ARIES vs mini... Confused

[MikeJazz]

Also, I did not understand Mr. Xuanqian's comment: I am saying that the USB output sounds to me softer (more rolled off) than the SPDIF. I would expect jitter and noise in general to give higher "sparkle" at the top, not lower.

 

Thanks for pointing me there, but I also think Mr. Xuanqian comment was not conclusive...

 

I would agree more on his perspective; I suspect that the timming inaccuracy that jitter brings would lead to blurring attack and less "micro-dynamics" definition, across all band, not just high-frequencies.

 

I am not aware that it will give higher sparkle, but this is a nice topic to explore in the future...

[Jud]

Thanks for pointing me there, but I also think Mr. Xuanqian comment was not conclusive...

 

I would agree more on his perspective; I suspect that the timming inaccuracy that jitter brings would lead to blurring attack and less "micro-dynamics" definition, across all band, not just high-frequencies.

 

I am not aware that it will give higher sparkle, but this is a nice topic to explore in the future...

 

Jitter, to the extent there are audible effects (I say this simply so no one will accuse me of assuming there must be audible effects no matter how minimal the jitter is), will (1) raise the noise floor, and (2) cause (I believe, if I'm reading the references right) intermodulation distortion. Both of these should lead to a "hotter" less clear sound. "Sparkle" might be an accurate term, to the extent that high frequencies are affected.

[ALRAINBOW]

I can adds couple of thoughts on this from my own experience in suffers .

first I have not trip the aries.

But I have trid a few severs other than it. The first one was Krell connect the in with internal dac if need be. It connect to a nas over wifi or wired. It's does sound good but the dac inside was not that good . It has a spidif and optical output , why it does not have a usb is just poor design. It sounded ok but even if connected to my msb it sounded ok but lacked something. Now doing the same over wifi giga byte connection yidled ok results a bit worse then wired.

Next up wa the purchase of a umt plus for msb stack. This yielded far better results so the server did matter.

Next I tried various CPU systems and configurations. Now here is where it got interesting

the first thing I noticed was the msb server always did better than my cup servers ,MSI why was this. It drove me to extremes. I did stumble on to a fact that DSd needs much more Horsower than pcm does. My first setup was my iMac with a I73.0 cup and drive and aurdivana it bested j river for sure on the Mac. Now I knew how good it could be.

Next was a custom built server with win 7 and a solid state Hargrove for OS and a pail,pang PCI usb card with its own dc power source. This bested the iMac with j river or audivana .

Next up was building my first win 2012 sever and AO. all batteris and all options as well it has a xion 3.5 cpu.

It greatly improved and dac I connected to it. And it is better than the umt plus .

My point in this tale is servers matter plenty and for the money spent on the Aries one could build a far better one for that cost. .

 

al

[Pol]

FWIW, my DAC reclocks as well with a (supposedly) very precise clock right next to the discrete DAC circuits:

 

http://www.emmlabs.com/pdf/brochures/XDS1-V2_Brochure.pdf

 

BTW... I am guessing I will end up with a JS-2...

Hello Miguelito,

JS2 is really great. But it will give you the best with the MMK fan kit which avoid the fan to pump its 12v directly from the motherboard.

To boot from SD card after this will be the final step.

100% sure you'll love it.

 

The change from a player to an other is from my experience discussing about salt or pepper on a meal. A question of personal taste. A bonus. Not a fundamental.

 

Pol

[corehun]

Yeap, I am surprised as well... Definitely feels "rolled off". Even snare drums lacks "shimmer"...

 

Hi miguelito,

 

A few months ago I had a chance to try the aries. I also found and wrote that the weakest part of the aries is the treble in my system. Here is my brief review... Couple of weeks later I had a chance to retry the aries in owner's system. We compared the aries with a cd transport both connected to the same dac. The treble weakness was still there. May be it got better with the new firmware but this was the situation at that time.

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/auralic-aries-hardware-impressions-and-information-21261/index27.html#post352694

[Audio_ELF]

ARIES is perfect on paper. Every tweak one could think of: LPS, no fan, no extra processes, no HD, is implemented in what I would call minimally perfect way. Yet I cannot make it sound "right" in my system, to my ears. That's the source of my confusion (read frustration).

Yes ... on paper its great ... but perhaps thats not translating to an "improvement" in your system

 

I listen to live music, I listen to people speaking, I hear the body, tonality, and sibilance of the voice. To my ears the presentation from the mini is closer to that than the one from ARIES. That's the long and the short of it.

As you say ... whats important is what it sounds like to you and in your system

 

It could be that my amp and speakers are all rolled off and thus the mini being more "gritty" is compensating for this. I don't know if this is true or not (I suspect not). I assume that's what you meant by "grate" (I didn't understand).

Yes, it sounds like for whatever reason you're preferring the MacMini. It appears to me (and I may be wrong) you are assuming that is because there is something wrong with the Aries. My suggestion is perhaps that its more a preference on your part to preferring the sound from the Mac Mini.

 

Keeper's suggestion of listening to the Mac Mini for a week, then try the Aries again is a good idea (IMO).

 

Eloise

[Audio_ELF]

An objective assessment!!!??????? LOL .Man go smoke a joint ,do us a favor ,please return the Aries and END THIS THREAD!

Jimmy ... you are being VERY disrespectful.

 

You have an opinion: fine. You have expressed that opinion. If you don't like the thread then don't read it. Yes I know thats an easy thing to say and harder to do (I know I am drawn back to some threads I really know aren't going anywhere); but chill out!

 

Eloise

[wanta911]

I agree with Eloise, there's a lot of subjective comment in this thread based on people's particular circumstances.

 

In my experience, I bought the Aries and the Vega DAC together. So much to like in this combo but right from the start I found it all a little too "aggressive" (in my setup) for my taste. Let me tell you that rolled off highs was definitely not an issue - quite the opposite actually. It wasn't that it sounded bad, it was actually stunning, but for long term listening it wasn't in the sweet spot. After nearly 1000 hours of perseverance I tried another DAC with the Aries and noticed the difference straight away - just a touch more laid back and smoother.

 

There are plenty of people with this combo but like so much in this hobby, what works is dictated by personal taste, your room and the way things gel with the rest of your gear.

 

The Vega is now out of action. I went the opposite way to Miguelito by looking at the DAC and not the bridge/transport. The Aries was never in danger of going, from a functional perspective I find it fantastic.

[miguelito]

Yes, it sounds like for whatever reason you're preferring the MacMini. It appears to me (and I may be wrong) you are assuming that is because there is something wrong with the Aries.

Not necessarily something "wrong" with the Aries. I just find that in my system the sound of the mini is more "real", all else being equal. I agree that this might be a preference, of course. I wouldn't blame the CD player or other parts of the system: sound from CD and SACD from the transport is mesmerizing.

 

Keeper's suggestion of listening to the Mac Mini for a week, then try the Aries again is a good idea (IMO).

The way I have it set up I can switch between the mini and the Aries simply by switching the USB from mini to Aries and back, so it's quite simple and quick to compare. I have no hurry whatsoever, will listen and listen...

[miguelito]

I agree with Eloise, there's a lot of subjective comment in this thread based on people's particular circumstances.

 

In my experience, I bought the Aries and the Vega DAC together. So much to like in this combo but right from the start I found it all a little too "aggressive" (in my setup) for my taste. Let me tell you that rolled off highs was definitely not an issue - quite the opposite actually. It wasn't that it sounded bad, it was actually stunning, but for long term listening it wasn't in the sweet spot. After nearly 1000 hours of perseverance I tried another DAC with the Aries and noticed the difference straight away - just a touch more laid back and smoother.

 

There are plenty of people with this combo but like so much in this hobby, what works is dictated by personal taste, your room and the way things gel with the rest of your gear.

 

The Vega is now out of action. I went the opposite way to Miguelito by looking at the DAC and not the bridge/transport. The Aries was never in danger of going, from a functional perspective I find it fantastic.

What DAC are you looking into now?

[miguelito]

The change from a player to an other is from my experience discussing about salt or pepper on a meal. A question of personal taste. A bonus. Not a fundamental.

Yeah, I get that.

[YashN]

To make an analogy, Miguelito is confused because he wants a strawberry, but then wonders why an apple doesn't taste as good as an orange...

 

No audio gear can fix that.

 

@miguelito

As I read it your "confusion" is becaus most people profess the Aries an improvement over a Mac Mini in terms of sound quality. Could the simple fact be that what many people consider an improvement you actually find to "grate" and so see it as a negative to your ears?

[miguelito]

To make an analogy, Miguelito is confused because he wants a strawberry, but then wonders why an apple doesn't taste as good as an orange...

 

No audio gear can fix that.

Sweetie darling,

 

I am comparing SOUND. That's it. I don't care what means the sound is produced with. Keep in mind USB cable, DAC, amp, speakers, room are all the same. And the SOUND is the result of the entire system - not just the ARIES, obviously.

 

I don't find the ARIES to sound as good as the mini, and I am puzzled as to why. Why puzzled? Because on paper it definitely should.

 

This is a very clear comparison and one that everyone does when choosing equipment.

[wanta911]

What DAC are you looking into now?

 

I have a DEQX PreMate, so it's a bit more than just a DAC

 

I compared it to the Vega with bypass mode before deciding whether or not to keep the Vega in the loop and feed analog to the DEQX or just use the DAC in the DEQX and take out the Vega altogether - the latter option won.

[Distinctive]

Wrong addressee - Post to be ignored.

[kennyb123]

I don't find the ARIES to sound as good as the mini, and I am puzzled as to why. Why puzzled? Because on paper it definitely should.

 

I now have an Aries LE on order, so will soon be able to compare it to my Mac Mini running A+. USB cable is the split LightSpeed. I will report back my findings.

[miguelito]

I now have an Aries LE on order, so will soon be able to compare it to my Mac Mini running A+. USB cable is the split LightSpeed. I will report back my findings.

Awesome!

[Calyx]

Awesome!

 

Hi kennyb123, I had the LE for some weeks before my dealer could get the real one for me. With my DAC the LE was really inferior. As I had both for some days the biggest difference made the LPS - as I tried it with the LE, too. The LE was less rounded, slightly grainy.

 

Hope this help - please try to get any LPS on your LE.

[miguelito]

Hi kennyb123, I had the LE for some weeks before my dealer could get the real one for me. With my DAC the LE was really inferior. As I had both for some days the biggest difference made the LPS - as I tried it with the LE, too. The LE was less rounded, slightly grainy.

 

Hope this help - please try to get any LPS on your LE.

Price diff from LE to LPS is $600. Any LPS will cost that ballpark. And with the LPS version you get Femto clock and whatnot...

[Calyx]

That's why I bought the big one.

 

Frank

[Darock]

I agree with Eloise, there's a lot of subjective comment in this thread based on people's particular circumstances.

 

In my experience, I bought the Aries and the Vega DAC together. So much to like in this combo but right from the start I found it all a little too "aggressive" (in my setup) for my taste. Let me tell you that rolled off highs was definitely not an issue - quite the opposite actually. It wasn't that it sounded bad, it was actually stunning, but for long term listening it wasn't in the sweet spot. After nearly 1000 hours of perseverance I tried another DAC with the Aries and noticed the difference straight away - just a touch more laid back and smoother.

 

There are plenty of people with this combo but like so much in this hobby, what works is dictated by personal taste, your room and the way things gel with the rest of your gear.

 

The Vega is now out of action. I went the opposite way to Miguelito by looking at the DAC and not the bridge/transport. The Aries was never in danger of going, from a functional perspective I find it fantastic.

 

I had the same experience when I tried the Vega. It's a fantastic DAC but I thought it sounded a bit "thin" compared to my old DAC, so I returned the Vega to the dealer.

In my experience the Aries (LPS) is also very sensitive to different power cables.

Maybe I'm opening a can of worms here, but I also found that switching the fuse to an AMR Gold fuse made a small but very noticable difference.

[kennyb123]

Hi kennyb123, I had the LE for some weeks before my dealer could get the real one for me. With my DAC the LE was really inferior. As I had both for some days the biggest difference made the LPS - as I tried it with the LE, too. The LE was less rounded, slightly grainy.

 

Hope this help - please try to get any LPS on your LE.

 

I'm not surprised that you are hearing an improvement from the LPS version. This year's budget unfortunately didn't support a stretch to that model.

 

I'd be happy even if the LE just matched what I hear from my Mac Mini now. My goal in purchasing it was twofold: 1) to be done with iTunes and 2) to have great TIDAL support. Better sound than the Mini would just be icing on the cake.

 

Just a few weeks ago I had two dedicated circuits installed. This delivered a tremendous improvement. It will also allow me to power the LE off a separate AC circuit than what's powering the rest of my gear, which should help I think.

 

Had I skipped the installation of the AC circuit I could have stretched for the LPS version. I think I made the right move though. The new AC circuit made a tremendous improvement with digital, and an even bigger improvement with analog. Highly recommended.

[jtwrace]

The LPS will make a large improvement. If you need to wait a couple of months to save up, that's what I'd recommend. Buy it once.

[YashN]

 

This is a very clear comparison and one that everyone does when choosing equipment.

 

There's nothing clear in your initial premise at all. You should revise all your assumptions and review them one by one.

 

You're confused because your thoughts are confused.

 

No gear can fix that.

 

But, if you do revise the assumptions (list them first and ask here whether each one is correct or not), without even touching any gear, then you may find some good info around these forums to give you the sound that you're looking for or at least point you in the right direction.

 

It's not a gear issue and certainly not a sound issue.

[miguelito]

There's nothing clear in your initial premise at all. You should revise all your assumptions and review them one by one.

 

You're confused because your thoughts are confused.

 

No gear can fix that.

 

But, if you do revise the assumptions (list them first and ask here whether each one is correct or not), without even touching any gear, then you may find some good info around these forums to give you the sound that you're looking for or at least point you in the right direction.

 

It's not a gear issue and certainly not a sound issue.

 

Just saying something is wrong or nonsensical is meaningless. Explain exactly what you mean.

 

On my side I've been very clear: I am searching for better sound. In spite of all the right design premises I'm

Lamented in Aries I am not getting, in my perception, better sound. So the question is why.