Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[FIndingit]

41 minutes ago, Anthro said:

Yeah i have the Chord 2Qute. It can output 352.8 just fine as i have succes upsampling to this frequency using Roon. To be more exact using the beta firmware i am unable to upsample to any other frequency then the original input frequency.

 I have 2qute as well and everything works fine. 

[austinpop]

Here are my impressions of the Aries Mini MQA decoding feature. Note - I do not have an MQA DAC.

 

Background

When Tidal Masters first came out, I created a small test library of 10 FLAC files, which were captured from the output of the Tidal desktop app. This gave me a small collection of SW MQA decoded files to compare with the original (undecoded) files from Tidal. This allowed me to hold the HW chain completely constant - i.e. listen to everything through my Aries Mini.

 

Note - this was purely for the purpose of evaluation. I'll delete those files when I'm done evaluating.

 

Aries Mini MQA decoding Listening Impressions

 

I listened to 4 tracks:

1. Carmelita - Linda Ronstadt
2. Ventura Highway - America
3. Really don't Mind - Jethro Tull
4. Killing me softly - Roberta Flack

For each song I compared:

1. the original Tidal Masters track, by setting the Aries Mini control to MQA Passthrough.
2. the same Tidal track, with Aries Mini MQA decoding, by setting MQA Passthrough to Off, and Decoding Method to Auto
3. the captured track with SW unfolding, played back through MinimServer

In all cases, I preferred them in the order 3 > 2 > 1

 

The Aries Mini MQA decoding certainly seems to improve over the undecoded version, sounding a bit more detailed. However, compared to the SW unfolded version, there is a bit of brightness. This is most apparent in female vocals. In contrast, the SW unfolded version renders voices much more naturally, has a smoother midrange, and overall sounds more relaxed and open.

 

All in all - the Aries Mini MQA decoding is a promising start, but as of now, no cigar. However, reading the excerpt below from DAR_KO's article, it looks like AURALiC is still working on their algorithms, so it's perhaps not surprising what I'm hearing.

 

“There is a MQA pass through function which allows you to output an untouched signal to an MQA-certificated DAC. I suggest you compare our decoding and MQA decoding but only after the final firmware release. The current version is only a test version as we are still optimizing its sound quality, especially the resampling plug-in.”

[rickca]

I love this quote from Xuanqian Wang.  Bob Stuart must be really pissed.

 

This pretty much means we at AURALiC are saying no to MQA. We are no longer interested in their technology. We want to keep everything open but they want to keep it closed. We are not in the same boat. I don’t believe the very High End will benefit from MQA as it only degrades sound quality, not improve it.

 

 

[Morph]

Ok..... it's an about turn now!

 

On reflection I think the Brooklyn's handling of MQA is preferable. More depth and spaciousness than the Auralic offering. A bit warmer too. Earlier today I changed the valves in my amp from EL34s to KT150s and I think the two new elements in the system clouded my judgement. Now it's all quiet in and around the house I can clearly hear that the DAC's handling of MQA is preferable to me. 

So I've left the Beta testing and gone back to Firmware 4.1. 

 

Morph

[Doak]

19 minutes ago, Morph said:

Ok..... it's an about turn now!

 

On reflection I think the Brooklyn's handling of MQA is preferable. More depth and spaciousness than the Auralic offering. A bit warmer too. Earlier today I changed the valves in my amp from EL34s to KT150s and I think the two new elements in the system clouded my judgement. Now it's all quiet in and around the house I can clearly hear that the DAC's handling of MQA is preferable to me. 

So I've left the Beta testing and gone back to Firmware 4.1. 

 

Morph

Just to be sure: Auralic's MQA processing can easily be switched off within the 5.0b1 SW. 

[austinpop]

24 minutes ago, rickca said:

I love this quote from Xuanqian Wang.  Bob Stuart must be really pissed.

 

This pretty much means we at AURALiC are saying no to MQA. We are no longer interested in their technology. We want to keep everything open but they want to keep it closed. We are not in the same boat. I don’t believe the very High End will benefit from MQA as it only degrades sound quality, not improve it.

 

 

 

There is history there. MQA pulled the rug out from under AURALiC at the 2016 CES, which understandably did not sit well with them. 

[bengl3rt]

35 minutes ago, rickca said:

I love this quote from Xuanqian Wang.  Bob Stuart must be really pissed.

 

This pretty much means we at AURALiC are saying no to MQA. We are no longer interested in their technology. We want to keep everything open but they want to keep it closed. We are not in the same boat. I don’t believe the very High End will benefit from MQA as it only degrades sound quality, not improve it.

 

 

The official MQA software decoder is definitely not open source.

 

However, as far as I know, Auralic's in-house developed firmware components are also not open source.

 

So, what difference does this make to the end user? I understand Auralic's reluctance to work with a mysterious binary blob from Meridian, but unless they actually open-source their alternative, whatever they came up with is as mysterious as the official version.

[jhwalker]

7 minutes ago, bengl3rt said:

The official MQA software decoder is definitely not open source.

 

However, as far as I know, Auralic's in-house developed firmware components are also not open source.

 

So, what difference does this make to the end user? I understand Auralic's reluctance to work with a mysterious binary blob from Meridian, but unless they actually open-source their alternative, whatever they came up with is as mysterious as the official version.

 

Exactly.  Pretty sure they're not "decoding" anything - they're simply taking the MQA Redbook content (e.g., the 17/44 - or whatever - content that is readable by any software / DAC) and using their own "magic" settings for upsampling / filtering.

 

Which may sound just fine.

[mozes]

2 hours ago, austinpop said:

Here are my impressions of the Aries Mini MQA decoding feature. Note - I do not have an MQA DAC.

 

Background

When Tidal Masters first came out, I created a small test library of 10 FLAC files, which were captured from the output of the Tidal desktop app. This gave me a small collection of SW MQA decoded files to compare with the original (undecoded) files from Tidal. This allowed me to hold the HW chain completely constant - i.e. listen to everything through my Aries Mini.

 

Note - this was purely for the purpose of evaluation. I'll delete those files when I'm done evaluating.

 

Aries Mini MQA decoding Listening Impressions

 

I listened to 4 tracks:

1. Carmelita - Linda Ronstadt
2. Ventura Highway - America
3. Really don't Mind - Jethro Tull
4. Killing me softly - Roberta Flack

For each song I compared:

1. the original Tidal Masters track, by setting the Aries Mini control to MQA Passthrough.
2. the same Tidal track, with Aries Mini MQA decoding, by setting MQA Passthrough to Off, and Decoding Method to Auto
3. the captured track with SW unfolding, played back through MinimServer

In all cases, I preferred them in the order 3 > 2 > 1

 

The Aries Mini MQA decoding certainly seems to improve over the undecoded version, sounding a bit more detailed. However, compared to the SW unfolded version, there is a bit of brightness. This is most apparent in female vocals. In contrast, the SW unfolded version renders voices much more naturally, has a smoother midrange, and overall sounds more relaxed and open.

 

All in all - the Aries Mini MQA decoding is a promising start, but as of now, no cigar. However, reading the excerpt below from DAR_KO's article, it looks like AURALiC is still working on their algorithms, so it's perhaps not surprising what I'm hearing.

 

“There is a MQA pass through function which allows you to output an untouched signal to an MQA-certificated DAC. I suggest you compare our decoding and MQA decoding but only after the final firmware release. The current version is only a test version as we are still optimizing its sound quality, especially the resampling plug-in.”

Thanks @austinpopfor sharing your impressions.

In my case eventhough I have an MQA DAC (Brooklyn) I have decided to ignore MQA for now as I stream Tidal via BUbble DS Next to Jplaystreamer which to my ears sound much better and easier to control than playing from the native Tidal app.

 

If Bubble DS Next ever start supporting MQA then that will be a warm welcome. My locally stored music on the SSD still sounds better despite all the tweaks I have done to my streaming chain.

[austinpop]

2 minutes ago, mozes said:

Thanks @austinpopfor sharing your impressions.

In my case eventhough I have an MQA DAC (Brooklyn) I have decided to ignore MQA for now as I stream Tidal via BUbble DS Next to Jplaystreamer which to my ears sound much better and easier to control than playing from the native Tidal app.

 

If Bubble DS Next ever start supporting MQA then that will be a warm welcome. My locally stored music on the SSD still sounds better despite all the tweaks I have done to my streaming chain.

 

Try Roon.  

 

BTW - I was very skeptical about Roon, and it took me a while to see the value, but now I'm sold. I just coughed up the lifetime subscription.

[rickca]

32 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

There is history there. MQA pulled the rug out from under AURALiC at the 2016 CES, which understandably did not sit well with them. 

I remember the whole messy situation.  Kind of like getting pulled off an overbooked United flight.

[austinpop]

Just now, rickca said:

I remember the whole messy situation.  Kind of like getting pulled off an overbooked United flight.

 

Yes, they were re-accommodated. Looks like they're returning the favor.

[mozes]

5 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Try Roon.  

 

BTW - I was very skeptical about Roon, and it took me a while to see the value, but now I'm sold. I just coughed up the lifetime subscription.

It install smoothly on my Nimitra and was too lazy to follow up on it. I could get Keetakawee to do it for me but I decided that it's not worth the trouble for me now given my comfort level with Jriver. I had to choose my battles, you know I have too many right now

[austinpop]

2 minutes ago, mozes said:

It install smoothly on my Nimitra and was too lazy to follow up on it. I could get Keetakawee to do it for me but I decided that it's not worth the trouble for me now given my comfort level with Jriver. I had to choose my battles, you know I have too many right now

 

I can relate! Too many irons in the fire...

[mikey8811]

20 hours ago, Leeuwarden said:

 

 

Do you have a Mini?

 

Further thoughts on the upsampling rates. My DAC, PS Audio Directstream maxes out at 352.8kHz so I guess that's why anything over that gets downsampled. Strange though why they default to 192kHz for 384kHz and 768kHz but for 705.6kHz it's set by default at 352.8kHz. Any ideas on why and what I should reset them to if needed?

 

Also, I tried turning on Lightning DS today with the Aries still in Sleep mode but it says Lightning Server not found. I had to power off and on again before it worked. Is this what you guys have experienced too with the new firmware?

[mikey8811]

Hi

 

Has anyone figured out how to add a library path to another USB network attached drive?

 

My existing library is on a USB attached drive (named My Book) to my Macbook. The path name is SMB and the path type is SMB. The path is MIKE-MACBOOK/Music It is mounted and is reflected in the Lightning DS app.
 

I wish to add another library path to another external USB drive (named Old Files Recovered). The path is MIKE-MACBOOK/Volumes/Old Files Recovered/Mike's PC 3.
 

I am unsure if this is the correct way to add a library path. I added it under the name of Mike's PC 3 as an SMB Path Type, with the same Username and Password as the original SMB library.

 

There was probably a similar way which I pointed to the original USB drive in the first place but I cannot recall and the name of that USB drive does not show up in the path for the original library ie. MIKE-MACBOOK/Music

[Fridolin]

Can i control my Mini with a Mac (Safari) like LDS on an iPad now?

Or can only settings be done via PC/Mac?

[Leeuwarden]

1 minute ago, Fridolin said:

Can i control my Mini with a Mac (Safari) like LDS on an iPad now?

Or can only settings be done via PC/Mac?

 

 

Only settings. I understand a "web LDS" is in the works...

[atletico]

New beta version already. My Aries femto clock now running 5.0 beta 2 . No info yet about this version.

[pl_svn]

just checked and... beta 1 still is the latest available here

 

if beta 2 was released then immediately pulled... maybe it might explain why this morning I found my Aries turned off 

[Leeuwarden]

I have beta two too...

[pl_svn]

release notes for beta 2 are now online

fw still not available here 

 

among fixes there's the one I reported about special characters in user/password when connecting to a NAS and one about reverting to non beta fw 4.1.0 (you must first update to 5.0 beta 2, then you can go back to 4.1.0)

[atletico]

1 minute ago, pl_svn said:

release notes for beta 2 are now online

fw still not available here 

 

among fixes there's the one I reported about special characters in user/password when connecting to a NAS and one about reverting to non beta fw 4.1.0 (you must first update to 5.0 beta 2, then you can go back to 4.1.0)

This fixes the two issues I mention i my first post in this tread...DSD problems/dropouts  and no NAS Lightning Server available if you want to go back to non beta 4.1.0. Nice work Auralic ?

[mjb]

Well, 5 beta 2 is completely broken for me (USB connnected drive). Gone back to 4.1...

[pl_svn]

finally available here too (had to power cycle my Aries) and working fine (NAS share)

gone are the intermittent "static noises" I was hearing with beta 1