advertisement


Bluesound Node 2 or Auralic Aries Mini

I use the Node 2 as a streamer, and have a SSD plugged into the back which holds all my tunes. The inbuilt DAC sounds pretty decent, but an external specialist DAC will trump it (I use a Chord Qutest). The iPad app is very good, regularly updated but not sure why as it has never given me any stress. I have no experience of the Aries, but would certainly give a recommendation to the Node 2 as it is a solid performer in all respects. I am not too fussed about talk of a new version; streamers are quite mature now and a facelift is not something that bothers me.
 
Last edited:
rich46 said:
the mini digital out into the qutest and the NDX digital out into the qutest very little difference .. the aries app is far better than the naim
Click to expand...

That was my feeling also, the digi out from Mini and NDX to Lyngdorf amp was pretty damn close, much closer than their relative RRPs.

I actually got on fine with the Naim App and didn’t really get the amount of critisism it got/gets. Lightning DS is better but I moved to Roon and % to my hardware, cost wise think it is worh the money. DS is very good, though only available on Apple devices.

Gus
 
I was asked why everybody should stay away from Auralic company and their products. Answer is simple. They are the most anti-customer and stubborn managed audio company in the galaxy, and making life of their users even worse with time.

Going back to proofs:
- I was personally heavilly insulted by the owner after asking about Android app
- when Mini was in it's high time, they were getting constant questions about android app. What was their answer? That their engineers are too lazy or too stupid to do that properly (written officialy on their forum by the owner) and will not do that. What is more strange, literally each of their competition can do it. To make situation even more ridiculous, they had an android app but suspended it.
- their answer was "you can use third party players like Bubble Upnp". They are making product, and even do not understand, that what is the crucial thing that people were purchasing Mini, is their Lightning app.
- they even do not understand, that if people are paying such money for a player, they want ready to go solution, and not using any kind of prosthesis, which is also being additionally paid in many cases

They are making product for 15% of mobile phones market, getting constant questions about an absolute basic and standard functionality, and they are insulting their customers and employees when asked. I am really amazed that they didn't get into bankruptcy yet. Hopefully they will go soon.
 
mrkaramba said:
I was asked why everybody should stay away from Auralic company and their products. Answer is simple. They are the most anti-customer and stubborn managed audio company in the galaxy, and making life of their users even worse with time.

Going back to proofs:
- I was personally heavilly insulted by the owner after asking about Android app
- when Mini was in it's high time, they were getting constant questions about android app. What was their answer? That their engineers are too lazy or too stupid to do that properly (written officialy on their forum by the owner) and will not do that. What is more strange, literally each of their competition can do it. To make situation even more ridiculous, they had an android app but suspended it.
- their answer was "you can use third party players like Bubble Upnp". They are making product, and even do not understand, that what is the crucial thing that people were purchasing Mini, is their Lightning app.
- they even do not understand, that if people are paying such money for a player, they want ready to go solution, and not using any kind of prosthesis, which is also being additionally paid in many cases

They are making product for 15% of mobile phones market, getting constant questions about an absolute basic and standard functionality, and they are insulting their customers and employees when asked. I am really amazed that they didn't get into bankruptcy yet. Hopefully they will go soon.
Click to expand...

Setting aside the accusations of insults and wishes for a swift and insolvent end, the issue here seems to be the absence of a native Android version of Lightning DS. Auralic's Lightning DS Android app was dropped a long time ago, certainly before you purchased your Aries Mini...

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/auralic-aries-mini.179250/page-13

Auralic announced and explained its decision at the time. I know that they did not take that decision lightly. Personally, I would love to see a stable Android version of Lightning DS, but I respect their decision to pull the app rather than compromise on quality and I have to give them credit for the alternative strategy they came up with. Their support for standards-based third party apps actually works very well, with the added benefit that it works across all platforms and not just iOS and Android.
 
misterdog said:
If you used the same vitriolic dialogue you have used in your post above what do you expect ?

Maybe some kind of anger management course would suit better than an audio streamer.
Click to expand...
The users of this forum work very diligently to make sure you behave nice and polite and offer excellent psychological advice to anyone who doesnt (in their highly professional and super-caring opinion). And they do all of this to help you become the very best person you can be, free of charge!
 
auralic make some great gear . I have emailed many times and had responses within 24 hours . lets now take the mini at its price it is the market leader for what it offers. period vega dac top draw . and it looks like the gi g2 will be a winner too by the way the app is up with the best it never get stuck like the naim as for years
 
misterdog said:
If you used the same vitriolic dialogue you have used in your post above what do you expect ?

Maybe some kind of anger management course would suit better than an audio streamer.
Click to expand...

I know you people in UK have same embargo for calling things as they are, but I did not used any kind of abusive working, only stated facts. If fact sounds bad for you, that just means they are like that in reality and it's nothing wrong to tell truth.
The fact is, company owner is stubborn and is insulting customers and telling publicly bad words about his own employees. These are facts.

People Purchasing their products wants to have all in one working solution, not using some third party software, by which they even cant set up the product and connect it to their wifi.
 
Strictly Stereo said:
Setting aside the accusations of insults and wishes for a swift and insolvent end, the issue here seems to be the absence of a native Android version of Lightning DS. Auralic's Lightning DS Android app was dropped a long time ago, certainly before you purchased your Aries Mini...

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/auralic-aries-mini.179250/page-13

Auralic announced and explained its decision at the time. I know that they did not take that decision lightly. Personally, I would love to see a stable Android version of Lightning DS, but I respect their decision to pull the app rather than compromise on quality and I have to give them credit for the alternative strategy they came up with. Their support for standards-based third party apps actually works very well, with the added benefit that it works across all platforms and not just iOS and Android.
Click to expand...

If I would intend to use third party software I do nit need to spend 500 quit for the Mini...
And telling customers that they can use external software by the product manufacturer is really unnice...
 
I received a very prompt response about the availability of both Aries and Mini. However, the response was simply that the company no longer sells Mini in the US and that Aries is now Aries G1. I was not happy that the starting point for purchasing an Auralic product in the US is now $2200 and that the company decided to no longer sell a moderately priced product in the US.

While prompt, the response did not try to explain why they only sell expensive gear in the US, nor to offer any future plans to bring the Mini or another moderately priced replacement to the US market. So, while I appreciated the promptness, I did get a sense that the company feels no need to explain its decisions or plans to its customers. I did not like that part.
 
If you ever run your own business you will find there are numerous reasons for doing/not doing somethings.

Trying to explain and justify these decisions to those who only have their own agenda is usually pointless.

Why do Quad not have a number of service centres in the US for example. Though I think they now have one.
Why do Auralic not support Android for their DS App, after all there have only been 16 versions of the operating system ( so far ) to maintain support for.

Do you think the limited sales of these products produce sufficient profit to fund what you think should be ?

For the record the Aries Mini can be set up and connected by Windows PC. though there is no access to the Lightning DS App.

I own Quad ESL's which have had panels fail, and I own an Aeries Mini but no Apple devices.

I choose however not to bad mouth others/products in order to vent my frustrations on the internet.
Possibly through running my own company for over 30 years I have learned to see beyond my own
nose.
 
mrkaramba said:
I was asked why everybody should stay away from Auralic company and their products. Answer is simple. They are the most anti-customer and stubborn managed audio company in the galaxy, and making life of their users even worse with time.

Going back to proofs:
- I was personally heavilly insulted by the owner after asking about Android app
- when Mini was in it's high time, they were getting constant questions about android app. What was their answer? That their engineers are too lazy or too stupid to do that properly (written officialy on their forum by the owner) and will not do that. What is more strange, literally each of their competition can do it. To make situation even more ridiculous, they had an android app but suspended it.
- their answer was "you can use third party players like Bubble Upnp". They are making product, and even do not understand, that what is the crucial thing that people were purchasing Mini, is their Lightning app.
- they even do not understand, that if people are paying such money for a player, they want ready to go solution, and not using any kind of prosthesis, which is also being additionally paid in many cases

They are making product for 15% of mobile phones market, getting constant questions about an absolute basic and standard functionality, and they are insulting their customers and employees when asked. I am really amazed that they didn't get into bankruptcy yet. Hopefully they will go soon.
Click to expand...

Get over yourself.

If you don't like what Auralic offer then don't buy it.
 
My experience with the Mini was not great, sadly. I could not get it to play nice with my pretty standard WiFi set up. I played around with the router, (re)set up the Mini more times than I care to remember and had help from Peter at Igloo and the team at Auralic. We all really wanted to make it work, but couldn’t for some reason. It worked perfectly in Peter’s system, so problem definitely at my end.

I formed the impression that the Mini is great for tweakers, enthusiasts, those with the latest and greatest tech (router) etc.

It wasn’t for me, so I sold it on eBay. Got a Bluesound Vault 2. Plugged it in and have enjoyed the music and convenience uninterrupted ever since.

FWIW I wasn’t overly impressed with the Auralic app. Much prefer the Bluesound one. Bluesound feels like a slightly more “professional” set up/company if I may. Auralic seemed a little rough around the edges.
 
misterdog said:
If you ever run your own business you will find there are numerous reasons for doing/not doing somethings.

Trying to explain and justify these decisions to those who only have their own agenda is usually pointless.

Why do Quad not have a number of service centres in the US for example. Though I think they now have one.
Why do Auralic not support Android for their DS App, after all there have only been 16 versions of the operating system ( so far ) to maintain support for.

Do you think the limited sales of these products produce sufficient profit to fund what you think should be ?

For the record the Aries Mini can be set up and connected by Windows PC. though there is no access to the Lightning DS App.

I own Quad ESL's which have had panels fail, and I own an Aeries Mini but no Apple devices.

I choose however not to bad mouth others/products in order to vent my frustrations on the internet.
Possibly through running my own company for over 30 years I have learned to see beyond my own
nose.
Click to expand...
Thank you SO much again for another sanctimonious lesson in humility and great respect for rhe leaders of humanity who run businesses and, therefore, provide the very lifeblood of our collective existence!

Yes, i see now that we should be greatful for the very fact that the GREAT ones have decided that we should pay MORE and have LESS choice, so that their enterprise should increase profit. This is exactly why i am a member here - to learn respect, humility before genius and love of the mighty dollar.
 
People will always like to see their own choices validated. I chose the Aries because it was £50 cheaper, has a USB DAC output and integrates nicely with my iPhone/iPad. I love it. But I'm sure I would have been perfectly happy with the Bluesound.
 
Had a Mini since day of release. All my music is stored on an internal HDD. It has not missed a beat. Very happy.

You pays your money and you make you choice. What is for some isn't for others.
 
DimitryZ said:
Thank you SO much again for another sanctimonious lesson in humility and great respect for rhe leaders of humanity who run businesses and, therefore, provide the very lifeblood of our collective existence!

Yes, i see now that we should be greatful for the very fact that the GREAT ones have decided that we should pay MORE and have LESS choice, so that their enterprise should increase profit. This is exactly why i am a member here - to learn respect, humility before genius and love of the mighty dollar.
Click to expand...

My pleasure. :)

Perhaps I should join with those claiming mis-truths about how they think products are badly engineered and as such not fit for purpose.
I could back up my assumptions by claiming that I run my own business and work in the wood engineering industry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top