Auralic Lightning DS App (Software) - Impressions and Information

[Arcee]

Hello everybody, I'm brand new to the Aries community as I only just purchased my Auralic Aries LE this morning. It is still on the way from Germany, I expect to get it end of the week. I did install the Lightning DS app already and set up Minimserver on my Synology DS. So far so good, browsing my library worked perfectly already on the app even without any Aries in my home network. So far so good.

 

Today I am using a Minix Neo X8-H Plus with OpenElec which plays FLAC up to 24/192 by optical SDIF, which is a budget solution but works fine. I'm truly curious to see what extra sound quality the Aries will bring. I'm using the Minix, and later on the Aries, with a NAD M51 as preamp connected to two Quad 405's bi-wired to my Vifa speakers.

 

I just have a question regarding the streaming services. I am not on Tidal or Qobuz, but I'm a user of Apple Music. Apple Music is good enough to explore and try out music, to later on get what I really want in FLAC or hi-res on my Synology. I also hear Apple is working on a 24/96 version of Apple Music because the hardware does support it.

 

My question is: will Apple Music be integrated into Lightning DS one day? Especially when Apple Music supports 24/96 one day, the quality setback of AirPlay would be a shame...

[shunt5]

I would like to know when Auralic will allow us use the middle button on the auralic aries mini for power off and on. It is utterly unprofessional and odd to have the plug the power cord to power on the unit.

[badlyread]

It already does.

 

Hold it for 5 seconds!!

 

Or do you mean completely off rather than sleep mode?

[shunt5]

Yes, I mean for switching it completely off. Why am I asking for this?

 

1. It is very uncommon to switch off a device by removing the power from the outlet.

2. After step 1, if I try to switch it on by putting the adapter back on, sometimes it cannot connect to wireless network (although the wifi was switched on long time ago) and all you are left as an option is to reinstall it which is annoying indeed.

 

It already does.

 

Hold it for 5 seconds!!

 

Or do you mean completely off rather than sleep mode?

[austinpop]

Is it just me, or does it seem like track status in Lightning DS is very sluggish to update when you switch back to the app? I don't remember it being this slow, and wonder if this is a consequence of the 4.0 firmware.

 

Here's a refresh time experiment:

• In the Lightning DS app, start with a full screen view of the current track's status
  
• switch over to another app, say Mail
  
• Do something in that app - like open your Inbox
  
• switch back to Lightning DS
  
• measure how long before the track data displays again
  

 

On my iPhone 6s, I measure anywhere from 3 to 7 seconds before the cover art, current position in track etc and displayed.

 

I'm finding it quite bothersome. Just wondering if others are seeing this. Was this always this slow, and maybe I'm only now noticing?!

 

I've gone back and forth with Auralic support, and can't get them to accept this as a valid performance issue.

[MNG]

Always been very slow to pick up again in my experience. I found it a lot quicker if you register and are logged in.

[Koso]

Same on my iPhone and iPad. Arround 5-6 seconds. Seems like app is not supporting background running...

[Leeuwarden]

Compared to walking to my recordplayer, putting a record on it, bringing the arm in the right position, lowering the arm, walk back to my chair and start listening to music, I find Lighting DS unbelievable fast and easy to use...

[mjb]

Is it just me, or does it seem like track status in Lightning DS is very sluggish to update when you switch back to the app? I don't remember it being this slow, and wonder if this is a consequence of the 4.0 firmware.

I'm sure Auralic could keep the application running and updating in the background, but power consumption would be a problem.

 

Compared to walking to my recordplayer, putting a record on it, bringing the arm in the right position, lowering the arm, walk back to my chair and start listening to music, I find Lighting DS unbelievable fast and easy to use...

Agreed... first world problems ;-)

[austinpop]

Compared to walking to my recordplayer, putting a record on it, bringing the arm in the right position, lowering the arm, walk back to my chair and start listening to music, I find Lighting DS unbelievable fast and easy to use...

 

I Definitely first world problem!

 

To be clear, I'm not whining - it just seems to be worse than in the past. Was wondering if others had noticed that it used to be faster.

[Duke40]

I Definitely first world problem!

 

To be clear, I'm not whining - it just seems to be worse than in the past. Was wondering if others had noticed that it used to be faster.

 

I also noticed the time lag this week, it did use to be quicker.

 

Tried your experiment with my iPhone 6S plus, i consistently got 6 to 7 secounds , so you are not alone in being affected by this.

 

It is a noticeable issue but very minor for me ... besides I am still very pleased by the significant upgrade Auralic provided with Firmware 4.

[Arcee]

To be honest, I have never been impressed by the responsiveness of the Lightning DS app, and even with the relatively sluggish response time, battery life is heavily affected by running Lightning DS.

 

For me the best solution is to simply use another app instead. My experiences with the LUMIN app are far better. Instant reactivity and much less impact on the battery life of my iPhone and iPad. Admittedly, the user interface of Lightning DS is better, it is more intuitive and better looking. But once you're used to LUMIN there is no way back. Until Lightning DS gets as responsive as LUMIN, as far as I am concerned.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MNG]

Yep, second that. I'm on Roon now anyway. What's more, the wife can use it and really likes it. ��

[iamlou]

Hi All. I just bought an Aries Mini and installed it today. I migrated from a caps v2 / jriver setup - it has been working great for years but I wanted to move to the Aries for A. a single app with Lightning DS for streaming (Tidal) and local music (NAS based), and B. integrated bluetooth / airplay for podcasts or whatever. And I'm assuming the sound quality will be at or better than the caps v2...

 

So far my impressions are very good, but I do have a couple of questions:

 

1. Lightning DS doesn't seem to handle compilation / various artist albums well. If I go to an artists view, instead of listing them under multiple artists or something similar it lists them under a long string of artists. The only albums that are shown the way I want are those where the "album artist" tag is explicitly tagged as "Various Artists". Am I missing something here?

 

2. I'd like to be able to control different levels of sorting - for example when I go into a particular genre i'd like the view to be sorted by artist first and then album. Is there a way to do this?

 

Thanks for any assistance! I did a search and found a few comments similar to mine but no definitive answers...

 

Lou

[Arcee]

1. Lightning DS doesn't seem to handle compilation / various artist albums well. If I go to an artists view, instead of listing them under multiple artists or something similar it lists them under a long string of artists. The only albums that are shown the way I want are those where the "album artist" tag is explicitly tagged as "Various Artists". Am I missing something here?

 

No, you're not missing something. Presuming that you are running a Minimserver on your NAS, which is kind of conditional to make it work, this is indeed what you get. I've taken a Sunday afternoon using a great tool called Tag & Rename, to correct all the ID3 tags in my FLAC collection. Indeed, for all compilation albums, I've set the Album Artist values to "Various Artists" for the tracks in those albums while leaving the "Artist" value to the track artist. It took me a few hours, but I have a large collection of music.

 

Tag & Rename (now at version 3.9) is an absolutely fantastic tool for that, also able to get you metadata and album covers from various sources. It's the fastest way to rebuild/correct your ID3 tags.

 

Once is done, all works great and the interface of Lightning DS is beautiful. A while ago I diverted to using LUMIN instead, as Lightning DS was a bit sluggish on my iPad, but in the past week, I've moved back to Lightning DS.

[Arcee]

2. I'd like to be able to control different levels of sorting - for example when I go into a particular genre i'd like the view to be sorted by artist first and then album. Is there a way to do this?

 

I haven't been able to find a way to do that either.

[mavericksane]

I am running an Altair in my main room and an Aries Mini (with the Aries LPS) in my kitchen. While experimenting yesterday with the new group play feature in firmware 4.0, I noticed that the second zone in the group suffers terrible stuttering. I thought it might be an issue with my network, but I'm starting to think it's an issue with the Lightning software. My observations are:

- the stuttering only affects the secondary zone, i.e., if I am playing a track on the Altair in my music room and I create the group while controlling the Altair, the stuttering affects the kitchen system;

- the stuttering does not appear to correlate with sample rate/bit depth (i.e., it is no worse on a 24/192 FLAC than a 16/44 AIFF);

- if I play the same track in the two zones when they are ungrouped, there is no stuttering in either zone.

 

I'll file a report with Auralic this morning. Has anyone else noticed this?

[mavericksane]

I am running an Altair in my main room and an Aries Mini (with the Aries LPS) in my kitchen. While experimenting yesterday with the new group play feature in firmware 4.0, I noticed that the second zone in the group suffers terrible stuttering. I thought it might be an issue with my network, but I'm starting to think it's an issue with the Lightning software. My observations are:

- the stuttering only affects the secondary zone, i.e., if I am playing a track on the Altair in my music room and I create the group while controlling the Altair, the stuttering affects the kitchen system;

- the stuttering does not appear to correlate with sample rate/bit depth (i.e., it is no worse on a 24/192 FLAC than a 16/44 AIFF);

- if I play the same track in the two zones when they are ungrouped, there is no stuttering in either zone.

 

I'll file a report with Auralic this morning. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

Update: I contacted Auralic support and Mr Wang responded in record time. It appears that there is a known issue with group play where the zones are connected over a wired network rather than wireless - if the ethernet speed is "very fast" this can cause stuttering. I reconfigured my Aries Mini to connect over wifi and that appears to have resolved things.

[iamlou]

No, you're not missing something. Presuming that you are running a Minimserver on your NAS, which is kind of conditional to make it work, this is indeed what you get. I've taken a Sunday afternoon using a great tool called Tag & Rename, to correct all the ID3 tags in my FLAC collection. Indeed, for all compilation albums, I've set the Album Artist values to "Various Artists" for the tracks in those albums while leaving the "Artist" value to the track artist. It took me a few hours, but I have a large collection of music.

 

Tag & Rename (now at version 3.9) is an absolutely fantastic tool for that, also able to get you metadata and album covers from various sources. It's the fastest way to rebuild/correct your ID3 tags.

 

Once is done, all works great and the interface of Lightning DS is beautiful. A while ago I diverted to using LUMIN instead, as Lightning DS was a bit sluggish on my iPad, but in the past week, I've moved back to Lightning DS.

 

Thanks Arcee, appreciate it. I'll look into tag & rename and set the album artist field. Also forgot to mention but I am using lightning server, sounds like it works the same as minimserver on this item though...

 

thanks.

[cordobaman]

New user for 3 days now...I am using an Altair, some observations with Lightning DS 3.1

 

With Minimserver, wire ethernet, I got occasional network drops, device not found. Also an error message that I forgot to write down (sorry) that required me to restart the app.

 

Switched to Lightning server, things seem to be more stable.

 

It does NOT like large playlists. I set up one with about 4000 songs (because I cannot random play my collection without a playlist it seems) and it has troubles displaying the correct song title or album/album art...sometimes the song title is wrong, sometimes the album/art, them sometimes it hits the correct one. Changes mid-song!

 

The elapsed time indicator is sluggish and jumpy.

 

There is an easily audible "tick" between songs on occasion, I think I've pinned it down to when it switches from16/44 to 24/192.

 

And oh man this app sucks out my iPhone's battery life!

 

Should I and how do I update to 4.0?

[RolandGo]

The firmware is 4.0, the app is 3.1.

 

Auralic support once told me that the app cannot read the Album Artist tag, thus it can't sort by that tag. That's why I still prefer JRemote.

[mjb]

The firmware is 4.0, the app is 3.1.

 

Auralic support once told me that the app cannot read the Album Artist tag, thus it can't sort by that tag. That's why I still prefer JRemote.

 

The "album artist" tag certainly works in recent softwares. It's used over the "track artist" when viewing by artist...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[iamlou]

"album artist" is working for me too. Though I am getting an error. I went back and tagged all my compilation albums as "(Multiple Artists)" for the album artist tag - so they show up at the end of the genre and artist lists in a group.

 

That said I am getting some repeat albums. For example, one compilations is "Tougher than Tough, The Story of Jamaican Music" - fantastic compilation by the way. In 3 of the 4 discs, one track has been mysteriously separated into it's own album. When I retagged the albums to make sure everything was consistent, I expected a rescan / recache to solve the problem - but it didn't, instead I now have 3 of each disc instead of 2 - it doubled up on the lone track as a separate album.

 

Anyway, this is an error - probably user error so I am going to contact auralic support. Other than that album artist is working...

[Arcee]

That said I am getting some repeat albums. For example, one compilations is "Tougher than Tough, The Story of Jamaican Music" - fantastic compilation by the way. In 3 of the 4 discs, one track has been mysteriously separated into it's own album. When I retagged the albums to make sure everything was consistent, I expected a rescan / recache to solve the problem - but it didn't, instead I now have 3 of each disc instead of 2 - it doubled up on the lone track as a separate album.

 

This is not an error, it simply means there is another field that is not coherent with the other tracks. Start by checking the album name. Even if you don't see the difference, copy and paste the album name of another track on the same album and rescan. Pretty sure the problem goes away.

 

Tag & Rename has great features to align fields within a single album to prevent such issues, just experiment with it and you'll see.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alandbush]

New user for 3 days now...I am using an Altair, some observations with Lightning DS 3.1

 

It does NOT like large playlists. I set up one with about 4000 songs (because I cannot random play my collection without a playlist it seems ...

 

Version 3.0 introduced random play described below.

 

 

• Add Random Play function of entire music library (Go Queue and click 'Play Now')
  

 

Nb - this does require the queue to be empty.