Auralic Aries Mini

[SuperPang]

2.5mm X 5.5mm should do the trick.

 

Thanks.

[lentille]

Hi Guys thanks for the really useful info in this site.

 

I was heading to buying an Aries mini, internal ssd and LPS. But here in Australia the Aries LPS costs a whopping USD $349 plus 10% Gst tax so nearly USD $400. Add in the ssd and for that total cost I can buy a synology 216+ nas plus 2 drives for less.

 

I understand that an LPS does not make a huge impact if no internal drive is used. I have reasonable power filtering so would welcome any suggestions as to optimising sound quality if I do a nas without an LPS on the Aries mini.

 

Many thanks

[davide256]

The LPS is valuable if you use the Aries mini DAC, less so if you stream to it from an external NAS and feed coax/toslink/USB out to an external DAC

[Ponch0069]

I have my my CD's ripped to my iTunes library on my iMac computer in ALAC lossless. I have a few hi-res albums downloaded from HDtracks in my iTunes library also. Will the Aries Mini work with this setup? Will the Mini play the hi-res albums from my iTunes library or do I need some other program working in the background with iTunes like Pure Music, Amarra, Audirvana or Decibel?

[badlyread]

in this set up the Mini will use your iTunes library on your iMac as a NAS. It will play everything that you have and in the formats you have them.

 

A better option might be to fit an internal HDD/SSD to the Mini and transfer your music via the network (very easy to do) to the Mini so the iMac does not need to be on for music playback and is just used for ripping and is 1 of the 3 back ups you should have ;-)

[Ponch0069]

@badlyread thanks for the reply. I'm going to start with a HDD until those SSD's prices come down a little. You recommend any HDD's for the Mini?

[badlyread]

Go to support.auralic.com for their recommendations.

 

I have a Samsung 1Tb fitted in mine that was recommended by Christian (European Rep) which is doing rather well.

 

Like you I will get a SSD when the prices drop much lower.

 

If you are not using an external DAC then I would look at getting a Linear Power Supply. It really makes a difference (I have the Auralic one but others are available).

 

 

KR

 

Neil

[Ponch0069]

Thanks again Neil. I've been playing a 1st Generation Apple TV connected via toslink to my Emotiva XDA-2 DAC > Emotiva USP-1 analog stereo preamp > XPA-1 250 watt 2 channel amp > recently acquired Goldenear Triton 5 speakers . Besides the Mini's ability to play hi-res tracks thru my system I'm hoping for a sound quality improvement over the Apple TV.

 

David

[Luvdac]

A question regarding album art. All my FLAC album art shows up but artwork embedded in dsf files in not showing up (500x500). Tried refreshing and rescanning the library with same results. The library is on an external hard drive. Please help!

Ps- Using an ipad mini as control and running lightning ds

[baddog]

@Luvdac - Try this test. For an album that is composed of DSF files, drop the album art (cover art) into the same folder with the name "folder.jpg"

 

I suspect that will work, were you previously using JRIVER?

[Luvdac]

Thanks for the reply. All folders have .jpg artwork files in them. Yes I was using Jriver previously.

[baddog]

Just curious - what is the full name of the .jpg file in each folder? Is it Folder.jpg, folder,jpg, AlbumName.jpg?

 

As an experiment, try downloading Yate and open one of the albums where all the files are in DSF format and see if you see the album art. If not, try embedding it with Yate and then see if it works with the Aries Mini.

 

BTW are you using Lightning Server on the Aries Mini with the external hard drive attached to the Aries?

[Luvdac]

Its folder.jpg and when i view the files in windows as large icons, all the files show up as embedded art. Yes, using the external hard drive attached to aries mini via usb port.

BTW I'm on windows so Yate wont work

[Luvdac]

@baddog, thanks for all the input. Problem solved. Had to completely reset and rescan from scratch. That seems to have done the trick.

[baddog]

@Luvdac - glad to hear that a reset and rescan did the trick for you. And clearly you had everything set up correctly from the get-go.

[Luvdac]

@baddog. Yeah, glitch free the aries mini is not. It took three rescans to get it all done. Twice the scan stopped at around 25000 tracks with a message that the scan is complete. (I have around 51000 tracks, all hi res and lossless). So the aries team needs to improve on the ipad app.

[jont-uk]

Luvdac - did you have enough space free on your iPad to hold the cache file ? ... 51k tracks is a lot of data !

[jont-uk]

ISO and 1x +2x DSD played flawlessly with no drops. [wired and wireless]

 

I'm only a newbie with barely a weekend under my belt but I thought the Aries mini wouldn't read .iso files ? ... mine certainly doesn't read sacd or dvda .iso's and when I asked Auralic support they confirmed this and said there were (currently) no plans to do so ...

 

So please do tell how you managed it ?

 

thanks

 

Jon

[jaaptina]

I'm buying new songs and albums at Qobuz.com. I've ripped my cd's with EAC (or iTunes). All files as m4a or flac files.

[Luvdac]

Hi All, I've just installed an internal 2tb hard drive in the aries mini and I cant find any instructions on how to transfer music files into it using a windows computer. I understand I can connect an external hard drive and the aries will copy it, but this way its difficult to keep the internal drive updated with new additions. Please tell me I dont need a Mac to do this.

[badlyread]

No you don't need a Mac!

 

All you need is at support.auralic.com.

 

Here is the specific link - Copy Music to Internal Storage – AURALIC LIMITED

 

I found that the best way to do it was on small batches rather than all in one go as it would crash occasionally.

 

Easy to add new music as well.

 

Neil

[davide256]

No you don't need a Mac!

 

All you need is at support.auralic.com.

 

Here is the specific link - Copy Music to Internal Storage – AURALIC LIMITED

 

I found that the best way to do it was on small batches rather than all in one go as it would crash occasionally.

 

Easy to add new music as well.

 

Neil

 

And remember to rescan after you add new music so that you can see the music right away

[Luvdac]

Finally got the music on to the internal hard drive using a friends Mac. Very disappointed with the audio quality with this config. Its a spinning hard drive and I suppose all those moving parts add a lot of electrical noise to the system. Will wait until ssd drives come down in price. Right now its back to using an external hard drive.....

[austinpop]

Another Aries Mini review on Audiostream:

 

http://www.audiostream.com/content/auralic-aries-mini

[Pablomontanero]

Sounds like a cold solder on the RCA jack, best to exchange it.

 

Hi Davide, would you know how I can open the Mini and where I get RCA jacks which fit for replacement?