AUNE T1se 24BIT/DSD Tube USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier (Silver)

Wow! The tube dac is night and day from the internal dac in my ipad air 2. The included russian tube is very impressive. The SS amp is so so and good enough for my 598s..my thoughts are to maybe use a different amp for higher impedance headphones that are in my future, maybe a vali 2 to use as amp and possibly a modi multi bit to compare to the aune dac...I didnt want to commit 400 plus dollars for the schitt stack until i was convinced an external dac would enhance my listening. The aune is impressive from packaging to construction. This is an impressive unit, specifically the tube dac. The is a great introduction to tubes, but be careful...it can be addicting..lol

I have several tube headphone amplifiers. i own the Hifman amp. HIFIMAN EF2C USB-DAC Headphone Amplifier. I own the Schiit integrated tube amp. I have also owned a Bravo amp. https://www.amazon.com/Bravo-Audio-V1-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00A2QKTLW/ref=sr_1_22_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1523123178&sr=1-22-spons&keywords=bravo+app&psc=1&smid=A2Q0JVLI22BSVA . The Bravo is obviously inferior in both sound production and design. The Aune product with a JJ E88CC tube sound out put compares with the others. I did not employ the supplied Russian tube. I was surprised about the poor quality of the plastic tube protectors that are to be placed surrounding tube. I inserted one. Upon removal the plastic broke leaving one small part in the device. See the picture below. It is not my expectation for a product at this price range to have such poor quality.

Looks cool and sounds great.