Auralic Aries Mini

[nnck]

Got my Aries Mini this past weekend. After a few hiccups getting Lightning DS to read the music library, it's up and running. It seems like when I was first scanning for the new music library, it was getting bogged down on certain folders/files - seemed to continually get stuck on those same folders, so after I deleted a few of those, it seems scanning through properly.

 

Now that I have a little limited experience using Lightning DS, I'm curious how do other people deal with certain issues:

First off, is there any good way to look through your most recently added files? I can see that there is a way to view the music using file upload date, but since I am uploading over 10,000 files all at once, they are all showing up all at once. I realize there may not be any good solution to this, but has anyone figured out some way to work around this?

[pl_svn]

tried sorting by last modification date?

I keep my albums sorted by date added, in Roon, and found the above gives quite similar results in Lightning DS that, btw, now and then reloads everything from scrath 

[nnck]

Hi pl_svn. The 'last modify date' search is interesting. It does seem to do as you say...but I still have an issue with that as well - with this search view I have seemingly several hundred or so folders all in a list named by the date, each folder  is spaced a few days or a week apart, and each holding just a few albums each. Looking at this list of dates (as folders) doesnt present things much better than the other views I've looked at. It would be nice if you could collapse all or a bunch of these folders in the 'modify date' view and just see a list of the albums chronologically. This way you're looking at your most recent adds at the top, etc.

 

Any thoughts about getting something like that done?

[pl_svn]

6 hours ago, nnck said:

Any thoughts about getting something like that done?

 

no idea why but... at some point Auralic changed the way sorting works (and I immediately reported, and complained, about it) 

 

up to Lightning DS 3.x changing sort criteria did just rearrange albums (all of them) accordingly

then (in v4.x, I believe) all these damn' folders came out 

[nnck]

5 hours ago, pl_svn said:

 

no idea why but... at some point Auralic changed the way sorting works (and I immediately reported, and complained, about it) 

 

up to Lightning DS 3.x changing sort criteria did just rearrange albums (all of them) accordingly

then (in v4.x, I believe) all these damn' folders came out 

 

Thanks again. But I think I may have answered my own question late yesterday, while playing around more in this 'modify date' view...

 

Like I said, in this view you typically just see a list of folder-after-folder-after-folder all named as a date. But at the very top of the list of folders is one folder named 'View All Dates', and when you click on that one, you can finally see a view of the album covers by chronological order (I believe you can see this view as either a list or a grid). This is pretty much what I was looking for, with recent albums at the top and then they get older as you go down (this is different from 'Album View' since in that case you are seeing them in alphabetical order.

 

I'm liking this Aries Mini more and more as I learn more about what I can do with Lightning DS. I came from several years of experience using Logitech Squeezebox and the Logitech Media software software. There are a few things I like better with each set of software at this point. But I want to learn more about Lightning DS to make sure I am using it optimally. So I may have a few more questions coming up...

[pvanosta]

+1 on the 'view all dates' view. This is my most used view of my library as I add items during the week and in the weekend I listen to the newest stuff, served up at the top of the list. I only ever use album or artist view to search for a specific item. Which is why it has been frustrating on occasions where I was forced to rescan/rebuild the library and its index, which effectively lumps all of the albums into today's date.

[nnck]

 

Hi pvanosta. Sounds like we pretty much like to use the search/view in the same way! It would have been nice to know how functional this view is. It's sort of 'hidden' within this other view. Took me a while to figure out, and I could imagine never clicking on that top folder and seeing what it does. And yes, I am worried about a future date when I might have to rescan/rebuild the library and what this wil do to this search view.

 

One thing I still like better about the Squeezebox software is how you can move tracks around the playlist by dragging them up and down the list with your mouse (there were some flaws about how Logitech implemented this imo, but I wont go into it now). I wish you could do something similar in Lightning DS, but it doesnt appear to be the case. I will say that one thing that Lightning DS does better than Squeezebox software is the ability to delete entire albums from your playlist all at once. With Squeezebox, you had to delete items from your playlist once track at a time.

 

It would be nice if Lightning DS allowed you to move around tracks, or even better, move around whole albums, up and down your play list. Does anyone know if this is possible?

[Cebolla]

38 minutes ago, nnck said:

I'm liking this Aries Mini more and more as I learn more about what I can do with Lightning DS. I came from several years of experience using Logitech Squeezebox and the Logitech Media software software.

 

24 minutes ago, nnck said:

One thing I still like better about the Squeezebox software is how you can move tracks around the playlist by dragging them up and down the list with your mouse (there were some flaws about how Logitech implemented this imo, but I wont go into it now). I wish you could do something similar in Lightning DS, but it doesnt appear to be the case.

 

Assuming you can still set the Aries devices to standard UPnP mode (and that the standard UPnP mode works bug free), you should be able to get the Aries Mini to behave as if it were a Squeezebox and control it with the Logitech Media Server.

 

Requires the UPnPBridge LMS plugin, see:

Squeezebox Community Forums, 3rd Party Software - Announce: UPnPBridge = integrate UPnP/DLNA players with LMS (squeeze2upnp)

[nnck]

1 hour ago, Cebolla said:

 

 

Assuming you can still set the Aries devices to standard UPnP mode (and that the standard UPnP mode works bug free), you should be able to get the Aries Mini to behave as if it were a Squeezebox and control it with the Logitech Media Server.

 

Requires the UPnPBridge LMS plugin, see:

Squeezebox Community Forums, 3rd Party Software - Announce: UPnPBridge = integrate UPnP/DLNA players with LMS (squeeze2upnp)

 

Thanks Cebolla. I had read somewhere else that it was possible to use the Aries Mini with the Squeezebox Logitech Media Server software, but havent spent much time trying to figure out how to do it. I dont have much experience changing or configuring these systems, so I have hesitated looking into this. I just went to the thread you linked, for instance...it is about 160 pages long! It would probably be a frustrating exercise for me to try to work through it. I also searched the thread for mentions of 'aries', and found only a few posts with no real resolution to the question of how to set it up using the Aries Mini.

 

I think i would need someone to provide a tutorial or step-by-step set of instructions about setting up the Aries Mini to work with Squeezebox LMS. I would love to see this at some point. For now, I felt it was better to just use the Aries with Lightning DS for a while to see what the pros/cons are vs LMS. I was happy to see at least one thing that works better in Lightning DS (deleting an entire album at once, rather than one track at a time). But so far, I still think there are more pros to LMS.

 

For instances, searching in LMS seems 'smarter'. With LMS you can start to see the search results show up as you type (i.e. you dont have to type the entire search term and click 'search' to see the results).

 

Another thing that's better with LMS imo, is that you dont need to hit 'rescan' after you've put something new into your library. LMS just seems to see the new item immediately if you are just browsing through your library folder using the software.

 

 

[pl_svn]

2 hours ago, nnck said:

at the very top of the list of folders is one folder named 'View All Dates'

 

oh, wow: thank you so much 

never noticed before as, as I wrote, I'm using Roon for my local files and Lightning DS just to stream Qobuz 

[timbo]

Hi folks - I can see lots of posts in here about linear power supplies for the Mini but most of the recommendations seem to be stateside, as I am in the UK I was wondering if anyone would like to offer any advice on which of these little chaps might be the better option for me. I am using a Chord Mojo DAC connected via USB and hoping I might cut down on the digital edge a little? Wasn't after spending lots of cash so these seem ideal just to try - I am sure I read in here that R-core transformers were a 'good' thing but I can't find it now! ? 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Finished-65VA-Ultra-Low-Noise-linear-Power-supply-5V-9V-12V-15V-18V-etc/221873423925?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272802743541?clk_rvr_id=1457468207335&rmvSB=true

 

Cheers

Tim

 

[esimms86]

Teradak power supplies are excellent and can be had for 85 to 95 pounds(per up to the moment eBay listings).

[bruny]

I use one of these https://markgrant.co.uk/power-supplies/297-sbooster-15-16-volt-linear-power-supply.html and to my ears is excellent. You could also use the Auralic linear power supply available here. https://www.audioemotion.co.uk/auralic-ultra-low-noise-linear---psu-for-aries-aries-le-and-aries-mini-9241-p.asp.  I can’t comment as I’ve not heard it.  

[Luvdac]

Hi all, does anyone have experience with adding a sotm tx usb ultra to the aries mini? I would appreciate any input on the matter. I hear a lot of raves regarding the sms 200 ultra with the tx usb ultra. Thought I'd try the usb tx ultra first with the aries mini and see if there is any improvement. Any suggestions are very welcome.

[RERobbins]

Would the Mini benefit from being paired with the Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC using the USB output?  I'm particularly interested in whether Schiit's Gen 5 USB has a meaningful impact on the Mini.

[RERobbins]

Has the Mini been discontinued in the US?

[RERobbins]

44 minutes ago, RERobbins said:

Has the Mini been discontinued in the US?

 

I can answer my own question.  Someone at Auralic US confirmed to me on the phone that the mini has been discontinued in the US.

 

Is there a better alternative than the Bluesound Node?

[nnck]

Thanks for everyone's help so far.

 

I have a very general and basic question about editing tag info on music files - like correcting errors in artist or title fields? adding artwork etc?

 

I found that some very basic stuff can be done easily in itunes. But what about my flac files? I have some of those needing editing. Does anyone recommend a free program online that can do just very basic stuff? Using a mac. I dont need or want anything complicated - all I will probably do with this is edit a handful of files that may have some errors.

[RERobbins]

Does anyone have any insight as to whether there will be something like the Mini to replace it or has Auralic just given up on an offering at that price point?

[George Hincapie]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:34 PM, RERobbins said:

 

I can answer my own question.  Someone at Auralic US confirmed to me on the phone that the mini has been discontinued in the US.

 

Is there a better alternative than the Bluesound Node?

 

If you use Roon, then an Allo DigiOne with DietPi and Roon is a better performing option. I have an Auralic Mini with an LPSU and the Allo outperforms it in terms of SQ.

[RERobbins]

11 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

If you use Roon, then an Allo DigiOne with DietPi and Roon is a better performing option. I have an Auralic Mini with an LPSU and the Allo outperforms it in terms of SQ.

 

Thanks for that.  I'm moving in the direction of the Allo USBridge with DietPi and Roon.

[rhern213]

Hey all, one question using the Mini with an internal SSD. Has anyone run into trouble trying to move music into the network folder created by Auralic in a Windows PC?

 

In the Auralic instructions it tells you that you can simply drag and drop new music from your PC into the Auralic network folder that's automatically created. My issue is Windows does not allow me to paste anything into the folders, the options are grayed out as if I don't have any permissions to read/write. I've run through all of the folder permissions in Windows 10 but nothing seems to work.

To note I tried this from a MAC and it worked just as advertised. But the MAC is my wife's, I don't use it and would be a huge PITA to have to transfer files from my PC to the MAC and then to the Mini.

 

One thing I noticed is in the Auralic instructions the network folder looks like it's a mapped drive, not a network location as it seems to show up on my PC. But I don't see any other way of adding the folder, and I could be wrong? Not sure if this even matters?

 

Appreciate any suggestions!

[misterdog]

I have just had a reply from Auralic on the same issue, this was the response.

 

 

I had a look  at my SSD the drive is formatted in EXT 3 by the Aries, a Linux file system which Windows cannot recognise. Though strangely the Lightning DS is installed on a FAT 32 partition.    SMB v1 support for Windows https://www.windowscentral.com/how-access-files-network-devices-using-smbv1-windows-10

Quote

 

Xuanqian Wang (AURALIC LIMITED) Jun 24, 02:42 CST Hi Paul: You can access the HDD content through computer via network section, the storage of ARIES MINI show up as network share storage (do not look at media server section). If you are on Windows 10, you may need to enable SMB v1 service support so you can see ARIES MINI on network. Xuanqian Wang

 

 

 

 

 

[nnck]

Hi everyone. Does anyone have any new update on if/when Auralic will offer Lightning DS as a web based or computer app that can be used on a laptop, as opposed to the ipad/mobile versions?

 

Thanks for any new info...

[rhern213]

18 hours ago, misterdog said:

I have just had a reply from Auralic on the same issue, this was the response.

 

 

I had a look  at my SSD the drive is formatted in EXT 3 by the Aries, a Linux file system which Windows cannot recognise. Though strangely the Lightning DS is installed on a FAT 32 partition.    SMB v1 support for Windows https://www.windowscentral.com/how-access-files-network-devices-using-smbv1-windows-10

 

 

 

Awesome thank you that did the trick! It seems the correct folder was never actually visible yet. I was trying to access it through the lightning server media device. After I enabled SMB v1 now the "Aural-" directory appeared as a computer network and that's where I can now read-write as needed.