Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server

[GuillaumeB]

As the name of the title suggests I've created a new thread to specifically focus on a very unscientific comparison taking place this afternoon between AIR, the Moon MiND 180 (which I've owned for a year or so), the Auralic ARIES and the totaldac d1-server.

Unfortunately it won't be possible to include a windows computer in the mix. I will however try streaming from my Macbook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) using plain vanilla iTunes in Bit Perfect mode and AIR. Given a number of comments made in the forum I won't be trying J River on the Mac.

We won't do any blind testing since I find it intensely unpleasant and struggle to compare music anyway when it's done in short bursts. We intend to have a fun afternoon.

We'll be using a Chord Power Chord lead with the three streamers as well as using an Entreq Apollo RCA eartha cable which will connect each streamer to a Silver Tellus ground box. We will try a few tracks first without the Entreq ground cable and then with. There are some limitations to this test since it takes a good 20 minutes for Entreq to kick in, and at least a couple of hours to get most of the benefit.... and we obviously have a lot of boxes to test.

Ethernet cables used will be the excellent AQ Diamond at both NAS end and streamer end. We will also experiment with the totaldac ethernet cable if don't run out of time.

Kick-off is at 2pm GMT.

Guillaume