Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[baddog]

Guys, my Aries has started to act a bit weird: It starts much longer than it has to, and after playing 10-30 secs it freezes. Multiple restarts doesn't help. It even can't turn itself off with the AURALIC logo on the screen. I've just turned it off completely with all the wires disconnected, will leave it like so overnight. Hope it'll help.

 

That sounds like a speed dial call to either your dealer or an email to Auralic support. That is not good behavior.

[theppd]

I'm gonna wright them right now, so it's 2 tickets, hope it'll force them to dive into the issue

[andybob]

Hi guys,

Noobie here so forgive me if this is in the wrong thread.

I have an Aries Mini on pre-order, but a friend of mine with the big Aries keeps gloating and I am thinking of upgrading. I would like to hear your views about the relative SQ of the following alternatives:

 

1. Internal SSD - Aries Mini - coaxial cable - Vega

2. Internal SSD - Aries Mini - Mapleshade USB cable - Up Tone Regen - Vega

3. SSD - SATA/USB Enclosure - Mapleshade USB cable - Aries - AES cable - Vega

4. SSD - SATA/USB Enclosure - Mapelshade USB cable - ASUS Router - WiFi - Aries - AES cable - Vega

 

My friend's view is that the Aries AES Vega connection is rock solid (no dropouts with exact clock at any PCM resolution) and sounds better to him than USB.

 

I understand the Aries Mini has not been released yet so I am asking you to guess what it sounds like. I have a Chinese 16v LPS that I intend to use with the Mini. For current purposes, lets assume that it is about the same as the lower model Aries without the femto clocks.

 

If you could put a number on the relative SQ of the above alternatives where 1 was 100 that would help me understand the size of the differences we are talking about.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[audiobenpdx]

My Aires suddenly isn't playing tracks off of my attached, self-powered USB drive. I don't know if this is a coincidence, but this happened right after I changed internet providers. Is there some setting I am missing. The new internet provider doesn't support DCHP, but I am still able to control my Aires through LDS app, and select the albums/tracks to play, and my Aires show's the tracks on the display, but then just sits there. Any suggestions?

[baddog]

So did your old, and does your new service provider provide you with a cable modem/router for your home network? It would be helpful to know the service provider, whether you have a cable modem or FIOS and what you are using as a router. I also am not sure what you mean when you say they do not provide DHCP, but the answers to the previous questions might explain that.

 

I assume some equipment has changed in your setup given you have a new service provider. How long ago did it happen, and did you recently install a firmware update on your Aries?

[audiobenpdx]

So did your old, and does your new service provider provide you with a cable modem/router for your home network? It would be helpful to know the service provider, whether you have a cable modem or FIOS and what you are using as a router. I also am not sure what you mean when you say they do not provide DHCP, but the answers to the previous questions might explain that.

 

I assume some equipment has changed in your setup given you have a new service provider. How long ago did it happen, and did you recently install a firmware update on your Aries?

 

I switched from Comcast to Century Link, and they provided me with a DSL modem. The switched just happened today. My Aires has the latest updates.

[baddog]

And the DSL modem has a router too, or do you connect it to a router, sorry I should have asked? Also what model DSL modem did they give you? Is the Aries connect via wireless or wired via ethernet?

 

One last thing, though I am sure you have tried, you are certain the Aries is selected as the device in the Lightning DS application?

[audiobenpdx]

And the DSL modem has a router too, or do you connect it to a router, sorry I should have asked? Also what model DSL modem did they give you? Is the Aries connect via wireless or wired via ethernet?

 

One last thing, though I am sure you have tried, you are certain the Aries is selected as the device in the Lightning DS application?

 

The DSL modem router too, and then I also run my Apple Airport from it too, which retains all of my network information that I used before. The Aires used to be connected wired, but since I switched, it is now connected wirelessly because the modem is in a different part of my house.

[baddog]

Odd, given your Aires has a local USB drive, and your iPad can connect to it, if the Aries device is selected in Lightning DS there is no logical reason it shouldn't work. I assume you can open an album and see the track listing?

 

Maybe check your output setting in the Lightning DS application to see if something has changed?

[audiobenpdx]

And I am able to do everything else with the Aires just fine on the network; control the settings, play radio stations, etc. It just won't play music on the USB drive, which is how I have always (and only way) I play music with it. It sees all of my music.

[audiobenpdx]

 

Maybe check your output setting in the Lightning DS application to see if something has changed?

 

I've done that, changed output settings, complete power shut-down, factory re-set, still nothing.

[baddog]

So apologies if you already posted this, what happens when you select play, does it appear to be playing or no response from the Aries?

 

I assume you have fully powered down the Aries and the USB drive and then turned back on the USB drive and then the Aries?

[baddog]

I've done that, changed output settings, complete power shut-down, factory re-set, still nothing.

 

Oh, crap, sounds like a support email to Auralic is in order. Lots of oddities surrounding the Aries in the past week or so....sorry I cannot assist further, it is puzzling. I use a NAS drive with Minimserver so I am no longer using Lightning Server with my NAS or an locally attached USB drive.

[audiobenpdx]

Thanks for your help! I've already sent a support ticket, ...no response yet. Do you just submit it from the LDS app?

[baddog]

Actually I never tried that, I usually just send an email to [email protected].

 

Plus I am fairly persistent...

[audiobenpdx]

My Aires has also started acting really slow, takes a much longer time to start up, and scan my library.

[baddog]

You mean the application running on your iPad?

 

I have that same issue with an older model iPad, my iPad Mini 2 is a good bit snappier in response.

[audiobenpdx]

No the Aires itself. I am running it on an older Ipad (2nd generation) but it has been working fine before. I didn't upgrade to the new LDS app though because it was having problems with my iPad, so I downgraded to the earlier version.

[audiobenpdx]

Well, that's odd. I did some more testing, and loaded some music on a USB flash drive, attached that to the Aires and it plays fine. So something is up with my hard drive? It was playing fine before.

[baddog]

Try plugging back in the larger USB drive and see if it now works properly.

 

Failing that and till you hear from support, you could try a full rescan of the drive, or remove from Lightning DS, full shutdown and the re start. Course part of me thinks this is a lot of time troubleshooting when you could be listening to music.

[audiobenpdx]

Try plugging back in the larger USB drive and see if it now works properly.

 

Failing that and till you hear from support, you could try a full rescan of the drive, or remove from Lightning DS, full shutdown and the re start. Course part of me thinks this is a lot of time troubleshooting when you could be listening to music.

 

This is exactly what I am doing now, ...we'll see. I also cleared the cache. Good thing I just picked up a NAD CD player to play music thru in the meantime, (which is actually hard to listen too, the quality of the Aires is so much better)

Radio working on the Aires too, so I have that. Do you not recommend using the radio function on the Aires when it's scanning the hard drive?

[baddog]

No reason not to use radio while drive is scanning, worst case you get some breakup in the radio streaming, no impact to the scanning of the hard drive.

[audiobenpdx]

Still no go when I swapped my hard drive back in, and did a rescan. ?

[Cebolla]

Oh, crap, sounds like a support email to Auralic is in order. Lots of oddities surrounding the Aries in the past week or so....sorry I cannot assist further, it is puzzling. I use a NAS drive with Minimserver so I am no longer using Lightning Server with my NAS or an locally attached USB drive.

Barr,

 

Seeing as you are arguably the most experienced user on these Aries threads and certainly appear capable of eliminating irrelevant network setup type issues, is there any chance you could run a few tests with the Aries's internal UPnP media server (to both local USB drive & networked drive) and the Lightning DS app?

 

It would certainly be beneficial to get an "old pro's" perspective on any possible problems with the current app and firmware.

 

Thanks

John

[baddog]

John - Sure I would be happy to, are there any tests in particular you would like to see?

 

As noted I have been using the Aries with Minimserver on my Synology NAS. I did test the Lightning Server ( Auralic's media server ) for several months when it was pre release accessing my NAS via SMB (CIFS to some). Interestingly, only in the last two months did I get curious enough about the setup on my NAS, to explore the advanced options for Windows File Servers, and enable SMB3. I had been running it with SMB1 for over a year ( bad me ).

 

I already have notes on the differences between how Lightning Server and Mimimserver handle meta data ( i.e. no ignore "The" abilities in Lightning server at moment, Mimimserver handles DISCNUMBER tags, Lightning server does not, Minimserver handles YEAR tag more gracefully, et al).

 

Since the last flurry of releases of both firmware and iPad software over the past two months I have not done a lot of comparisons, so now does seem like an apt time.

 

Barr