Auralic Aries (Hardware) - Impressions and Information

[lentille]

Hi guys could you clarify for me...re file conversion. 

 

I am using the lightning server library function on my two Aries mini to access files on a nas. The mini either feeds out via rca to a speaker set up or passes digital via co-ax (on one mini) or USB on the other. 

 

Out via rca - the mini is clearly taking my Apple lossless or Wav files and processing them internally. But when it is outputting digital to my dacs - so bypassing the Aries mini own dac - does lightning server or lightning ds convert all files to a standard file format first ? What format does it send to the dac? 

 

I ask because I could duplicate my mostly apple lossless library into any other format  - but as processors these days are so efficient unless this brought reduced processor load  I am not sure this would have any benefits in terms of sound quality. 

 

Thanks in in advance for your insights on how lightning server and ds generate output. 

[erikd]

Hey, have problem with playing dsd files from hdd on aries. When play it comes only pinknoise, work perfect with other files. Have firmware v5,1

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, erikd said:

Hey, have problem with playing dsd files from hdd on aries. When play it comes only pinknoise, work perfect with other files. Have firmware v5,1

 

Did this used to work? What DAC?

[erikd]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Did this used to work? What DAC?

Yes sir, work like for a month or so ago. dac is auralic vega and use usb 

[Doak]

18 minutes ago, erikd said:

Hey, have problem with playing dsd files from hdd on aries. When play it comes only pinknoise, work perfect with other files. Have firmware v5,1

I am using Aries w/v5.1 to play DSD 64 & 128 via USB HD w/Lampizator DAC.

No problems whatsoever. 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, erikd said:

Yes sir, work like for a month or so ago. dac is auralic vega and use usb 

It's doing what a DAC that doesn't support DSD does, even though we know the Vega supports DSD. Have you power cycled the Vega and Aries? Remove the USB cable from the Vega for the reboot.

[erikd]

35 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It's doing what a DAC that doesn't support DSD does, even though we know the Vega supports DSD. Have you power cycled the Vega and Aries? Remove the USB cable from the Vega for the reboot.

Thank you for fast and good reply, reset and switch to pcm autodetect pcm and now it works

[Kelly]

Sorry to ask if this is the wrong place, but how does the Aries stack up against the microRendu? I understand there have been quite a few firmware improvements and that the Aries is significantly better for the changes. Can anyone comment on the absolute performance vs the microRendu with the recent firmware? I like the added functionality and wireless capability but don't want to pay more for that functionality if performance isn't at least equivalent. Comments?

[scan80269]

4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It's doing what a DAC that doesn't support DSD does, even though we know the Vega supports DSD. Have you power cycled the Vega and Aries? Remove the USB cable from the Vega for the reboot.

I can also attest to power cycling of Aries occasionally being needed to get things to work properly.  Between Vega & Aries I would say it's Aries that needs power cycling much more often than the Vega DAC.  I have rarely needed to power cycle the Vega, and I try to avoid doing that since it will cause Vega to lock itself out of Exact Clock mode setting for 1 hour.  With Aries, I've seen far more instances of quirky behavior, for example the display is black and is unresponsive to the remote control display toggle button, display shows corrupted junk, display of track progress not updating despite track playing normally, or even no response to the remote control power button.  For these scenarios, power cycling the Aries is usually enough to restore normal operation.

 

Also, when streaming DSD from Aries to Vega, the SW Volume setting in Lightning DS needs to be disabled, else you may hear nothing but loud white noise.

 

[pl_svn]

1 hour ago, scan80269 said:

With Aries, I've seen far more instances of quirky behavior, for example the display is black and is unresponsive to the remote control display toggle button, display shows corrupted junk, display of track progress not updating despite track playing normally, or even no response to the remote control power button.

 

please contact Auralic support as when I did, for the very same issues, I was told I'm the only one reporting this and they can't reproduce them 

Was even asked to send some example files, despite saying there's no relation with specific ones 

[George Hincapie]

5 hours ago, pl_svn said:

 

please contact Auralic support as when I did, for the very same issues, I was told I'm the only one reporting this and they can't reproduce them 

Was even asked to send some example files, despite saying there's no relation with specific ones 

 

Hmm...someone at Auralic is fibbing. I had to have my Aries Femto replaced  several months ago because of constant issues.

[Morph]

Hello

I just went to listen to something on the Mini and when I go to access the ios app a box comes up immediately saying 

" Lightning DS Beta Has Expired". There is no access to the app at all.

Anyone having same problem?

 

Morph

[Cornan]

5 minutes ago, Morph said:

Hello

I just went to listen to something on the Mini and when I go to access the ios app a box comes up immediately saying 

" Lightning DS Beta Has Expired". There is no access to the app at all.

Anyone having same problem?

 

Morph

 

Same here! I installed LightningDS app from appstore again and voila! ? 

I'll guess it just left Beta. It is now called 5.1.

[Morph]

1 minute ago, Cornan said:

 

Same here! I installed LightningDS app from appstore again and voila! ? 

I'll guess it just left Beta. It is now called 5.1.

Thanks Coman, I'll do that right now.

[Morph]

Yeah that's it sorted now. Obvious really! Thanks again Cornan. 

 

Morph

[Cornan]

1 minute ago, Morph said:

Yeah that's it sorted now. Obvious really! Thanks again Cornan. 

 

Morph

 

Your welcome Morph! ?

 

Micael

[Mike Pinkerton]

On 8/9/2017 at 4:20 AM, George Hincapie said:

 

Hmm...someone at Auralic is fibbing. I had to have my Aries Femto replaced  several months ago because of constant issues.

 

I just returned my Altair for a constantly-crashing streaming module. I had it only a few days, bought new with 5.1Firmware. Auralic asked a couple of cursory questions but then told me to just return it without digging very deep into what the problem might be. I will be buying something else, not attempting to replace it. 

[George Hincapie]

19 hours ago, Mike Pinkerton said:

 

I just returned my Altair for a constantly-crashing streaming module. I had it only a few days, bought new with 5.1Firmware. Auralic asked a couple of cursory questions but then told me to just return it without digging very deep into what the problem might be. I will be buying something else, not attempting to replace it. 

 

What will you be replacing it with? I completely accept your position; once confidence in a device is gone it is difficult to get it back.

[Doak]

20 hours ago, Mike Pinkerton said:

 

I just returned my Altair for a constantly-crashing streaming module. I had it only a few days, bought new with 5.1Firmware. Auralic asked a couple of cursory questions but then told me to just return it without digging very deep into what the problem might be. I will be buying something else, not attempting to replace it. 

Understand and sympathize. 

Left my Aries playing yesterday for a few hours when it stopped for no apparent reason. 

Took me about 30 minutes to things back up and going. This kind of stuff appears worse than ever. 

Have owned my Aries for 2.5 yrs and this aspect of using it REALLY irks me.  

It does its job so damn well - when working - I hesitate to go elsewhere, but I can no longer recommend Auralic to others looking to get into digital music streaming and that is truly a shame.

[Mike Pinkerton]

I'll probably replace it with a Mytek Brooklyn and leave the streaming aspect to the RaspPi/RoonServer. All the great buzz about the Manhattan II is making my mouth water, but it's really pricey. 

[George Hincapie]

Pi is a great choice. I have used the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro myself with an LPSU and it's been excellent.

[George Hincapie]

59 minutes ago, Doak said:

Understand and sympathize. 

Left my Aries playing yesterday for a few hours when it stopped for no apparent reason. 

Took me about 30 minutes to things back up and going. This kind of stuff appears worse than ever. 

Have owned my Aries for 2.5 yrs and this aspect of using it REALLY irks me.  

It does its job so damn well - when working - I hesitate to go elsewhere, but I can no longer recommend Auralic to others looking to get into digital music streaming and that is truly a shame.

 

I think it is important just to add that the Aries Mini I bought around the same time as the Aries Femto has never missed a beat and just works flawlessly. Not sure what happened with it's big brother, but don't be dissuaded from the Mini.

[mjb]

11 hours ago, Doak said:

Understand and sympathize. 

Left my Aries playing yesterday for a few hours when it stopped for no apparent reason. 

Took me about 30 minutes to things back up and going. This kind of stuff appears worse than ever. 

Have owned my Aries for 2.5 yrs and this aspect of using it REALLY irks me.  

It does its job so damn well - when working - I hesitate to go elsewhere, but I can no longer recommend Auralic to others looking to get into digital music streaming and that is truly a shame.

+1. It really can be extremely frustrating, especially when all you want to do is listen to some music... and the wizard just makes things worse. The other thing I dislike is having to find the remote just to turn it on again after a power cycle!

[pvanosta]

+2 on my Altair

I have a large library on a Synology NAS and all too often my Altair 'loses' the library. Sometimes I can just re-add it quickly, other times I have to reinstall the library. Today, it has been 'indexing' for the second day in a row and I'm 60% done...

 

No discernable cause or reason. 2 days ago, the NAS installed a an update and rebooted. None of that should trigger a disappearance of the library, let alone a full re-index. This is after I have had to manually delete the index in Lightning server and reinstall the whole thing less than a month ago (which also took several days) because the library no longer saw new additions when doing a simple re-scan. It's a good thing I only have time to really listen during the weekends, as I need most of the week to get the system ready to play on Saturday now...

 

It should be this difficult.

[Guido Del Giudice]

I am on my 2nd Aries Mini after a warranty replacement for noisy output drivers.

 

Now it just keeps scanning my library endlessly....just cant get it to work...getting a little tired of this!