Auralic Lightning DS App (Software) - Impressions and Information

[ted_b]

If this is the case then why did I have to install Minimserver on my NAS? Other streamers such as Squeezebox and Oppo worked fine with the stock DLNA server on my NAS but not the Lightning app.

 

You didn't (if you have a Synology). I've reported here early in the beta process that Synology's Media Server worked just fine, including DSD.

[Cebolla]

If this is the case then why did I have to install Minimserver on my NAS? Other streamers such as Squeezebox and Oppo worked fine with the stock DLNA server on my NAS but not the Lightning app.

Some stock UPnP/DLNA media servers are notoriously buggy, eg the old version of Twonky pre-installed on some WD NASs. MinimServer is recommended as it's a decent well supported UPnP media server to use (if you can), period.

 

Also, don't Squeezeboxes use the proprietary (ie not a UPnP/DLNA media server) Logitech Media Server (LMS)?

LMS can be used as a UPnP/DLNA media server if you install & activate the UPnP Plugin, however it is known not to work very well with some UPnP streamers. It's usually better to install the Whitebear Server to help with UPnP streaming via the LMS, instead of the UPnP plugin, though support even on that has gone quiet recently.

[Jimmypowder]

Is it just me or am I getting the feeling that Auralic is becoming less responsive to issues

concerning the lightning software?

[sedest]

Yep. You are not alone on this feeling.

[Jimmypowder]

Yep. You are not alone on this feeling.

 

I should have said "a lot" less responsive.

[ksalno]

You didn't (if you have a Synology). I've reported here early in the beta process that Synology's Media Server worked just fine, including DSD.

 

My NAS are both Netgear.

[Todd R]

Is it just me or am I getting the feeling that Auralic is becoming less responsive to issues

concerning the lightning software?

 

I was told Lightning DS (V1.8) and firmware (V2.2) are going to be updated next weekend. Maybe they have those issues handled?

[Kai-Uwe]

I actually hoped that we see Lightning DS V2.x soon. Firmware 2.2 is nice but the really interesting features of the 2.x firmware, e.g. SMB for NAS access, require Lightning DS V2.x

[junk]

Does anybody know how to get Bloomberg radio on Aries?

 

thanks

[Jimmypowder]

I was told Lightning DS (V1.8) and firmware (V2.2) are going to be updated next weekend. Maybe they have those issues handled?

 

I think the last firmware update was great. I'm more concerned about the progress of an iphone and android app .These were supposed to be done last fall. It's March.I like the Lightning Ds app but I want to control it with an iphone.

[dr.sah]

I want more stable and faster app too.

[Kai-Uwe]

My Lightning DS (V1.7) works stable and fast. I cannot complain.

 

There features that I would like to see in the app, e.g. links to albums, composer, artist. Information about artists and albums from the internet, current song data when playing radio, ...

[JohanS]

Kind of funny to read the 'complaints' about Lightning DS. I currently don't own an Aries, but am still on the Mac platform (Audirvana /iTunes) and looking for a better solution. I can assure you, that Lightning DS is heaven. I know the NAIM app as well. AMG integration is nice ('CD booklet and internet resources), (http://www.allmusic.com) but the Lightning app looks much better! Maybe one day I will join you on the Aries platform. Thanks wdw for the initial hint!

[wanta911]

Kind of funny to read the 'complaints' about Lightning DS. I currently don't own an Aries, but am still on the Mac platform (Audirvana /iTunes) and looking for a better solution. I can assure you, that Lightning DS is heaven. I know the NAIM app as well. AMG integration is nice ('CD booklet and internet resources), (AllMusic | Music Search, Recommendations, Videos and Reviews) but the Lightning app looks much better! Maybe one day I will join you on the Aries platform. Thanks wdw for the initial hint!

 

I think there are are plenty of Aries owners that are very happy with LDS including me. After coming from using the clunky user interface on my Oppo, LDS is heaven. A big point here is that we have a company that is looking to make constant improvements and have been reactive to user feedback, so there is a tendency for users to make lots of "suggestions"

[dr.sah]

I know that they are working hard on app and system, i dont complain against that.

I just would love to have stable and fast app, like Sonos.

 

Sound, oh, I love sound.

[bluuoff]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum but not new to audio world. I am having problem with LDS this lately. It keeps on being disconnected from the server and shows no device. I will have to wait until it gets reconnected again. I used WiFi with more than 10Mbps internet speed.

 

To solve this problem, I started using wired mode. I use AMP LAN Cable at 30m length from WiFi router, goes directly into Auralic Aries.

 

However, still when connecting to LDS server, it just stops at 42% and not moving up anymore. I'm pretty fedup because without reaching 100%, nothing can be played. I connect a 6TB external HDD via USB input to Aries.

 

Do you guys have the same problem with Auralic Aries server? Thanks.

[Kai-Uwe]

I come from the Oppo 105D too. For the price, the Oppo was not bad. But as a streamer it was a nightmare. The app is simply unusable. It does not only crash on the iPad. It also freezes the Oppo quite often. So I used it with DLNA JRiver/jRemote this worked well, except that the Oppo does not support gapless over DLNA.

 

My next try was an audiophile PC. So I have setup an Intel NUC, made it t passive, bought a quite expensive liner PVU, installed and optimized an windows server and finally connected it to the Oppo. This was all okay, but inconvenient. JRiver/jRemote was good, but WiMP or Qobuz control was a compromise. The SQ was okay too. I was not completely satisfied.

 

So I ordered an AURALiC Aries and connected it to the Oppo. They catapulted the SQ to a much higher level. The control worked as expected. I was completely happy with the Aries. The PC will go to eBay soon. Now the Oppo became the bottleneck. I replaced it by a Vega.

 

Finally I must say that I am in heaven now with the Aries, Vega and Lightning DS. Sure this can be improved. For a better user experience software updates will come. An for SQ I most probably have to update my amp and speakers (Primare/Kef Reference /2)

[Todd R]

Has anyone had trouble getting JRiver to work with the Aries?

I had it working fine with the PS Audio Bridge, and the Aries works fine with the Lightening DS app and Minim server, but JRiver never sees the Aries as a renderer. The guys from Auralic sent me some specific instructions, but it still doesn't work.

[Murrayb]

I've been using Jriver for a couple of years to stream to my PS Audio bridge. Picked up an Aries about 6 weeks ago and while I've had a few issues getting things to work (turns out there was an issue with the last few editions of the firmware for my Asus 68U router, which necessitated a different router (I got tired of trying to find older fw that worked); plus needing to change the wireless channel setting in the router from auto to a fixed one), using Jriver as the music server has been fine. With the Aries in OpenHouse, Jriver doesn't "see" the Aries and so you cannot use it (or Jremote) to stream music to the Aries. However, if you use the Lightning App (or the Kinsky or Lumin apps), then it will see your Jriver library and stream the music to the Aries. If you switch the Aries to uPnP mode, then Jriver will see it and you can use both Jriver and Jremote to stream music to the Aries.

[ksalno]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum but not new to audio world. I am having problem with LDS this lately. It keeps on being disconnected from the server and shows no device. I will have to wait until it gets reconnected again. I used WiFi with more than 10Mbps internet speed.

 

To solve this problem, I started using wired mode. I use AMP LAN Cable at 30m length from WiFi router, goes directly into Auralic Aries.

 

However, still when connecting to LDS server, it just stops at 42% and not moving up anymore. I'm pretty fedup because without reaching 100%, nothing can be played. I connect a 6TB external HDD via USB input to Aries.

 

Do you guys have the same problem with Auralic Aries server? Thanks.

 

I think it has been said before but whenever I have any issues with the Aries, the first thing I do is a hard power reset on the Aries and a complete restart on the LDS app (swipe up to close the app and the restart it). That generally corrects most issues I've had. The other change that I've made that seems to have helped stabilize the connection between LDS and Aries is I setup a 5GHz only network on my WAPs with an SSID of "Aries Net". I have the Aries configured to connect to that SSID and I connect my iPads to the same network (all my other WiFi devices are on another SSID). This seems to have really helped to ensure the LDS stays connected to the Aries.

[wanta911]

The only real issue I have with LDS is trying to use Songcast. I can probably get it to start working 10% of the time at the most and if I can't, it seems to then make everything else flaky which then requires a power reset on the Aries. I don't know if this is an Auralic issue or a Linn issue, I'm hoping it's an Auralic issue so it will be fixed in an update

[Rotur]

When initializing my nas library (Synology 413j) I get the following which hangs continuously without being able to fully load the library ... Have searched my Synology for this Apple double file without any luck... Any ideas? I do not have an aries btw...

 

[Todd R]

upnp/dlna playback from Jriver is broken and will be repaired in next firmware upgrade they say

 

Wish they would have told me that.

 

I'd really like to use JRemote as I like that a lot better than the DS app.

[Cebolla]

When initializing my nas library (Synology 413j) I get the following which hangs continuously without being able to fully load the library ... Have searched my Synology for this Apple double file without any luck... Any ideas? I do not have an aries btw...

Hi Rotur,

 

Since you are referring to some 'library' in the Synology NAS, I'm assuming you've acivated & are using its provided in-built UPnP/DLNA supporting media server, which I believe is called simply "Media Server". Also, I'm assuming that "AppleDouble" existed at one time and Media Server had placed an entry for it in its music library database. I'm guessing, that the AppleDouble entry in the music library database is no longer valid, most likely because it's been physically deleted from the NAS's storage and the matching entry in the library database wasn't removed at the same time, for some reason.

 

Some UPnP media servers can be set up to update the entries automatically, but you should be able to force a manual rescan aka reindex, to get its music library database entries to match what's actually stored. If you access the Synology's "Media Indexing Service", you should find a function to manually reindex the Media Server's music library database there.

 

John

[Cebolla]

upnp/dlna playback from Jriver is broken and will be repaired in next firmware upgrade they say

Hi Slavo,

 

Is that just using JRiver's UPnP/DLNA control mechanism to use the Aries to stream music files or is any other third party standard UPnP/DLNA controller also affected, eg the BubbleUPnP Android app (when used in UPnP/DLNA mode, not OpenHome Media - as BubbleUPnP can do both).

 

John