Bluesound node 2 or auralic aries mini

[repos]

hello,

i need you help.

Wich device would be the best for the price:

auralic aries mini or bluesound node 2.

 

nice regards

 

from Germany.

[PaulW]

I'm looking at the same two devices and would appreciate feedback from anyone! :-)

[sm31]

Auralic supports DSD (Bluesound doesn't), and I'm pretty sure has committed to Roon endpoint support (not sure about BS). If you care about those things, I'd go with them.

[PaulW]

I am simply looking for a device that will play back 44.1/16-bit FLAC files which were ripped from my CD collection. The key point for me is to be able to control the device using a Windows-based PC and that the device supports gapless playback either over a local network or from a USB-connected hard drive.

[sm31]

So then I'd go back to the Roon issue, and compare the Auralic UI approach, against the BS.

[DEANO2]

I've been toying with it as well, DSD doesn't worry me is there any titles on it worth a listen anyway ? Roon seems overpriced to me , so it's looking like blue sound 2 might be it.

 

Sent from my SM-T113 using Tapatalk

[davide256]

Why do you want to be tethered to a PC? Controlling from a tablet or phone is far better. If your music is on the PC HD, that's not a great solution, the Aries has a slot for HD/SSD. I'd suggest first looking at the controller software on portable hardware of your choice for ease of use but with bias towards being able to store your music internally on the Aries mini

[davide256]

BTB i have both options at my desk, but inevitably gravitate to the phone controller because touch screen is more convenient than mouse

[PaulW]

Why do you want to be tethered to a PC? Controlling from a tablet or phone is far better. If your music is on the PC HD, that's not a great solution, the Aries has a slot for HD/SSD. I'd suggest first looking at the controller software on portable hardware of your choice for ease of use but with bias towards being able to store your music internally on the Aries mini

 

The player will be used in an office environment, with music stored on an external hard drive. I do not want to use a tablet or phone as controller, as they are simply extra devices that will clutter my desk and will require charging on a regular basis. I would rather have a minimized screen on my PC that I can quickly access.

[davide256]

Unless you are using Jriver, I suspect the controller software on your PC will be a poor second to tablet or phone software controller

[PaulW]

As long as I can search by artist, choose an album and play it gaplessly, I'm fine. I don't need id-tags, graphics or anything else.

[Audio_ELF]

As long as I can search by artist, choose an album and play it gaplessly, I'm fine. I don't need id-tags, graphics or anything else.

If you choose the Auralic Aries Mini, you can control it quite effectively with Linn Kazoo control point on PC or Mac. At least you can if you use a separate UPnP server, not sure if that will work if you use the Aries Lightning Server with directly connected drives.

[PaulW]

If you choose the Auralic Aries Mini, you can control it quite effectively with Linn Kazoo control point on PC or Mac. At least you can if you use a separate UPnP server, not sure if that will work if you use the Aries Lightning Server with directly connected drives.

 

I saw the Bluesound work on a network with PC-based based software and it seemed to also meet my needs. It's hard to decide on which is the better option!

 

:-)

[sfjain]

I have been using the Bluesound Vault seamless for 2 years via analogue out. BlueOS has been great and completely bug free. Im curious also to compare PCM analog out sound quality for the Bluesound 2 and the Aries Mini. I've prelim decided to go with the Aries Mini and bought a 1 TB Samsung SSD, because of all the hype, Auralics reputation for building reference dacs with the Vega and to a lesser extent DSD playback. Bluesound has made many upgrades to the 2nd gen including the DAC, and with them being a much larger commercial company (NAD) I wonder of a true comparison. I will mention data transfer with the Vault gen 1 built in hard drive has been painfully slow. If I were to do it over again I'd likely get the node and attach and external USB or connect to a Synology NAS. Over both these option however I prefer the slot for 2.5 SATA avail in the mini, leaving out IT as much as possible. With my new SSD I just connect a SATA to usb cable and its faster than any transfer I've ever seen. I asked the reviewer at Audiostream to make a comparison when he has heard both...

 

Music Server(s):Bluesound Vault via analogue out

Amplifier(s):ARC VSi60 Integrated (KT120)

Loudspeakers:Sonus Faber Olympica 1 and KEF LS50

Speaker Cable and Interconnect - Transparent Super

Power Cables:Audience ar1P to Pangea AC9 to Audioquest NRG Powerstrip to

Transparent Powerlink, from Amp

[PaulW]

I have been using the Bluesound Vault seamless for 2 years via analogue out. BlueOS has been great and completely bug free. Im curious also to compare PCM analog out sound quality for the Bluesound 2 and the Aries Mini. I've prelim decided to go with the Aries Mini and bought a 1 TB Samsung SSD, because of all the hype, Auralics reputation for building reference dacs with the Vega and to a lesser extent DSD playback.

 

So......are you using both the Mini and the Bluesound? Have you tried connecting a hard drive via USB? If so, do both devices play tracks gaplessly? Last question........which sound better?

[Topspin70]

Rebooting this old thread: features aside, anyone can comment on which sounds better as a transport feeding an external DAC?

[PaulW]

Rebooting this old thread: features aside, anyone can comment on which sounds better as a transport feeding an external DAC?

 

I can't comment on that. I bought the Bluesound Node2 and am using it to provide music from a NAS in my office.

[Topspin70]

Nice. Can you tell if it's better than playing from a computer? What made u pick it over the mini?

[TubeLover]

Michael Lavorgna over at Audiostream, who I respect, has the Bluesound in the third tier, Class C, third tier rating. There is usually a significant gap in terms of sound quality from Class A to Class B if that's important to you. However, he considers it an amazing bargain for the money. The mini is also Class C. Here is a portion of what he had this to say about the Mini vs the Bluesound:

 

"As I mentioned in the my review of the Auralic Aries Mini, I preferred the sound of the Node 2 to the Mini in stock form. The Mini, by comparison, sounds thinner and frankly simply not as fun. This translates into longer and more enjoyable listening time with the Node 2, which is the entire point, isn't it.Where the Node 2 falls short of separates is in resolution, nuance, color palate, micro detail, and macro pleasure. The Node 2 tends to make everything sound more similar than say the Auralic Vega DAC being fed its digits from the Node 2 via Toslink. Here, with a $3500 outboard DAC, music sounds more varied, individual voices sing out truer, and the overall sound image is more relaxed, better defined, and more natural sounding. I doubt anyone is surprised to learn this to be the case and it goes a long way in explaining the reason Bluesound includes those digital outputs."

Read more at Bluesound Node 2 | AudioStream

 

JC

[miguelito]

I am simply looking for a device that will play back 44.1/16-bit FLAC files which were ripped from my CD collection. The key point for me is to be able to control the device using a Windows-based PC and that the device supports gapless playback either over a local network or from a USB-connected hard drive.

Auralic Aries mini is not (currently) controllable from anything other than an iOS device (maybe android, but not PC). I heard it will be controllable from a Mac soon.

[audio.bill]

Michael Lavorgna over at Audiostream, who I respect, has the Bluesound in the third tier, Class C, third tier rating. There is usually a significant gap in terms of sound quality from Class A to Class B if that's important to you. However, he considers it an amazing bargain for the money. The mini is also Class C. Here is a portion of what he had this to say about the Mini vs the Bluesound:

 

"As I mentioned in the my review of the Auralic Aries Mini, I preferred the sound of the Node 2 to the Mini in stock form. The Mini, by comparison, sounds thinner and frankly simply not as fun. This translates into longer and more enjoyable listening time with the Node 2, which is the entire point, isn't it.Where the Node 2 falls short of separates is in resolution, nuance, color palate, micro detail, and macro pleasure. The Node 2 tends to make everything sound more similar than say the Auralic Vega DAC being fed its digits from the Node 2 via Toslink. Here, with a $3500 outboard DAC, music sounds more varied, individual voices sing out truer, and the overall sound image is more relaxed, better defined, and more natural sounding. I doubt anyone is surprised to learn this to be the case and it goes a long way in explaining the reason Bluesound includes those digital outputs."

Read more at Bluesound Node 2 | AudioStream

 

JC

The Auralic Vega is a standalone DAC which costs about seven times what the Node 2 streamer does, so I would certainly expect it to sound significantly better! And as explained that's why the Bluesound Node 2 has digital outputs, so you can use a better quality external DAC.

[Topspin70]

Michael Lavorgna over at Audiostream, who I respect, has the Bluesound in the third tier, Class C, third tier rating. There is usually a significant gap in terms of sound quality from Class A to Class B if that's important to you. However, he considers it an amazing bargain for the money. The mini is also Class C. Here is a portion of what he had this to say about the Mini vs the Bluesound:

 

"As I mentioned in the my review of the Auralic Aries Mini, I preferred the sound of the Node 2 to the Mini in stock form. The Mini, by comparison, sounds thinner and frankly simply not as fun. This translates into longer and more enjoyable listening time with the Node 2, which is the entire point, isn't it.Where the Node 2 falls short of separates is in resolution, nuance, color palate, micro detail, and macro pleasure. The Node 2 tends to make everything sound more similar than say the Auralic Vega DAC being fed its digits from the Node 2 via Toslink. Here, with a $3500 outboard DAC, music sounds more varied, individual voices sing out truer, and the overall sound image is more relaxed, better defined, and more natural sounding. I doubt anyone is surprised to learn this to be the case and it goes a long way in explaining the reason Bluesound includes those digital outputs."

Read more at Bluesound Node 2 | AudioStream

 

JC

 

Thanks. I had a read and sounds like I should look elsewhere if SQ is important to me which it is. I was thinking about the Aries and Aries LE but some kind people are pointing me to Microrendu

[Topspin70]

I should add that I'm looking at them as pure transport or server and plan to use an external DAC. Just want a better alternative to my A+ on MacBook Air which isn't too bad to begin with IMO.

[PaulW]

Nice. Can you tell if it's better than playing from a computer? What made u pick it over the mini?

 

It's hard to tell, as I haven't tried to play music from my PC. I have a home office and use my PC for business purposes, which includes testing my software, supporting clients, editing photos and hi-def video, writing letters, maintaining accounting books, invoicing, etc.. I have over 2TB of music in FLAC format and did not want to burden my PC with an additional unnecessary load. The Node 2 and NAS combo works perfectly fine in my environment. I have not yet tried it in my main all-tube rig.

 

The Aries Mini kept being delayed here and, frankly, I got fed up waiting. Secondly, and most importantly for me, the Aries Mini can apparently only be controlled remotely with an iPhone (or it's own remote?). Despite having four phones and about eight computers in this househould, no one uses an Apple products and I needed a device that could be controlled from a PC (I did not want to have to leave a remote on my desk to control the music). All in all, I am very happy with the Node 2. Bluesound support is exemplary and that is as important to me as the quality of the company's products.