Auralic Aries & Sonore microRendu listening impressions

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Over on the Empirical Audio site they sell a product called the Final Drive (Final Drive : Empirical Audio). It's also an isolation transformer for putting on the DAC or preamp's XLR outputs between it and the power amp. The listed reasons it gives for improved sound are:

 

1. Eliminates DC offset in balanced signals

2. Eliminates positive-negative signal amplitude differences in SS generated balanced signals

3. Breaks the ground connection between DAC and amps or preamp and amps

 

Point #2 is interesting because it goes on to say that a true, equally matched amplitude, balanced signal can only come from a transformer, whereas almost all DACs are outputting an balanced XLR signal using solid state components. This invariably leads to some degree of signal amplitude imbalance and potentially a loss of fidelity. So running through an isolation transformer on the analogue outputs will correct this.

 

The Final Drive costs $3000USD and I haven't found one listed used market anywhere. The Jensen, if it's achieving the same thing, is coming in WELL under that premium~~

 

So, maybe those 3 reason above are why the Jensen is delivering better sound in your system? It's enough to get me interested, anyway :-)

 

Thanks for this thread, also. It's been a great read and I think you're do an awesome job keeping at it and listing all your experiences.

Thanks for the kind words, Ben!

 

I believe all 3 reasons you listed are valid and contribute to the SQ uplift.

 

I have an Audiodesign XLR line selector box for switching between DACs. In terms of cost, this Audiodesign box + Jensen PI-2XX + bunch of Mogami Gold XLR cables add up to be way less than $1000USD. I don't believe I can afford the Final Drive, though I like to think I have realized the majority of its benefits...

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Hi Scan,

 

Thank you very much for doing the quick test of 16V vs 12V on the Auralic Aries, I do appreciate it and am grateful.

 

I did wonder a bit about this, as other devices (like UpTone Audio Regen) are often reported to sound better with a higher voltage, wondered if this would apply to the Aries as well.

 

My HDPLEX LPS is the 100W model.

 

Am currently using the 19V output of the HDPLEX LPS for my Auralic Gemini 2000 DAC/HeadAmp.Have a iFi Audio DC iPurifier on the 19V output of the HDPLEX, and it makes a nice improvement for the Auralic Gemini 2000.Will get a 19V high voltage Vinnie Rossi MINI once they become available for the Auralic Gemini 2000, then try the HDPLEX with 12V output (plus iFi Audio DC iPurifier attached) with the router.

I already have a isolation power supply for the router ... I'm thinking when I get around to attaching the HDPLEX/iFi Audio DC iPurifier to this, I may be really reaching diminishing returns by getting a MINI for this purpose. I may repurpose the isolation power supply/HDPLEX LPS/DC iPurifier somewhere else at home , if I do this I will get a MINI for the router.

 

So far, in my testing, the order of what makes the best improvement in relation to power tweaks for audio gear is,DAC > Streamer > Router

 

So far in my testing of power supplies with the Auralic Aries, I rank them as follows ;

1. Vinnie Rossi MINI 12V

2. Auralic LPS ... 12V with iFi Audio DC iPurifier

3. Auralic LPS

4. HDPLEX 100W LPS... 12V with iFi Audio DC iPurifier

5. HDPLEX 100W LPS

 

The difference between 2 and 3 was very subtle , the difference between 4 and 5 was more significant (when adding the iFi Audio DC iPurifier). The power supply for the Aries was attached to a Balanced Power Supply.

 

Thanks again.

 

John

Hi John,

 

One caveat. Just because I didn't hear a SQ difference with different DC voltages for my Aries Femto and headphones setup doesn't mean others won't with their systems. In other words, YMMV!

 

BTW, that HP adjustable power supply I used for testing Aries is my no means an audio grade PSU, and who knows what kind of high frequency noise it may have on its DC output, along with the rather obnoxious cooling fan noise. I use this PSU mostly for electrical measurements as it has an integrated digital ammeter that's very convenient, but it's not worthy of being part of any audio system. You may want to take the Aries result I reported with this PSU with a grain of salt.

 

Thanks for ranking the various power supplies with your Aries. My friend and I got quite different results with the Vinnie Rossi MINI in different setups. While I heard a distinct SQ uplift after the MINI replaced the UpTone JS-2 (both at 12V) in my headphones rig, the same MINI at my friends place did not yield a step-up over the Auralic LPS with bi-amped speakers & subs. With the MINI installed, we perceived a slight reduction in dynamics and vocal/instrumental realism. There was a DC voltage difference between MINI and Auralic LPS, and we didn't give the MINI much time to settle into my friend's setup.

 

I suspect it will take actual listening to determine whether the upcoming higher-voltage Vinnie Rossi MINI can make the Aries sound better than the current MINI at 12V. The internal switcher inside Aries draws less current at 16V than at 12V, so 16V input *may* give the Aries an advantage, but spending another $1295 for a 16V MINI to complete this experiment may not be an option for me.

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I'm only on page 8 right now, so I'll see later if you've changed this, but I also have the GS108Tv2 and it's a managed switch. In the control panel you can go into a "rate limiting" screen and change the throughput of all the ports of the switch. You can go anywhere from 512KB/s up to full 1000MB/s. So you don't need to run through the FS105 just to step down the speed. I'm not sure if there are other models of the GS108 and maybe you don't have the full managed one, but if so then you can do that and drop the FS105.

 

I forgot to mention that for some time now the FS105 switch has been replaced with a custom "100Mbps only" Cat5e cable my friend crimped for me. With the FS105 switch out of the system I don't have to worry about giving it a good (or expensive!) linear power supply. The SQ with this custom cable is every bit as good (if not slightly better) than when the FS105 was used to set 100Mbps Ethernet speed for my Aries Femto.

 

There are several versions of Netgear GS108, with v4 being the latest. I recently replaced a GS108v3 with a GS108v4, and noticed my fanless music server box idle power consumption dropped by about 0.5W. This is possibly due to the GS108v4 supporting EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet) which reduces idle port power consumption. GS108v4 itself also has lower power consumption than GS108v3. I also have a GS108Tv2, but ran into streaming problems as soon as it was inserted into the my Aries system, so I quickly went back to GS108v4. It have to be another day when I feel adventurous to take on the GS108Tv2 again.