Auralic Aries vs Aurender X100 vs Melco N1Z

[GuillaumeB]

Amabrok presented such a elaborate review, that there is not much to add for me....   

After the session we came more or less to the same conclusions on build quality and sound quality. I can't comment on operation, since I didn't operate the system. Having said that, I have to admit that it took me more effort to come to reliable conclusions than Amabrok. Maybe that was because the system and most of the music were new to me, or maybe Amabrok simply has better ears

Also for me, the Melco was the best of the three. The Melco sounded most organic, with the right tonal balance. The Aurender has a bit brighter tonal balance. The two are very close however, and I would definitely go for the Aurender based on the flawless operation. The Auralic Aries was clearly behind the Melco and Aurender. Cymbals sounded a bit smeared in comparison, and the whole sound was less organic. I would still give it a 7 though (instead of the 6 from Amabrok), but that may very well be owner's pride...       There was one aspect of sound quality that I could not really assess, and that is soundstage. Normally, the exact 3D positioning of instruments in the soundstage, and the overall sense of soundstage, are very important for me (which made me choose for Wadia + Chord Electronics + B&W Nautilus 803 + MIT cabling in my system in the Netherlands). But since I was listening outside the sweet spot, I can't really say anything about that; it seems to me that being in the sweet spot is quite important with planar loudspeakers like the MLs.

Which one would I choose, based on our shoutout? Clearly the Aurender. I have the Auralic now, and I won't upgrade immediately. But quality-wise, the Aurender would definitely fit better in my system. And if you look at the differences in both build quality and sound, the Aurender is definitely worth the higher price ($3500 vs $1500). To me, the Melco, although presenting the overall best sound, doesn't warrant the higher price.

Well summarized Eric!

Thanks for sharing your views and also thank you for working with me on this


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Brilliant work chaps, I know it isn't easy! 

Good point re soundstage too, funnily enough this is an area where I think AIR (in my setup!) falls a little short. I also wonder if the Devialet couldn't also improve in this regard. I know there have also been some questions marks raised about the stereo imaging on dual mono models post D-Premier so it's possibly difficult to disentangle which part is causing what...

I did also notice that the Aries improved with time so Rufus' question is a good one.

Guillaume