Auralic Aries G1

[Sailor4W]

Just to update you all regarding my Auralic G1 project: I tried in vain to get a G1 demo model from the local dealers. None of them was able to get a a G1 in reasonable time, nor could they tell me when they‘d expect delivery of a new unit. The impression I got was that they weren’t really interested in getting these units. I was really frustrated and finally gave up completely!
A bit more than half a year, I sold my Aurender N100H. I still remember the smooth and detailed sound of the unit, so I called another dealer to see if I could get a demo unit. Sure enough, I had it in my home the same day! It only took me a few moments to get immersed again in the Aurender-typical sound and I told myself why going through the hassle of waiting for unavailable Auralic units. So I ordered an Aurender N100H equipped with a 4 TB HDD that arrived two days later. What a difference in dealer-client relationship! Auralic should definitely think of improving their dealer network. I don‘t blame the dealers as both told me that the distributor seemed to be unreliable.
In any case, I truly enjoy the smooth and detailed Aurender sound with my Devialet!

Congretulations. No regret you sold an aurender just half a year ago? Streaming woth Roon direct to the Devialet wasn’t an option for you?


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

Of course, I cursed myself for having sold the Aurender! But I was taken by the Roon craze: first, I had Roon installed on my Mac Mini 2018 and went via Cat7a into the Ethernet port of the Devialet. The sound was so là là, and as everyone, I thought I need a Nucleus that guarantees much quieter operation. With the Nucleus, I tried both options, Ethernet and USB, and I just wasn't taken by the sound. To me, there was no real improvement in sound when going with the Nucleus. The sound was anaemic, flat and un-involving. More so, after extended listening sessions, I really got listening fatigue. In my opinion, Roon is, at least sound-wise, highly overrated. But of course, it's GUI can't be beaten! So I sold my Nucleus and went back to the Aurender N100H. What a fantastic streamer/player! The GUI is nowhere near Roon, but for me, the sound is more important. And the sound is impeccable with the Aurender!

[chungjh]

I watch several audio forums (as most of us do I’m sure), and people seem to always be rotating the popular streamers for various reasons, bigger sound stage one week, then sounds crap the next week, time to change again... When I start thinking I don’t like the sound of my system, I play some of my favorites and remind myself how good it can/does sound. Saves a lot of money that way. Mastering differences will make a bigger difference than any linear PSU or Femto clock. Enjoy the music, the gear is secondary.

I took exactly the same attitude for a long time. Till I stumbled onto Auralic. Neither Audirvana plus, nor Roon was able to get the music right (Audirvana still better than Roon in my opinion), but connecting the Auralic Femto to my system was a very good thing. None of the treble glare that was so annoying in my previous setups, wonderfully involving sound! This might very well be particular to my ears, but for enjoying what I hear, it is important to me. I do not convince myself that something sounds good, I just hear it. But I very much agree that these streamers are expensive, maybe too expensive? Never mind!

What is treble glare? I read in another thread that the clock in Expertpro CI is so good, that upstream electronic components don't make much SQ difference. Do you feel that Auralic Femto made a significant SQ difference?

[chungjh]

I watch several audio forums (as most of us do I’m sure), and people seem to always be rotating the popular streamers for various reasons, bigger sound stage one week, then sounds crap the next week, time to change again... When I start thinking I don’t like the sound of my system, I play some of my favorites and remind myself how good it can/does sound. Saves a lot of money that way. Mastering differences will make a bigger difference than any linear PSU or Femto clock. Enjoy the music, the gear is secondary.

I took exactly the same attitude for a long time. Till I stumbled onto Auralic. Neither Audirvana plus, nor Roon was able to get the music right (Audirvana still better than Roon in my opinion), but connecting the Auralic Femto to my system was a very good thing. None of the treble glare that was so annoying in my previous setups, wonderfully involving sound! This might very well be particular to my ears, but for enjoying what I hear, it is important to me. I do not convince myself that something sounds good, I just hear it. But I very much agree that these streamers are expensive, maybe too expensive? Never mind!

What is treble glare? I read in another thread that the clock in Expertpro CI is so good, that upstream electronic components don't make much SQ difference. Do you feel that Auralic Femto made a significant SQ difference?

Do you think playing streaming music (e.g. tidal) via streamer such as Aries sounds better than just adding top quality USB bridge (e.g. Mutec+ MC3) between apple laptop and D220 pro? I would appreciate your thoughts.

[baconbrain]

Do you think playing streaming music (e.g. tidal) via streamer such as Aries sounds better than just adding top quality USB bridge (e.g. Mutec+ MC3) between apple laptop and D220 pro? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hi Chungjh,

Realize the question was not directed to me, but my initial setup after acquiring my Dev was streaming from a slightly modified Mac Mini. I was quite happy with the constellation but was surprised what a step forward the SQ made when replacing the Mac with an Aries. From an SQ and value for the money perspective, I was more than impressed. The only thing which triggered my change later was the challenges I was having with the network protocol and the integration of additional streaming services. Something which they have probably overcome since then.

[Johnny 99]

I am sorry if I duplicate an existing thread, but I searched the chat forum and found little information regarding the new Auralic Aries G1 in conjunction with Devialet.

I have a somewhat troubled past concerning streamers. I started out with an Aurender N100H connected to my Expert 120. It is indeed a good streamer, but sound wise it was a bit on the dark side. I always felt like treble was lacking a bit and therefore, made the sound to be darkish.

Next was Roon on my Mac Mini 2018 via Ethernet to my Devialet. Initially, I quite liked the sound (not to mention the vast step of Roon's graphical interface compared to Aurender's Conductor app). But after extended listening, the sound became a tad too bright and became fatiguing.

So, I decided to buy Roon's Nucleus to avoid any computer noise spilling into the Devialet. Much to my surprise, the Nucleus didn't sound much better via Ethernet/Devialet. The sound was anaemic, flat and totally uninvolving. In the meantime, I sold my Nucleus and fretted of having sold my Aurender.

I also had an Auralic Aries Mini somewhere hidden in a drawer, that I had used only for a short time. Just out of curiosity, I connected it to my Devialet (with my music library on a Samsung 2 TB SSD) and I was totally surprised that I liked the sound so much better than compared to the Nucleus. The bass was much better, the aneamic sound was gone. Even though the Aries Mini sounded a tiny bit noisy, I thought that's the direction I should move. For streaming Tidal/Qobuz, however, the Aries Mini is not good. Stable streaming, but the highs were brittle and unnatural. But local files were pretty good.

Having read all those great reviews concerning the new Aries G1 (G2 is too expensive for my taste), I went to see my local dealer and asked if he had a G1. He told me that the supply for the G1 is totally dried out and that it would take months to get a new batch delivered to him. But he offered me an Aries Femto to try out. After connecting it to my Devialet and setting up the Lightning DS software, I was ready to go. Boy, was that thing good: totally quiet, music emanated from a black background, and I very, very much liked what I heard. Good bass, great treble, and totally clean. Most of all, the sound was totally involving and enjoyable.

So it basically confirmed what I expected from the Aries Mini, only much better! Now, I would like to invest into nowadays's technology - the Aries Femto will be phased out (as far as I know).

Before spending over 2K, I would like to hear your experience with the G1. Feedback mostly appreciated! Thank you!

Sailor4W

Hello this is my first post on Devialet Chat having found the above comments / review subsequent to the purchase of my Aries G1. I'm not sure if you have now bitten the bullet and purchased a G1 but though you might be interested in my thoughts.

Firstly a bit of background.
I've had my Expert 120 for nearly two year and had been managing to stream tidal to it via the Devialet air app on my laptop (windows). In principle this worked fine but was dogged by my laptop crashing and and interruptions when it decided to back up to the cloud or audible e-mail alerts etc. The major draw back however was my wife couldn't access the system when I had my laptop at work (far from ideal).  A stand alone streamer / network bridge was obviously the answer.  I didn't want to spend silly money (eg. dCS) but needed something that didn't let the side down in terms of performance and sound quality. Alerted by the reviews the G1 looked like the perfect answer.

For the record the Aries G1 sits in a system comprising an original Expert 120 with PMC Twenty.23 speakers all connected with Chord 'Shawline' (speaker cables and digital coax) - Planning to get my old Linn LP12 turntable up and running shortly following a forced stay in the loft when the children where young. I'm sure their are more system tweaks I could do but as they say one thing at a time.

Experience

On first plugging in my G1 my initial reaction was to be fair a little underwhelming. I've no idea why this was the case other than noticing a few days later that the digital connection was possible plugged in the wrong way around. Maybe like speaker cables they have a directionality who knows? Anyway after a few weeks thing have settled down and its really starting to sing. The Lighting DS app works very well even on my iphone (imaging an ipad would be perfect). I would totally agree that the sound has a more analog quality eg: more tonal depth to the sound and a less lean quality plus improved timing and rhythm . This is particularly evident with classical music and jazz. The only slight negative is the direct Devialet air connection via my laptop did deal with more contemporary music (eg: the R&B and Grime my teenage daughter likes slightly better). This had more air and grip particularly in the bass region with the subsonic filter on. Like most things its swings and roundabouts so don't let this put you off. 

I hope you find this helpful and I look forward to joining in on other discussions. 

[Sailor4W]

I am sorry if I duplicate an existing thread, but I searched the chat forum and found little information regarding the new Auralic Aries G1 in conjunction with Devialet.

I have a somewhat troubled past concerning streamers. I started out with an Aurender N100H connected to my Expert 120. It is indeed a good streamer, but sound wise it was a bit on the dark side. I always felt like treble was lacking a bit and therefore, made the sound to be darkish.

Next was Roon on my Mac Mini 2018 via Ethernet to my Devialet. Initially, I quite liked the sound (not to mention the vast step of Roon's graphical interface compared to Aurender's Conductor app). But after extended listening, the sound became a tad too bright and became fatiguing.

So, I decided to buy Roon's Nucleus to avoid any computer noise spilling into the Devialet. Much to my surprise, the Nucleus didn't sound much better via Ethernet/Devialet. The sound was anaemic, flat and totally uninvolving. In the meantime, I sold my Nucleus and fretted of having sold my Aurender.

I also had an Auralic Aries Mini somewhere hidden in a drawer, that I had used only for a short time. Just out of curiosity, I connected it to my Devialet (with my music library on a Samsung 2 TB SSD) and I was totally surprised that I liked the sound so much better than compared to the Nucleus. The bass was much better, the aneamic sound was gone. Even though the Aries Mini sounded a tiny bit noisy, I thought that's the direction I should move. For streaming Tidal/Qobuz, however, the Aries Mini is not good. Stable streaming, but the highs were brittle and unnatural. But local files were pretty good.

Having read all those great reviews concerning the new Aries G1 (G2 is too expensive for my taste), I went to see my local dealer and asked if he had a G1. He told me that the supply for the G1 is totally dried out and that it would take months to get a new batch delivered to him. But he offered me an Aries Femto to try out. After connecting it to my Devialet and setting up the Lightning DS software, I was ready to go. Boy, was that thing good: totally quiet, music emanated from a black background, and I very, very much liked what I heard. Good bass, great treble, and totally clean. Most of all, the sound was totally involving and enjoyable.

So it basically confirmed what I expected from the Aries Mini, only much better! Now, I would like to invest into nowadays's technology - the Aries Femto will be phased out (as far as I know).

Before spending over 2K, I would like to hear your experience with the G1. Feedback mostly appreciated! Thank you!

Sailor4W

Hello this is my first post on Devialet Chat having found the above comments / review subsequent to the purchase of my Aries G1. I'm not sure if you have now bitten the bullet and purchased a G1 but though you might be interested in my thoughts.

Firstly a bit of background.
I've had my Expert 120 for nearly two year and had been managing to stream tidal to it via the Devialet air app on my laptop (windows). In principle this worked fine but was dogged by my laptop crashing and and interruptions when it decided to back up to the cloud or audible e-mail alerts etc. The major draw back however was my wife couldn't access the system when I had my laptop at work (far from ideal).  A stand alone streamer / network bridge was obviously the answer.  I didn't want to spend silly money (eg. dCS) but needed something that didn't let the side down in terms of performance and sound quality. Alerted by the reviews the G1 looked like the perfect answer.

For the record the Aries G1 sits in a system comprising an original Expert 120 with PMC Twenty.23 speakers all connected with Chord 'Shawline' (speaker cables and digital coax) - Planning to get my old Linn LP12 turntable up and running shortly following a forced stay in the loft when the children where young. I'm sure their are more system tweaks I could do but as they say one thing at a time.

Experience

On first plugging in my G1 my initial reaction was to be fair a little underwhelming. I've no idea why this was the case other than noticing a few days later that the digital connection was possible plugged in the wrong way around. Maybe like speaker cables they have a directionality who knows? Anyway after a few weeks thing have settled down and its really starting to sing. The Lighting DS app works very well even on my iphone (imaging an ipad would be perfect). I would totally agree that the sound has a more analog quality eg: more tonal depth to the sound and a less lean quality plus improved timing and rhythm . This is particularly evident with classical music and jazz. The only slight negative is the direct Devialet air connection via my laptop did deal with more contemporary music (eg: the R&B and Grime my teenage daughter likes slightly better). This had more air and grip particularly in the bass region with the subsonic filter on. Like most things its swings and roundabouts so don't let this put you off. 

I hope you find this helpful and I look forward to joining in on other discussions. 

Hello Johnny 99, welcome to Devialet Chat!

Thank you very much for your impressions regarding the Auralic G1!

My route to the G1 took an unexpected turn: being in Switzerland, it was hard to get hold of a G1. My local dealer tried hard, but the supply was dwindling, and the lead time seemed to be very long!

I remembered my experience with the Aurender N100H which was quite favourable, so I bought a new N100H and hooked it up to my Expert 120. The sound was quite smooth, even though my impression of my previous N100H was confirmed inasmuch as the sound was lacking detail, it just sounded a bit muddled. It was as if much of the details in the music was swallowed by the Aurender.

It was a lucky coincidence that my daughter bought me one of those credit card-sized Raspberry Pi 4 for a birthday present. I immediately started to experiment with this tiny device to use it as a bridge between Roon running on my Mac Mini and my Devialet. First I had Ropieee installed. From the moment I heard the first sound, I was truly amazed how good the system sounded. Also, I had, for the first time, the RAAT protocol at hand. It was important, since after upgrading my Mac to OS Catalina, I couldn't get AIR running on my system anymore! All the better was I becoming independent of AIR.

I was curious to see how far I drive this thing. Next, I bought Allo's Shanti LPS and this improved the sound somewhat, but not dramatically. Then I went on and bought Allo's new USBridge Signature. This indeed, improved the sound considerably. I then experimented with Audirvana 3.5 and moOde audio. After a relatively long phase of experimenting various options, I finally settled with USBridge Sig running DietPi in conjunction with Roon Bridge. 

The sound is truly fabulous! Smooth, much more detailed than my Aurender N100H, lacking any digital glare. Just a joy to listen to. My Aurender is up for sale, and more so, with this setup, I can use Roon (which I very much like) and I am totally independent of the big-riddled AIR protocol. Not to mention that this setup costs a fraction of an Aurender N100!

I am sorry if I deviate from the G1 thread. Hadn't been the issues with excessively long delivery times, I might just as well write about Auralic G1 impressions 

[sfdude]

As I am reading this thread, I realize you aren’t using the Devialet as a Roon RAAT device from a Roon Server (which might be remotely placed but connected to the same network).

Is that correct and hence why you are using the external devices to connect to USB port of your Devialet?

-dave

[Melville]

@Sailor4W
I am debating to buy DIGIONE Signature PLAYER or USBridge Signature.

Did you use Shanti with your USBridge Signature?
Any difference with or without linear supply?
Let me know, thanks.

Kai

[Sailor4W]

As I am reading this thread, I realize you aren’t using the Devialet as a Roon RAAT device from a Roon Server (which might be remotely placed but connected to the same network).

Is that correct and hence why you are using the external devices to connect to USB port of your Devialet?

-dave

My setup is the following: I have Roon Core running on my Mac Mini 2018. The Mac Mini is connected via Ethernet Cat7 to the USBridge Sig, that itself feeds the Devialet via USB.

Originally, I had my Mac Mini connected directly via Ethernet to my Devialet. Roon was running AIR straight into my Dev. But after upgrading to IS Catalina, somehow my Roon/AUR setup just didn‘t work anymore. Hence the setup Mac Mini > USBridge Sig > Devialet

[Sailor4W]

@Sailor4W
I am debating to buy DIGIONE Signature PLAYER or USBridge Signature.

Did you use Shanti with your USBridge Signature?
Any difference with or without linear supply?
Let me know, thanks.

Kai

I am using the Shanti LPS with the USBridge Sig. It makes the setup quieter, but not dramatically. I could just as well live with the power supply provided, but I wanted to pull all bells and whistles.

Overall, the USBridge Sig is very good!