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Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information


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Yes, every thread has "that guy" who asks the silliest of questions. Until I get the hang of this stuff, I am THAT guy I guess.

 

I just received my Aries LE. It has everything I need with the exception of the power cord that goes from the "wall" to the supply. Am I missing something I am supposed to have? Is that my responsibility to supply that piece of the puzzle? And if so, is that typical???

 

Thanks!

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Hmm. That's strange. I would like to know the answer to this.

 

Yeah, I even referred back to the images that another member shared of the device and power supply just after opening the box, and in that photo I don't see a power cord either. That's certainly not definitive, but to me it's a bummer and surprising if it's not included. To me, one cornerstone of the way they are marketing this product is its simplicity and ease of use.

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Not to mention the letdown knowing you can't use it right away if you don't have a cord available.

 

Well, let me ask another silly question. I have a power cord here that says "300V" on it. The Auralic PSU is designated as 120V.

 

Can I use the power cord I have?? I wasn't kidding when I said I have very little understanding about this stuff!

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I misspoke. I have the higher end "Aries", not the Aries LE. That being said, my unit came with the upgraded external power supply as well as the cable that attaches the power supply to the Aries. What my shipment lacked, was a power supply that goes from the wall to the power supply itself.

 

I've sent an email to support as well as left a phone message with the North American Auralic sales rep.

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If you've spent the dough on the linear power supply version of the Aries, you are doing it a misdeed pairing the supply with a cheap $2 power cable. Spend some money on a high quality power cable so you can use it to its potential. That might be the reason why it didn't come with a cable. I've purchased audiophile gears that doesn't come with cable because they assume you will pair it with a high grade power cable yourself.

 

Fair enough. The audiophile gear I've purchased in the past has always been mid level I suppose. But to be honest, that's how I would classify the Aries. I've never purchased a piece of electronics that didn't have a power cord, so that's a new one for me, hence my inquiry.

 

I don't argue that a higher end power cord is less a "misdeed" than something cheaper, but it just came as a surprise. To me "UP"grading means you move UP from something more entry level. This arrives with no ability to turn the product on out of the box. I would think that should be at least noted somewhere, so I can plan for it or factor it in to my decision to purchase.

 

But you guys teach me, if this is standard fare, then consider me "schooled".

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Well, I should give Auralic the benefit of the doubt until I get a real answer. There are users here who have the product, so hopefully one of them will chime in and set the record straight. I imagine if it was accidentally left out of the box, they will correct the problem.

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Just took a look at Auralic's website. While they don't show a user guide for the Aries yet, the other products' user guides show an AC Power Cord included. So I would guess that this was a mistake by whomever or whatever packed your unit. Did your Aries come with a user guide? If so, it should show whether or not a cord was supposed to be included.

 

Jim

 

I have the guide here. It doesn't include those details unfortunately. I'm going to ease back from any assumptions at this point. I'm guessing this was a little mistake.

 

Thanks.

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Mine came without a power cord. I am actually very happy about that as over the years I have collected tons of those cords, now all just sitting in a closet. No wonder copper prices have risen over the years...

All great audio gear benefits from better power cords, and Aries is no exception. I use a LessLoss cable - expensive but worth it.

 

Wang from Auralic was just kind enough to email me and clarify that they do NOT include an AC power cord, for the very reason some of you are stating. Most audiophiles do not use them.

 

As I said earlier, consider me "schooled".

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I've had my Aries up and running for 2 days now. Things are working "fairly" well. I'm using wireless mode.

 

I'm really enjoying the sound quality so far. The only thing that has changed about my setup is the Aries, and now running Minimserver on my MacBook Pro. Previously I was using a Squeezebox Touch and LMS 7.8 with Triode plugin.

 

Things sound significantly better to me so far. I'm horrible with audiophile descriptors but I can at least say that I hear more detail, and a broader soundstage for sure. It sounds very warm to me too.

 

I'm having issues with artwork, as many have reported and know so little about how to deal with "tags" and Minimserver properties and stuff like that. Not even sure where to go to clean up album/track/folder/artwork stuff.

 

Another issue is that the app will occasionally freeze up, and need rebooting, and might also need Aries rebooted to find it again.

 

I am playing DSD files with little issue. Some of my 24/192 files are "breaking up", with spotty playback. Anyone else in wireless mode having that kind of issue??

 

Thanks!

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Yes that is my understanding of the law. And the power cord MUST have a UK type plug on the end (ie you can't put a EU type cable in).

 

Of course all it needs is for the individual dealer to add the required power cable.

 

 

I'll share my information on this matter. I live in the States.

 

When I received my Aries sans a power cord, I emailed Auralic and Wang replied promptly explaining that most of Auralic's customers use audiophile power cords, so they felt it was unnecessary to include one. He said it wasn't about price because the ones usually provided are insanely cheap, like less than a dollar a piece. He said that the box the Aries comes in wasn't big enough for a full sized power cord, and he did some looking into providing a smaller power cord that would be satisfactory but didn't feel like he could find one. He immediately offered to ship me one right away no charge.

 

In the short time that I hadn't heard back from Auralic yet, I found a phone number and got the voice mail of the North American sales rep in Vancouver. He responded to my voice mail with a message saying that they ARE supposed to come with a power cord and that it was a MiSTAKE that I didn't get one, and that if I called him back he would be happy to ship me one!!

 

Pretty funny....or maybe not so funny.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here I go again with my Freshman questions.....

 

Settling in with my Aries, but I think its time to set up a NAS. I'm currently running Minimserver with my music library on my MacBook Pro.

 

If I plug a NAS that's running Minimserver in to my home network, do I then HAVE to run ethernet directly to the Aries itself? Will Lightning DS see the Minimserver library if it's on the network? My dedicated 2 channel system where my Aries sits does not have ethernet going to that wall and will not be easy to get it there.

 

I guess the next logical question is...IF I don't HAVE to run ethernet directly to the Aries, SHOULD I?? I think I've read more than once that Wang feels that the Aries sounds better through wifi as compared to ethernet.

 

Thanks in advance!

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  • 2 months later...

First of all, LOVING my Aries and the evolving nature of the software/firmware. Excited about what's to come....BUT....the app has one quirk that consistently bothers ME, and I'm not sure I've seen it mentioned here! Thought I would throw it out and, if others have noticed, maybe it will get some traction and be modified?

 

I am a Qobuz subscriber in the States, and soon lots of Aries subscribers will be doing what I and others already do, switch back and forth from streaming modes to local library. If I'm in library mode, I personally prefer to browse by ARTIST. But the app defaults to Album view. If I switch to ARTIST view, a little browser window slides open...kinda annoying and redundant in my opinion as we already have been provided a shortcut alphabet at the right margin. I find myself immediately closing that window so I can browse my albums in order of artist. It's nice to have that artist window available, just don't think it needs to pop out automatically. Minor stuff, but if you guys are anything like me (and I know you are lol) minor stuff can be hard to ignore!

 

A bigger issue to me is that if I switch over to CLOUD mode to stream music, and then come back to my LOCAL LIBRARY, it has defaulted back to ALBUM view again! It would be nice if it came back to right where I was previously browsing, ideally, or at least back to the view mode I had selected, whether it's Artist, Composer, or whatever.

 

To me this would seem like something others have experienced and even noticed. Am I alone on this? Curious what the beta testers think for sure. Thanks as always guys.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
Very interesting. Makes me wonder wherein the fault lies. Have others found an improvement with the Aries using a REGEN?

 

 

jtwrace would be a good resource for this. I believe one of his setups has an Aries>>Regen>>DAC. I think he has only had positive things to share.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Figured with the new firmware I'd take Roon up on the 14 day trial, and I agree it was easy to set up (my music is on a NAS) and on my humble system at least, there is a distinct sound improvement to my ears using Roon versus LDS 2.4. The question is whether or not it's worth the yearly fee plus a dedicated PC/Mac to run the Roon server. Now if Roon server ran on my Synology then the decision would be a lot easier!

 

Sorry. But I'm slow to digest these things. I have an Aries, a NAS, and an iPad. This isn't enough to enjoy roon at its full potential through the iPad app??

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  • 5 months later...

Need a bit of help. DS currently can't find my synology nas through DS settings. This occurred after a firmware updated. Any others with this issue? I've been running beta successfully with no apparent issues for about a week now.

 

I am able to locate and access the nas on my MacBook through the network so I don't think it's a network or nas issue.

ImageUploadedByComputer Audiophile1468605897.209214.jpg

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