Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

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... when beta testing stage is over

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ok... found what the issue with SMB shares is: if you have set a user/password on the NAS and password contains "&"... the Aries does actually mount it (at least according to both Lightning DS and web UI) but scanning for music files miserably fails 

 

changed the password and all is fine now 

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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 

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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)

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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

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33 minutes ago, Nebeljäger said:

@Leeuwarden

do you think beta2 will fix it? Sadly at the moment it isn`t available for me...

 

no, but you can update to beta 2 and then go back to release 4.1.0: if you haven't re-scanned your library everything *should* be back

 

though you will *have to* rebuild the library once fw 5.0 is out of beta and you'll be back to where you are now

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at first, after installing beta 1, I thought... wow! (default settings)

then I went back to 4.1.0 and couldn't actually get any meaningful difference in SQ

 

issue I have with betas, so far, is... I'm hearing *light*, intermittent, "static noises"

more frequent with beta 1, a lot less in beta 2

as soon as I go back to 4.1.0 they vanish

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1 hour ago, eligeorgia said:

My question is in regards to the Aries soon being "Roon ready" or enabled.  Does that mean that the Aries will serve as the "computer" that is needed to run the Roon software on the network?  Will there still need to be another computer somewhere on the network running Roon software?

 

RoonReady devices are Roon *output only* devices: you need Roon running on another machine

Separating "renderer" and "core" is the way to get better SQ

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11 minutes ago, 2string1 said:

When posted as a "Aries femto clock", what are you meaning?

 

Aries family is:

- Aries Mini

- Aries LE

- Aries

 

only the latter has femto clocks (one for USB and one for SPD/F outs)

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yup: I believe filters are applied when up/downsampling

(... and I do hope *only* if/when up/downsampling  )

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4 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Is it different on the Aries?

 

this is Aries' web UI, and... definitely no "Internal DAC Settings"

 

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20 minutes ago, 2string1 said:

Does femto clocks really matter in the Aries if you have it going into a Vega with femto clocks? Off subject I know but how many femto clocks do I need?

 

they definitely do matter on s/pdif outs. not sure on USB as, given most (if not all modern) DACs use asynchronous mode, DAC's own clocks are the relevant ones

 

I guess, though, that everything matters and a cleaner incoming signal somehow helps

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24 minutes ago, alice said:

Any of you with news on Aries 2, Iam looking to either get a microrendu or an Aries. Should I wait ?

 

two entirely different beasts

 

if you only need an output device to use with Roon (or soon Audirvana) then an Aries would be a waste

if you need a device that can also do library management, streaming and all... then a microRendu is not what you're looking for

 

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9 minutes ago, alice said:

Here in Australia the Aries cost the same as what a microrendu with external power supply would cost.

 

 I need to use it as Roon endpoint only. I current use a silent pc with sotm USB card as the endpoint.

 

oh, ok!

btw... as soon as MkII is released... mind putting up and Aries group buy for us all, please? 

 

If you only will be using it as Roon endpoint... you might found the Aries sounds better standalone

I bought it because Roon is now my reference music player but I need Qobuz streaming which Roon does not

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11 minutes ago, alice said:

So what you are saying is If using Roon the microrendu sounds better than Aries.

 

no idea about the microRendu

I'm only saying the Aries standalone (using Lightning DS) sounds (slightly) better than as Roon endpoint

Roon, though, sounds more than good enough

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1 hour ago, Doak said:

I am NOT resampling and definitely DO have access to use the filters. 

Mine stays on Precise unless I need to Smooth something out.

 

definitely not what I want! 

I want my streamer to, at least, also have a... "don't dare touching a single bit" setting 

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honestly... I can't see why/how it could be otherwise

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18 minutes ago, Doak said:

not up to pre 5.) standards.

 

I'm sure there's still "a lot" to be fine-tuned in 5.0 betas playback: as I said I'm hearing light and intermittent "static noises" that go away as soon as I revert to 4.1.0 and come back when I install a beta again 

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48 minutes ago, Duke40 said:

Thought this only applied to USB, as Auralic says the following

"PCM Auto-Detect: Your streaming device will detect the maximum sampling rate supported by a USB-connected DAC and adjust accordingly."

 

I will check my DAC to see if it is actually upsampling even though I am using Toslink ... 

 

PCM Auto-Detect is enabled here, I'm using USB out to an Audiophilleo SE then to a Chord 2Qute and... both are reporting track's original sample rate -> nothing gets upsampled

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web UI is a new feature only available in fw 5.0

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I'm back to 4.1.0 

 

apart a couple of "glitches" I found (and reported, but never heard back) in betas... main issue I'm having is with intermittent static noise

was told it happens with Aries Mini using third party PSs but... I'm using an Aries femto (with a Vinnie Rossi PS) and, again, after telling them... I never heard back 

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oh, no: not Yet Another Black Box! 

hope there will also be a silver (front, at least) version 

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3 hours ago, Doak said:

I, for one, think the "album screen" is superfluous and favor the minimalism of Aries Mk1.

 

plus... I'm pretty sure cover art/track info will not show when using the Aries as RoonReady device, which is how I use it 90% of the time

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got a mail, yesterday evening, from Chris: told me they're at Axpona and that's why they're not replaying to beta bug reports

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if you are using Mac OS... in Finder's menu pick "Go/Network" and you'll se something like this (attached image)

 

Note how your Synology is named there and in Lightning DS write as path "MySynology/WhateverSubPath"

(in my case that's "Qnap-HS251/music")

 

if you're not using Mac OS... sorry, I can't help you 

(but you might figure out yourself something based on the above  )