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Auralic Aries Mini


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My questions has to do with the way the Mini uses tag information.

 

Are you able to do either or both of (1) browse by the "album artist" tag (not "artist" or "artist-album") and play an entire album with one click and (2) browse your collection by folders and play an entire album with one click (with the songs in the correct track number order)? Album artist and folder browsing are very important to me because I have a very large library with many compilations (e.g., complete Stax Records collection) and browsing by artist results in 100's of artists with only 1 or 2 songs in the list.

 

Thanks, and happy listening!

 

I am hoping someone else pipe's in, cause I have just switched back to using Lightning Server as opposed to Miniserver with the Auralic Aries Mini ( before that it's big brother).

 

Using the latest version of Lightning DS and Lighting Server I can see the Warren Hayes Benefit concerts which per track lists the respective artists all sorted under Warren Haynes, so it is reading the Album Artist tag.

 

If I use Folder view rather than the default library view I can browse the compilations folder which has all my compilations but if I choose one compilation each track is listed individually.

 

I can however use Library view, and search by artist or album and locate compilations.

 

To play an entire album, select an album by tapping it, then just click the album title to play the entire album.

 

Oh and setup was a breeze, aimed Lightning Server at the NAS my music is on and it pulled it all in.

 

Issues related to album covers are as previously noted.

 

Now enjoying music via coax to the Devialet.

 

Using wireless, no hiccups.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Lucky you getting to see Warren, he is quite the musician! Must have been a great show.

 

Lots of Minimserver expertise with the Aries on this forum as well, maybe Jason will chime in, I believe he can confirm your question in regards to AlbumArtist as it relates to the Aries Mini, and Lighting DS software.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Thanks guys for the interesting discussion!

My Mini is sent Thursday, so should arrive Friday or Saturday! :)

 

 

I believe you should be very happy once you receive it. Have had mine now for two days, and so far, so good!

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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I think the interest will remain, though I am sure some folks are disappointed at the wait.

 

Once a few more folks get their units I am certain that will re-kindle the fire.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Just placed an order for the Mini. Hope to have it soon as it seems like the perfect solution for me. Anyways, can anyone tell me what form factor I would need for an SSD drive I plan to purchase to put in the Mini?

 

Visit these links for the answers to you questions:

 

Install Internal Storage for ARIES MINI – AURALIC LIMITED

 

What kind of HDD/SSD Can I Use in ARIES MINI? – AURALIC LIMITED

 

 

A partial quote:

 

ARIES MINI is compatible with most hard disk drivers or solid state drivers available on the market.

Though there are some limitations, your choices are pretty flexible. Here are some suggestions from AURALiC:

 

  • Maximum height of the drive: 9.5mm
  • Maximum current rate of the drive: 1,000mA (1A)
  • Solid state drive is preferred due to zero noise and vibration
  • Recommended HDD series: WD Red, Seagate Momentus
  • Recommended SSD brands: Intel, Samsung, Crucial, Plextor
  • Select from major brands and high reliability series
  • There is no capacity limitation


Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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:-) I guess for many the main reason to buy an Aries Mini: no more hassle with Macs and PureMusic, Audirvana and a like, Window PCs with Jriver, etc.

 

One single device to stream (NAS) or store music, manage music and remotely control the music. I'm not saying you cannot get equal or better results with Macs and Window PCs, but my own experience is that I ran into lots of trouble with USB driver, iTunes, Audirvana and MacOS sometimes refusing to instantly (re)connect to my Synology NAS (my Windows PC and Windows laptop never give me trouble with the NAS, so it must be 'something' with the Mac/OS-X). In short: out of 10 listening sessions, 5 were troublesome and it took between 10 minutes and up to an hour to get the music playing.

 

Will you be using yours to stream to a DAC or as both a streamer and a DAC?

 

I have only used it as a streamer so far connected via SPDIF to a Devialet. I have used it to access my NAS both with the Lightning Server software and Minimserver. I intend to try it as a streamer/DAC this weekend.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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G - do you have the Aries Mini hooked up via ethernet or wireless? Have you streamed any High Resolution files from your network drive? I ask because I am chasing down one odd artifact I have found when streaming wireless while sending the output via SPDIF to my DAC.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Right now mine is hooked up via Wireless on an Apple Extreme 802.11ac network. My Synology NAS is connected to the network via ethernet.

 

As I mentioned the Aries Mini is connected via SPDIF to my Devialet. What happens from time to time is I get a swirling noise at times. Which is the volume seems to fade in and out, very odd. It had happened several times. At first I was using the Lightning Server connection to my NAS, but then switched to using Minimserver on the NAS lest this was being caused by Lightning Server.

 

I will try switching to USB output to see if it makes a difference. It is unusual behavior as I have used an Auralic Aires and a Mac Mini with Roon with nary a hitch when streaming from the NAS.

 

Yes only wireless, I have never had to have an ethernet connection to either my Aries nor Mac Mini as I am getting a TX rate of 450Mbps at their location and have had no drop outs. Same location as where the Aries Mini is located.

 

Going to play with it some more, if I can verify the pattern I will email Auralic as they have always been very responsive.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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So I have had my Aries Mini for a while now. At first I was using it purely as a streamer, both with and without Lighting Server ( alternative was Minimserver), to access the music files on my NAS and Tidal.

 

For this I have used both the SPDIF and USB outputs. USB was rock solid, SPDIF I have had an occasional issue with the stream, for lack of a better word, oscillating, for lack of a better word, I need to try and track that down further. And of course I can only stream DSD via the USB output on the Mini.

 

Today, I changed things up and have been leveraging the NAS still, but using the DAC within the Mini to output via the RCA outputs.

 

I tell you, this is a versatile little beast, music sounds very good to me.

 

I wont go into comparisons at this point in time to other DACS, et al, but will state for the money I highly recommend the Aries Mini.

 

More to follow.

 

Barr

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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@johan - yes, lots of variables at play for me.

 

Currently the two paths at play are either a Mac Mini running RoonServer, powered by JS-2 into a Regen into a Devialet 400 or the Aries Mini via USB, SPDIF or RCA outputs into the Devialet 400.

 

Today I have been focusing on going through my DSD collection with the Aries Mini outputting via RCA. Very enjoyable afternoon so far.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Stupid question maybe: will the mini work completely standalone even when no wi-fi network is available?

In that case, can it be controlled using ipad/iphone over its own private network?

 

Unless things have changed you would need a wifi network to communicate from the iPad to the Auralic Mini to control music playback.

 

I have not tried testing this with the most recent releases.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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I suppose you could tote along a wifi range extender and use it as wireless access point for the controller... you only need LAN connectivity, not Internet connectivity to use the mini.

 

Good to know, I believe a long time ago that did not use to be the case.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Has anyone compared Aries Mini, or LE for that matter to Apple TV/Airport Express when used as a wifi link with high quality optical out to external DAC, for non "high res" files via AirPlay only? I d like to get Aries Mini, but I have a nagging suspicion that for my application/set-up the differences going to be negligible, lest of course I use USB, or coaxial outputs, but then again the "advantages" of USB and coaxial outputs over high quality glass cable often vary , or non existent IMHO ... Any experience on the matter? Thanks !!!! :)

 

I have not compared but I would say there are a number of things to factor into your question.

 

Does the control application matter to you? What do you currently use to control music playback?

 

FWIW I would not necessarily suggest an Aries Mini or LE if you are interested only in AirPlay. For that an AppleTV/Express is more than fit for purpose in regards to redbook quality files. What DAC would you be using this with and would you be listening with headphones or speakers?

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Does the Aries Mini do Native DSD or only DSD over PCM. If it does, does that mean I have to uncheck the DoP option in Lightening DS.

 

Thx

Sam

 

It can do either but it depends on what Operating system and DAC you are running. General rule of thumb for most DACs and OS's is if you are running Windows and you have a driver for your DAC, you should be able to use native without DoP, if you have a Mac you should be using DoP.

 

Again that is the general rule, what DAC and machine are you using with the Aries?

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Baddog

 

Thx. Im using the aries mini internal dac.

 

I would recommend trying it with DoP off. Keep volume low when you try it.

 

p.s I believe since I have been testing my Aries with it as both a streamer to a DAC and a standalone streamer/DAC that I have always had the setting as DoP. I will try it with that setting turned off, I cannot help but think it doesn't matter if you are using the DAC function. But not sure yet.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Ok I tested it both way when using the DAC in the Aries Mini, it works with DoP enabled and with DoP disabled. I believe this setting only matters when streaming to an external DAC.

 

Barr

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Hi everybody,

this is my first post here. This mini is interesting. For Devialet owners is the SPDIF better than USB with the Mini ? and compared to AIR Devialet ?

Jeff

 

I have used both USB and SPDIF with my Devialet 400.

 

If you have DSD files you want to playback than you will need to use the USB output as SPDIF output of DSD64 files is not supported by the Aries Mini ( it is supported by the Aries LE and the flagship model )

 

I am having some issues with the SPDIF output that I need to track down, occasionally things go awry with a swishing sound of music output, I have not had this happen with the USB output. I mention this with the caveat that I need to test again with the latest firmware.

 

So nothing conclusive yet, however neither are better than AIR when AIR is working properly.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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Well, remember the qualifier of "when AIR is working properly". For me, that meant when moving beyond standard redbook (16/44.1) using AIR I would have playback issues. Thus I don't use AIR anymore.

 

My comparisons were with Mac Mini via USB and Aries Mini, USB or coax. Music on NAS.

 

If others think otherwise that is well and good, I haven't tried the Moon or Aurender. As always, YMMV.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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There is only one version of the Aries Mini. By default when you purchase it, it does not come with a linear power supply. You can choose to add that option by purchasing on from Auralic, or go down the third party route.

Silver Circle Audio | Roon | Devialet | Synology | Vivid Audio | Stillpoint Aperture | Auralic | DH Labs

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