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Auralic Aries Mini

Sonic_D said:
Ah that's a shame. I bought one from the classifieds in the hope I could get it working, but I don't have any Apple products to initialise it with. I was waiting patiently like many other to hear feedback about SQ before buying it, but stopped paying attention when I heard the Android app had been dropped. But all the very positive feedback drew me back in.

So essentially I have no way of making it work at the moment! How frustrating.
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How about I buy it off you to make you feel better? :)
 
Sonic_D said:
Ah that's a shame. I bought one from the classifieds in the hope I could get it working, but I don't have any Apple products to initialise it with. I was waiting patiently like many other to hear feedback about SQ before buying it, but stopped paying attention when I heard the Android app had been dropped. But all the very positive feedback drew me back in.

So essentially I have no way of making it work at the moment! How frustrating.
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Have you got a friend/neighbour that has an iPad that you can borrow for the initial set up? Involves downloading Lightning DS so owner might want to be present. Will take 10 mins max for you to get it going and play with the settings. The app walks you through it very nicely.
 
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" I will say that early adopters were in for a bumpy ride that have been smoothed over with the latest releases. If this review had been based on these earlier versions I would have said the Aries was not ready for prime time but the team at Auralic have proven to be very efficient at addressing known problems "
Read more at http://www.audiostream.com/content/auralic-aries-0#qRDQk9cAtEYH3ho0.99

Worth noting that we are only talking about the present..
 
Some how got it working using BubbleUPnP and running a Logitech Media Server. Possibly because the previous owner went through the set up already using an Apple device.
 
AndyU said:
Not sure that the Pioneer is more versatile. It is only DLNA, which means it won't play gaplessly for a start, whereas the Auralic unit uses Linn's OpenHome extensions allowing gapless playback. Nor is there the option of a built in disc drive, and I couldn't find any mention of Tidal or Qobuz compatibility, so what is it that makes you think it is more versatile? I don't have either unit btw.
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While the Aries Mini is clearly the 'dish of the day', it is hard to find and I do wonder how many people have first hand experience rather than trotting out recycled comments. I have music on a variety of HDD and a NAS. I need to get this into my DAC, and I suspect that any streamer can do this. In my part of the world, the Aries mini goes head to head on price with the Marantz 6005 and Pioneer N50A. Nothing against the Aries, but in my situation then it is far from an automatic choice. I see lots of SQ comments, but surely a device that is transferring digital files has no business in changing SQ!
 
Njb said:
While the Aries Mini is clearly the 'dish of the day', it is hard to find and I do wonder how many people have first hand experience rather than trotting out recycled comments. I have music on a variety of HDD and a NAS. I need to get this into my DAC, and I suspect that any streamer can do this. In my part of the world, the Aries mini goes head to head on price with the Marantz 6005 and Pioneer N50A. Nothing against the Aries, but in my situation then it is far from an automatic choice. I see lots of SQ comments, but surely a device that is transferring digital files has no business in changing SQ!
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If a streamer inserts gaps in CDs that should be played without gaps, such as many live rock albums and all opera and choral music, then it most certainly can and does change SQ - for the worse. And if one product offers Tidal and Qobuz integration where another does not, then surely that is relevant. It may be that the Pioneer is just as good for your needs, but I still can't see how it is more versatile than the Aries, which is what you claimed earlier. btw I'm not "trotting out recycled comments"; these are my own observations. I don't own either product.
 
AndyU said:
If a streamer inserts gaps in CDs that should be played without gaps, such as many live rock albums and all opera and choral music, then it most certainly can and does change SQ - for the worse. And if one product offers Tidal and Qobuz integration where another does not, then surely that is relevant. It may be that the Pioneer is just as good for your needs, but I still can't see how it is more versatile than the Aries, which is what you claimed earlier. btw I'm not "trotting out recycled comments"; these are my own observations. I don't own either product.
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I can appreciate what you are saying, and did not mean any criticism of any contributor when I voiced my concern about the amount of direct experience reflected in this thread. Having no idea what Tidal or Qobuz are, then you will appreciate that it does not feature on my list of requirements. I would like internet radio, but gap less playback won't affect many, if any, of my albums. Perhaps 'more versatile' was the wrong terminology, 'functionally comparable (for my needs)' is perhaps more accurate.
 
Njb said:
but surely a device that is transferring digital files has no business in changing SQ!
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So why then did my Win 7 laptop make it sound so bad, compared to my Win 8 laptop which is made to sound bad by the Aries Mini ??

Not a case of CHANGING sound quality, just allowing a purer unadulterated signal through.

Why does my Cadenza Black TT cart sound better than my Benz Ace, surely all cartridges must be equal ??

I have an Aries Mini by the way, and am listening through Quad ESL loudspeakers, but surely all loudspeakers sound the same ??
 
Having correctly set up the media server on my NAS and using BubbleUPnP I appear to have a working set up on Android for playback of music stored on the NAS.

Haven't used it enough to judge SQ yet.
 
Cheers, I downloaded the Bubble DS Next trial. It seemed pretty identical to BubbleUPnP, I am assuming the only difference is it works with the media server on the Aries Mini itself?

For me at the moment it seems to make sense to keep my media server on the NAS as I have movies and TV shows on there too.

I am getting gapless playback at the moment and I have to assume that the Aries Mini is still set to Open Home.
 
Try Right swipe on Lightning DS this opens a menu with Settings at the bottom, open Device and you can change from Open Home to UPNP.

Works on 2 of my Android devices.
 
Sorry if this has been discussed already but how's the USB output of Aries Mini? It can be connected to external USB to S/PDIF converter just like you would connect your PC to it? If so then this could be the best way to enter the streaming world with low cost since the digital conversion would be completely done by my external USB to S/PDIF converter and DAC. Most of these low budget streamers, and even more expensive ones, don't offer USB output.
 
OK, so I'm considering joining the 21st century. I can download, transfer CDs etc via my PC and then connect a HDD to this. But how do I control it? It's just a little monolith with a lot of connections...
 
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