Aurender n100 vs auralic Aries

[joey_v]

So which is preferable?

[Superfrg]

I own the Aries, no experience with the Aurender.

Streaming from Tidal only, I went from a Bluesound Node to a Aries and noticed improved SQ.

On the negative side, no iPhone App (although expected in 2014..), and the App you use can be a bit buggy.
Sometimes tracks won't play, sometimes it just skips, sometimes when you choose a song it plays the first second 5 times before playing the song ...

They do seem to spend a lot of time upgrading firmware, and some of them even comes with "improved sound quality", which is nice.

My biggest beef is that I use the USB connection to my C2500 and my preamp locks up all the time when changing album, but thats another story.

[chops-tube]

Originally Posted by Superfrg

I own the Aries, no experience with the Aurender.

Streaming from Tidal only, I went from a Bluesound Node to a Aries and noticed improved SQ.

On the negative side, no iPhone App (although expected in 2014..), and the App you use can be a bit buggy.
Sometimes tracks won't play, sometimes it just skips, sometimes when you choose a song it plays the first second 5 times before playing the song ...

They do seem to spend a lot of time upgrading firmware, and some of them even comes with "improved sound quality", which is nice.

My biggest beef is that I use the USB connection to my C2500 and my preamp locks up all the time when changing album, but thats another story.

Well, now since I have had some more time with my Aries LE, I can safely say everything works fine without a glitch, except...

It seems that ever since Tidal released the Beatles albums, no matter what I play on Tidal (anything Beatles or non-Beatles), the Aries will randomly replay a track, either at the very end of the track or right in the middle of the track, or 15 seconds into the track. It just stops wherever, whenever and replays the track instantly.

Yet, streaming from my NAS, I can play anything and it works perfectly fine beginning to end, even DSD files. However, with that being said, when attempting to play DSD 5.6 Mhz, it only plays for 2 seconds at a time, hesitates for a second, then resumes playing for 2 seconds, and plays the entire track this way. The DSD 2.8 Mhz files stream just fine.

Keep in mind, the Parasound P5's DAC does not do DSD, so the Aries is converting the DSD files. Maybe the 5.6 Mhz files are maxing out the Aries memory?

[Slimbo]

Originally Posted by chops-tube

Well, now since I have had some more time with my Aries LE, I can safely say everything works fine without a glitch, except... It seems that ever since Tidal released the Beatles albums, no matter what I play on Tidal (anything Beatles or non-Beatles), the Aries will randomly replay a track, either at the very end of the track or right in the middle of the track, or 15 seconds into the track. It just stops wherever, whenever and replays the track instantly. Yet, streaming from my NAS, I can play anything and it works perfectly fine beginning to end, even DSD files. However, with that being said, when attempting to play DSD 5.6 Mhz, it only plays for 2 seconds at a time, hesitates for a second, then resumes playing for 2 seconds, and plays the entire track this way. The DSD 2.8 Mhz files stream just fine. Keep in mind, the Parasound P5's DAC does not do DSD, so the Aries is converting the DSD files. Maybe the 5.6 Mhz files are maxing out the Aries memory?

I have been speaking with Aurilac about DSD 5.6. They say there is a software and firmware upgrade coming.

[Slimbo]

I use an Aries also and am not having any issues. I listen to Tidal and an outboard hard drive thru USB into an Aurilac DAC. The sound seems great especially the DSD downloads. Much better than my Olive O4HD thru coax to the same DAC.

[Superfrg]

How is your aries connected to your DAC? USB?

[Slimbo]

Originally Posted by Superfrg

How is your aries connected to your DAC? USB?

I use a WireWorld Silver Starlight cable supplied by Masterlu.
I've never even seen an Aurender but the Lightning DS app for the Aries works well and looks very nice. All of the reviews I've read about it are positive. Aurender could be better I'm not sure. The Aurilac help is the best I've ever experienced. They say that I might be able to get better sound streaming from a Nas system. I haven't tried that yet but .....?

[Elberoth]

Aurender's software is much more polished. It is joy to use. The new 'N' models with linear PSU also sound much better than the Aries.

[PlanarSpeakerFan]

Originally Posted by Elberoth

Aurender's software is much more polished. It is joy to use. The new 'N' models with linear PSU also sound much better than the Aries.

Hi Adam,

Have you had the opportunity to hear the Antipodes DX? If so, how does it compare to the different Aurender models?

Thanks,
Ken

[Superfrg]

Slimbo..

I use a WW Plat starlight USB.

If you use Tidal, you don't get any of these problems I have when using Tidal?
(Problems are periodic).

- Selecting an album sometimes does not start, until I press it in the playlist it created.
- Pausing a song, then unpausing it causes it to play 10-20 seconds, then skipping to next song by itself.
- When selecting a song or an album the first track plays the first 1 second of the first song, then restarts about 3-7 times before playing the song normally.

No gain in using wired over wireless.
Setting DAC Delay on 1-5 seconds doesn't help either.

Looking forward hearing your experiences!