Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[audiobenpdx]

I got the Aires to start playing music again from the USB drive, it just can’t play the music I had in the ‘collections’ folder anymore, that is where it gets stuck. Is there anyway to get it to play music in that section again, or do I have to to clear that folder and re-add all my favorite albums again? Did something happen to corrupt it?

[baddog]

I honestly don't know, I do know that it would appear for most Lightning DS updates I completely lose any saved playlists.

[wdw]

I've been coming increasingly impressed with what I've been hearing from 2.7.1. Clarity and focus seem to have improved. Also there's a just a bit more coherence. I have noticed no downside relative to my recollection of what I had been hearing previous to 2.7.

 

I still think 2.5 delivered a bigger improvement more from the fact that it eliminated a hardness that could be annoying.

 

Feel somewhat guilty posting good news with so many users having issues, and to them my best wishes, but, in my case, with a bus-powered usb 2-1/2" drive off the back of my Aries these latest firmware/DS upgrades are delicate and nuanced in a delightful way. Seems many problems are due to the NAS interface and I question why most peeps need six or eight gigs of data...an Internal SSD, in the case of Aurender, or a slaved usb disc holds ....how many high rez albums? A lot....swap them out as required.

I'm reminded of the iPod classic guys who wanted to walk around with every song known to man when I would never have jumped into the iPod galaxy until it was SSD....still have the little white stick iPod whatever it's called.

Best,

wdw

[miguelito]

Selling my Aries... Any takers?

[wdw]

Selling my Aries... Any takers?

Oh Miggy,

What can we do?....an Aries/Aurender solution is so superior to any computer solution, no matter how stripped down or lathered with power supplies and regens...that it is laughable.

What can we do?

Why are plagued so?

We're here to help,

;-)

[baddog]

Selling my Aries... Any takers?

 

@m - where are the updated pics given your new residence?

 

Does this mean you have moved on to Roon?

[YashN]

Selling my Aries... Any takers?

 

Already, miguelito?

 

Didn't like it?

[baddog]

m has a rather killer system. IMHO.

[miguelito]

Oh Miggy,

What can we do?....an Aries/Aurender solution is so superior to any computer solution, no matter how stripped down or lathered with power supplies and regens...that it is laughable.

I haven't found this to be true.

 

I haven't used Aries in 5 months. I just moved apartments so it's packed in the original packaging. I'm not inclined to unpack it.

 

More importantly, I'm very likely to go the roon way.

[miguelito]

@m - where are the updated pics given your new residence?

Takes time to get everything in order! My system is already set up though not fine tuned yet.

 

Does this mean you have moved on to Roon?

Yes. More precisely, I will.

[miguelito]

Does this mean you have moved on to Roon?

[baddog]

 

Very funny. Good choice.

[miguelito]

Very funny. Good choice.

Another jewel...

[askat1988]

I pm'd miguelito on his offer, but I am wondering if this is a bad idea since I don't own an ipad. Is it feasible to do setup on an android phone, then use minimserver to stream from my synology nas? I am currently using a BBB put together with Chris's template he published here. But, I also have a mac mini to serve two other DACs (I have three total). I am thinking the Aries could serve all three at once...

[baddog]

I pm'd miguelito on his offer, but I am wondering if this is a bad idea since I don't own an ipad. Is it feasible to do setup on an android phone, then use minimserver to stream from my synology nas? I am currently using a BBB put together with Chris's template he published here. But, I also have a mac mini to serve two other DACs (I have three total). I am thinking the Aries could serve all three at once...

 

 

I don't have an Android phone so I cannot speak to the capabilities of setup and running an Aries with it. However I can state that once you get the Aries setup with the Android, you could use an application such as Linn Kinsky or Kazoo to control music playback from one of your Macs. The only thing it wont allow for, as far as I know ( maybe someone else has tried ), is allow you to control playback of Tidal or Qobuz, for that you need to run the Lightning DS application on your iPad or Android phone.

 

And yes this would work fine using Minimserver on your NAS.

 

I am not sure what you mean by your last statement, "I am thinking the Aries could serve all three at once...", if it means what I think, you can only use one Aries with one DAC at a time.

[askat1988]

Thanks bplexico. Yes, I would only serve one DAC at a time, that's clear, but I would have one point of serving them, the Aries. Each of the connections on the back of the Aries (USB, AES, Spdif) would go to each DAC. I assume I could also control the Aries with my android tablet/bubbleupnp after setup.

[baddog]

@askat1988 - While I believe you could have a DAC connected to one of the digital outputs and the USB output and possible toggle back and forth between output settings in the Aries depending on which DAC you want to use ( i have not tried that ), I have no idea what would happen if you had multiple DACs connected to the digital outs ( i.e. 1 to AES, 1 to Coax, 1 to Toslink ).

 

I would email [email protected] - they should know the answer.

[woadl]

Hello everyone I have now updated to the new firmware and have started to use Lighting App and I have found it very slow. When I was using UPnP on my Synology NAS you openened the App and it scanned your files automatically, but now if I have loaded a new music file I have to manually scan and it now takes about 15 mins to do that and I have found its a hit and miss affair. The other day I scanned and it found the two new CDs I had ripped but then said there was no tracks inside, a second scan fixed it

So 30 mins waisted just to play new music !!

 

If I use lightning server all my art work is shown but if I use UPnP a lot of my artwork never seems to load so I like the art work on lightning server

Yes I have had lock ups on the new update and have had to restart a few time... Something I didn't get before

 

Can I ask what is the best way to organise my Hi Res files mixed with my WAV files , at the moment I have made a file called HD Music and store them in there under Artist/ Album is this the best or do I just mix them in with the other fields ?

 

Because of this I use the folder view a lot but have found that when you look at say Fleetwood Mac folder when you go back you start at A folder again..... Very frustrating

 

So at the moment I am finding the whole experience not enjoyable at all

 

What amazes me is that Synology has an audio App for my IPhone and it works a treat I can instantly see new music added, all my artwork and it just seems to work !! Is it that hard ?

[baddog]

I would suggest the following:

 

1. Use Minimserver rather than Lightning Server as your music server for now.

 

2. If you want to know when an album you are selecting is High Resolution, then perhaps tag the album title using something such as YATE, so that the album title is "Album Title ( 24/96 ) " etc...

 

Minimserver has worked flawlessly for me for over a year. You can invoke a rescan of Minimserver using Minimwatch after adding new albums.

 

I keep all my music in the following structure on my NAS:

 

root folder is \music

 

Than the following sub folders:

 

\CD

 

\High Resolution

 

\DSD

 

Then the organization within each folder is:

 

\artist\album title

[groovybassist]

My Aries is dead locked again. Fourth time in a week. All have been reported to Auralic on an existing support ticket with no response at all from Auralic. Very disappointing. As others have said, loading Minimserver on my NAS may solve my problems, but I take issue with Auralic releasing LDS 2.0 before it was ready for prime time.

[baddog]

I understand principles and all, but in the interim, till Auralic address this issue, please try Minimserver, trust me, your life will be much better. Life is short. Enjoy Minimserver, with it, you will never have need of Lightning Server...

[bmichels]

I have many Lightning DS bugs, expecially with a big 2To HD attached to the USB instead of on the Network.

 

But... I also have a HARDWARE bug (in the same configuration: USB HD) : I cannot turn the ARIES OFF properly !

- Sometime, I press the ON/OFF button on the remote, and I got the screen asking confirmation (do I really want to turm ON / OFF) , I press YES, and…I have black OLED screen instead of the « Good by » screen.

 

And when I press again the ON/OFF button on the remote I come back again to the display asking confirmation (do I want to turn ON / OFF )!??

 

--> So I can’t reach the stand by mode ! I guess this has nothing to do with the iPAD or the Lightning DS since it is only operated bu the remote control !! This is a firmware issue (ARIES says Firmware is up to date)

 

Does someone experienced this also ??

`

[JohanS]

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.

It's hard to tell which option has the better SQ. But I have thought about SQ and my wallet as well

 

Currently running Audirvana on a MacBook several reports are here at this forum that conclude that Aries (LE or full) has a better SQ than a MacBook. The full Aries profits of Femto USB clocks and a premium PSU, the Aries LE doesn't have these. So, I'm very curious about the SQ difference between an Aries LE and Aries Mini, certainly if the latter is combined with UpTone Audio's REGEN. I tend to think there won't be a large difference at all....

 

So, I ended up with two choices (in theory): Aries Full or Aries Mini. I prefer a set-up with Aries Mini (I already own a REGEN amber), because of the large price difference and the possibility to add an internal HD (SSD) to the Aries Mini. So, that's your option 2.

 

I have seen reports here that option 3 is worse for SQ than Aries connecting to a NAS. I'm not sure whether your option 4 can be accessed by the Aries. LDS needs to connect to either a Samba share (SMB) or connect to your music collection by a protocol (UPNP/DLNA/OpenHome). Maybe the direct connection over USB of your drive to the router does allow that?

 

Aries Mini will be out at the end of September, except for a happy few who will get one early August from a prior sale (I've been told...).

[FIndingit]

I pm'd miguelito on his offer, but I am wondering if this is a bad idea since I don't own an ipad. Is it feasible to do setup on an android phone, then use minimserver to stream from my synology nas? I am currently using a BBB put together with Chris's template he published here. But, I also have a mac mini to serve two other DACs (I have three total). I am thinking the Aries could serve all three at once...

The Lightning DS on Android does have some bugs, but the device settings work fine. I use Minimserver and just checked that the app is fine there.

[Duke40]

I am currently reading the following CA threads ;

Optical Network Configurations

Network Isolation

 

Currently using WiFi for the Aries ... interested if anyone has tried connecting there Aries via Ethernet using fibre Optical networking. Look forward to anyones experience with this, mainly from a sound quality and reliability perspective, with the Aries. Currently have no issues with the WiFi configuration, more just being curious. Thanks.

 

John