PaulW

It's hard to tell, as I haven't tried to play music from my PC. I have a home office and use my PC for business purposes, which includes testing my software, supporting clients, editing photos and hi-def video, writing letters, maintaining accounting books, invoicing, etc.. I have over 2TB of music in FLAC format and did not want to burden my PC with an additional unnecessary load. The Node 2 and NAS combo works perfectly fine in my environment. I have not yet tried it in my main all-tube rig. The Aries Mini kept being delayed here and, frankly, I got fed up waiting. Secondly, and most importantly for me, the Aries Mini can apparently only be controlled remotely with an iPhone (or it's own remote?). Despite having four phones and about eight computers in this househould, no one uses an Apple products and I needed a device that could be controlled from a PC (I did not want to have to leave a remote on my desk to control the music). All in all, I am very happy with the Node 2. Bluesound support is exemplary and that is as important to me as the quality of the company's products.

I can't comment on that. I bought the Bluesound Node2 and am using it to provide music from a NAS in my office.

So......are you using both the Mini and the Bluesound? Have you tried connecting a hard drive via USB? If so, do both devices play tracks gaplessly? Last question........which sound better?

I saw the Bluesound work on a network with PC-based based software and it seemed to also meet my needs. It's hard to decide on which is the better option! :-)

As long as I can search by artist, choose an album and play it gaplessly, I'm fine. I don't need id-tags, graphics or anything else.

The player will be used in an office environment, with music stored on an external hard drive. I do not want to use a tablet or phone as controller, as they are simply extra devices that will clutter my desk and will require charging on a regular basis. I would rather have a minimized screen on my PC that I can quickly access.

I am simply looking for a device that will play back 44.1/16-bit FLAC files which were ripped from my CD collection. The key point for me is to be able to control the device using a Windows-based PC and that the device supports gapless playback either over a local network or from a USB-connected hard drive.

I'm looking at the same two devices and would appreciate feedback from anyone! :-)

All of these options sound good to me! I only mentioned JRiver, as I am familiar with the program. My sole requirement for the PC-based software is to allow me to view all albums on the attached USB, pick albums to play and then play those FLAC albums gaplessly through the connected stereo. ID-Tags would be nice, but are not a deal breaker.

I need my PC for intensive work. The FLACs are stored on an external hard drive and I want to use the PC simply for making album/song selections.

Newbie here! I am looking for a music streamer for my 2,700 CDs that have been ripped to FLAC files. I will be using the device in an office environment and need to be able to control the music from a PC. The Auralic Aries intrigues me, as I see that it works with J.River Media Center. My issue is that I need the FLAC files to play gaplessly, as I have numerous live CDs and hearing those momentary gaps between tracks drives me crazy. So.....can the Aries (&/or Mini) be controlled from a PC and play FLAC files gaplessly using J.River or any other PC-based software? Thanks! (hopefully, I've posted this request in the right forum)