Bought the Aries Mini with SBooster 4 weeks ago. I use it with external dac. Still it's a big difference with my former Pioneer N-30 streamer. Now I understand what is ment by hearing "air around the instruments".
Hi Hans I want to thank you for recommending the iFi Audio power supply. I first tried it on the Raspberry Pi3/digi+ Xfmr/Rune Audio streamer and found a subtle improvement with it. I just got the 15v iFi power supply for the Auralic Aries Mini, and once again I hear an improvement. I am using the built-in DAC with the Mini, so this might explain the bigger difference I hear with this. So far I have just listened to Diana Krall's "When I look in Your Eyes" album and I hear a better soundstage/image, you can tell she is singing close to the microphone and her breathing is more noticeable. Now, I'm interested in hearing my other albums, especially classical. I'm supposed to receive a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC tomorrow and will send the output of the Mini to the Modi. The power input to the Modi is 16vac from a wall wart transformer, so a better power supply won't help. I was wondering if you think the iPurifier would help between the Aries Mini and the Modi iFi iPurifier?
Great review, I used this and other reviews to try the mini. This is my first attempt at streaming digital files from my computer to my Macintosh ma-5100 with only analog inputs. I am pleased with the mini especially with the free year of tidal hd. You do need an iPad to control at this time. My poor 5s can't keep up very well.
would you recommend the aries mini together with a audiolab m dac as a external dac?how big is the difference to a ariesLE?what would be the better choice? aries mini and mdac, or a networkplayer like teac NT503?
Dear Hans, thank you for such an informative video. I have a lot less albums than you - about 7000 vs. your 8200 (unless I misheard you). I intend to use the two USB ports behind to attach two 5TB drives. I will be going to a shop to demo it later this week. My main objective is to see if my DAPs using wifi/DLNA can stream from the Mini losslessly. Cheers.
Excellent review! Have you done a direct comparison between the Aries Mini and the HifiBerry Digi+ with the linear power supply? I currently have the DIgi+ and I am wondering if upgrading to the Mini is worthwhile as far as sound quality is concerned.
+Nicholas Marto They actually are very close sound wise, with a slight advantage to the Aries Mini, if you compare the SPDIF coax output and use the power modification as shown in part 2 of the Digi+ (ua-cam.com/video/L83EEDbAMJI/v-deo.html). But the software of the Aries Mini is far superior to that of any RPi I know, unless you install pi CorePlayer with Roon.
Hi Hans Thanks for the great review but i have a couple of questions. Can you describe a little more about the difference in sound between the Mini and the Bluesound Node 2 ? Which has better clarity, soundstage, highs, low end, etc. I know a lot of factors effect this but in general. Also, if i plugged either of these products into my Marantz AVR (not using an external DAC like the Auralic Vega) how would I know which DAC was doing the conversion? Many thanks
+ronin22 If it only were that simple:-( The Mac Mini is only USB out or a poor optical out. Some DAC's perform better over USB than others. For instance the Chord Hugo performs less over USB than over SPDIF as where the Chord HugoTT performs about equal over USB and SPDIF due to the added galvanic separation. So it also depends on the DAC.
Aanvullend wil ik er natuurlijk op wijzen dat Auralic al geruime tijd geen deel meer uitmaakt van de MQA-group en dat Auralic afstand heeft genomen van de MQA techniek, maar nu dus meent dat zelf beter te kunnen, zonder authencation code of unfolding....of rendering in de DAC...
Hello Hans. I just stumbled over your channel a few days ago. Thanks for your work. Great channel. I just bought a Aurlic Aries Mini. In your video you recommend tweaking the Aries Mini with a SBooster BotW power supply... But you always refer to the sound of the analog outputs... Do you also recommend the SBooster when using the digital output via USB to an existing DAC/Preamp in my stereo with an asynchronous USB-Port? Are there sound improvements to the digital part of the Aries as well in your opinion? Or is the audible difference only worth the effort when using the analog output of the Aries? Thank you in advance... Normally, I would just try, but i could not find a german dealer for SBooster Power supplies, who grants a refund if there is no audible improvement to my stereo. And I don't know wether i can return the supply without problems, if I buy in the Netherlands. So I would be very interested in your experience on sound imrpovement to digital outputs... No strings attached ;-)
Thank you for all the great videos, I learned a lot since I just bought my first stereo set. Now I'm researching the streamer market as I prefer to use Tidal for the beginning. My question would be about how to judge what level of the certain source would be a good match - like I think the speaker and amp I got is closer to your Set 1 (Usher Mini 2 with Usher Au8500) but the sources I had budget seems to be in your Set 3 level. I haven't found a video on what to consider when getting into this world there for I would be interested in a video about that too!
Well, that's the trick: you do want components all to be of equal quality. My channel has playlists that show you all streaming audio players and one showing you all DAC's. So there is a lot to view.My favorite for the low end of my Set 1: Sonore microRentu driving a Chord Mojo and fed by RoonLabs software....
Hi Hans I am probably going to upgrade my Auralic Aries Mini with a linear power supply, either the Auralic or the Sbooster. I am leaning toward the Sbooster, mainly because I think it could be more easily used with other equipment down the road. But, of course I have a couple of questions for you. 1 - Which of the two power supplies would sound better? Even if you haven't heard both, you may know which of the two is a better/cleaner power supply. 2 - On the Sbooster website, www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-15v-16v/auralic-aries-mini , I notice two mini "boxes" shown between the power supply and the output connector. What are these? It looks like one could be some sort of filter, and the other one an output adapter.? Thanks for your assistance.
Great review, I think I'm going to try it! One question is DoP via SPDIF, is it possible to choose a sample rate? My DAC is 16/48 and I'd like to play down-sampled DSDs via SPDIF.
+Pavel Fedosejev Hi Pavel, DoP is only for DAC's that also do DSD. Therefore they need to be able to also do PCM 176.4 kHz. Why not us the DAC in the Auralic Aries Mini. I don't know what DAC you have but given the fact it only does 44.1 it must be rather old and developments on DAC's have been tremendous de last few years. Chances are the internal DAC of the Aries Mini outperforms your old DAC. To play DSD over an Aries Mini into the SPDIF input of your DAC, the Aries Mini should downsample/decimate the DSD signal, thereby throwing away most if not all the extra information DSD offers.
Lost In Translation. Are you saying that the unit comes with a hard drive or it doesn't come with a hard drive but it comes with a torque screwdriver and screws? Or that if an external hard drive is purchased that it comes with a torque screwdriver and screws.
Hi Hans I got an Auralic Aries Mini a few days ago. I had to upgrade my WiFi for it to work, but it's a nice improvement over the RasPi Digi+. Do you think an iPower power supply would make a difference, or would I just have to go with a linear power supply?
Thank you very much for your detailed reviews and other educational videos. Hans. They are a good bridge for connecting future or new audiophiles with the previous generation I would like to know if it is possible to shut down the WiFi and Bluetooth from the Aries Mini or is it permenantly broadcasting? Thanks again Greetings from France
Hi Hans, As always great review. Can one of the USB be converted to output. I have an external DAC with USB type B input, can I connect mini to that? Then I can connect by external hard drive to the second USB. Will this work?
+Kiran Emmi I understand you missed it but as I said in the video: you can connect any USB Audio Profile 2 DAC's. IN fact you can also connect USB Audio Profile DAC 1 DAC's as well but these will be limited to 96 kHz. An easy way to check whether it will work on the Mini is to check if the DAC will work on a Apple MacIntosh computer without having to install a driver.
No, but you can use the SPDIF output on the Aries Mini to connect to the SPDIF input on the M2Tech Young. Make sure to use a 75 ohm cable and you might even be better of than using USB. If you don't use files at higher than 192 kHz sampling, you also use the optical connection.
Hallo Hans, ik ben me sinds kort meer iets meer in audio aan het verdiepen en kwam op jouw site terecht, nadat ik op marktplaats een mini te koop zag staan. Is de mini nog steeds een goede koop in 2023? Of zijn er betere alternatieven onder de 200,-? Dank voor de duidelijke uitleg in de video. Ik heb me geabonneerd.
Thank you Hans, for the great review. Two measures indeed improved the sound quality of the aries in my setup quite remarkably: SBoosters BOTW power supply and simply placing the aries mini on a small plate of slate.
Dag Hans, is de separate ( andere voeding ) ook een verbetering wanneer men via een apparte Dac afspeelt? Ik krijg tegenwoordig veel fouten door van auralic dat mijn dac de zogenaamde file niet kan afspelen vanwege de bitrate? Terwijl mijn Mytek 192 dsd dac toch gewoon moet aankunnen? Heb jij dat probleem ook? Waarschijnlijk zijn dit dan de Mqa bestanden welke de dac de ene keeer wel afspeelt en de andere keer niet?
In theory it probably can. But the hight of the drive is limited to 9.5 mm models and those come in a maximum of 1TB. You could connect an external drive, of course.
Thanks for the Info. I want to venture into streaming/downloading on a beer budget financial level initially to see if this way of listening to digital music is more me. Your reviews are without doubt the best on youtube for indepth product specs etc, which really helps non techy types like me.Cheers!
Venturing on a small budget is about the definitive way to NOT going to like it. Venturing on the right budged is. Spend the same amount of money you spent on your record player or cd-player to really compare.
My 'right budget' is small, (sadly) lol. For my budget of $500 I should be able to get a streamer of enough quality to satisfy my musical pleasure.Of course the craving for more bigger better may ensue....haha Any chance of doing a review of some really high end equipment?
That's no problem, The Aries Mini comes at that price and will perform about equal to a good cd-player of that price. Only when you're used to a more expensive cd-player the Mini might sound less. That has nothing to do with streaming (provided you don't use MP3's) but with the hardware.
+Captain .Por You have to make sure to have exactly the right voltage coming out of a stabilized power adaptor. Cars with 12 volt systems effectively run at 13.7 volt. So you need an adaptor to the right voltage. Furthermore you need a wifi access point to connect the Aries Mini and the iPad to.That needs to be powered too at the voltage that access point requires. And you need some kind of storage like a thumb drive or hard disk (preferably an SSD drive) to store the music on. And again that will need a stabilized power adaptor. So, yes it can be done but given the fact that you ask if it is possible, I wonder if you manage. And if you do, please be very careful operating the iPad while driving - or rather let your passenger operate it.
+The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel Thanks for your advise for power supply I think can manage just ipad it cannot use without wifi access point as my understand just ipad can connect direct to the mini
The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel Thank you sir! So basically from my understanding, as I'm using a PS audio Perfectwave DAC, PC as main database, I can skip this and go for a sms200 right?
I have no experience with the Perfect Wave DAC. You don't need the Aries mini and you might not need the sMS-200 either. I thought the PS-Audio's have their own network functionality.
Hallo Hans, bedankt voor het informatieve filmpje. Mijn vraag aan jou: ik heb dit weekend een Auralic mini besteld en ik gebruik mijn Ipad met Itunes. Ik heb de ap van Auralic gedownload. Kan ik Itunes gewoon blijven gebruiken ( veel albums gekocht) in combinatie met de Autalic mini dmv Airplay? En bijvoorbeeld ook de optie van Itunes ‘ Voor joi’ gebruiken waar nieuwe muziek wordt aangeboden door Apple? Hartelijke groet, Sven
Zo gebruik ik hem ook. Gewoon iTunes gebruiken (met alleen ALAC files) en via Airplay naar Aries Mini. Hoef je ook geen nieuwe playlists te maken en kun je gewoon ' Remote' app op je iPad gebruiken om te bedienen.
Hans wat vind je van de zogenaamde technische oplossing die Wang beschrijft om MQA bestanden (masters van Tidal bv) met een nieuwe firmware/platform v. 5.0 van de Lightning DS app? En dat zijn benadering mbv filtering de pre-echo o.a.) en DSP bewerking het resultaat tot een hoger niveau te krijgen dan de MQA unfolding/rendering methode???? Oh, ik meen zelfs dat high-res wordt gemanipuleerd met upsampeling...tja. Het riekt m.i. naar volksverlakkerij, maar ik hoor graag jou visie (Bron: DARKO interview)
+Pim Van Loenen Auralic plays the MQA baseband signal - so 44.1 or 48 kHz- using a reconstruction filter that has no pre ringing. It doesn't decode MQA files.
Right, but that's not the whole story Hans. In DARKO's intervieuw mr. Wang stated that M!QA is inferior and that his hi-res solution for the files with DSP and upsampling is far more better, I don't believe a word of this statement
+Pim Van Loenen It is the whole story though. Upsampling does make things easier for the reconstruction filter but it doesn't solve the time smearing earlier in the chain. Just listen😗
Thanks to your excellent Review I bought the Mini and a BTW LPS. With the new Beta Firmware the Auralic Aries Ministerpräsident is Roon ready at last! What about a review of the Roon capabilities? Thank you very much for your excellent work!
Thanks for the review. I bought this and a LPS (Jay's Audio LPS) after seeing your review Auralic confirm that Mini would or their existing streamers would not support MQA as you claim in your video. Of course not your fault because Auralic initially claimed that but after a dispute with MQA they will not enable MQA. I have Violectric V850 DAC. It does not support DSD. I connected Mini to V850 via Coaxial cable thinking I could use DoP facility in Mini. Then figured out DoP in Mini support only DSD 64 even with their current firmware 4.0. I do not want to use Mini's Dac as it would not be as good as the German Vio V850 (1500 Euro unit). I think info in this video is not up to speed with the above info hence posting here for benefit of others
any streamer that can stream bit perfect audio to it's digital and/or USB output can also stream MQA. But streamers with DAC's built in might not. The Mini doesn't do MQA, the Aries does if an MQA DAC is connected.
+Ab Sa New technologie are always on the way as is vaporware, announcements of 'shocking new technologies' at 'half the price' by companies that are better in PR than in building good sounding equipment. Without being more specific, your remark has no value.
Bought the Aries Mini with SBooster 4 weeks ago. I use it with external dac. Still it's a big difference with my former Pioneer N-30 streamer. Now I understand what is ment by hearing "air around the instruments".
+Jaap Deventer yeah, the vocabulary of audiophiles is like that of wine connoisseurs: vague until you hear and taste what's meant. Enjoy the music!.
All my respect Hans, your reviews are always extremely informative and on point. Thank you very much for your work.
+Gonçalo Thanks, it's my pleasure.
Thank you for the excellent review Hans. One is on its way here and I'm looking forward to integrating it into my system.
+burns1875 ...one step closer to music enjoyment;-)
Absolutely brilliant review - thank you - it helped me make a decision !
Hi Hans
I want to thank you for recommending the iFi Audio power supply. I first tried it on the Raspberry Pi3/digi+ Xfmr/Rune Audio streamer and found a subtle improvement with it.
I just got the 15v iFi power supply for the Auralic Aries Mini, and once again I hear an improvement. I am using the built-in DAC with the Mini, so this might explain the bigger difference I hear with this. So far I have just listened to Diana Krall's "When I look in Your Eyes" album and I hear a better soundstage/image, you can tell she is singing close to the microphone and her breathing is more noticeable. Now, I'm interested in hearing my other albums, especially classical.
I'm supposed to receive a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC tomorrow and will send the output of the Mini to the Modi. The power input to the Modi is 16vac from a wall wart transformer, so a better power supply won't help. I was wondering if you think the iPurifier would help between the Aries Mini and the Modi iFi iPurifier?
Great review! Thanks! How does the sound quality compare to the Node 2 and/or Mac Mini using an outboard DAC (via s/pdif or usb)?
now this is what i call a good reviewer .... excellent
Great review, I used this and other reviews to try the mini. This is my first attempt at streaming digital files from my computer to my Macintosh ma-5100 with only analog inputs. I am pleased with the mini especially with the free year of tidal hd. You do need an iPad to control at this time. My poor 5s can't keep up very well.
+Rick Gatlin Thanks. The speed of the iPad also depends on the speed of your network. But I agree an older iPad is rather slow. Enjoy the music:-)
Great use of metaphors to explain the point!
would you recommend the aries mini together with a audiolab m dac as a external dac?how big is the difference to a ariesLE?what would be the better choice? aries mini and mdac, or a networkplayer like teac NT503?
Dear Hans, thank you for such an informative video. I have a lot less albums than you - about 7000 vs. your 8200 (unless I misheard you). I intend to use the two USB ports behind to attach two 5TB drives. I will be going to a shop to demo it later this week. My main objective is to see if my DAPs using wifi/DLNA can stream from the Mini losslessly. Cheers.
Excellent review! Have you done a direct comparison between the Aries Mini and the HifiBerry Digi+ with the linear power supply? I currently have the DIgi+ and I am wondering if upgrading to the Mini is worthwhile as far as sound quality is concerned.
+Nicholas Marto They actually are very close sound wise, with a slight advantage to the Aries Mini, if you compare the SPDIF coax output and use the power modification as shown in part 2 of the Digi+ (ua-cam.com/video/L83EEDbAMJI/v-deo.html). But the software of the Aries Mini is far superior to that of any RPi I know, unless you install pi CorePlayer with Roon.
There seems to be a bit a of a supply problem in country (UK), but I can't wait to replace my pi2 digi+ with one of these :)
Hi Hans
Thanks for the great review but i have a couple of questions.
Can you describe a little more about the difference in sound between the Mini and the Bluesound Node 2 ? Which has better clarity, soundstage, highs, low end, etc. I know a lot of factors effect this but in general.
Also, if i plugged either of these products into my Marantz AVR (not using an external DAC like the Auralic Vega) how would I know which DAC was doing the conversion? Many thanks
+ronin22 If it only were that simple:-( The Mac Mini is only USB out or a poor optical out. Some DAC's perform better over USB than others. For instance the Chord Hugo performs less over USB than over SPDIF as where the Chord HugoTT performs about equal over USB and SPDIF due to the added galvanic separation. So it also depends on the DAC.
Aanvullend wil ik er natuurlijk op wijzen dat Auralic al geruime tijd geen deel meer uitmaakt van de MQA-group en dat Auralic afstand heeft genomen van de MQA techniek, maar nu dus meent dat zelf beter te kunnen, zonder authencation code of unfolding....of rendering in de DAC...
Hello Hans. I just stumbled over your channel a few days ago. Thanks for your work. Great channel. I just bought a Aurlic Aries Mini. In your video you recommend tweaking the Aries Mini with a SBooster BotW power supply... But you always refer to the sound of the analog outputs... Do you also recommend the SBooster when using the digital output via USB to an existing DAC/Preamp in my stereo with an asynchronous USB-Port? Are there sound improvements to the digital part of the Aries as well in your opinion? Or is the audible difference only worth the effort when using the analog output of the Aries?
Thank you in advance... Normally, I would just try, but i could not find a german dealer for SBooster Power supplies, who grants a refund if there is no audible improvement to my stereo. And I don't know wether i can return the supply without problems, if I buy in the Netherlands. So I would be very interested in your experience on sound imrpovement to digital outputs... No strings attached ;-)
The audiophile power supply improves both analogue and digital outputs.
Do you know if DAC Wadia 121 + Bluesound node 2, connected by coax, streaming Tidal, can do MQA?
Thank you for all the great videos, I learned a lot since I just bought my first stereo set. Now I'm researching the streamer market as I prefer to use Tidal for the beginning. My question would be about how to judge what level of the certain source would be a good match - like I think the speaker and amp I got is closer to your Set 1 (Usher Mini 2 with Usher Au8500) but the sources I had budget seems to be in your Set 3 level.
I haven't found a video on what to consider when getting into this world there for I would be interested in a video about that too!
Well, that's the trick: you do want components all to be of equal quality. My channel has playlists that show you all streaming audio players and one showing you all DAC's. So there is a lot to view.My favorite for the low end of my Set 1: Sonore microRentu driving a Chord Mojo and fed by RoonLabs software....
Hi Hans
I am probably going to upgrade my Auralic Aries Mini with a linear power supply, either the Auralic or the Sbooster. I am leaning toward the Sbooster, mainly because I think it could be more easily used with other equipment down the road. But, of course I have a couple of questions for you.
1 - Which of the two power supplies would sound better? Even if you haven't heard both, you may know which of the two is a better/cleaner power supply.
2 - On the Sbooster website, www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-15v-16v/auralic-aries-mini , I notice two mini "boxes" shown between the power supply and the output connector. What are these? It looks like one could be some sort of filter, and the other one an output adapter.?
Thanks for your assistance.
Great review, I think I'm going to try it!
One question is DoP via SPDIF, is it possible to choose a sample rate? My DAC is 16/48 and I'd like to play down-sampled DSDs via SPDIF.
+Pavel Fedosejev Hi Pavel, DoP is only for DAC's that also do DSD. Therefore they need to be able to also do PCM 176.4 kHz. Why not us the DAC in the Auralic Aries Mini. I don't know what DAC you have but given the fact it only does 44.1 it must be rather old and developments on DAC's have been tremendous de last few years. Chances are the internal DAC of the Aries Mini outperforms your old DAC. To play DSD over an Aries Mini into the SPDIF input of your DAC, the Aries Mini should downsample/decimate the DSD signal, thereby throwing away most if not all the extra information DSD offers.
Lost In Translation. Are you saying that the unit comes with a hard drive or it doesn't come with a hard drive but it comes with a torque screwdriver and screws? Or that if an external hard drive is purchased that it comes with a torque screwdriver and screws.
It does not come with a hard drive. It comes with a screwdriver and screws so you can mount a 2.5” drive internally yourself.
Hi Hans
I got an Auralic Aries Mini a few days ago. I had to upgrade my WiFi for it to work, but it's a nice improvement over the RasPi Digi+. Do you think an iPower power supply would make a difference, or would I just have to go with a linear power supply?
I am working on a review.
Excellent review
Thanks for the upload
Thank you very much for your detailed reviews and other educational videos. Hans. They are a good bridge for connecting future or new audiophiles with the previous generation
I would like to know if it is possible to shut down the WiFi and Bluetooth from the Aries Mini or is it permenantly broadcasting?
Thanks again Greetings from France
Avec Plaisir Hugo. I was told that the radios switch off if you connect the Mini using a network cable.
The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel
With linear PSU added to Aries mini is the DAC internally comparable to a Chord Mojo?
No
Excellent review!
I missed the link to your reference system. Would you be kind enough to send?
Thanks.
+iddoc13 sure: thehbproject.com/en/About
Hi Hans,
As always great review.
Can one of the USB be converted to output. I have an external DAC with USB type B input, can I connect mini to that?
Then I can connect by external hard drive to the second USB. Will this work?
+Kiran Emmi I understand you missed it but as I said in the video: you can connect any USB Audio Profile 2 DAC's. IN fact you can also connect USB Audio Profile DAC 1 DAC's as well but these will be limited to 96 kHz. An easy way to check whether it will work on the Mini is to check if the DAC will work on a Apple MacIntosh computer without having to install a driver.
No, but you can use the SPDIF output on the Aries Mini to connect to the SPDIF input on the M2Tech Young. Make sure to use a 75 ohm cable and you might even be better of than using USB. If you don't use files at higher than 192 kHz sampling, you also use the optical connection.
Hallo Hans, ik ben me sinds kort meer iets meer in audio aan het verdiepen en kwam op jouw site terecht, nadat ik op marktplaats een mini te koop zag staan. Is de mini nog steeds een goede koop in 2023? Of zijn er betere alternatieven onder de 200,-? Dank voor de duidelijke uitleg in de video. Ik heb me geabonneerd.
Nee hoor, gewoon kopen.
What should I choose? Auralic Mini, MArantz NA6005, Bluesound Node 2 or Mac Mini?
see ua-cam.com/video/YCNnUq6SbKg/v-deo.html
Sorry Hans, I didnt know. Let me change the question. If you had a Marantz NA6005, which of your systems would you use it? Set #1, #2 or #3?
I have not reviewed the NA6005 so I can't say. Sorry.
On Bluesound node 2 review, you said it has 80% performance compared to Mac Mini on your set#1. Does your Mac Mini have some upgrade?
no upgrade
Thank you Hans, for the great review. Two measures indeed improved the sound quality of the aries in my setup quite remarkably: SBoosters BOTW power supply and simply placing the aries mini on a small plate of slate.
Dag Hans, is de separate ( andere voeding ) ook een verbetering wanneer men via een apparte Dac afspeelt? Ik krijg tegenwoordig veel fouten door van auralic dat mijn dac de zogenaamde file niet kan afspelen vanwege de bitrate? Terwijl mijn Mytek 192 dsd dac toch gewoon moet aankunnen? Heb jij dat probleem ook? Waarschijnlijk zijn dit dan de Mqa bestanden welke de dac de ene keeer wel afspeelt en de andere keer niet?
It is not likely the power supply is causing this. I would rather look at the network or music server (computer, NAS).
So, can the Aries Mini can have an 8TB Internal Drive fitted with no problems for those that have seriously large CD collections to download?
In theory it probably can. But the hight of the drive is limited to 9.5 mm models and those come in a maximum of 1TB. You could connect an external drive, of course.
Thanks for the Info. I want to venture into streaming/downloading on a beer budget financial level initially to see if this way of listening to digital music is more me. Your reviews are without doubt the best on youtube for indepth product specs etc, which really helps non techy types like me.Cheers!
Venturing on a small budget is about the definitive way to NOT going to like it. Venturing on the right budged is. Spend the same amount of money you spent on your record player or cd-player to really compare.
My 'right budget' is small, (sadly) lol. For my budget of $500 I should be able to get a streamer of enough quality to satisfy my musical pleasure.Of course the craving for more bigger better may ensue....haha Any chance of doing a review of some really high end equipment?
That's no problem, The Aries Mini comes at that price and will perform about equal to a good cd-player of that price. Only when you're used to a more expensive cd-player the Mini might sound less. That has nothing to do with streaming (provided you don't use MP3's) but with the hardware.
Can I use Auralic Mini in car and use ipad for control
+Captain .Por You have to make sure to have exactly the right voltage coming out of a stabilized power adaptor. Cars with 12 volt systems effectively run at 13.7 volt. So you need an adaptor to the right voltage. Furthermore you need a wifi access point to connect the Aries Mini and the iPad to.That needs to be powered too at the voltage that access point requires. And you need some kind of storage like a thumb drive or hard disk (preferably an SSD drive) to store the music on. And again that will need a stabilized power adaptor. So, yes it can be done but given the fact that you ask if it is possible, I wonder if you manage. And if you do, please be very careful operating the iPad while driving - or rather let your passenger operate it.
+The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel Thanks for your advise for power supply I think can manage just ipad it cannot use without wifi access point as my understand just ipad can connect direct to the mini
+Captain .Por The iPad can make contact with the Aries Mini but as far as I know only for installation and nt for permanent use.
Hey, thank u so much for this video, how do you compare this with sms200?
They are different devices all together. See below.
The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel Thank you sir! So basically from my understanding, as I'm using a PS audio Perfectwave DAC, PC as main database, I can skip this and go for a sms200 right?
I have no experience with the Perfect Wave DAC. You don't need the Aries mini and you might not need the sMS-200 either. I thought the PS-Audio's have their own network functionality.
Hallo Hans, bedankt voor het informatieve filmpje. Mijn vraag aan jou: ik heb dit weekend een Auralic mini besteld en ik gebruik mijn Ipad met Itunes. Ik heb de ap van Auralic gedownload. Kan ik Itunes gewoon blijven gebruiken ( veel albums gekocht) in combinatie met de Autalic mini dmv Airplay? En bijvoorbeeld ook de optie van Itunes ‘ Voor joi’ gebruiken waar nieuwe muziek wordt aangeboden door Apple?
Hartelijke groet, Sven
Ja, dat kan.
Zo gebruik ik hem ook. Gewoon iTunes gebruiken (met alleen ALAC files) en via Airplay naar Aries Mini. Hoef je ook geen nieuwe playlists te maken en kun je gewoon ' Remote' app op je iPad gebruiken om te bedienen.
Great review, thank you
Is this comparable to the SotM SMS200?
No
Hans wat vind je van de zogenaamde technische oplossing die Wang beschrijft om MQA bestanden (masters van Tidal bv) met een nieuwe firmware/platform v. 5.0 van de Lightning DS app? En dat zijn benadering mbv filtering de pre-echo o.a.) en DSP bewerking het resultaat tot een hoger niveau te krijgen dan de MQA unfolding/rendering methode???? Oh, ik meen zelfs dat high-res wordt gemanipuleerd met upsampeling...tja. Het riekt m.i. naar volksverlakkerij, maar ik hoor graag jou visie (Bron: DARKO interview)
+Pim Van Loenen Auralic plays the MQA baseband signal - so 44.1 or 48 kHz- using a reconstruction filter that has no pre ringing. It doesn't decode MQA files.
Right, but that's not the whole story Hans. In DARKO's intervieuw mr. Wang stated that M!QA is inferior and that his hi-res solution for the files with DSP and upsampling is far more better, I don't believe a word of this statement
+Pim Van Loenen It is the whole story though. Upsampling does make things easier for the reconstruction filter but it doesn't solve the time smearing earlier in the chain. Just listen😗
Thanks to your excellent Review I bought the Mini and a BTW LPS. With the new Beta Firmware the Auralic Aries Ministerpräsident is Roon ready at last!
What about a review of the Roon capabilities?
Thank you very much for your excellent work!
working on it😃
Thanks for the review. I bought this and a LPS (Jay's Audio LPS) after seeing your review
Auralic confirm that Mini would or their existing streamers would not support MQA as you claim in your video. Of course not your fault because Auralic initially claimed that but after a dispute with MQA they will not enable MQA.
I have Violectric V850 DAC. It does not support DSD. I connected Mini to V850 via Coaxial cable thinking I could use DoP facility in Mini. Then figured out DoP in Mini support only DSD 64 even with their current firmware 4.0. I do not want to use Mini's Dac as it would not be as good as the German Vio V850 (1500 Euro unit). I think info in this video is not up to speed with the above info hence posting here for benefit of others
any streamer that can stream bit perfect audio to it's digital and/or USB output can also stream MQA. But streamers with DAC's built in might not. The Mini doesn't do MQA, the Aries does if an MQA DAC is connected.
Wish I could understand this stuff but I’m afraid it pretty much goes over my head 🤪
Try watching it over and over again, that's how I learned what I know.
Thank's !
, new technology are coming , I'll wait, I saw many impressive things for low price and it sound amazing
Thanks for the reveiw .
+Ab Sa New technologie are always on the way as is vaporware, announcements of 'shocking new technologies' at 'half the price' by companies that are better in PR than in building good sounding equipment. Without being more specific, your remark has no value.