Auralic Lightning DS App (Software) - Impressions and Information

[InfernoSTi]

I have noticed the first tune I play after waking up my Aries is clipped at the very beginning, maybe the first half second. All subsequent tracks play in full, even if I change albums. Any ideas?

 

My setup is: Qnap TS-210 running Minimserver 8.3 >> 5 GHz wifi >> Aries (FW 2.8) >> AES/EBU >> Vega (Auto clock)

 

I suggest a hard boot (hold the button down underneath the unit until it says "Return to Defaults"). You will need to run through the entire setup cycle again.

[JohanS]

It's really Mr. Xuanqian Wang. ;-)

Oh shoot! Got his name wrong again. Sorry, Mr. Xuanqian Wang!

[jtwrace]

Oh shoot! Got his name wrong again. Sorry, Mr. Xuanqian Wang!

 

LOL. I'm sure he's used to it. ;-)

[raudio]

Here's guessing you should try to change the dac delay with the music stopped .

 

Yeah I've had a couple of those blackouts when changing things up

 

Looking like it may be network related, thinking about a workaround. Doesn't happen when I stream from USB. But as for DAC delay, from Auralic support:

"Dac delay is there in case your DAC has a relay that makes the speakers click when it gets a signal for the first time. The delay function will keep you from hearing that. "

[Bolts]

Using QoBuz via LDS I'm getting constant LDS crashes and buffering when trying to load playlist albums - frustrating. Once loaded and playing all works fine, stable.

 

Anybody else experiencing this?

[bengl3rt]

Still no release date for LDS iPhone? As soon as there is one I can order my Aries Mini... pretty please?

[JohanS]

Still no release date for LDS iPhone? As soon as there is one I can order my Aries Mini... pretty please?

Haven't seen a release date, but Auralic told that it will arrive at the same time or just after the arrival of Aries Mini. So, you could see the LDS iPhone release from next week onwards.

[wanta911]

I use Lightning Server to play AIFF files from my NAS and have been doing this without a hitch for some time. This morning I opened the app and approx. 30% of my album covers are missing? After trying a lot of fixes including rescan, clearing & refreshing the cache and erasing and then re-mounting the library - nothing worked. During all of this I did notice that it wasn't a random occurrence, it was the same albums that were consistently not displaying the artwork.

 

Further investigation found a common theme, the albums that weren't displaying covers all had a "folder.JPG" file, by deleting this file in each folder the album artwork then appeared after a rescan.

 

This is really puzzling, why would this file which isn't even needed affect anything and more importantly why would this happen all of a sudden after months of operation without the folder.JPG being an issue? I didn't notice any firmware update......unless it was a secret one

[JDOz]

Yep, FW update just changed the way cover art is handled.

[wanta911]

Yep, FW update just changed the way cover art is handled.

 

Thanks JD, I just read it - I only checked the LDS firmware to see if it had been updated.

 

I'm glad you said "changed" and not improved - cos it aint working for me

[JohanS]

Thanks JD, I just read it - I only checked the LDS firmware to see if it had been updated.

 

I'm glad you said "changed" and not improved - cos it aint working for me

Firmware details:

 

[h=1]Current Firmware Version 2.9.2 Build 20151017[/h]About This Release:

 

• October 17, 2015
  
• Initial firmware release version of ARIES MINI
  
• This update will request reboot of device after the download is done.
  
• Devices with firmware from Version 1.8.2 and earlier will need to update the boot code after reboot. There will be a message displayed on device warning people to not to power off the unit during this stage. The updating of boot code will take about 70 - 80 seconds. The unit will reboot after boot code has been updated.
  

 

Please make sure you do not reboot or turn off the unit during the update of boot code, or else the unit will no longer be able to boot up (will have to return to factory for flashing the boot code).

 

Fixes:

 

• Device wont show up in Lightning DS after boot up under certain situation.
  
• Lightning Server connection will fail if the current SMB client user was not the same one whom made the first connection to that folder (Lightningserver.dat file access deny).
  
• Lightning server dont pick up album cover file name 'Folder.jpg' (F letter in capital).
  

Improvement:

 

• USB output compatibility with different DACs while using AirPlay.
  
• Lightning Server will now use dedicate cover picture file, like 'folder.jpg' or 'cover.jpg' before pick up audio file embedded cover file to allow better resolution.
  
• Add 'JPEG' extension support for album cover file.
  
• Disable power management of 7260HMW WiFi module to increase the network connection performance.
  

New Features:

 

• ARIES MINI support with new functions such as Bluetooth, Flexible Filter Mode, and USB File Import.
  
• Device will now check LAN/WiFi network connection by 'PING' gateway every 60 seconds and will try to reconnect if it failed. This will resolve the problem that device wont show up in LDS after router has been rebooted.
  

Known Issues:

 

• Device will wait at 176.4K or 352.8K rather than DSD64 or DSD128 when DAC Delay function is enabled.
  
• Device may not work with particular type of USB drive in Mac OS X journaled format.
  
• Device may not work with particular type of USB drive or SSD drive which request power over 5V/500mA.
  
• USB DACs running on Wavelength USB firmware can not use USB playback function due to a confirmed bug of Wavelength USB firmware under Linux. The known effected brands are: Ayre, Aesthetix and Berkeley Audio.
  
• Disable "DSD over PCM" only works on USB DACs that support sampling rate to 352.8K.
  
• Certain kinds of 24bit AIF files will be reported as 32bit due to decoder bug.
  

[deuch]

I've found a bug with 2.9.2 version : My tracks larger than 2GB (in DSD256 format) are not recognized during a scan. Metadata are OK, all tracks for the same album (with a size < 2Gb) are perfectly scanned and recognized.

[deuch]

Ok auralic has confirmed that is a bug of Lightning Server. It will be fixed in the next version of firmware.

[Jimmypowder]

Does the Lightning update at Apple add iPhone functionality ? Tired of using an iPad

[JohanS]

Does the Lightning update at Apple add iPhone functionality ? Tired of using an iPad

This week we should see the LDS 2.3 update for iPad! This release, with Aries Mini support, will become available for iPhone as well - it was shown during RMAF show. Auralic told earlier that it should be available short after the release of Aries Mini, probably at the same time. So, you won't have to wait long.

[badlyread]

It would be nice but Auralic are not very good at delivering on time

[bengl3rt]

11/5 has come and gone, where is LDS?

[kennyb123]

It would be nice but Auralic are not very good at delivering on time ��

 

It might be that it is outside of their control.

 

Auralic has to rely on Apple to release updates to LDS. It can take about 7 days for Apple to approve.

[Jimmypowder]

It might be that it is outside of their control.

 

Auralic has to rely on Apple to release updates to LDS. It can take about 7 days for Apple to approve.

 

When I bought the Auralic Aries about a year ago I was told an iPhone app would be available within a month .

 

It is now over a year and it's still not here . I have to say I'm not impressed with Auralic's timetable .

[JohanS]

It might be that it is outside of their control.

 

Auralic has to rely on Apple to release updates to LDS. It can take about 7 days for Apple to approve.

It is outside Auralic's control: LDS 2.3 was submitted to Apple last week, so I guess Apple is running out of their timetable...

[JohanS]

When I bought the Auralic Aries about a year ago I was told an iPhone app would be available within a month .

 

It is now over a year and it's still not here . I have to say I'm not impressed with Auralic's timetable .

Didn't read well: the iPhone app is in full control from Auralic and so is he delay... I guess they know themselves and therefore decided to drop Android support in favor of iOS. Hopefully we'll see quality improvement (stability, meeting deadlines, etc.) from now onwards.

[Leeuwarden]

LDS2.3 arrived...

[Jimmypowder]

LDS2.3 arrived...

 

Still no iPhone app . Ugh .

[bengl3rt]

From their Facebook page: " We are expecting to finish the iPhone version within this month but wont promise anything at right moment smile emoticon"

[Jimmypowder]

From their Facebook page: " We are expecting to finish the iPhone version within this month but wont promise anything at right moment smile emoticon"

 

Ok . So maybe this month , maybe not .

 

 

It appears their pursuit of selling hardware has certainly taken precedence over finishing an iOS app

 

And that's with the discontinuation of Android development .

 

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with the timeliness of Auralic's software development considering

their dealers were saying last fall that the iPhone app would be finished within a month or two . That was

One of the deciding factors in me buying an Aries .

 

It is now over a year since then and no iPhone app .