Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[Frankie61]

I've had the same thing happen although my pauses occur at the start of tracks and in the middle when playing hi-res files. The Lightning app indicates "Buffering...." while pausing the song. This happens on both wired and wifi connections to my network. My Aries feeds into a NAD M51 through USB. The Aries is fed via Ethernet to a QNAP NAS. This behavior started with firmware 4.0 and has continued with 4.1.

 

Strangely enough, and perhaps coincidentally, the Software Volume Control button has no effect on the volume slider in Lightning, which works regardless of whether the software volume button on the Aries preferences screen is set to off or not. My NAD M51 has always been set at "Fixed Volume" through its own settings.

 

I've reported both to Aurelic. Chris was going to see if they could locate an M51 and replicate the behavior. I'm hoping this is a firmware issue and will be fixed soon...it's annoying to have to listen to hi-res files with occasional random buffering pauses. If anyone has suggestions on an interim solution, they would be welcome. Thx.

 

Same same ..... with my Aries femto .... some times next track don't starts playing ..... hope Auralic soon fix this ! :-/

[Frankie61]

I'm not 100% certain, but this is possibly related to an issue I reported to Auralic with my Aries Mini getting hit by playback interruptions, especially at (but not limited to) 100Mbps networking speed. This was with the Mini running the latest 4.1.0 firmware. Auralic has apparently reproduced and diagnosed the issue and working on a fix to be available in the next beta firmware. It looks like this issue occurs throughout the whole Aries family of streamers.

I'd guess the inability to play an album all the way through has got nothing to do with your HW setup. We'll need to be patient to wait for Auralic to release a beta firmware to squash this bug. I have already configured my Aries Mini to download beta firmware and will report test results to Auralic.

 

Hmmm ..... I have a 100/30 connection and i never know if the next track starts when playing Tidal using LDS !

NO problem when using Tidal / Airplay ! ....... :-(

[Frankie61]

8 minutes ago, Doak said:

Uh-oh,,, Just read that Aries will now  "upsample everything" to 384khz with 5.01.

Glad it in Beta so I have a chance revert back if necessary. I do not usually like upsampling. but time and listening will tell.

I really hope that you have a choice !! 

8 minutes ago, Doak said:

 

 

[Frankie61]

1 hour ago, mikey8811 said:

 

I did notify Auralic about the missing library issue and the slowness in scanning, as well as errors with splitting tracks from a single FLAC, APE file with cue.

 

Anyone facing the same should also do so as in their reply to me, they seem to blame it on a slow network connection even though I can stream 1080p material at 20 Mbps on the same network and did not have slow scanning with previous firmware.

Streaming video is not so demanding as streaming Audio ...... i had to by a new router before my Audio streaming was stable and i had a 100/30 connection before ...... it vas NOT stable streaming Audio ( no problem when streaming Video ) ..... now i got a new router and only 20/10 connection BUT it´s STABLE streaming Audio now ! 

The new router is a 4G Huawei and my connection streams hirez on wifi without any problems now ! 

[Frankie61]

3 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

No, streaming video is significantly more demanding than streaming audio.

 

DSD128 for example maxes out at around 11Mbps, a Blu-Ray rip by comparison can go up to 50+Mbps.

 

Any basic router should be able to stream audio over a wired connection without issue. If you're looking at wireless, that's a different matter, then all bets are off.

Well ..... could be a wireless issue ..... don't know ..... but when i got the new router i have no problems  though my speed if under half what it was before ! 

 

[Frankie61]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

I have moved on from my Aries Mini, but in all the time I had it, up to and including firmware 5.0b4, I had zero issues with rescans taking inordinately long.

 

The notable difference I see between my config and what you guys seem to be doing, is in the choice of music server. I have never used the built-in Lightning Server for my local music. Rather, I've used MinimServer, running both on my NAS and a PC, and more recently Roon Core, once the Mini received Roon Ready support in 5.0.

 

I understand that adopting Roon is a big decision with many considerations, but have you guys considered using MinimServer? The only thing I can see you losing is some of the sorting options in Lightning DS will be greyed out - like sorting by sample rate and file type, for example - but there are advanced options in Minim that allow you to do that too.

Well .... i'we got a Mini a Aries and now a Polaris and i NEVER had a problem ! 

Only once .... and it was a router problem ..... got a new router =  problem solved !

And i don't use NAS og ROON or anything else but Lightning DS  ...... i only use a USB harddisk ! 

Simple and stable ! 

[Frankie61]

Got home from work today ...... My Polaris has updated from 4.1.1 to 5.0 ......EVERYTHING works AND sounds GREAT !!  

Thanks Mr. Wang / Auralic ! 

Regards Frank

[Frankie61]

20 minutes ago, mikey8811 said:

For me, the only Auralic product that I would buy and have bought is a streamer. I wouldn't buy their DAC's or amps - there are just better products out there.

 

And now since their streamer (in this current firmware incarnation) no longer works well in my setup, I don't think I will be buying any Auralic products period.

 

By the way, I notice from your profile that you use a microRendu yourself and not an Auralic streamer.

Well .... i still don't think that it's a Auralic problem.

I had a Mini a Aries "femto" and now a Polaris ....... NO problems with any of them ! 

Could it be "the pilot"  ;-)   

[Frankie61]

5 hours ago, mikey8811 said:

No need for any slurs. I can understand you being a fanboy but please think before posting. The simple fact in my case is it doesn't work. All along, there was nothing that needed fiddling with after the initial setup and the Aries worked decently until this beta firmware came along - no "piloting" needed. Computer and device firmware and software updates, whatever - they just work, and yes even in beta they do not fail to this degree. PS Audio does it all the time to their Direct Stream DAC and it always works glitch free - whether you like the sound or not is another thing.

 

I was just voicing my frustration as others have here with this latest beta firmware and am not a lone voice. But 'nuff said lest it descends into a flamefest. I'm outta here as soon as I get a new streamer.

Can't say .... i never do Beta's ...... can only say that i never had any issues with Auralic's final firm / software OR hardware. Period ! ;-) Good luck with your new stuff ! 

[Frankie61]

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 ! 

 

[Frankie61]

Well ..... I do not use either NAS or wire connection only USB HDD and WIFI !

And i have got a Mini a Femto and now a Polaris ! ..... NO problems here ...... I am listening to internet music / Tidal and my own HDD music ! 

[Frankie61]

Only 2.000 albums .... about 25.000 tracks ....... Don't know if there is a limit or it will course instability ! 

If it's the case you could try a Aurenda  ..... It's probably a "little" more expensive :-/ 

[Frankie61]

Well ..... so i'm a lucky guy with only 2000 albums ! :-)

[Frankie61]

On 19/8/2017 at 10:22 AM, mjb said:

@pvanosta, did you notice if the Aries was more reliable with Minimserver? I've tried Minimserver in the past, but like you dropped it as several useful features are missing. I won't be buying Roon... The reality is, Auralic just need to fix their software.

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

[Frankie61]

http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/221252547-Beta-Firmware-Release-Notice 

http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/221529407-Beta-Lightning-DS-Release-Notice

[Frankie61]

I´we got a Polaris (Firmware 5.1) WITH problems AND a Aries ( Firmware 4.1.0 ) with NO problems .... so it´s obvious what the problem is. ! ...... I really hope that my Aries stays with 4.1.0 for a long time :-)

And yes ..... i DON'T use the streaming part i Polaris ..... The Aries sounds better too ! :-/ 

[Frankie61]

Would it be possible just to use the build in mic on my iPad pro ? 

[Frankie61]

But workable !? .... if so .... i would give it a try ! 

[Frankie61]

https://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/221252547