Auralic Aries Mini

[austinpop]

Why not ask Auralic for warranty repair/replacement?

 

or did they give you the cold solder?

Sorry - couldn't resist!

[davide256]

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

 

The mini is an integrated build, you would have to be a professional to replace the jacks. Should still be under warranty, best to handle through manufacturer

[michaelg]

I've just bought a Mini to experiment with DSD playback / PCM to DSD upsampling. I did this rather than buying a DSD DAC to use with my Femto-Aries. Setting up the Mini was easy and playing back a DSD64 track over wireless network worked w/o problems. Then I tried some DSD128 and DSD256 tracks and was met with a sort of stuttering -- a few seconds of music, a second of silence and then more music continuing from where it had got to and then .... To make a long story short, the problem persists w/o any change even when I put the DSD256 track on a USB stick inserted into the mini. This was certainly not what I expected, and worries me. Does anybody have experience with DSD>64 playback on the Mini? According to AURALiC's home page, it should support up to DSD256.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I've just bought a Mini to experiment with DSD playback / PCM to DSD upsampling. I did this rather than buying a DSD DAC to use with my Femto-Aries. Setting up the Mini was easy and playing back a DSD64 track over wireless network worked w/o problems. Then I tried some DSD128 and DSD256 tracks and was met with a sort of stuttering -- a few seconds of music, a second of silence and then more music continuing from where it had got to and then .... To make a long story short, the problem persists w/o any change even when I put the DSD256 track on a USB stick inserted into the mini. This was certainly not what I expected, and worries me. Does anybody have experience with DSD>64 playback on the Mini? According to AURALiC's home page, it should support up to DSD256.

I can play DSD256 without issue on my Mini. I'd contact your dealer.

[davide256]

I've just bought a Mini to experiment with DSD playback / PCM to DSD upsampling. I did this rather than buying a DSD DAC to use with my Femto-Aries. Setting up the Mini was easy and playing back a DSD64 track over wireless network worked w/o problems. Then I tried some DSD128 and DSD256 tracks and was met with a sort of stuttering -- a few seconds of music, a second of silence and then more music continuing from where it had got to and then .... To make a long story short, the problem persists w/o any change even when I put the DSD256 track on a USB stick inserted into the mini. This was certainly not what I expected, and worries me. Does anybody have experience with DSD>64 playback on the Mini? According to AURALiC's home page, it should support up to DSD256.

 

What you are describing is how a lack of bandwidth would demonstrate on a wireless network... you can't meet the higher DSD128/256 bandwidth requirements with your current wifi setup/ environment. Assuming your router supports wired GigE connection, the problem should go away once you connect the Aries as wired with cat5e/cat6 ethernet cable to router and change the Aries setup to wired vs wifi. You could also try repositioning your wifi router closer to the aries or in a different location... metal ducts and support beams in the signal path will interfere with wifi bandwidth

[davide256]

And hopefully you are using the default Lightning server setting vs setting it to act as a stock UPNP server...

[The Computer Audiophile]

What you are describing is how a lack of bandwidth would demonstrate on a wireless network... you can't meet the higher DSD128/256 bandwidth requirements with your current wifi setup/ environment. Assuming your router supports wired GigE connection, the problem should go away once you connect the Aries as wired with cat5e/cat6 ethernet cable to router and change the Aries setup to wired vs wifi. You could also try repositioning your wifi router closer to the aries or in a different location... metal ducts and support beams in the signal path will interfere with wifi bandwidth

Except when he has the issue with a USB stick directly connected.

[michaelg]

What you are describing is how a lack of bandwidth would demonstrate on a wireless network... you can't meet the higher DSD128/256 bandwidth requirements with your current wifi setup/ environment. Assuming your router supports wired GigE connection, the problem should go away once you connect the Aries as wired with cat5e/cat6 ethernet cable to router and change the Aries setup to wired vs wifi. You could also try repositioning your wifi router closer to the aries or in a different location... metal ducts and support beams in the signal path will interfere with wifi bandwidth

 

That is also what I thought, I spent much of this morning switching from wireless to wired gigabit network and back. But the problem - even the timing of the stuttering - is the same when I put a DSD file on USB stick into the Mini and index it (thus having a library of only one track). Could of course be the USB stick that cannot read fast enough so next step will be taking a Western Digital USB disk and repeating the test.

[davide256]

That is also what I thought, I spent much of this morning switching from wireless to wired gigabit network and back. But the problem - even the timing of the stuttering - is the same when I put a DSD file on USB stick into the Mini and index it (thus having a library of only one track). Could of course be the USB stick that cannot read fast enough so next step will be taking a Western Digital USB disk and repeating the test.

 

USB 2.0 is speed limited, not as fast as GigE Ethernet. Lets verify the ability of the device to stream, not the USB thumb drive implementation

[davide256]

That is also what I thought, I spent much of this morning switching from wireless to wired gigabit network and back. But the problem - even the timing of the stuttering - is the same when I put a DSD file on USB stick into the Mini and index it (thus having a library of only one track). Could of course be the USB stick that cannot read fast enough so next step will be taking a Western Digital USB disk and repeating the test.

 

So it sounds like you see the same with wired Ethernet... can you confirm you are using the default Lightning server setting vs having changed it to plain vanilla DLNA/UPNP? Also, please confirm, are the ports on your router FastE or GigE? FastE is typically found on older routers that don't support N or AC wifi protocols (slower)

[michaelg]

So it sounds like you see the same with wired Ethernet... can you confirm you are using the default Lightning server setting vs having changed it to plain vanilla DLNA/UPNP? Also, please confirm, are the ports on your router FastE or GigE? FastE is typically found on older routers that don't support N or AC wifi protocols (slower)

I'm using an ASUS RT-N66U router with gigabit ethernet and 5Ghz 801n wireless. I've replaced the USB stick with a WesternDigital external drive. Using the Synology/Linux 'smbclient' tool, I've been able to copy a DSF file with 21 megabytes/second USBdisk->Mini->Router->Synology which should be more than enough for any DSD rate - DSD128 should be about 1.5 mbytes/sec. So there does not seem to be any bottleneck in the network / disk setup and it proves that the cabled network is at gigabit rate from the mini through the router to the NAS. I've emailed AURALiC, they may be able to pull some debug info from the Mini.

[Ajax]

Hi Everyone,

 

An update and some feedback on my experiences.

 

I've had my Mini for 2 months now and am really enjoying the convenience of sourcing music from local files on a USB attached external hard drive and also streaming via Tidal.

 

In my living room I have the choice to either:

 

1. play tunes from my phone's iTunes app via airplay to an AE or

2. stream tidal via the LS app or local files into the mini

 

The AE is connected via optical and the Mini via USB into a Benchmark HDR DAC, balanced into a Halo A23 power amp and finally ATC 19 speakers. I much prefer the Mini's sound and like the LS App.

 

I have had no issues with the latest firmware upgrades - the mini and the LS App provide an intuitive, effective and inexpensive playback and streaming system.

 

Recommended.

[baddog]

And here is my update as I have had the Aries Mini for many many months now.

 

I use it wireless with DAC and line outs into my Devialet 400 and/or powered Adam A7 studio monitors. I have used both streaming from my Synology NAS as well as using an internal drive in the Aries Mini.

 

Performance in both scenarios has been flawless.

 

No drop outs, no hiccups. I have thrown everything from redbook to 24/196 PCM to DSD128 at it with no issues at all.

 

I have used it with both the Auralic Lightning Server software and with Minimserver software.

 

I have controlled it from my iPhone, iPad and from my Mac using Linn Kazoo both for music playback and Tidal streaming ( BubbleUPnP Server running on Macbook so I can use Tidal as well from Linn Kazoo.

 

Sounds wonderful in my system, and other than a few hiccups here and there ( minor in nature ) has worked as advertised. I think it is well worth the price given the richness of features.

[michaelg]

I'm using an ASUS RT-N66U router with gigabit ethernet and 5Ghz 801n wireless. I've replaced the USB stick with a WesternDigital external drive. Using the Synology/Linux 'smbclient' tool, I've been able to copy a DSF file with 21 megabytes/second USBdisk->Mini->Router->Synology which should be more than enough for any DSD rate - DSD128 should be about 1.5 mbytes/sec. So there does not seem to be any bottleneck in the network / disk setup and it proves that the cabled network is at gigabit rate from the mini through the router to the NAS. I've emailed AURALiC, they may be able to pull some debug info from the Mini.

 

Case (stuttering with DSD 128/256 playback from the Mini) closed. I contacted Auralic support. They were not able to reproduce the problems. But they asked if I had disabled DoP in the Mini settings. For some reason, I had actually done this -- DoP or not should IMHO not matter when using the internal DAC. But when I re-enabled DoP, the problems vanished. I can now stream DSD256 tracks NAS->LightningServer on Femto Aries->Mini->RCA outputs without any stuttering (cabled gigabit network).

[badlyread]

My Mini has switched itself on - Firmware update!!

 

Not that I use it, but JRiver Centre 21 is mentioned........

[baddog]

As to the firmware update mentioned above:

 

Fixes:

 

• uPnP Renderer mode wont work with JRiver Media Center 21
  

Improvement:

 

• Bump kernel version to 4.1.18
  
• Sound quality imporvement
  

[austinpop]

Curious about "Sound quality improvement".

 

Haven't tried the new update yet.

[DZetye]

I briefly listened to some internet radio and it sounded like better (larger) sound staging but it may have been clean power lines or my imagination. I will have to investigate further but it definitely sounded better than I remembered hearing before

[henry_races]

Hi everyone.

 

I own an Auralic Mini configured in wireless mode with Lightning Server. Apart from some minor bugs in DS app I am very happy playing my flac files from a Synology NAS.

 

I also use the airplay function of the mini, connecting it to a 4th gen. Apple TV to watch concerts and play some Apple music tracks through my main system. I think this is a very cool feature for a casual listening or simply to watch your favourite YouTube or Vimeo vids. But in my case I find an annoying problem with Airplay which I don't know if you are experiencing too: sometimes (not always) when you stop playing a track to navegate to another song or vid the connection between Apple TV and the mini get lost and I have to reconnect again using the Apple TV speaker configuration menu. This only occurs between tracks, never had any problem while playing.

 

Someone with the same problem? any solution or workaround?

 

Thank you!

[bruny]

But in my case I find an annoying problem with Airplay which I don't know if you are experiencing too: sometimes (not always) when you stop playing a track to navegate to another song or vid the connection between Apple TV and the mini get lost and I have to reconnect again using the Apple TV speaker configuration menu. This only occurs between tracks, never had any problem while playing.

 

Someone with the same problem? any solution or workaround?

 

Thank you!

 

Yeah same problem here. Not found any work around yet. If there is one. Seems like it's a Mini problem because I don't use Apple TV, and get the same problem.

[henry_races]

OK...we'll wait for an update! anyway it's not a critical issue.

 

Regards.

[jaaptina]

For Android use, try the excellent Bubble DS Next App

 

I've bought an Aries Mini and set it up with an iPhone. However I want to use my Android to control the Aries Mini.

 

I have tried three apps: Bubbleupnp, Bubble DS and Lightning DS for Android.

All apps both in Lightning mode and uPnP mode.

 

I run into some issues though:

 

1) The first track of the day starts playing on screen but without sound. I have to restart the track to get sound. This happens every day. Regardless of the app I use and also when I use the iPhone.

 

2) With Bubbleupnp in Lightning mode Qobuz and Tidal tracks can be selected but won't start playing.

 

3) Qobuz and Tidal tracks can be played with Bubbleupnp in upnp mode, however it doesn't play the next track of the playlist.

 

4) Airplay only works in Lightning mode. Airplay does not work in uPnP mode.

 

5) With Bubbleupnp in uPnP mode the playlist stops after three tracks.

 

6) When Airplay is used first and Bubbleupnp after, instead of album art it keeps displaying "Airplay".

 

Bubble DS and Lightning DS for Android don't seem to do better than Bubbleupnp.

 

Help is appriciated!

[Cornan]

Hi jaaptina! I would do the install again as it was a new device. I had some issues on my first install that was solved by removing all cables from Aries Mini and DAC, wait 10 seconds and do a fresh install. I am using BubbleDS Next without problem!

[Cornan]

One more thing! Anyone using a self powered DAC that does'nt requires a handshake/hello be sure to cut the 5v on the Mini. Huge difference in SQ!

[Cebolla]

I've bought an Aries Mini and set it up with an iPhone. However I want to use my Android to control the Aries Mini.

 

I have tried three apps: Bubbleupnp, Bubble DS and Lightning DS for Android.

All apps both in Lightning mode and uPnP mode.

 

I run into some issues though:

 

1) The first track of the day starts playing on screen but without sound. I have to restart the track to get sound. This happens every day. Regardless of the app I use and also when I use the iPhone.

 

2) With Bubbleupnp in Lightning mode Qobuz and Tidal tracks can be selected but won't start playing.

 

3) Qobuz and Tidal tracks can be played with Bubbleupnp in upnp mode, however it doesn't play the next track of the playlist.

 

4) Airplay only works in Lightning mode. Airplay does not work in uPnP mode.

 

5) With Bubbleupnp in uPnP mode the playlist stops after three tracks.

 

6) When Airplay is used first and Bubbleupnp after, instead of album art it keeps displaying "Airplay".

 

Bubble DS and Lightning DS for Android don't seem to do better than Bubbleupnp.

 

Help is appriciated!

Hasn't the Android version of the Lightning DS app been dropped by Auralic? I don't think it ever made it past beta (almost a year ago), so is probably best avoided for music file streaming, certainly with the current Aries firmware.

 

The Aries's Lightning mode used to be known as the OpenHome mode. By all accounts the Lightning mode does seem to (still) support OpenHome streaming for ordinary (non online) network music file streaming, but it does not support (and never has supported) OpenHome Streaming Services (for Tidal & Qobuz) and the Aries uses its own proprietary non-OpenHome mechanism to access Tidal & Qobuz. So you cannot use OpenHome supporting controller apps with the Aries in Lightning mode for streaming from Tidal & Qobuz. This explains your 2) issue. Note, the BubbleDS Next app is OpenHome only (like the Linn Kazoo & Lumin controller apps).

 

The BubbleUPnP Android app is special in that it supports both OpenHome (including OpenHome Streaming Services for Tidal & Qobuz) & standard UPnP/DLNA renderers. It is also special in that it provides Tidal & Qobuz access for standard UPnP/DLNA renderers. This is what the Aries is using for Tidal & Qobuz access in (standard) uPnP mode. Some standard UPnP renderers have problems streaming from online servers, so the BubbleUPnP app has a setting to force the use of a proxy. If you use the force proxy setting in the BubbleUPnP app, it might sort out your 3) issue.

 

The Aries's uPnP mode has only been recently fixed, so it may still be a bit buggy and likely explain issue 5).

 

Another thing to try for issue 3) & possibly 5), is to create an OpenHome renderer for the Aries in uPnP mode, using the BubbleUPnP Server helper software on a computer or NAS on the same network:

http://www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver/#media_renderers_configuration