Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[MNG]

I don't get the sound quality is better thing though. To me, the Aries is lacking a degree of transparency and subtlety and replaces that with a bit of bloated bass. Some may prefer that though.

[MNG]

That is very interesting, I wonder why that is. Maybe system dependent?

 

I have 4 sources (3 now I've taken out the Aries) in my main system, a CD transport, a Melco, the Aries and, more recently, the microRendu. Playing a redbook file, the Melco and the microRendu sound almost indistinguishable from the CD transport playing the same CD that the files were ripped from - all three sound almost exactly alike and I cannot accurately identify one from the other with any degree of certainty. The Aries can be picked out and identified much more readily.

 

Given that the other 3 sources are practically indistinguishable from each other, I can only conclude that they are all delivering the same data cleanly and accurately whilst the Aries is not. I therefore added an SBooster power supply and a W4S Recovery to the Aries and got closer, but still not there. Auralic must agree which is why they plan to release a higher level Aries, which I will be interested to see.

 

What are you guys using as the control source for sound comparison purposes?

[MNG]

Since you don't include a system in profile, one can only assume this is a result of some other component or lack of investment in your system...

 

My main system is:

 

MBL 1521 A CD transport, Melco N-1A, Chord Dave, Chord SPM 1200 MKII, Dali Euphonia MS4, Sennheiser HD800 and HD800S.

 

This is all fed with a balanced power supply and high quality mains.

 

Plus:

Sbooster>Aries>W4S RUR

MCRU>microRendu

 

Does that help at all?

[MNG]

hmm, nice components. I don't want to lead the witness but when you say " To me, the Aries is lacking a degree of transparency and subtlety and replaces that with a bit of bloated bass." are you comparing it unfavorably to the mRendu? If not whats your better reference?

 

Context is so important in audio, thanks for sharing the components used as reference.

 

No problem davide. My benchmark is the MBL CD transport which is an excellent transport. So I a/b each streamer with that initially, playing the same music so that you can easily a/b by just switching inputs using the Dave remote. The Melco and mRendu are pretty much indistinguishable from the MBL, which is how it should be if each are doing their job accurately and cleanly. Any difference can only be down to either jitter or noise/distortion. The Dave is fairly immune to jitter, so that leaves noise. That must be why the Sbooster plus the W4S get the Aries closer.

 

I recently got the mRendu for my headphone setup. I was very impressed with it, so I tried it in my main system with the results that I mentioned earlier. So mRendu is now in my main system and the Aries is in my headphone setup, and sounds very good.

 

I have another Aries fed into my Naim Mu-so in the dining room and that sounds good and I actually prefer it than going straight into the Mu-so.

 

I am thinking that the difference in my main system is because the Dave DAC is so good, it permits differences to be observed more easily.

[MNG]

we were comparing the Aries used as RoonReady device vs. standalone (using Lightning DS), I believe

or, at least, that's what I was comparing

 

Ok, but there is no benchmark in that. You are just saying that you prefer X to Y whereas someone else could say that they prefer Y to X - so then, who is right? In order to make a valid comparison, you have to compare against a benchmark. Otherwise, you are just stating a preference.

 

I compared a ripped file to the original CD in an a/b test, so I had a benchmark. If the streamer is doing it's job, all other things being equal, they should both sound pretty much the same shouldn't they?

[MNG]

But think you're correct in that many/most folks here may get as much or more out of "dicking with" computers than listening to music.

 

I hate 'dicking' about and have been doing too much of that recently, but am happy that I have now got my system where I want it. It sounds great and is easy to use and I can just lock it down and consider it finished.

 

until something else comes along.......

[MNG]

I'm finding that while DAC's matter most aren't heard at their full potential because of noise in renderer solution feeding them.

 

I agree with this. I didn't think I had any noise issues, but once I had properly addressed the power supply side of my system, the differences in sound between different front end components and cables became much less pronounced than they had previously been. Everything got much closer together. That's why I think that if the power is clean and IF the front end delivery device is doing its job properly, then they should all sound very similar.

 

Once you have everything else sorted, then with good quality components, the 'bits is bits' argument seems more valid.

[MNG]

I found the Sbooster to be an improvement over the Aries power supply. I can't comment on the others that you mention, but the Sbooster has had some very positive feedback.

[MNG]

just to be sure: are you talking about an Aries, Aries LE or Aries Mini?

 

I use Aries in the same context as you have above, so the big Aries. Sbooster was a decent improvement over the Aries power supply.

[MNG]

18 minutes ago, 2string1 said:

I can't remember his name,but he represents Auralic in the USA. He told me USB is best for all music. Now you guys are saying AES. Confused again.lol  Call him, he is in California and see what he says.. Get back to us and tell us what he says...

 

It really depends more I think upon what is the best input on your DAC. I found the Aries output to be rated, in order, as USB, Optical, AES, Coax - but that is also the rating for my DAC inputs as well. 

[MNG]

On 07/06/2017 at 8:43 PM, Doak said:

At this moment I can find exactly ZERO Aries-Femto for sale. 

 

 

I have an Aries Femto model with an SBOOSTER BOTW Ultra which is an improvement over the Aries linear power supply. I am in the UK.

 

Happy to sell if anyone is interested, PM me.

[MNG]

On 07/06/2017 at 7:47 PM, acaro said:

Has anyone used the W4S Remedy Reclocker with the Aries LE?  I've been thinking of this option or upgrading to the Aries with Femto.  Both options have pluses and minuses, but wanted input on the sound differences.

 

I have both a full Aries and an Aries LE. The Aries does sound quite a bit better than the LE, but how much so will depend upon the rest of your system. I use the LE into a Naim Mu-So and I wouldn't bother going for the full Aries in that kind of a set up. I use the Aries Femto in my main system where the difference is definitely worthwhile.

 

A firmware release a while back bricked all units that were connected by Ethernet and units had to go back to China for a fix. Whilst my Femto unit was gone, I put my my Aries LE into my main system and powered it with an SBooster Ultra and I also used the W4SRUR. I found the sound to be almost as good as the full Aries powered by SBooster and pretty much equal to full Aries powered by the Aries LPS.

 

I don't know if that helps at all - probably not much!

[MNG]

I've just been trialling a Zenith Mk II and it's the best sound quality I've ever had in my system for files and streaming. I was previously running a Melco into Aries then replaced Aries with mRendu with LPS-1.  I went for the Zenith because it can run Roon direct into the DAC without having to go via the network. It also has Ethernet output so you can use an endpoint like Aries or mRendu if you prefer, so it is future proofed in that respect. 

 

I'm running it into a Chord Blu II into a Chord Dave and it sounds very good indeed. Losing the network makes a good difference.

 

I have two Aries and was originally planning on building a multi room system around them and Lightning DS, but they changed their app so that you could no longer control other streamers from other manufacturers and then they started messing around with the sound quality. I also found that they became unreliable on my network, so I went with mRendu instead and haven't used the Aries in months. 

 

Anyway, I used it again recently in my main system and was impressed with the changes to both the sound quality and the app. It is much improved. I particularly like the way that you can control the music on the iPhone or iPad from the lock screen, even using the hardware volume control for casual listening. All very good, and the app seems to have taken a few cues from Roon, so it is all looking very much better.

 

Any news on the G2 streamer and what that's like?

[MNG]

On 24/07/2017 at 3:34 PM, mikey8811 said:

MNG, have you compared the updated Aries with the current beta firmware to the mRendu with LPS 1? Not many people have done this. They mostly just migrated from the Aries to a Sonore or SoTM product. I was considering doing so too with the network problems from the updates but this seems to have been resolved - maybe I speak too soon. To be fair to Auralic, I have been happy with the sound quality which has improved with the firmware updates. To their credit, they have offered the updates for free, like PS Audio do, unlike Sonore who make you purchase a SD card.

 

I haven't made a proper comparison, no, but my general reaction would be that there isn't a lot in it. 

 

 

[MNG]

On 25/07/2017 at 8:36 AM, Hauser said:

Interesting that you have revisited Aries within your chain.  I use Aries with Dave but not tempted by Blu2 (no need for a CD player).  Despite occasional frustrations with the Aries and considering Rob Watt's comments that Dave is relatively immune to the quality of input signals, i'll stick with it.  For myself, I see potentially greater benefits in an amp upgrade.  Your now very,very expensive Dac should sound incredible.

 

Martin

 

The reason for reintroducing Aries into the main system is that the Blu II processing introduces significant delay which makes multiroom playback not feasible. The Aries is therefore now plugged into Dave directly, bypassing the Blu II, and will only be used for multi room playback. For listening to the main system on its own, then playback will be Zenith into Blu II into Dave.

 

I wouldn't agree that Dave is immune to the quality of input signal and I'm not sure that that is what Rob has said. Certainly, I think he has accepted that it may be subject to RF noise and, in my experience, addressing that is very worthwhile. That is why I wanted a Roon solution that did not subject the data to a round trip through my network.

 

Blu into Dave does sound fantastic and I traded a high level CD transport in p/ex so it was not quite as expensive as it may appear for me. 

[MNG]

12 minutes ago, mikey8811 said:

When you say there isn't a lot in it, do you mean that the difference between the updated Aries and the microRendu with LPS1 is marginal?

 

I'd say so, but bear in mind that I'm using Roon so that will be bypassing any sound processing effects of the Aries firmware. The comparison then is both units simply passing as clean a signal as possible into the DAC. Previously, when my system involved a round trip through the network to a PC running Roon, the mRendu was superior and this will likely have been due to better noise suppression compared to Aries. Now that I have a Zenith in the rack running Roon directly into either the DAC or an endpoint without having to do the network round trip, then noise suppression is less important and so the differences between the two do become marginal. The Zenith direct to DAC sounds better than using either Aries or mRendu as an endpoint. 

 

The one thing I have learnt is that electrical and network noise is a barrier to obtaining the best sound from my system.

[MNG]

On 23/01/2018 at 2:05 PM, Guido Del Giudice said:

Has anyone tried an SBooster BOTW 15-16V LPS with an Aries Femto and compared it to the supplied Aries LPS?

 

Yes - I preferred SBooster Ultra to the Aries LPS which I now use with my Aries SE. That gave a nice improvement to the SE, so I got a double benefit from getting the SBooster. I don’t use the SBooster anymore since I replaced the Femto Aries in my main system with a Zenith SE. 

 

If anyone is interested in buying a Femto Aries and SBooster Ultra, PM me. I am in the UK.

[MNG]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Feel free to list it here. No cost to list, pay only if it sells.

 

https://superphonica.com

 

 

 

Ah, great, many thanks. Will do.

[MNG]

On 05/03/2018 at 7:52 PM, Dr Tone said:

 

I'm thinking typo.

 

· ARIES LE: The standard model with low-phase noise crystal and standard external PSU. 

 

· ARIES: The step-up model with two individual FemtoClocks for both USB audio host and digital outputs, low noise internal design to eliminate jitter and AURALiC Purer‐Power™ based 10uV low noise external linear PSU. 

 

Yes, correct, thank you. I am confusing with my Innuos Zenith SE which is my main device.