Aune S17 PRO EVO Review – A GIANT Killer Amp!

Ever since posting my Aune S17 PRO review a year ago and crowning it my favorite headphone amplifier below one kilobuck, I started exchanging lots of emails with Aune Audio about the possibility of working together on a slightly better unit that would resolve most of the issues I had with it. Some of you reported that its high 100 mA bias was overheating the amplifier, automatically switching to a lower 50 mA bias, so clearly, better heat dissipation needed to be achieved. Some of you also reported a weird volume curve increase, especially at higher volumes with harder-to-drive headphones. I also reported some inconveniences when using it as a preamplifier in a stereo setup, as the SPL difference between the 0 and 1 volume position could be as high as ~20 dB if a super-powerful power amplifier followed. I also discussed independent volume adjustment for its headamp and preamp sections for lower noise & distortion.

I’m here to tell you that the headphone amplifier & preamplifier I hoped to see in the future was finally revealed and I’m glad that some of my ideas made their way into it. It’s an evolution of the regular S17 PRO, and therefore an EVO moniker was used. All of these upgrades cost Aune about an extra year of development and optimization and a slightly higher bill of materials but luckily for us, the price went up by only $100, selling for $799 as I’m typing this. Without further ado, you can find our in-depth video for the newest unit👇