Aune S17 Pro Headphone Amp, Pre-amp, Fine Volume Curve, Pure Class-A, Fully-Discrete Fully Balanced, 6.35mm/XLR/4.4mm Headphone Jack, Twin JFET, XLR/RCA Preamp Out, for DAC/Speaker/Home Audio(Silver)

In your music loving journey. I paired this headphone amp along with my just purchased SR7000 headphones. Not really expecting very much in fact. If a slight bump in sound quality and nothing more then it would come down a keep or return decision. Not only has the addition of this headphone amp turned into a open and shut case of Keep , but in some ways the sound quality even exceeds my reference system. Itself being no slouch in the sq dept. As it is virtually impossible to crank up the volume levels to the same degree as with headphones. Still, at more moderate volume levels e.g. 35-40 or approx. 60% of max , there is a wealth of musical info available , not heard before. The most subtle organic nuances of musical performance are revealed. The results are as much informative as just downright enjoyable. Musicality and being completely engaged in the music stage , with the musicians like never before. It is almost like rediscovering your music collection and being amazed each and every time. Somehow or other, the match of the SR7000 headphones and the S17 pro headphone amp with my $8k Aavik dac is a match made in music heaven. Avoiding the headphone socket on my int amp was decision well made. There was a recessed effect overall to music played and the bass was just a tad too light for most tastes. All of that has been rectified with the addition of the dedicated S17 headphone amp. Over the years of buying audio equipment, a list has been compiled of the most notable additions. The SR7000 headphones along with the S17 pro headphone amp go to the very top in terms of sound improvements offered, expectations met and/or exceeded & value for money.

I upgraded to this from a Schiit Asgard 3 and it has been a big improvement in sound quality. When you want a detailed sound that makes everything wide and dynamic the standard 50mw mode will deliver that especially if paired with a very clean or neutral DAC. However I find that it when paired with my SMSL SU-10 can make some things a bit bright if they are not well recorded. But the good thing about this is the 100mw mode which smooths that out and adds a warmth that can take care of that for you. The low gain is enough to power all of my headphones which includes HE1000 V2 Stealth, Meze empyrean, ZMF Atrium, HD 660S, and Focal Elegia with a good range of play with all of them. I'm not finding that I'm typically listening at more than 35 with most of them and like 20 with the focal since its so efficient. I use single ended for everything and never feel like any of my headphones would really benefit from more power. I never hit the 50-something some people say the volume level skips at so I wouldn't even worry about it. And if you do than just throw it on high gain and not worry about it. I keep mine on my desk in my living room and I put it on some cheaper spacers just because it does get warm but not like burn your hand warm. Typically at 50mw mode single ended I don't go above like 48 degrees and with 100 mw mode single ended I don't typically hit more than like 58. It will go above like 60 if you decide to use the balanced on it though. But even then you still have hours before it would hit the max if you ever get it that hot. It does take a little time to warm up in both 50 mw mode from off so I just keep it on all the time. It takes less time for it to warm up in 100mw mode form 50 however it like 30 minutes and that's fine. The only flaw of this product is that there is no way to switch between the pre-out and headphone out so it's always outputting to both. With this amp and my SMSL DAC it increases the sound quality so much that running the pre-outs to my powered Vanatoo speakers makes them sound much better. But evetime I want to switch between headphones and speakers I have to unplug one and re-plug the other which is annoying. But the sound improvement is worth it for now until I can get a more permanent solution.

It sounds great with very low sensitivity headphones like Susvara and Tungsten and has plenty of power to drive them well. You have to spend a ton more money to match or exceed this performance. Pretty much endgame on a budget. Been running this for over a year now with no thermal issues, able to keep in 100ma mode year round. Really can't ask for anything more at this price point! The only downside I've noticed is the volume steps are very strange and somewhat hard to manage but this can be overcome by leaving it at one comfortable level and making fine adjustments from the source material.

A sleeper, amazing clarity and detail. It does run a little warmer than most, but produces great sound. I use it as a preamplifier line level and it compares my reference tube preamp costing 4k. Oh, a keeper due to its ability to extract all the detail at low volume levels so at night no need to crank it .

I was shocked to find that this inexpensive amp would sound so amazing and can compete at the same level as amps costing 10X more. You get lots of detail, the 3D imaging and sound-stage was very expansive. It never sounded harsh or clinical, on the contrary it is a very smooth sounding amp inspite of the level of detail it produces. This amp is a real bargain. You will not be disappointed. The built quality is apparent the minute that you open the package, it is packed like a piece of jewelry. The amp itself is very solid and heavy for a its size. The amp runs hot but that is a feature that makes it sound at its best, this amp will not sound nearly as good when you first turn it on and it is still cold. It takes sever weeks of playing it to "break it in" and for the amp to flourish and reach a full bloom. So you have to be patient when you first get it because you will only be hearing half of what this amp is capable of doing when it is new out of the box. You get a choice of connectivity to the source between RCA or XLR, it will sound better using the XLR connection as this amp is fully balanced.

When in single ended 50 mode, can keep a stable temperature, but the instant I use balanced cables at the same power mode it shoots up and shuts down because it passed the 69c mark. A bit dissapointing even though it sounded great.