Moose

Back to the alternatives purpose of this thread: One that I don't think has been mentioned is the Bluesound Node or Powernode. The node can be had for less than half the price of the Aries, which is why I considered it against the Aries, but the lack of USB output killed it for me. That might not matter to some. No idea how it sounds. It also has a DAC which I didn't want/need. On the plus side, the Bluesound does stream Tidal, and offers an easy way to stream high res around the house along with some midfi speakers that could be convenient for a whole home system. Perhaps worth a look if you're looking for something better than sonos and airplay and don't want to spring the $$ for an aries or aurender, etc. Like others, the Aries ticks more boxes than the competition, at a price point I found acceptable. I had been "getting by" with an ATV for streaming as I just didn't want to deal with a headless mac mini, and even my quality blind ears could hear an immediate improvement when I got the Aries. After x'ing out the Bluesound for lack of USB, it came down to a mac mini vs. the Aries, and the Aries won me over.

One more quick question. Assuming the Aries doesn't block any vents, is it a bad idea to place the unit directly on top of an amp? It would sit on a wood cased peachtree in this case.

Didn't realize power cord was not included. What's a decent power cord that people like for the Aries? Nothing too exotic, I'm not a big believer in expensive power cords.

Makes sense. I'll try minimserver on the iMac first and see how that goes. Probably have to update my Airport network since that's getting a little long in the tooth. Will try both and compare.

This looks like it might be helpful in keeping the USB drive sync'd. Still would have to detach it, but it might be an easier solution than copying everything over each time. iTunesFusion (formerly iTunes Sync): Sync iTunes with almost any device! • Binary Fortress Software

Thanks, very helpful. Is there any disadvantage in terms of sound quality or other factors to consider when streaming music from minimserver on my office iMac vs. the dedicated USB drive? The USB drive on my iMac has to compete with several other drives and peripherals as well as other computer processes. Was wondering whether it would be better to hardwire the USB drive to the Aries in this case. I may not mind having to detach the drive every once in a while to sync up the library with newly ripped or downloaded tracks. I find myself using Tidal more and more now, and my kids are happy with the occasional iTunes tracks which I guess we could still stream using airport for those times when that's good enough. Too bad there's no way for the iMac to see the drive that's attached to the Aries on the network. That would be a nice feature.

I have an Aries (non LE) on the way, and am trying to figure out how I'm going to integrate it into my system. I plan to hardwire it via USB into my DAC/Amp, but am wondering what is the best option for accessing my current library which is mostly lossless with some high rez stored in iTunes on my office iMac. I believe I could export my iTunes library into Minimserver and access that from the aries via wifi, but I also have a spare 2TB USB drive that I was thinking to hardwire to the Aries as the new library so that I can get the music off my office iMac. Assuming I attach the USB drive directly to the Aries, what file structure do I use? Do I just grab all of the iTunes music folders and drag them onto the disc and let lightning index them? What's the best way to update the USB drive with new music then? I'm used to the simplicity and convenience of iTunes, and would like to take advantage of all my lossless files without sacrificing too much of that convenience.

I was interested in the D2, but would like to keep using the DAC in my Peachtree 125SE. Anybody use the D2 optical output with a Peachtree DAC? I'm concerned with the non-standard clock rate.

I'm a relative newbie to high-resolution digital, and have been struggling with the same issue of how to get ALAC files from my mac to the living room Peachtree DAC and stereo system. It's too far for hardwire, so I was going to reluctantly cave and go the Mac-mini to USB route which I understand will offer the best quality with fewest disturbances. Trying to avoid the up sampling on the ATV, I was thinking about the Apple Express for at least it's 44.1 output, but the AE seems to still have excessive jitter problems making it tough for some DAC's to lock on. That led me to look at the Wyred4Sound Remedy reclocker, which seems to fix the jitter issue, but it's still not a full 96 stream, and I've got a bunch of 96 tracks. Then I came across the relatively new full 24/96 Audio Engine D2 streamer DAC, as well as the NAD DAC 2 Wireless streamer. I don't need the DAC's on either of these units, but they both look like they stream uncompressed at full 24/96, which would be enough for me, and you can bypass the DAC's with digital out. Seemed like a good solution until I read some reviews that questioned the quality of the digital out signals, perhaps due to jitter. Oh boy, guess I could add a Remedy to the digital out from one of these wireless streamers and that might do the trick, for about the same as I'd pay for a Mac Mini as server. Anybody have any experience with either of these 24/96 wireless streamers, especially using digital out to a separate DAC?