The Aune T1 Mk1 was constantly dropping on Massdrop for $130. Recently, it has been supplanted by the Aune T1 Mk2 with a sale price of $170. So what changed, apart from $40?
It's hard to find information about the T1 Mk2. The Shenzen Audio website says "T1 MK2 amp can bar the use of an enlarged portion of the gain OP + BUF". Um OK..... Maybe Google Translate was having a bad day when it did that particular translation.
In sum, the T1 Mk 2 got a new power supply and a new USB chip to allow asynchronous transfer and reduce jitter (from pictures of the internals, it looks like a SA9027 Savi controller, which is pretty much a bottom-of-the-barrel chip).
Is that worth $40 more? Probably not. At $170 I can't really recommend this as a price-performance steal anymore.
But then Massdrop threw in a Genalex Gold Lion tube too, for free. Sounds tempting, right? But before you pull the trigger, consider this:
This isn't the old Genalex Gold Lion from the 40s and 50s made by the Marconi-Osram Valve Company (they have long gone the way of the dodo and the great auk) but the "reissue" Genalex, which is made by New Sensor corp, who took over the old Reflektor plant and is now churning out OEM tubes under the ElectroHarmonix, Genalex, TungSol, Sovtek, Tesla, and even [shudder] the Mullard brand names. The 6922 versions of these tubes are essentially the same design, merely with different brand names printed on them. So the stock ElectroHarmonix tubes that come with the Aune T1 Mk1 are made in the same Reflektor plant that these Genalex tubes are made in.
So you may ask, how is it that some reviewers try a reissue Genalex or a rebadged Sovtek 6922 and report such a vast difference in sound quality in comparison to whatever they had before, if all these tubes are OEM? Unless they are getting the original NOS tubes, your guess is as good as mine.
If you want to roll tubes for Aune T1, IMO do it properly. Get the Mk1 for $130 (even though it does not have asynchronous data transfer) and with the $40 you save, get some real NOS tubes. You can get genuine Mullard ECC88/6922 tubes for $15-20 each, or a genuine cold war-era Russian Voskhod for $10 or thereabouts. Or spring for a NOS Amperex Bugle Boy which should cost you less than $40 if you are patient. Heck, you could even get a genuine Genalex from the 50s for under $40.
It's hard to find information about the T1 Mk2. The Shenzen Audio website says "T1 MK2 amp can bar the use of an enlarged portion of the gain OP + BUF". Um OK..... Maybe Google Translate was having a bad day when it did that particular translation.
In sum, the T1 Mk 2 got a new power supply and a new USB chip to allow asynchronous transfer and reduce jitter (from pictures of the internals, it looks like a SA9027 Savi controller, which is pretty much a bottom-of-the-barrel chip).
Is that worth $40 more? Probably not. At $170 I can't really recommend this as a price-performance steal anymore.
But then Massdrop threw in a Genalex Gold Lion tube too, for free. Sounds tempting, right? But before you pull the trigger, consider this:
This isn't the old Genalex Gold Lion from the 40s and 50s made by the Marconi-Osram Valve Company (they have long gone the way of the dodo and the great auk) but the "reissue" Genalex, which is made by New Sensor corp, who took over the old Reflektor plant and is now churning out OEM tubes under the ElectroHarmonix, Genalex, TungSol, Sovtek, Tesla, and even [shudder] the Mullard brand names. The 6922 versions of these tubes are essentially the same design, merely with different brand names printed on them. So the stock ElectroHarmonix tubes that come with the Aune T1 Mk1 are made in the same Reflektor plant that these Genalex tubes are made in.
So you may ask, how is it that some reviewers try a reissue Genalex or a rebadged Sovtek 6922 and report such a vast difference in sound quality in comparison to whatever they had before, if all these tubes are OEM? Unless they are getting the original NOS tubes, your guess is as good as mine.
If you want to roll tubes for Aune T1, IMO do it properly. Get the Mk1 for $130 (even though it does not have asynchronous data transfer) and with the $40 you save, get some real NOS tubes. You can get genuine Mullard ECC88/6922 tubes for $15-20 each, or a genuine cold war-era Russian Voskhod for $10 or thereabouts. Or spring for a NOS Amperex Bugle Boy which should cost you less than $40 if you are patient. Heck, you could even get a genuine Genalex from the 50s for under $40.
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