years! I was raised on Big Band jazz and then some lads from England landed in New York in 1964 and bam, the big change to rock. I love the K701 for dissecting the mono Beatles, the new re-issues, my old vinyl, you get the picture. I learned and am still learning to play guitar by listening closely to their songs. But for relaxing or just enjoying music of all varieties the 701's start to get on my nerves for the same reason. The bass doesn't provide the foundation for the music and on some tracks the treble is a bit much. I have a very nice and expensive headphone amp designed from a nice man from Montana. It is SS and the K701's sound great on older 4 or 8 track recording masters , but the more recent compressed music really drills my eardrums. A couple of years ago I found RG and bought the wonderful MF X-CAN V2 stock and it really helped with the mids and trebles played nicer. I like tubes and I like SS if they either don't go too tubey or harshy. I have two different main rig amps one SS and other a balanced all tube. I like them both. I own Quads, and love the liquid sound they make, but I also like the dynamics I own. Perhaps set and setting do play a big part in our perceptions. I don't want to give up on the 701's until I give the T1 a try. I find I go with the HD650 at times and have tried the Beyer DT880. The 880 was too tilted up in the treble for me. So after reading a very recent review of Tyll's about the new improved Audeze LCD-2 I'm giving them a try with both the V2 and the SS. Sound great with both, but different. The treble issue seems to have been much improved. Most musical cans I have heard. I know not every ones cup of tea, but I am very sensitive to treble frequencies and these seem to fit the bill. Too many decisions. My apologies for the rambling post. It's after 2 am here and it's time to "hit the hay' as we say in California. Perhaps I might give some quick impressions on the newer LCD-2's sound as I feel that they may have a different sound from the last time people on RG heard them but only if RG members would find it useful. Since I am a newbie to posting I don't want to make waves. Ron.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 11:16:34 GMT
Perhaps I might give some quick impressions on the newer LCD-2's sound as I feel that they may have a different sound from the last time people on RG heard them but only if RG members would find it useful. Ron. Absolutley Ron, I for one would be interested to hear what you have to say about these cans as they are on my future buying horizon. Since I am a newbie to posting I don't want to make waves. Don't worry Ron, this isn't the other place No-one is going to bite your head off. Well, not unless you stray into one or two threads about digital files , bits etc ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 11:53:28 GMT
They look good enough to eat, Chris. More like pastels. Are you going to get a listen? Ian, Yes I'm second on the Euro-list so please don't eat it I'm very curious to compare it to my cheapie and DIY plug and plays and I should also have DIYAudio Amanero board here by then too
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Post by freddypipsqueek on Sept 9, 2012 12:13:48 GMT
I haven't heard the T1, and I'm reluctant to buy another map, so I'm open to be shot down.
It is quite possible to spend silly money (and silly time) buying fancy USB cables, isolators, USB to SPDIF converters, DACs and headphone amps. Alternatively the T1 is an 'all in one' solution at a fraction of the cost - but - and here I am guessing - a substantial part of the performance.
It would help if those with good kit could comment on how far the T1 gets towards their own experience of the "best they have heard".
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 12:33:53 GMT
Hi Ron, I went through Quads years ago. (70's I think) with was it ... Planar speakers. I know they were panels of some sort. No bass. Imaging ... wow. I also went through the usual cheapo stuff - NAD, Rotel. Naim. Garrard deck, Thorens deck, Linn Sondeck, and a really plastic one which was brilliant - I've forgotten the name of those decks. I think they're still around today and also another weird one called a Pink Triangle. Used to love playing around with cartridges/speakers amps etc., but found I was chasing my own tail in the end. I was never completely at home with anything. As far as tubes went - they were in performing amps. Loved them. I'm a keyboard player and loved the sound in those days of things like a Yamaha DX7 played into a tube amp. I also had some Moogs. Beautiul. The Rolands came along and were even nicer. The Yamahas synthesised by using an 'additional' method where harmonics created the sounds so they could be quite jangly. The Rolands were big and round, going back to the analogue sound of old. Then the wonderful Korgs. My biggest problem with hi fi gear is the bass I think and dynamics. Getting those two things right is difficult and I think as soon as I hear a big dynamic with some kicking bass, I start to feel more comfortable. Nowadays, I find myself drawn back to tubes continuously, which is annoying because I also have an innate mistrust of valves. The number of times I've had problems with them in the past always makes me suspicious of them with reliability. I started reading RG from the start when Mike talked to himself and another guy. Eventually joined in but I'm a very reclusive kind of person. (believe it or not) I tend to keep very much to myself. I bought stuff that I was reading about and one of those things was a Little Dot amp. I loved it to pieces with a Senn HD650. The rubber band bass (once again) got to me. I ran it into the ground and it was about that time, I felt I could 'come out' and write in public perhaps. Bad experiences on Headfi where I felt a bit like a target and I got tired of nerds talking down to me. I received a warning so I went and decided I'd try writing on here instead. Didn't meet the 'nerd' attitude and the guys actually made me laugh a lot so I stayed. Then my Little Dot blew up big time in front of me. I was shocked!! I realised that perhaps some of this stuff could be very dangerous. It was spectacular. I decided to try a 'better' tube amp and got a hybrid - an X-Can V8. Loved it with the inside detail, but the bass wasn't there. Mike put an X-Can V2 together for me and modded it. WOW!!!! Bass. Clarity. Really nice. Then the addition of the Little Pinkie. A revelation to me!!! Following on - he modded a V1 for me and then got stuck into my V8 as well!!! (Mike was brilliant actually) The V8 came back like a different amp. He really went to town on it and for me, that became one of my favourites; even over the V2. I went to one of those Bravo amps and found that the full Valve type amp was really nice. (Instead of the hybrid X-Cans) There was something kind of 'dirty' in the music I liked. The Bravo was soon proved by the technos on here to be an inferior amp technically but there were improvements. In spite of its flaws, I did like the basic sound so in the end, I assumed I must be a valve kind of guy!! I talk too much and some of the guys on here take the mickey.... you have to watch them. ;D Basically a nice bunch and occasionally we pass something around to have an argument about. I know valves are technically, probably inferior to SS stuff really, but there is something about them that keeps my attention when listening to music. This T1 grabs my attention. It's like a really posh Bravo in a box but more extended. It also is a full valve type amp but it sounds so musical. Chris, I'm glad you're getting a go. You're one person I have problems sussing out what kind of sound you like!! If you're not keen on a Portapro, this might not be for you. That'll be interesting. I'm going to do some demos next week with it and then off to the next which I think is Mr Crispy. Hopefully, mine will be close to the UK shores by then.
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ronzo56
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Post by ronzo56 on Sept 9, 2012 19:45:42 GMT
Perhaps I might give some quick impressions on the newer LCD-2's sound as I feel that they may have a different sound from the last time people on RG heard them but only if RG members would find it useful. Ron. Absolutley Ron, I for one would be interested to hear what you have to say about these cans as they are on my future buying horizon. Since I am a newbie to posting I don't want to make waves. Don't worry Ron, this isn't the other place No-one is going to bite your head off. Well, not unless you stray into one or two threads about digital files , bits etc ;D ;D Hi E.K., I will give it a try. Might take a few days as I had to return the 1st pair due to some rough handling by the shipping company. The replacements came 2 days ago so they are still settling in. (I won't comment if it's real or anything about digital files.) Ian- Thanks. I too have an ongoing discussion with a computer hardware engineer friend and a designeer of his own amps. Tubes vs. SS. We've been going on for 30 years about it. He still likes the sound of my main rig with tubes, but insisits that he shouldn't. I have been reading RG for quite sometime before I finally became a member in 2010. Keep to myself too. I started with this hi-fi thing when I was 16 (1972) with pair of Koss Pro 4a's, plugged into a all in one receiver/turntable. There's been no turning back since. I have some friends over to watch American football today and we were all guessing the meaning of "take the mickey" before I looked it up. They all guessed it meant "to drink to much". ;D ;D RG the bridge between cultures? Cheers, Ron
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 20:00:34 GMT
That's me too, Ron. I know that I shouldn't, but can't help myself!! Naughty but nice.......
Take the Mickey Mouse? Of course, with the internet being so immediate, I forget that you're about 5000 miles away. Basically it means having a joke on someone.
I really love America. When I first went there, I was greeted at about 9:00pm American time (4:00pm British time) by a lady in a Motel telling me I wasn't booked in. I was devastated!!! Nowhere to go in Florida, USA. Luckily, I found a Motel 6 in Homestead at midnight who took me in. Then I went on down to Naples and met my first infestation of cockroaches!!!!!!! I woke in the middle of the night because I heard clicking. I thought it could be a guy with a gun. When I turned the light on, I had a cockroach on my chest, looking at me. So I grabbed the TV remote and hit it, screaming like a girl. I'd never seen one before.
I played down in Keywest where the air conditioning was an open window and a ceiling fan. I nearly passed out. They thought I was really ill because I couldn't take temperatures of over 40 degrees.
Went back to play in Miami when a hurricane hit so I drove north to avoid the flying boats to Orlando where I did the Epcot. It seemed more civilised there!!
I had a ball in Florida - but it was wild!!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 9, 2012 20:04:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 20:25:48 GMT
They look GREAT! Now that'll get kids buying them for sure. I know it's only superficial, but it could help sales while introducing people to a really nice sound.
I still think I'm a 'red' kinda guy.
It would also match their gloss speakers.
Thanks Mark.
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ronzo56
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Post by ronzo56 on Sept 9, 2012 21:14:33 GMT
I'll take the blue or green one right now.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 21:16:34 GMT
I like the blue as well, actually.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 21:44:01 GMT
What a great job by Mark I had a quick buzz around his site, he certainly knows his way around the progs. If I end up getting one I'd like it in steel-blue.
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Post by absorb on Sept 10, 2012 6:41:33 GMT
I have to ask..... does anyone know how to pronounce Aune?? And yes to the price, $198USD including freight. (Nobody deals with NZ dollars so that is probably easier )
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 8:03:06 GMT
Is it 'Awe....nnnnn'?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 8:08:35 GMT
Perhaps because it's such a "shaky" currency ? ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 8:35:22 GMT
In Cj world it's been "ah-oon"
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 10, 2012 8:59:57 GMT
I have to ask..... does anyone know how to pronounce Aune?? OON
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 10, 2012 9:02:54 GMT
Candy tells me that the T1 is also available in white.... now, that sounds nice
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 10, 2012 9:11:39 GMT
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