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PC Audio [REVIEW] Aune T1 24BIT TUBE USB DAC, An affordable Tube USB DAC

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TSxEDynamics
post Apr 24 2014, 10:35 AM, updated 10y ago

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Aune T1 24BIT TUBE USB DAC


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Introduction

When I was at Stars Picker audio display hall, I saw Aune T1 USB Tube DAC. What?? Aune?? LOL..at first, it made me laugh when hearing the brand name, and being a China brand, it makes me even look down on it. But I was thinking, since I was here, why not gave it a try. I connected Aune T1 to my RudiStor NX-03 headphone amplifier and played a song that I am familiar with. Surprisingly, the DAC performance were surpass my expectation! It really sounds good! Warm and soft, the sound stage is wide. The imaging is there. Then I asked them how much this DAC cost, it is RM490. For only RM490, it already sounded good. Then, I seek their permission to bring this DAC home for further listening experience.


The T1 24BIT TUBE USB DAC


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The box printed with products features, specification and accessories.

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The box is packed with foam that has been cut-outs for every components to protect the items during handling and shipping.


Let’s check out what’s in the retail box:
  • T1 24BIT TUBE USB DAC
  • PC USB Cable
  • Power adapter (220V/110V)
  • 6.5mm to 3.5mm stereo F adapter
  • User Manual

Let’s look at the specification shall we?
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The build quality

Aune T1's build quality does look and feel solid. It uses brushed metal material. The quality of the knob and switch is decent too. It looks solid and not easily broken. There is a LED light underneath the tube. You have to wait for a few seconds before the LED turns on. It is a hint when the tube is warmed up so that you can start listening to it.

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Perspective view


From top:
  • Tube
  • Switch for selecting USB/Line in
  • Volume knob for headphone amp
  • 6.5mm Headphone output

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Back view


From left:
  • Power in
  • On/Off switch
  • USB input
  • RCA input
  • RCA output

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Bottom view: headphone output gain adjustment


The setup

As always, I’m using ASUS Xonar Essence STX as reference DAC since I’m very familiar with it.
DAC
  • Aune T1 24BIT TUBE USB DAC
Headphone
  • AKG K701
Headphone amplifier
  • RudiStor NX-03
Cables
  • Copper Colour Penny Interconnect
  • QED PMC Qonduit Mains Power Cable
  • Aune USB A to B cable
Player
  • foobar2000 (wasapi output)
Music Source
  • Audiophile 16-bit/24-bit CD
  • FLAC format
  • WAV format


Sound Quality, The impression..

Audiophile CD – Yao Si Ting – Fields of Gold

Aune T1 Headphone output


First thing that I’ve noticed, the sound is soft, warm and smooth but not bright (laid back). It very relaxing and has its own clarity. Yeah! It’s the tube sound characteristics. The sound stage can be considered as wide, and the imaging is there but not that precise. The sound characteristics are more like STX-ish sound. Then I realised they used the similar DAC chip(TI PCM1793 where’s STX use TI PCM1792A).
Vocal did present in the middle, instrument was not that strong. When I turned the volume louder, the sound was washed out and flat. So I let the volume above half from the maximum. The acoustic guitar sound musical, and I like the flute sound, it’s very soft and smooth. When do A-B comparison with headphone output on the STX, Aune T1 lose some clarity due to the “tube” sound. STX are bright and forward sounding. For some song, I like to listen it through Aune T1 because of its smooth and soft characteristics.

Aune T1 -> RudiStor NX-03

By using this setup, I can hear the TI PCM1793 directly. The sound produced was much cleaner than before because RudiStor NX-03 produced clean output. Everything sounded much livelier but the soft, warm and smooth characteristics still remained. The vocal produced more texture. The flute sound was making me goosebumps!

Extra setup!!

I would like to match up Aune T1 with my home audio setup. Here it goes..

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Amplifier
  • Naim Nait 5i-2
Speaker
  • ProAc Studio 115

My home setup sound characteristics is natural. When the volume turned up, I noticed that the vocal is laid back. Overall same characteristics with what I heard with RudiStor NX-03. Overall, Aune T1 can be considered as “fun” to listen due to its smooth and warm characteristics.

Let’s move on with changing the tube!

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This is Philips Mullard 6CW7 ECC84 with 6922 converter
Wow! Now Aune T1 produced different characteristics! It sounded cleaner and natural. No more smooth and soft but still a little warmth. It sounded similar to a solid state DAC and considered as an “upgrade”. The sound is now closer to STX but with “warmth” characteristics. I like it very much!

Conclusion

Aune T1 is a good DAC with a bonus headphone amplifier. Why I said bonus? Because the headphone amplifier is quite good if compare to Bravo V2 headphone amplifier itself. For only RM490 you can get TI PCM1793 DAC + decent headphone amplifier + tube sound (swappable). If you are looking for DAC + headphone amplifier and your budget is under RM500, these product is for you! It uses USB input which is very convenient for you to use it with your PC or laptop. It supports Windows and Mac OS too. Just plug and play. Use WASAPI/ASIO output for better quality.
Aune T1 also allows you to swap tube depending on your taste. Be cautious when you want to swap the tube. Let it cool down first to avoid unnecessary injury. Overall it’s a good buy! It will let you enjoy your music! I believe the headphone amplifier can run mid-range headphones (such as ATH-50M, HD555 and many more) flawlessly!
  • Audio quality: 3/5
  • Build quality: 4/5
  • Functionality: 2/5
  • Value: 5/5

PROS:
  • DAC with integrated tube and headphone amplifier
  • It use TI PCM1793 which is a good DAC on the market
  • Use good brand caps and components
  • The build quality is good
  • Swappable tubes
  • Small, will not take up space
  • Affordable

CONS:
  • It runs warm (not too hot)
  • Limited to 24bit/96kHz
  • For the price, I wouldn’t find much cons for it

Where can I get this awesome DAC?

Stars Picker’s
60, Jalan 19, Taman Desa Jaya, 52100, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.
Operating hours: Mon-Sat 9am- 9.30pm
































TSxEDynamics
post Apr 24 2014, 10:36 AM

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reserve for future use
more2teayap
post Apr 24 2014, 11:46 AM

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I think it runs warm is not really a con, well unless the circuit is badly design? hmm.gif

But overall, for the price, really nothing much to complain

This post has been edited by more2teayap: Apr 24 2014, 11:46 AM
liquidgal
post Apr 24 2014, 01:53 PM

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Usually tube dac and amp are quite warm. Aune T1 is not too warm actually considering it as a tube dac. At most, it can be a hand warmer. biggrin.gif
penmarker
post Apr 24 2014, 09:50 PM

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Aune T1 user here.

What I like most about it is the low noise floor it has compared to my laptop out. While I cannot identify a lot of differences between the laptop out and the T1 out (my laptop is pretty high spec so I'm not surprised if it has a good on board DAC and amp), I prefer the T1 because of the lower noise floor.
joshuachew
post Apr 24 2014, 10:37 PM

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QUOTE(penmarker @ Apr 24 2014, 09:50 PM)
Aune T1 user here.

What I like most about it is the low noise floor it has compared to my laptop out. While I cannot identify a lot of differences between the laptop out and the T1 out (my laptop is pretty high spec so I'm not surprised if it has a good on board DAC and amp), I prefer the T1 because of the lower noise floor.
*
What laptop are you using? No difference between the laptop outs and the Aune is serious..
penmarker
post Apr 25 2014, 10:30 PM

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Acer Aspire V5 573PG. Spec is pretty good; intel i7, geforce 750M, 4 gig ram, 4 gig dedicated graphics ram, 6 hours battery life, touchscreen.

With my low impedance headphones (JVC HA-S500) I can hear hissing, but I can identify micro details just as well. But my Goldring DR150 has some degradation in the treble region which I assume is because the amp section can't really push this headphone.

I can maybe bring it to meet up and compare between the T1. My ears aren't that sensitive so I might not be able to perceive differences other people can.
liquidgal
post Apr 26 2014, 02:10 AM

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Regardless of what mentioned above, I have some add ons for the role of computer in headfi system.

Computer are just like CD transporter or music player that can provide digital signal. So it does affect the sound quality of the DAC. Connecting to different computers, it's quite normal to hear different sound. @xEDynamics also told me that the sound of Aune T1 is different on my laptop and his laptop/pc.


That's why some passionate pc-hifi users intend to build a "HTPC" (Home Theater Personal Computer) or "CAS"(computer as source) system.

You can read some articles from "Cplay" and "Jplay" forum. They use different method to optimize computer hardware and software to get a higher quality sound signal. Even sata cable, hard disk, PSU, fanless radiator, computer casing...will influece the sound quality.

They also develop software to get a better sq. You can try J-play, especially "hibernate mode". The background of music is very dark and quiet, and the outline of music is more solid. (Note Trial version is fully-functional apart from occasional inserted silence)
http://cicsmemoryplayer.com/index.php?n=CPlay.Download
http://jplay.eu/download/

Now pc-hifi mainly seperate into two. One of the groups goes for high performance hardware to maximize the potential of the computer as a music player.

Another group goes for low-power consumption hardware. They thought that a high quality fanless PSU which can provide clean and stable electric power is necessary, but just for music playing doesn't really need high performance cpu. This is because high performance CPU might need more power consumption and might poluted the sound quality. High performance CPU also cause more vibration and affect the stability.

Actually I'm not too familiar with "HTPC/CAS", just sharing some experience. But I'm quite sure that different hardware will made the sound difference.
I've tried a HTPC which was build by my taiwan friend, the sound quality is really amazing, sound like a high end cd transporter. Although just using USB output, compared with my friend's HTPC, my laptop really sounds sucks.


This post has been edited by liquidgal: Apr 26 2014, 02:34 AM
phillip88
post Apr 28 2014, 09:56 AM

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Or you'd like to try Fidelizer, for free and available from online download.
Westley
post May 27 2014, 05:23 PM

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QUOTE(liquidgal @ Apr 26 2014, 02:10 AM)
Regardless of what mentioned above, I have some add ons for the role of computer in headfi system.

Computer are just like CD transporter or music player that can provide digital signal. So it does affect the sound quality of the DAC. Connecting to different computers, it's quite normal to hear different sound. @xEDynamics also told me that the sound of Aune T1 is different on my laptop and his laptop/pc.
That's why some passionate pc-hifi users intend to build a "HTPC" (Home Theater Personal Computer) or "CAS"(computer as source) system.

You can read some articles from "Cplay" and "Jplay" forum. They use different method to optimize computer hardware and software to get a higher quality sound signal. Even sata cable, hard disk, PSU, fanless radiator, computer casing...will influece the sound quality.

They also develop software to get a better sq. You can try J-play, especially "hibernate mode". The background of music is very dark and quiet, and the outline of music is more solid. (Note Trial version is fully-functional apart from occasional inserted silence)
http://cicsmemoryplayer.com/index.php?n=CPlay.Download
http://jplay.eu/download/

Now pc-hifi mainly seperate into two. One of the groups goes for high performance hardware to maximize the potential of the computer as a music player.

Another group goes for low-power consumption hardware. They thought that a high quality fanless PSU which can provide clean and stable electric power is necessary, but just for music playing doesn't really need high performance cpu. This is because high performance CPU might need more power consumption and might poluted the sound quality. High performance CPU also cause more vibration and affect the stability.

Actually I'm not too familiar with "HTPC/CAS", just sharing some experience. But I'm quite sure that different hardware will made the sound difference.
I've tried a HTPC which was build by my taiwan friend, the sound quality is really amazing, sound like a high end cd transporter. Although just using USB output, compared with my friend's HTPC, my laptop really sounds sucks.
*
true, low voltage means low heat, reduce ambient noise.
high performance motherboard, promise a good circuit and nice power design to reduce EMI
penmarker
post May 27 2014, 05:40 PM

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How would EMI interfere with the transfer of binary signal through a USB cable?

 

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