garyfrancis100

I couldn't agree more apart from the resolution limitations of Spif usb is good enough to gauge the performance a dac. So long as the cable is short I don't think a reviewer needs to do any more. I think it is more important to if the sources sonic performance still holds true through various speakers and amp combos

Sorry for late response silly mistake of mine but got it working finally

Got my Aries for Christmas for myself by myself (this i get what i wish for) the speed it reads is unreal and the sound is really real. I plugged my external hard drive into my Asus 802.11 rt 900 mbps router which is connected to the aries by ethernet and wireless, the aries picks up massive data quickly and through the DS app i can see everything on my hard drive, I also use tidal from the DS app. I have to say it is difficult to tell whether your playing uncompressed music files flac , wav , or streaming from Tidal which for me is great. Higher res from my external drive is, well higher res and even better, Before the Aries I also have tried NAS qnap with minim server, Sotm sms helped to speed things up but nas was best left on to avoid problems. I also tried plugging in external flash drive directly into the front of my cambridge audio stream magic six. I settled for this which for me was pretty much noiseless and hassle free using bubble upnp (the cambridge audio app is in much need of updating) Problem arose when I purchased my lampizator dac. The stream magic six is for me an excellent dac which i still have, i used the coax digital out from the six to my lampizator sound improvement was substantial. Sounded much better this way than streaming from my NAS via the sotm sms to the Lampizator maybe I had not set it up right. A few weeks later I connected my old mac lap top to the Lampizator via usb. I was amazed at the sound. Since then I new I had to try the Aries (femto clocks) no demo just purchased it. If your thinking of getting a purpose made audio computer or Upgrading a mac mini for audio playback then think again. You do not need a nas or computer Just invest in a decent hi speed router with a usb input and plug in your external hard drive into the router and your away. I advise upgrading your router before jumping into purchasing higher speed internet services {ie infinity) This really is having computer audio and internet streaming without a computer insight (apart from setting up the asus router) If you have a decent dac with usb input the Aries is an excellent hassle free option If your dac does not have a usb input you could use a converter if your not interested in super hi res file playback. Now I can finally put my cds and cd player away now. I don't say this in jest I paid a lot of money for my cd player and it took a few dacs on trial of which I used my cd player as a transport before I heard much improvement and even then I questioned the justification in cost of some of the dacs compared to sound improvement vs using cd player alone as my music source. I have always known playing computer files could easily win over an expensive disc spinner (spinning at high jittering rpm) I just didn't want to be using a computer to play music at home after being sat at one all at work. Some say it is as good as vinyl when playing dsd or pcm I say it is damn close a will beat it someday amazing [h=1][/h]

i have the sms 100 did not work with the lampi tried it on my cambridge audio stream magic 6 and worked fine. Have not had time to look into why but will have a word with Lukasz when he is less busy (no sure when that will be)

plugged into hifi using usb out of my old desktop mac into Epiphany odac. Basic interconnects basic but good dac for the very little outlay. Just go to settings click hifi it should find your dac (auto) and your away. I signed in today and up and running in no time, also synced to my android device.

Dont wait until you get your software the way you want it try on the free trial really good on android but amazing on hifi. Start building your playlist now. You can import your spotify playlist pay offline and download (no brainer) This is what I tunes should have done a long time ago

very good no dropouts this can only grow for the better real hifi for sure

This is such an important comment from paul in back in 2010 If you can not get lost in the music somthing is wrong To get lost in the music for me means either the person or music is in the room with you or you are in front of the stage at the venue (or at least being fooled into thinking the above) I do disagree a little with his second comment: [QOUTE] "Getting to the point where you cannot really listen to anything unless it is a pristine recording played back over super expensive gear in an utterly silent environment is a *bad* thing in my opinion. " You do need decent gear in order to achieve this, decent gear does not (automatically mean expensive) You do most of the time require a silent environment but that is a broad subject for another post. I mean you would not want external noise for example someone constantly speaking to their friend behind you in a movie, on the other hand if you have you friend round to your home to watch a movie there may be parts you wish to briefly talk about that you liked while the movie is on. You may or may not wish to rewind. Another other view to silent environment could be related to equipment noise, ground loop noise vibration etc this is all in relation to how loud you may want to listen to your music. The one golden rule for me is be careful not to get so caught up in your quest for audio nirvana and perfection that mp3 and old badly recorded material becomes unplayable or undesirable on your equipment. The same goes for music genres There is nothing wrong with A/B testing, blind testing, demo, measurements, etc But when you get home and plug in trust your ears (although some equipment burn in time is critical) Demo is best on loan, at your home and burned in The most satisfactory part is when you immediately say WOW and even more so when someone else who has not much interest in audio compliments and says that sounds really nice. I remember when I added some gear and my nephew came charging downstairs and asked " WHAT DID YOU DO" Another time I had the door open to my garden, it was late and the music was little loud for that time of night but not in excess. I had a text from a neighbour 2 doors down which read as follows " I have just come in from late shift and i am tired, i have just gone into the back garden to have fag (cigarette) and I am still standing here rocking to your music. If you find yourself listen to albums from beginning to end rather than jumping to your favourite playlist you know you are on the right track. Both these comments came the same night I added the Lampizator DAC into my audio chain How can a changing my digital source have such a profound effect, my previous source was no slouch either. Lukasz Fikus is a true old school engineer with modern values and know how.

Hi Darren i did not hear much difference between aiff and wav either I copied some test tracks direct from redbook cd Wav and uncompressed Flac This was placed directly on to usb flash memory stick and then plugged directly into usb input on dac to eliminate external noise. I have to confess my dac automatically up samples to a minimum 24/196, no sure if this favours flac over uncmp/flac I will try with another dac (nos) and post my findings I suppose there will be various reasons why some say they can or can not hear differences Music Choice, Recording Quality, Playback equipment, Room, Hearing etc For me comparing to live instruments and vocals is as important or more important than measuring equipment. If someone sings or plays an instrument well it will sound awesome in a hall. But it will also sound awesome in your living room its just different experience/emotion but still enjoyable

I tunes are thieves, you upload your songs to I tunes match and I tunes say they will find a better copy if yours is not the best quality.If you lose your songs or albums hey presto just download it from icloud. Only problem is it comes in low resolution. If Apple offered a premium for hi res files for customers who use match, of whom they have songs which they may never have found or new existed. At worst they should offer the red book standard that us the public gave to them in the first place when we uploaded to I cloud

I would wait I have heard the auralic . I think the Berkley without the usb is as good up to the file resolution limitations. But with the interface it will better the vega again up to a limited resolution. I would wait Berkeley know lumin and Vega amongst others are stealing the hi res streaming show. They will respond its just a matter of when. But when they do you should save money on upgrading plus you will be at an advantage by having matched digital front end.

I agree 100% with that and the proof is most definitely audible.

Hi Paul, The files were copied from cd although the stick was placed directly into the dac which buffers reads etc But I must stress again this was to make a direct A/B comparison with cd playback vs computer audio playback albeit by flash memory stick (usb). No doubt if it were copied from an original 16/44 file from a trusted website I would say there would be an unfair advantage. This was a simple level playing field test

Thanks Teresa, I have looked at some of these sites and your views are in line with many others. The reason for me asking if these files are genuine is because I have heard raw studio masters on dac upsampled downsampled native etc and compared them to hi res files from websites. I must say these sites you mentioned are indeed good. But there are sites who claim to have hi res files but in reality they are upsampled Redbook converted to flac some sites state this and some do not. So to continue to name the genuine sites can only be good for potential purchasers Thanks Again Gary

The entire discussion is not totally ridiculous as in post should be for all to look at and find out for themselves I have just posted this comment below to firedog who is being generous in his comments but I just urged you post a couple of basic reasons as to how people should approach CA and what they should or should not be doing it helps Thanks again no offence intended. Parts of the discussion is pointless agreed but not for the novice who is about to enter the world of CA, These discussions help with getting the sound right for potential CA,s before plunging into this deep world. I used usb on memory stick as an easy way to hear the difference between files i.e the dreaded but improving mp3 files vs 16/44 and higher. Our inputs are important for others to see. I personally have a purpose built fanless computer away from my listening room this connects via adnaco fibre optics and then into a fully isolated, battery powered, 384 KHz PCM/5.6 Mhz DSD reference USB interface which then outputs i2s over hdmi into my DAC which has hdmi input .A little overkill but the sound is to die for. All of this may mean nothing to a novice but he or she will hopefully have enough ammunition for research before parting with hard earned cash. The DAC i will talk about another time, however for listening test using memory sticks and A/B testing was done on the cambridge audio dac magic 6. It is an ok dac for beginners, but what I like is that this dac shows how sound can change by sending sound via NAS, Memory Stick (usb) ,computer, computer via converter, Direct hdd external Storage etc this list goes on and on. This is a good starting point for beginners who really want to explore CA options. These beginners may include well experienced analogue audiophiles. I still have my audio synthesis dac which is only good for redbook / spdif but still good (just take a look inside the components used then top draw stuff)