Auralic Aries Mini

[jackinvestor]

Yeah, - it has USB and optical. A DAC that can go in a $300 box is necessarily going to make it inappropriate in a high-end system.

Fine if that's not what one is using it for....

Most importantly however, UPnP doesn't work in the Aries Mini, - severely limiting its functionality and value.

 

Of course it's YMMV, - but at some point, - no amount of apologies or bandwagon jumping can compensate for a non-working or working-poorly, product, - especially one that has less functionality at double the price.

 

Has anyone tried the Orbitor yet?....if not then we dont know how good it sounds or if it can do all what the specifications indicates. Maybe the Orbiter will also have some issues to start with.

 

But its an interesting product and more competition is always a good thing.

 

Regarding the price difference between the Mini and Orbiter it is small.....I used to have a Nad M50 streamer costing 2000 us$ and a Naim streamer costing 3000 us$ and they where both not as good as the Aries Mini. Iam just glad that streaming has become much cheaper.....

 

Personally I could live without a dac in the Mini but I understand why Auralic has put one in. You only need active speakers and the Mini will do the rest and thats good for your secondary system or for people with less funds for their main system.....

[misterdog]

If it only worked on UPNP and did not contain a Dac.

 

Then people would be moaning about that - the human condition...

 

It does work.

 

It sounds great,

 

better than 2 previous laptops and a NAS. into Quad Electrostatics ...

 

 

I'm happy.

[davide256]

I appreciate the help. The files are all DSF. The issues are just a combination of things that I am reluctant to troubleshoot further.

- My OPPO 105 plays everything I have without a hitch, using a number of apps on my Ipad (Synology DS Audiostation, OPPO Media Control, to name but two).

- New library additions (virtually daily in my case) take minutes or less to show up in the search.

- Minimserver is an unwieldy piece of software aimed at technogeeks with virtually no GUI or guidance. On top of that, it will not run on my system, even though my brother's Sonos reads the library just fine, in a matter of minutes.

- The Aries Mini user experience has so many flaws and problems I don't even know where to begin. As we speak, my Ipad is still scanning, at 140,900 now. I could not even get the second Aries to connect to either Ipad (mine or my brother's). The proprietary wifi just does not work properly and there is no other way to start the configuration of the system.

 

I'll look for a more expensive solution that actually works when I plug it in. This has now eaten up almost 24 hours of troubleshooting with no end in sight. If nothing else worked on my network, I'd be looking at my setup. But the Aries mini is the only thing that does not work (besides Minimserver, but I never got that to work on my old system either).

 

RMA is tomorrow. Two Aries Mini plus two SBooster LPS. Hope I get my money back.

 

Funny, I'm not into the work required for "techno geek" and minim server was always easy to get set up as long as I read the users guide. I have about 10,000 tracks in my library, takes about 2-3 minutes for complete new sync using lightning server so could easily see where a 100,000 + track library would take over an hour. The fact that its still not done after letting it run all night sounds more like a scalability issue... one of the compromises made in the Mini is less memory than the full size Aries so it could well be that the mini isn't suited to someone with a 10,000 + album collection.

[deuch]

Funny, I'm not into the work required for "techno geek" and minim server was always easy to get set up as long as I read the users guide. I have about 10,000 tracks in my library, takes about 2-3 minutes for complete new sync using lightning server so could easily see where a 100,000 + track library would take over an hour. The fact that its still not done after letting it run all night sounds more like a scalability issue... one of the compromises made in the Mini is less memory than the full size Aries so it could well be that the mini isn't suited to someone with a 10,000 + album collection.

 

There is a bug with the latest version of Aries firmware. Scan is slower than before. And for scanning, Aries Mini is powerful enough to do that. It jus scan a disk and read-metadata, database and analysis are done by the iPad.

 

For people with an Aries and an oldest firmware, what was the scan speed (NAS or DISK) ?

[jtwrace]

For those with using the internal storage, I have successfully been able to transfer my library (part of) to an HD hooked up to my Synology NAS for the transfer and then install into the MINI and have it scan. I did this as I wanted to put 1.8T of music on my MINI.

 

The steps are:

Install HD into MINI

Initialize HD (formats HD to ext3)

Remove HD and then hookup to Synology NAS.

Copy folder(s) to the HD Folder that the MINI created.

Rescan drive. Might have to do this twice.

 

DO NOT FORMAT DRIVE WHEN YOU CONNECT TO SYNOLOGY. The ARIES MINI has done this when it did the initialize step.

[austinpop]

... The fact that its still not done after letting it run all night sounds more like a scalability issue... one of the compromises made in the Mini is less memory than the full size Aries so it could well be that the mini isn't suited to someone with a 10,000 + album collection.

 

This is a good hypothesis, but I would love to have someone who understands the implementation details to weigh in. The way I see it, the biggest scalability issue would be on the DMS (Media Server) that has to build and maintain the index (or catalog) - either in memory or disk. This catalog will certainly be proportional to library size, and could potentially grow quite large for a very large collection. However, this can be mitigated by running the DMS (like MinimServer) on a NAS or, if needing more resources, a computer - i.e. outside the Aries Mini.

 

What I'm not clear about is the memory requirements of the DMR/DMP (i.e. the Aries Mini) and the DMC (i.e. the Lightning DS app on the iPad). I can see these components having caches (for performance optimization), but I wouldn't expect any of these to be proportional to the full catalog on the DMS. Typically, the caches (assuming they use LRU or some other cache management strategy) can be capped at a size that the device can handle.

 

But since I didn't write the code, nor do I have access to the design, this is just speculation.

 

For the record, my library is ~10,000 tracks.

[JohanS]

For those with using the internal storage, I have successfully been able to transfer my library (part of) to an HD hooked up to my Synology NAS for the transfer and then install into the MINI and have it scan. I did this as I wanted to put 1.8T of music on my MINI.

 

The steps are:

Install HD into MINI

Initialize HD (formats HD to ext3)

Remove HD and then hookup to Synology NAS.

Copy folder(s) to the HD Folder that the MINI created.

Rescan drive. Might have to do this twice.

 

DO NOT FORMAT DRIVE WHEN YOU CONNECT TO SYNOLOGY. The ARIES MINI has done this when it did the initialize step.

Thanks for this 5-step manual! It saves a lot of 'copy-over-the-network' time. It could be fast with a wired connection, but wireless is usually a lot slower.

 

Like I said before: spending € 200 - € 300 on an internal HDD for the Aries, saves you a lot of trouble in case streaming over your network doesn't work. I have the files on an internal HDD, but test with Minimserver on my Synology NAS as well. I have never run into a problem with scanning my library, but had a few hick-ups during playing. That didn't surprise me: my family is on the same wireless network (with Youtube HD streaming etc.).

 

The database of pvanosta is really big. Still, it should function well - of course it should. But chances are bigger that at some point you run into a memory, network congestion or invalid file format (including metadata) problem.

 

Thus, I repeat my advice: if size-wise possible put a HDD into the Aries Mini (or any other streaming solution you may own) for the best guarantee of a troublefree experience!

[jtwrace]

Thanks for this 5-step manual! It saves a lot of 'copy-over-the-network' time. It could be fast with a wired connection, but wireless is usually a lot slower.

 

Like I said before: spending € 200 - € 300 on an internal HDD for the Aries, saves you a lot of trouble in case streaming over your network doesn't work. I have the files on an internal HDD, but test with Minimserver on my Synology NAS as well. I have never run into a problem with scanning my library, but had a few hick-ups during playing. That didn't surprise me: my family is on the same wireless network (with Youtube HD streaming etc.).

 

The database of pvanosta is really big. Still, it should function well - of course it should. But chances are bigger that at some point you run into a memory, network congestion or invalid file format (including metadata) problem.

 

Thus, I repeat my advice: if size-wise possible put a HDD into the Aries Mini (or any other streaming solution you may own) for the best guarantee of a troublefree experience!

 

You're welcome. I should have said that I'm using a $99 2TB spinning HD not an SSD.

[mentt]

If someone could compare the aries mini analogue output to digital output into chord Hugo at some point that would be tremendously helpfull...

With all the hugo hype its the only upgrade i would consider. But at the moment im smitten with the internal dac of the aries.

Thx

Sam

 

Hugo is better in everyway, but due to price difference it was expected.

[mentt]

Has internal HDD any sonic advantage over files played from NAS?

[sbank]

Has internal HDD any sonic advantage over files played from NAS?

Also, does local HDD plugged to USB input on the Mini have any sonic advantage / disadvantage vs. files played from NAS?

[baddog]

Questions regarding whether using internal storage hard drive in the Auralic or a locally attached USB drive versus NAS storage will bring you mixed responses. In other words if you were to review all the postings here over the past year you will see there are fans of all three options. I happen to use a NAS, but I have used local USB storage previously. In the end I choose NAS storage for reasons other than sound quality.

 

My personal recommendation is to go with the option that is most convenient for you and enjoy. A NAS is more work to maintain than local USB storage, and internal storage is the easiest of all, assuming you backup your collection somewhere else as well.

 

As always, my personal opinion, your milage may vary.

 

Barr

[digitalzed]

I agree completely with baddog. I actually had a conversation with Chris at Auralic about this and he said that originally they designed Aries, and Aries Mini to perform best with a NAS device. But that subsequent firmware updates have narrowed the gap between NAS and a USB drive. I have been enjoying mine very much from a USB drive.

[WilCox]

I've tried hard drives and SSDs with my LE and Mini and found no difference in sound quality from my QNAP NAS over Wi-Fi.

[bruny]

looking for a bit of advice. I'm about to take delivery of a mini and was wondering how to connect it to an A/V receiver. I would like to use the Dac on the mini therefore bypassing the receivers Dac. what is the best connection to use and any decent cable recommendations. I'm Fairly new to all this so a clear explanation would be most appreciated. I will be using wired Ethernet to NAS. thanks

[RolandGo]

Setup ARIES MINI Output Channel – AURALIC LIMITED

[ismarketing]

looking for a bit of advice. I'm about to take delivery of a mini and was wondering how to connect it to an A/V receiver. I would like to use the Dac on the mini therefore bypassing the receivers Dac. what is the best connection to use and any decent cable recommendations. I'm Fairly new to all this so a clear explanation would be most appreciated. I will be using wired Ethernet to NAS. thanks

 

If you want to use the DAC in the Mini (I do and am very happy with the sound) you have to connect it to an analog input on your receiver. I use Kimber Silver Streak, but their much less expensive Tonic cable also sounds good.

[Ajax]

Two days into things. Kicked off another scan with Lightning Server 26 hours ago and currently scanning around the 140,500 track mark. Tried installing Minim Server on the NAS and Minimwatch on the laptop. Minimserver crashes after 6-7 minutes running out of memory while scanning the same set of files. Increased memory 300%. Still crashes at the same set of files. Unfortunately, the set of files are not descriptive enough to know exactly which ones they are (CD1, CD2, etc.).

I think my Auralic Aries Mini is going back tomorrow. Especially if the difference between the Aries mini DAC and the OPPO 105 dac is either zero or in the Oppo's favor. The Oppo works flawlessly, regardless of the library size.

Very disappointed.

 

Hi All,

 

I have had my MINI for 2 very frustrating weeks. I could not get it to read my external hard drive of 700G = 40,000 tracks properly. It created a different problem each time I scanned. I tried different hard drive types and also copied my music across to 3 different drives but to no avail.

 

By chance I needed to reduce my library to fit onto my laptop and after picking through my music I ended up with 9,000 tracks from my best loved albums = 200G. I deleted all tracks off one of my external hard drives (I have a NAS backup) and reformat it to FAT and installed only the 9,000 tracks.

 

Lighting DS read it easily and quickly (within 10 minutes) and everything is now working properly - my conclusion is therefore that the MINI simply cannot handle large music libraries.

 

I'm playing the Mini directly, and via a Benchmark HDR preamp/DAC, into a Parasound Halo A23 power amp with excellent results. IMO the DAC in the Mini is of a very good standard and when I have time I will A/B it against the Benchmark.... although now dated this was once a leading DAC and has provided me with 5 years of great listening.

 

I feel the Mini will be perfect to form the backbone of a multi room system and will replace my Apple Express system.... whether it replaces my MAC MINI in my main rig remains to be seen but IMO it is a seriously effective device combing convenience (streaming and local file playback) with high quality sound. If it gets integrated with Roon it will be very close to perfect for my needs.

 

Regards,

 

 

Ajax

[pvanosta]

@Ajax:

I agree with your assessment. And if you had issues with 40,000 tracks, you can imagine our experience with 140,000-plus tracks on my brother's NAS. In a way I am sorry I had to RMA both Aries mini's before returning home and trying one of them on my own system. Even though my library is 191,000 tracks, I was able to install Minimserver relatively easily (something which also failed on my brother's NAS), so perhaps the Aries mini MIGHT have worked in my network, even if I had to wait 2 days for it to complete the scan

In the meantime, I am back listening to my Oppo 105 as a streamer without any issues, waiting for the box that will provide an upgrade and that actually works with my library.

[JohanS]

looking for a bit of advice. I'm about to take delivery of a mini and was wondering how to connect it to an A/V receiver. I would like to use the Dac on the mini therefore bypassing the receivers Dac. what is the best connection to use and any decent cable recommendations. I'm Fairly new to all this so a clear explanation would be most appreciated. I will be using wired Ethernet to NAS. thanks

You'll notice an improvement of sound quality if you power the Mini with a linear power supply, whether from Auralic or SBooster, the latter being tested as the better one.

[the_bat]

How do you assemble such huge libraries? 191,000 tracks is the equivalent of around 20,000 CDs which would cost the better part of quarter of a million dollars and take two years to listen through 24*7!

[sbank]

How do you assemble such huge libraries? 191,000 tracks is the equivalent of around 20,000 CDs which would cost the better part of quarter of a million dollars and take two years to listen through 24*7!

Piracy. Arggh!

[RhythMick]

Hi. Just got my mini today (after a long wait and a string of broken promises, hey ho).

 

Hooked it into my network, wired. My Lightning Android app can't even see the device. Is there a sequence I need to work through ?

 

Borrows my wife's iPad and downloading, see if that works better.

[RhythMick]

Nope.

 

Connecting to the Auralic WIFI is fine - gets the device ID, reads the details. Give it the password to the Lounge access point. IPad connects back to the home network, but then it can't see the Mini.

 

I guess my home network is a little more complex than most simply because of the age, shape and size of the house. The BT Home Hub 4 serves modem duties and is the DHCP - I keep it that way because BT always want to blame the router if it's not one of theirs. I have an ASUS D55 upstairs and a Netgear in the lounge. There's also a Netgear gigabit switch in the lounge but that's just a dumb device. The Mini is ethernet wired into the Gigabit switch so it shouldn't need the lounge wifi details.

 

It gives a message about "UDP SSDP Multicast" ? Googling tells me there's no option to enable that on the BT Home Hub 4.

 

I've tried connecting the ipad both to the HH4 and to the Netgear - nothing doing.

 

Any pointers gratefully received.

[austinpop]

Your best bet would be to enlist Auralic support.

 

Are you sure your home network is a single logical subnet (I.e. all devices get an IP address in the same address range, for example 192.168.1.xxx, there is exactly one gateway and exactly one DHCP server)?

 

It sounds like your iPad and your Mini are not connecting to the same subnet, so they can't see each other.

 

But again, don't try to use the forum to debug, you may just get more misinformation.

 

To reiterate, contact support.

 

 

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