Jump to content
IGNORED

Auralic Aries Mini


Recommended Posts

 

I cannot tell if the Auralic LPS is better than other offerings. There are numerous threads around here that deal with this matter. If you want to keep it simple just buy the Auralic LPS. Note that the filters for the SMPS supplied with the Aries Mini (like the one from SBooster) won't work if you use the internal HD (lacks power).

Hi Johan,

 

A small note on the power consumption for the Aries Mini:

 

The power consumption of the Aries Mini according to the official specs is max. 20W. This makes the rating 16V/1.25A. According to these specs a power supply with a rating of 1A will not be sufficient.

 

In our opinion the actual power consumption will depend on the configuration and the USB connections. Please check the following overview for the possibilities of our BOTW P&P ECO with Sbooster Ultra Upgrade:

 

Sbooster Streamer overview.JPG

 

An installed internal HDD will generate a high peak load in case of a high performance solid state drive, also USB devices can consume up to 500mA.

 

Our advice is to use a power supply with a power rating of 1.5A or higher when you want to use the Mini with an internal SSD and external USB powered devices. With this power rating you are sure to have enough head-room and to have all the components perform at their best.

 

FYI: the power rating of our 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO is 15V/2.25A or 16V/1.85A.

 

Regards,

Karin

Sbooster

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment

Hi Johan,

 

I am sorry you misunderstand the table and the explanation. The table comes from our website under the general Sbooster Ultra topic and indicates amongst others for the Aries streamers when the combination of our power supply with an Ultra is possible.

 

The power rating of our 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO is 15V/2.25A or 16V/1.85A. But in combination with the Sbooster Ultra the output rating becomes lower. The Ultra is an active filter and is only capable of purifying a limited amount of current. For this we work with a compatibly list so people can easily check when an Ultra is suitable.

 

Resume:

 

  • You can use the 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO for all the Aries Mini configurations.
  • If you use the Aries Mini without an internal HDD, without USB devices, that need to be powered by the power supply of the Aries Mini, but with a self-powered USB DAC / analog/digital out, you can upgrade the 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO further with a Sbooster Ultra.

 

I hope this makes it all more clear.

 

Regards,

Karin

Sbooster

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Karin

 

Where are you getting the 20W from? Auralic website says 10W for Mini playback the the Auralic LPS will have plenty of headroom.

 

Also your UK dealer is out of stock. Might want to get him some units soon.

 

Hi Badlyread,

 

Apparently Auralic has changed their specs. At the highend fair in Munich we were informed, that the power consumption of the Aries Mini would be 20W max.. As you look at the specs on websites of Auralic dealers, you still find the 20W max. in their product description.

 

Why Auralic has adjusted this number, we do not know, but let us make a short calculation regarding the max. power consumption of the Aries Mini.

 

The max. power consumption of a USB-port and a high performance SSD is following:

USB-port = 5V x 0.5A = 2.5W

SSD = 5V x 1-1.5A = 5W-7.5W

 

The Aries Mini has two USB-ports and can be equipped with one SSD, so the max. power consumption is between 10-12.5W, without calculation of the efficiency loss of the internal DC-DC converters and the power consumption of the Aries Mini itself. A power rating of 20W max. for the Aries Mini is in our opinion not overrated and in line with Auralic’s initial power specs.

 

Therefore as we have advised before, if you use the Mini "naked" a 10W PSU might be sufficient. Our BOTW P&P ECO with Sbooster Ultra for the Aries Mini is therefore a perfect upgrade for it delivers 12W continuously and 15W peak.

 

Should you Aries Mini “in full” then we advise a power supply with a power rating of at least of 1.5A, this is based on 20W/16V=1.25A+20%=1.5A

 

The 20% overcapacity is advised, because we all know in audio, it is common practice to use an overrated power supply for it has a positive effect on the overall performance of an audio device. For your information our 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO rates 15V/2.25A-16V/1.85A.

 

I hope this information answers your question.

 

Regards,

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Thanks for a very thorough response Karin.

 

I will only be using an internal HHD so what would you recommend? The Auralic LPS would seem to be OK than @16W.

 

Thanks, Badlyread, you are welcome!

 

The Auralic LPS might be sufficient, but it is only a LPS. This LPS was designed for Aries Femto and stock supplied with the Aries Femto since day one. According to HifiStatement our BOTW P&P ECO with Sbooster Ultra over performs the LPS of Auralic with a wide margin. See also Johan’s post #234 above.

 

Our BOTW P&P ECO is an upgrade power supply: it is more than just another LPS. It has the following features (see also picture):

1. High performance dual stage mains filter with earth line choke;

2. Audio grade transformer with static shielding;

3. Anti-oscillation circuit for the audio grade transformer;

4. Power schottky rectifiers;

5. High quality polypropylene film capacitors;

6. Efficient electronic design;

 

Also we invented a system to make the power supply practically an uninterrupted power source: the so called “Sbooster split-current” system. And with our Sbooster-technique at the end of the DC-cable, we guarantee that the performance of the power supply is as close as possible to the audio device. The result is that this power supply is suitable for high current demanding equipment, but also for noise sensitive devices. It is fast, low noise and powerful.

 

Open BOTW 250915.jpg

 

Last, but not least: the BOTW P&P ECO-product family is safety approved (picture is from our 12-13.2V).

BOTW label 12V-13.2V.jpg

 

Regards,

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Karin,

 

The specs that Xuanqian Wang refers to are these:

Power Consumption

 

  • 6Watt for average working condition
  • 15Watt at max (with internal storage installed)

 

The SSD I'll install is the Samsung Evo 850 500 Gb. It is rated 5v/1.4A, but elsewhere Samsung says max. Power consumption is 3.5W. Add 5W (two USB ports) and you'll end up with 5+ 3.5 or 7W = either 8.5W or 12W, add 20%: 10.2W / 14.4W.. Thus at 16V: 14.4/16=0.9A. (That's about the input rating of 16V/1A, which is here ob Auralic's website: What is the Specificaion of ARIES MINI Power Input – AURALIC LIMITED)

 

The BOTW is rated at 16V/1.85A. I'd say that is enough headroom to use the SBooster Ultra combined with the Aries Mini with internal SSD installed. Do you agree? If yes you should revisit the compatibility table as it says currently 'no' for this combo. Thanks for your response.

 

Johan

 

Hi Johan,

 

Thank you for your question.

 

First I will answer your question regarding the 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO and the 15V Sbooster Ultra combination and I will give you my thoughts on highest sound quality.

 

The Sbooster Ultra is an additional active filter and is primarily designed as an upgrade for noise sensitive equipment. It removes the residual noise of the stock BOTW P&P ECO. But this active filter can only purify a limited amount of current.

 

With the use of the Sbooster Ultra, the Ultra is the last active component in the power supply chain. The output rating of the BOTW P&P ECO + Sbooster Ultra combination is determined by the Sbooster Ultra specs and not by the much higher specs of the BOTW P&P ECO.

 

According to your calculation the power consumption of the Aries Mini and your HDD +20% is 10.2W - 14.4W max.. In these figures you have not included the 6W power consumption (average working condition) of the Aries Mini. If we add this 6W to the power consumption we get 16.2W – 20.4W max.. So we are back at the 20W… ;)

 

The output voltage of the Sbooster Ultra for the Aries Mini is 15V. Based on 15V the current figures are 1.08A – 1.36A. These ratings exceed the purifying capacity of the 15V Ultra. Based on these figures we concluded that the Ultra upgrade is not suitable. We advise to use the stock BOTW P&P ECO only.

How to get the maximum sound quality out of a streaming device.

If your goal is to achieve the maximum sound quality out of a streaming audio device, then in general you have to meet following requirements:

 

1. Keep the power consumption of the streaming device as low as possible;

2. Reduce processor task to a bare minimum;

3. Avoid noisy devices like internal/external hard disk drives;

4. Use the best power supply solution as possible;

5. Stream Music from LAN connected sources like a NAS or streaming services like Tidal, Qobuz etc.;

6. Optimize your LAN with at least a high quality powered 5V* Switch close to your playback device;

7. Disable WIFI in the OS or better, remove the (noisy & unnecessary power consuming) WIFI adapter completely.

 

When you install a SSD/HDD in the Mini or you connect an (bus powered) external SSD/HDD to the Mini then you “violate” 1, 2 & 3.

 

We know from the feedback and user experience with products like the Squeezebox Touch, CAS systems etc. that as soon as a hard drive is used/connected, this hard drive will have some negative effects on the overall sound quality. These negative effects are caused by the generated peak load of the HDD and by the noise this HDD generates. This HDD noise is injected to the internal components of the streaming device which will result in a degradation of the sound.

 

To cover such peak loads we have developed the split-current system, which is a part of the BOTW P&P ECO. This split-current system makes the BOTW P&P ECO a fast and uninterrupted power supply, so the negative effect of a peak load, and thus the noise caused by the peak load, is minimalized. Unfortunately, we cannot completely eliminate the noise a HDD generates.

 

Should you still wish to use an internal/external HDD than it is more important to have a power supply solution that is extreme fast, highly overrated and able to handle all the peak loads generated by the high performance internal/external HDD.

Resume:

Aries Mini -> goal maximum sound quality -> BOTW P&P ECO + Optional Ultra upgrade

Aries Mini -> goal maximum usability of the features -> BOTW P&P ECO

 

The first user review about the Aries Mini in combination with the BOTW P&P ECO is published on the Dutch HT forum.

Translation from Dutch:

“I did not even try the stock supplied SMPS of course, but with the BOTW and Aries mini cold out the box this combination creates a beautiful differentiated, powerful and spacious sound. Pretty punchy bass, good neutrality and realistic placement of voices and instruments.”

“The versatility and the Open Home Standard makes the Aries Mini for me a worthy successor to the SB touch”

“Highly recommended”

 

I hope that this information is clear, if you have further question or remarks, please let me know.

 

Regards, Karin

 

* for the 5V switch our old 5V BOTWS for the Touch is a perfect upgrade.

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Hello Karin,

 

very helpful info. Excuse my ignorance, but when you talk about a 5v switch do you mean a powered network switch?

thanks.

 

Hi Misterpete,

 

I mean a gigabit Switch. A good choice for this purpose is the D-LINK DGS-105 5-PORT GIGABIT SWITCH. You have to check if the Switch runs on 5 Volt in your country. The purpose of the Switch is following:

 

  1. Create galvanic isolation between the streamer and the rest of the network;
  2. Reduce network noise/EMI;
  3. Buffer the data stream in order to eliminate data transfer failures;
  4. “Re-clock the data stream”;
  5. Optimise the signal integrity.

To create the galvanic isolation between the network and streamer you have to use an unshielded cat5 or cat6 patch cable. Every length between 0.25 – 1 meter is fine and you have to use the patch cable between the switch and your streamer. You can only use port #1, 3 & 5 of the Switch. Do not use port #2 & 4 this to avoid crosstalk between the data signals.

 

Regards,

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
I've been speaking to Xuanqian re power supplies. I had an inline SBooster 'smoother' with my Arcam irDAC and I was not that impressed. Xuanquin is not too impressed either (but then he wouldn't be).

Hi Badlyread,

 

Sorry to read that you were not impressed by the sound quality improvement of "an inline Sbooster 'smoother'" with your Arcam irDAC.

 

Apparently you have tried our Sbooster Single Unit for the Squeezebox Touch/Classic on your irDAC. The Sbooster Single Unit is our economic "first step" upgrade, but is not a suitable upgrade for every audio application. We could have told you upfront that the Sbooster Single Unit would not be compatible with the Arcam irDAC and therefor this product combination has never been on our compatibilty list. I suppose you have returned the Sbooster Single Unit to your dealer for a refund?

 

From day one we work with compatibility lists for our upgrade products. When a new audio device hits the market we check the technical compatibility of our upgrade options. After the technical compatibility check, some of our dealers or end-user(s) will perform a sound quality improvement test. Based on this feedback we add this upgrade to our compatibility list. When customers are testing new upgrade-combinations for us we always give them a 4 weeks money back guarantee. Like this also some members on CA have checked out new product combinations for us.

 

Regards,

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Hi Karin - I'm sure you have good intentions, but your comments break the rules of CA. You can contribute to the site if you chose but please don't advertise your products in the forum in this fashion.

 

Hi Chris,

 

My apologies! It is noted.

 

Regards,

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...
Has anyone any experience with both the Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO LPS and Auralics own LPS if so could you please say which you think is the better. Thinking of getting one but unsure which to go for.

 

Please check out these reviews:

 

Dave Clark's review of the Auralic Aries and our 15-16V BOTW P&P ECO; Audio Ramblings - The Auralic Aries and SBooster Linear Power Supply - Positive Feedback

 

Hifi Statement - Test: Auralic Aries und SBooster BOTW P&P eco; HIFISTATEMENT | netmagazine - Auralic Aries und SBooster BOTW P&P eco

 

Hifi Statement - Test: Auralic Aries Mini, SBooster BOTW und Tidal Streaming; HIFISTATEMENT | netmagazine - Auralic Aries Mini, SBooster BOTW und Tidal Streaming

 

Kind regards,

 

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
Karin:

 

While you're checking in, could you answer the question I posed above about using Sbooster with an internal drive in the Aries Mini? I asked about the chart on your website that indicates the BOTW P&P ECO is not suitable for powering the Aries Mini if it has a hard drive installed. Would this apply to both an HDD and an SSD? I gather that SSDs use less power.

 

Hello Storytime,

 

The BOTW P&P ECO 15V - 16V is suitable for the Aries Mini with all options installed or connected. For the additional Sbooster Ultra upgrade the options are limited. For background information, please check our post #264

 

Kind regards,

 

Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks! Maybe Karin from sbooster can comment on the - as I find - confusing owners manuals of both units. In the OM of the Botw is written, the ACC position is for units like the Sbooster Ultra. In the OM of the Sbooster Ultra is written 16 V but concerning the Aries units it is also written, that you can choose 15 V as well, which would sound better. So we have mentioned all the three options, if you take a look at both OMs...

 

Dear Soulution,

 

Thank you for using one of our upgrade products.

 

The correct DC output setting for the power supply, when using the Ultra, is stated in the Sbooster Ultra manual. For the 15/16V BOTW P&P ECO you have to switch the power supply to 16V (for the other BOTW P&P ECO-models you had to use the ACC, when using an Ultra. For the current Ultras please use the Voltage settings as stated in the Ultra manual).

 

When you do not use the Ultra, the 15V-setting is best 'sounding' Voltage for the Auralic products in our opinion.

 

I hope this information helps.

 

Best regards, Karin

 


Sbooster, enjoy more music.........

 

Meet us at the Montréal Audio Fest 23-28 March 2018

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...