Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[pvanosta]

Now if Roon server ran on my Synology then the decision would be a lot easier!

amen to that!!

[pvanosta]

2. Aries does not support SACD ISO but this is not a CPU power constraint. Most DSD-capable streamers/bridges out ther that I am aware of, do not play ISO. SACD ISO (and the extracted DSD/DSF files from that ISO) is DSD64. The Aries can handle up to DSD 256 (4x DSD).

 

3. I have a similar requirement. I know where I put things on my NAS and sometimes folder view is the quickest way to get there. Auralic's Lightning DS (which includes the control app you'll be using) does have a basic folder view, but it also has many other useful views/filters (by file type, by upload date, by modified date, by file Resolution, etc.), which combined allow me to find anything quickly in my 20,000 album collection.

 

I am evaluating the Aries or maybe Mini, I got several questions and hope a get some help here:

 

1, Does Aries always need a DLNA server? I have Synology NAS, can Aries directly read my shared folder from NAS?

 

2, I got some SACD ISOs, my impression is that the Aries CPU isn't powerful enough, so I can do DFS only not SACD ISO, right? Just need confirm this.

 

3, Does the software come with Aries support folder view? I mean I need to browse music by directory structure, I hate album views it's difficult to find anything.

 

Thank you very much.

[pvanosta]

47 minutes ago, mikey8811 said:

They were still there over the weekend.

 

I remember trying the different modes out and still preferred Precise. Dynamic was second.

 

Haven't the time to try today to see if they are still there.

Still there on my Altair on 5.0 and in the browser interface

[pvanosta]

+2 on my Altair

I have a large library on a Synology NAS and all too often my Altair 'loses' the library. Sometimes I can just re-add it quickly, other times I have to reinstall the library. Today, it has been 'indexing' for the second day in a row and I'm 60% done...

 

No discernable cause or reason. 2 days ago, the NAS installed a an update and rebooted. None of that should trigger a disappearance of the library, let alone a full re-index. This is after I have had to manually delete the index in Lightning server and reinstall the whole thing less than a month ago (which also took several days) because the library no longer saw new additions when doing a simple re-scan. It's a good thing I only have time to really listen during the weekends, as I need most of the week to get the system ready to play on Saturday now...

 

It should be this difficult.

[pvanosta]

2 minutes ago, Frankie61 said:

I must say this again ..... IF you are or has been BETA TESTER ...... EXPECT problems ! 

Hard to understand for most pepole. ! 

AND ....... Many problems are related to bad and unstable routers ! 

 

Let me respond:

1. I am not nor have I ever been a beta tester

2. The Auralic Altair is connected to the NAS via a simple, WIRED, gigabit switch. No routing, no wifi, just a straight wire through an ethernet switch. 

The only thing unstable here, is either the Auralic hardware or the Auralic software. Either way, I hope they get a grip and sort it out.

[pvanosta]

And how big is your library? Mine is 22,000 albums and over 240,000 tracks...

[pvanosta]

I went from the Mini to the Altair for that reason and was told the Altair should not have problems up to 500,000 tracks. And yet...

 

I have looked at Aurender. The A10 is 2.5 times as expensive as the Altair. That's not a subtle difference but it may be where I end up if they don't stabilize the Auralic LightningServer.

[pvanosta]

36 minutes ago, lentille said:

My experience is very good with the Aurilac Aries Mini - so much so I have bought a 2nd one for use at a second house. 

 

It has been very stable and tolerates with many Dac changes and output changes. My library is over 500 albums (small compared to some) and I use Tidal and it's Masters / MQA. 

 

More info on Aurilac's web site would be useful but other than this I recommend it highly. 

Lentille,

I don't mean to sound rude but the point here is to address, log and resolve issues along with tips and tricks which might benefit others. We are all sure that the vast majority of Auralic devices (Aries, Aries Mini, Altair, Polaris, Vega, ...) work fine in the vast majority of cases. That is why in online forums you seldom hear about the 'silent majority' where everything works fine, because there is litterally nothing else to report. We are here because we are in a minority. Some have issues, others have questions they are trying to find answers to.

 

I am clearly a fan of Auralic since this is the second product I bought from them after returning my mini. My brother is is the same situation (returned mini and bought Altair).

 

But there are issues and I am clearly not alone. Giving voice to these issues will help (hopefully) Auralic in analyzing the root cause and fixing them.

 

Saying you have a mini which works perfectly: good for you ! You and several thousand others, I am sure. And we all know where the Auralic website and its support pages are. Those of us on this thread have all spent time there already

 

I apologize if my frustration is showing but I seem to spending more time troubleshooting my setup and rescanning / reindexing my library than listening to it and I was hoping for more from a 2000$ product.

[pvanosta]

7 hours ago, austinpop said:

I seem to post this periodically, but it's worth repeating.

 

I no longer have an Aries Mini, but did until 5.0, both beta and GA. For me, it was flawless. I never experienced anything like you guys are describing. My library size is 1250 albums, ~10k tracks.

 

I never used Lightning Server to manage my library. I tried it once, and found it to be hopelessly slow. My library resides on my Synology NAS. The 2 music servers I ran, either on my NAS directly, or on a separate Windows 10 box were:

• MinimServer (DLNA/UPnP)
• Roon Core

With these, everything just worked. I realize Roon is not for everyone, but why don't you guys try MinimServer?

I have tried both.

Roon is nice but an expensive add-on AND it does not run on my NAS without constant dropouts (RoonServer needs more computing power than my Syno 1513 can deliver). So to use Roon, I have to spend more money twice (additional hardware plus Roon License, which pushes me towards a move away from Auralic again.

 

Minimserver does run but does not offer the features / browsing filters I use most often: 'Sort by last import date' and 'Sort by last modify date'. And rescanning the library for new additions (using minimwatch on a laptop) is as glitchy as lightningserver.

 

 

[pvanosta]

3 minutes ago, Frankie61 said:

I wonder if most of you with issues are using web interface !?

I only control the Altair from my Ipad. The only time I go into the web interface, is to monitor ongoing activity (like the progress status of a rescna or a reindex).

[pvanosta]

we're not betatesters... If we were, we would not be complaining, because problems would be expected.

There's aries firmware and there is LightningServer, each with their own version numbers...

 

I can't speak for everyone else, but my problems are with LightningServer (latest version is 5.1 I believe).

[pvanosta]

46 minutes ago, Blade1001 said:

 

Right, I see. Where do you go about looking up the current Lightning Server version number? - All I can see within the Lightning DS app is my Aries FW number (4.1) and the Lightning DS version number (4.4).

Lightning DS is Lightning Server. Your version is 4.4. Ours is 5.1.

[pvanosta]

You got me (I always get these two confused).

 

5.1 is my Auralic Altair firmware, not the Lightning DS and it does not apply to your Auralic Aries (which is still on 4.1.0).

 

This was a message about the release of 5.0, 4 months ago:

 

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/04/auralic-firmware-v5-0-adds-dsp-engine-web-browser-control/

 

Since then, 5.1 has been released.

[pvanosta]

On 8/21/2017 at 4:05 PM, Blade1001 said:

 

Right, thanks for clarifying. I did just read the posts further up, and only just noticed you had an Altair, and not an Aries.

 

So your problems are being caused by the 5.1 firmware, not by Lightning DS.

 

I have no idea if the Altair 5.1 FW is identical to the Aries 5.1 FW. I would assume not, which is why 5.1 is in final for the Altair, but still in beta for the Aries.

 

If you haven't already done so, I would report your issues directly to Auralic for a solution. This is an Aries thread, and there is no guarantee that an issue you are experiencing on the Altair will also appear on the Aries, and visa versa, especially as those Aries users experiencing issues with 5.1 are in fact still essentially testing beta firmware.

Issues have been reported. The only reasons I chimed in on this thread (which I am aware is on Aries): there are far more Aries users than Altair users AND the issues described here in the last 4-5 pages are remarkably similar to what I am experiencing.