Got mine in the mail today. First impressions are very good.
Before the H26 I had an Aune S17 Pro (which I sold before getting the H26, so I couldn't do a direct comparison), and in the meantime I was using an Aune S7 Pro. I would say the H26's sound signature is closer to the S7 than the S17, but it is smoother/clearer than either of them, with a wider/deeper soundstage. To me it sounds very neutral, but I imagine most people would say it's warm. (When I say neutral, I am not talking about the harsh, ice-cold, etchy sound from the likes of Topping and THX amps from 5 years ago.) I'm pretty bad at describing sound, so I'll leave it at that. The sound from both the preamp-out and the headphone-out changed drastically with a few hours of warm-up/burn-in, though I haven't had it long enough to comment on long-term burn-in.
I may be alone in this, but I did not like the sound from the preamp-out of the Aune S17, and I find the H26's preamp-out to be much more to my liking. I may try putting in some Sparkos op-amps to see if it improves further, but I think the preamp-out is fantastic as-is.
The volume knob turns smoothly with a nice amount of resistance and no sort of tactile bumping/clicking, but very audible clicking can be heard inside the unit with every volume step. It is definitely my favorite volume knob I've used so far. You can enable/disable the headphone-out and the preamp-out in the menu, so it gives you the option to have both running, one-or-the-other running, or neither running. It's easy enough to switch them on/off using either the remote or the volume knob. The screen will brighten up when you interact with the unit, and then either dim or turn off after a few seconds, depending on what you have it set to. You can mute the H26 by quick-pressing the power button.
Going from volume 1 to 99, I did not detect any "jumps" in the middle whatsoever. There is no stuttering when turning the knob, and the amp can get much quieter than the Aune S17.
Overall, I'm very happy with the H26. Using it along with an R26 fed i2s from an SMSL PO100 Pro, I believe I have found my endgame as far as DACs/HP amps/preamps are concerned.
Before the H26 I had an Aune S17 Pro (which I sold before getting the H26, so I couldn't do a direct comparison), and in the meantime I was using an Aune S7 Pro. I would say the H26's sound signature is closer to the S7 than the S17, but it is smoother/clearer than either of them, with a wider/deeper soundstage. To me it sounds very neutral, but I imagine most people would say it's warm. (When I say neutral, I am not talking about the harsh, ice-cold, etchy sound from the likes of Topping and THX amps from 5 years ago.) I'm pretty bad at describing sound, so I'll leave it at that. The sound from both the preamp-out and the headphone-out changed drastically with a few hours of warm-up/burn-in, though I haven't had it long enough to comment on long-term burn-in.
I may be alone in this, but I did not like the sound from the preamp-out of the Aune S17, and I find the H26's preamp-out to be much more to my liking. I may try putting in some Sparkos op-amps to see if it improves further, but I think the preamp-out is fantastic as-is.
The volume knob turns smoothly with a nice amount of resistance and no sort of tactile bumping/clicking, but very audible clicking can be heard inside the unit with every volume step. It is definitely my favorite volume knob I've used so far. You can enable/disable the headphone-out and the preamp-out in the menu, so it gives you the option to have both running, one-or-the-other running, or neither running. It's easy enough to switch them on/off using either the remote or the volume knob. The screen will brighten up when you interact with the unit, and then either dim or turn off after a few seconds, depending on what you have it set to. You can mute the H26 by quick-pressing the power button.
Going from volume 1 to 99, I did not detect any "jumps" in the middle whatsoever. There is no stuttering when turning the knob, and the amp can get much quieter than the Aune S17.
Overall, I'm very happy with the H26. Using it along with an R26 fed i2s from an SMSL PO100 Pro, I believe I have found my endgame as far as DACs/HP amps/preamps are concerned.
…where has all the power gone?…