Auralic Lightning DS App (Software) - Impressions and Information

[Bolts]

thanks it looks very similar to the Qobuz Lightning interface; I'm trialling Tidal for 30 days so I hope that the update happens before that ends so that I can compare the two of them on the Aries. It will also come down to the user experience on other mobile platforms.

[baddog]

Prior to Aries/Lighting I used a dedicated MacMini running iTunes and PureMusic - so many of my challenges are due to issues that iTunes proprietary structure brings with it....I believe. In the past I never had to use tagging software, I just used iTunes. To prep for my Aries arrival I've been using Yate to get things ready fro the 'non-iTunes world'. With regard to the above, it appears it may be working on some files and not others, but I haven't yet found a consistent reason. My other big issue is Album Art, but I think that's directly related to iTunes legacy. Are there any ways to get iTunes to actually tag files with the related art? (all my albums have proper art in iTunes)

 

 

Brad

 

Hello Brad - a couple of thoughts. I don't know all of the capabilities of Yates but I have heard good things about it. I too had to spend a good amount of time re-tagging those albums I had in iTunes format. As you have seen the cover art is not embedded into the music files themselves but rather stored in an iTunes database. I don't know of an easy way to automatically have that overt art embedded from iTunes into the album tracks themselves. I see Doug's Scripts does have a script to do so, but it appears it does it an album at a time and I have not tried it. In my situation I used JRIVER for Mac. Loaded all the albums into it's library and was able to select albums without cover art and have it automatically download the cover art (when found) and embed it into the album tracks. It does allow for selection of multiple albums at one time. Once complete, your music files have the covert art embedded and can be used with Minimserver.

 

I am not sure how many albums you need to process, is it a large number?

 

As to the issue of the tag options command to ignore "The" when searching for bands in Minimserver (with Lightning DS), you note that it works for some bands but not others. Do you have a way to look at the meta data for an album where it does not work? It strikes me that perhaps the meta tagging is different on these albums, perhaps the band name is recorded in both the artist and album artist fields, and perhaps they are not the same. Maybe they are compilation albums or albums with multiple artists? Some examples would help.

 

Moving forward is you still plan on ripping CDs, I would recommend a package such as XLD as opposed to iTunes as it will embed the cover art into your music files.

 

I will also note it did take me quite some time to get all my music files sorted out and properly tagged, so patience as you have shown is key.

 

Barr

[miguelito]

Hello Brad - a couple of thoughts. I don't know all of the capabilities of Yate

I've had excellent experience with Yate. It is scriptable, so you can create scripts to batch-up operations. It can download art and info from the usual dbs as well.

 

As for iTunes cover art, the Doug Script to embed cover art does not work anymore I don't think in iTunes 11 and newer. If you absolutely wanted to do this, I think there's a Doug Script to save cover art in the album folder and then you could use Yate to embed it in the file.

[jtwrace]

Thought I'd post this here for those that use Synology. I updated to DSM 5.1 and Minimserver/Minimwatch both work fine as you can see in the screenshot.

 

[keeper]

I've tried this fix several times and can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't working. Any ideas?

 

With the prescribed values in tagoptions I still get all my "The..." artists collected together in the "T"s in both Lightning and in Lumin. An upfront comment to everyone in the thread - nice job! I ordered my Aries last week and it should be to me sometime within the next week or so; so I've been trying to get everything to work BEFORE it actually shows up. You all have been terrific in helping that along - I've read this entire thread and learned a great deal!

 

I've been using a MacMini but want to get rid of the 'computer in the living room' situation, so I'm using my Synology based iTunes library for this. The several times I've tried I've changed the tagoptions; rescanned Minimserver; and re-loaded in the apps....no difference. I've even tried deleting and reinstalling the apps on the iPad. No change!

 

I have other potential questions (big album art issues), but lets take one thing at a time.

 

Have you looked at this tagging software Jaikoz Audio Tagger

 

Just started using it for when my Aries arrives..

[jtwrace]

Some more good news. TIDAL Streaming is working on DS Lightning! Also has Chinese and German language support.

 

[russellbobby]

That's great news! No computer involved correct?

[jtwrace]

That's great news! No computer involved correct?

 

Heck NO (Just an ARIES..)!!!

[Bolts]

Some more good news. TIDAL Streaming is working on DS Lightning! Also has Chinese and German language support.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15336[/ATTACH]

 

I don't have Tidal available only WIMP - I'm in the UK?

[jtwrace]

I don't have Tidal available only WIMP - I'm in the UK?

 

That's correct, nobody will until the end of this month when it's (1.6) released.

[ErikM]

So I just got my Aries and I have a few thoughts and observations. First off I can't belive no freaking batteries for the remote, are you kidding me.. And not even a basic power cord? I know that's been mentioned but Wang if you are reading this .. Come on man!

 

The quick start guide is sorely lacking the basic setup info! The unit must be hooked up wired to set up the unit.Nowhere is this mentioned, not once.. Without a wired connection one can't do any setup. A manufacturer can't assume folks will just guess or figure it out...

 

Once I got it setup everything else was pretty simple... I did have an issue with trying to run the unit wireless.. It wouldn't work because the app and the unit firmware aren't in sync.. I spoke at length with the Auralic Tech support fellow and I was able to get it back to working.. But it needed a complete reset...

 

As far as SQ excellent.. I had minimserver all ready to go and the Aries found everything right away.. Got a couple of radio stations loaded, just would like if it had Pandora support..

 

Overall very pleased with the unit, oh last nit to pick p, how about some little rubber feet for the power supply..

[Jimmypowder]

So I just got my Aries and I have a few thoughts and observations. First off I can't belive no freaking batteries for the remote, are you kidding me.. And not even a basic power cord? I know that's been mentioned but Wang if you are reading this .. Come on man!

 

The quick start guide is sorely lacking the basic setup info! The unit must be hooked up wired to set up the unit.Nowhere is this mentioned, not once.. Without a wired connection one can't do any setup. A manufacturer can't assume folks will just guess or figure it out...

 

Once I got it setup everything else was pretty simple... I did have an issue with trying to run the unit wireless.. It wouldn't work because the app and the unit firmware aren't in sync.. I spoke at length with the Auralic Tech support fellow and I was able to get it back to working.. But it needed a complete reset...

 

As far as SQ excellent.. I had minimserver all ready to go and the Aries found everything right away.. Got a couple of radio stations loaded, just would like if it had Pandora support..

 

Overall very pleased with the unit, oh last nit to pick p, how about some little rubber feet for the power supply..

 

Yeah there should be a way to do the intitial setup wirelessly. I figured it out after a few minutes trying to do it wirelessly but still.....

 

Even a little note in the box would have been helpful.

[sedest]

A good example of initial wireless setup is offered by Daphile. This solution creates a hot spot with default password and SSID.

[coax]

I realize Aries is a move from computer execution, but will/is Lightning software moving toward file integration ? I understand this is all beta, but page after page of data "fixes", is a turn-off. So my question to Mr Wang and Co. would be, will Lightning deliver proprietary scripting to integrate libraries stored elsewhere ?

[jtwrace]

I realize Aries is a move from computer execution, but will/is Lightning software moving toward file integration ? I understand this is all beta, but page after page of data "fixes", is a turn-off. So my question to Mr Wang and Co. would be, will Lightning deliver proprietary scripting to integrate libraries stored elsewhere ?

 

There is no piece of software out there that doesn't have constant updating. If it doesn't, don't buy it. It's as simple as that IMO. There were some large growing pains but this product is very stable and works very well in the short amount of time.

 

As for your question, meaning to take a library from some other location and bring it in? I'm confused by your question. Can you clarify?

[wanta911]

Version 1.6 with Tidal is released

[jtwrace]

Version 1.6 with Tidal is released

 

Yes it is! Works great too!

[russellbobby]

Tidal is working great!! Is the USB live yet? Not having much luck.

Thanks,

Russ

[ted_b]

Tidal is working great!! Is the USB live yet? Not having much luck.

Thanks,

Russ

 

USB local hard drive support is coming with the next Aries hardware firmware update. Version 1.6 that was just released refers to the app update.

[Afveep]

WOW- it DOES work and it's awesome!Thanks Auralic!

[miguelito]

Version 1.6 with Tidal is released

 

Love it!

[russellbobby]

Thanks Ted. Figured that it would have to come from the player.

Russ

[Wiley]

Love it!

 

Man, me too! Works great.

[russellbobby]

What is an acceptable speed? most of the files are between 900-1000 Kbps some as low as 715 Kbps a few over 1,000Kbps. Is this based on Internet provider speed? Router? Just wondering.

Thanks,

Russ

[miguelito]

I realize Aries is a move from computer execution, but will/is Lightning software moving toward file integration ? I understand this is all beta, but page after page of data "fixes", is a turn-off. So my question to Mr Wang and Co. would be, will Lightning deliver proprietary scripting to integrate libraries stored elsewhere ?

 

No software is perfect. Ever. And fixes are the way to move forward.