Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[Duke40]

pl_svn     Do you get static if you use Airplay (rather than Lightning DS) to the Aries ?  

 

I never get static when using my iPhone to stream Tidal via Airplay to the Aries ... static only happens while I am in Lightning DS and trying to upsample.

[Duke40]

7 minutes ago, Miracle1980 said:

Is there a way to shuffle random songs from the entire library? 

No.

It would be great if it did though, have asked Auralic and was advised to make playlists with less than 1000 songs , then shuffle, which is not what I want.

I want to shuffle the entire library in Lighting DS, instead i have to resort to using Airplay from an iOS device using Tidal when i want to shuffle.

[Duke40]

52 minutes ago, timbo said:

 

Yes I've moaned at Auralic for that as well, somit seems like they can't do it as 1,000 tracks is there maximum to hold in memory and shuffle perhaps?

Yes, believe your right, it is related to memory (that is what I believe they said IIRC)

[Duke40]

59 minutes ago, timbo said:

Oh and while I'm here, does anyone notice a degradation in sound quality using the Mini and it's own internal DAC whilst streaming TO it via AirPlay as opposed to streaming FROM it? I was comparing normal res 16 bit files from Qobuz the other day streamed over AirPlay compared to played direct via the Mini and I must say the AirPlay was noticeably poorer qoulity sound? The reason I was doing this is because Infeel the Qobuz apps and particularly their desktop app are miles ahead of the Lightning app in usability - I wonder why the input from the Mini's own streaming API links to Qobuz would sound better than the AirPlay stream? Surely it all arrives unaltered to the built in DAC?

I also notice SQ degrades when i use airplay (Tidal iOS app) , instead of Lightning DS.

Believe this is maybe due to 2 things.

Lightning DS now use some memory as a cache, to store the songs, I actually turned off my isp modem ( no internet) and music still played for about 30 minutes from the Aries,  maybe the Aries is able to turn off some processes once it's cache is full, which leads to better performance.

Also airplay has 3 hops (router to iPhone, iPhone back to router, router to aries) when using airplay,  while just 1 hop (router to aries) for lightning DS, that may also influence SQ, just my thoughts.