Auralic Aries mini

[AlexS]

The main reason is not SQ and not money: it's that I don't want to be locked into a single control point app.

Surely you could have used pretty much any UPnP control points with the Aries? That's quite a range, right?

Guillaume

Right, and I did try some. But did not like any (e.g. Kinsky, Lumin). The list of their shortcomings is long. Some don't even provide adequate support for the Composers view. And only JRemote (with JRiver) can give you the ability to build custom views, and use custom library fields. Also, JRemote's visual design is the most aesthetically pleasing (to my eye).
Also, Aries works better with the OpenHome protocol than with UPnP. Which limits the choice.

[AlexS]

@AlexS
Thanks for the reply very helpful. Part of the problem is I am not really up to date with all of the technology these days so forgive me if I ask a few questions for clarification.
Are you saying a Mac Mini at say £350 will give me AIR with no stability issues, how can this be the case. If I am using the AIR facility will the problems not just persist?
Also what is the difference between me going for the Aries Mini and the Apple Mac Mini? Would the only benefit be I can continue to use the Jriver app and remote?
Your checklist of what to check first before abandoning AIR actually makes me want to get rid of AIR     and quickly too  
Way too much hassle to listen to music in my opinion, but I really appreciate you trying to help me.

The strange thing is right now AIR works for me if I have lap top in the same room as my router, and has done for a couple of months now, so for me it must be a router issue. The trouble is this is not always possible.

Devialet actually offered me a Mac mini when i was originally complaining to them for my original poor guidance when buying the 200. Stupidly I asked them for a Dilaog instead  

@Womaz,
I think, based on the statistics, a Mac Mini is much less likely to give you problems with AIR. Especially, if you don't have anything extra running on it, and don't have it connected to the Internet. However, there is no guarantee: some have trouble even with the MACs.
There are several advantages of a Mac Mini over Aries Mini 
1) Yes, you'd be able to continue to use the JRiver app and remote
2) You'd have a high chance of successfully streaming via AIR, which, in theory, may give you a slightly better SQ compared to USB (this is open to debate, though)
3) Mac Mini will have a higher resell value (although, given their prices, the difference may not be big)
There is one advantage of Aries Mini:
1) it's a more integrated solution dedicated to streaming (simpler setup).

> The strange thing is right now AIR works for me if I have lap top in the same room as my router
Are you wired or streaming over WiFi? If the latter, then it's all about the strength of your WiFi signal. I would encourage you to wire everything.

> Devialet actually offered me a Mac mini when i was originally complaining to them for my original poor guidance when buying the 200
Well, if SPARK evolves into a good control point, you may not be sorry. Or else tell them you changed your mind.

[marcor]

Joining the conversation...
I am another Devialet user frustrated by AIR problems and by the fact that Devialet seems unreliable with QC of their software.
One of the reason why I updated my D-premier was to have ethernet connection and forget the WiFi debacle. I was quite happy when after the update the streaming through ethernet started working properly with my Imac. Unluckily with the new firmware and AIR my ethernet connection started showing the same problems as WiFi with crackling noise after approx 1 hour of listening. I know I could revert back to an older version but the you get all the problems of old config, SAM and so on....
Now I have reached my saturation point and I am looking for alternative solutions for streaming. I read about Aurender, Auralic and in the last post Mac mini.
I am particularly intrigued by this possibility.
Could you clarify how would you set up the Mac mini? I was thinking to have it sitting side by the devialet and connect it through usb and drive it with the remote app. Possibly sharing my library that is on the imac with home sharing so to avoid to move it.
Has anybody tried a similar set up?
Thanks

Marco

[Womaz]

Once again thanks for the help with this.
I think if there is still a doubt about AIR with a Mac mini I would not be prepared to take that risk, as I know there are many people having AIR issues with Mac gear too.

I am using Ethernet AIR and not wifi. Like I say when lap top is in same room I have had no dropouts or white noise for a few months. The lap top is wifi to the router as not practical to hard wire it.

Once again I will probably sit on the fence and wait for Dialog, I just keep having these moments of impatience ?


When I bought the Devialet my intention was to use it as an all in one and as the streamer too as I would then focus on maybe getting a speaker upgrade later, therefore the cash going toward this. I also like the idea of one brand as I really can't be bothered with software update after software update. I thought that if I stick with one brand this will cut this down a bit and have more chance of less conflicts. If Dilalog matches AIR in sound quality I will be well pleased.
When the lap top is not in main room the CD transport has to be used and it's still really good through the 200. But it's not as good as AIR in my opinion. Lacks a bit of the bass and sounds a little bright in comparison.

I am no expert by any means but when I decided to go for the 200 it was based on my idea of having the 200 and speakers as my high end gear if you like. A digital feed was less important to me as I believe the main two things to spend the cash on we're the 200 and the speakers. Just my thoughts and not saying this is the correct way, but for now I want to stick with this.

Some great replies so thanks

[GuillaumeB]

The main reason is not SQ and not money: it's that I don't want to be locked into a single control point app.

Surely you could have used pretty much any UPnP control points with the Aries? That's quite a range, right?

Guillaume

Right, and I did try some. But did not like any (e.g. Kinsky, Lumin). The list of their shortcomings is long. Some don't even provide adequate support for the Composers view. And only JRemote (with JRiver) can give you the ability to build custom views, and use custom library fields. Also, JRemote's visual design is the most aesthetically pleasing (to my eye).
Also, Aries works better with the OpenHome protocol than with UPnP. Which limits the choice.

I don't have any issue with you preferring JRiver, control points and usability/ergonomics issues are very personal after all. 

But I did find your post a little misleading since with the Aries you are not locked into a "single control point app" but rather an open source ecosystem (UPnP). And I don't believe that their list of shortcomings is quite as long as you make out, although to be fair you don't provide that many details so I don't really know what I'm arguing against (!). Regarding the various fields these can easily be configured in the UPnP servers such as Minimserver or Twonkymedia. One of the primary objectives of Minimserver was to provide better support of classical music metadata.

By way of an example here's a quote from Minimserver's website (http://minimserver.com/features.html):

"Intelligent Browsing in MinimServer allows you to make any combination of selections in any order. For example, you could search for a violin concerto by artist, then composer, then conductor, then orchestra, then album. Alternatively, you could search first by composer, then select violin concertos, then artist, then orchestra, then conductor (or any other order of selection). At each step you see all the music that matches your previous selections."

As to your advice regarding a Mac Mini you seem to be unaware of all the DWN (Dreaded White Noise) issues surrounding Macs too. Our very own online surveys did show that there were lots of problems with AIR and Macs. I regularly hear from frustrated Mac/Devialet users.

Guillaume

[AlexS]

@Womaz,
Correct: as Guillaume pointed out, there is no 100% guarantee that a MAC Mini will be faultless with respect AIR streaming. But if it's disconnected from the Internet (and won't run any auto-updates), the chances may be pretty high. And again, USB streaming is your certain fallback.
So, I understand you're not completely wired, as your laptop is not wired to the Router. I think in your case, this is the main issue.

@marcor,
MAC Mini setup: JRiver controlled by JRemote. JRiver running on the Mini can talk to another JRiver instance running on a different computer, using it as a remote library (server). I've tried this setup using two PCs, and it seemed to work fine. However, I did not experiment with it extensively.
One disclaimer: I don't own a MAC, so for me it's a theoretical possibility - the last resort. I've still not given up on using AIR with Windows 7 (or 10 in the future).

Guillaume,
Yes, although in theory any UPnP control point/server should work with Aries, I observed that it worked best with its own Lightning DS app, in the OpenHome (not UPnP) mode. When I tried using JRiver as the server and control point for Aries, it was plagued with several issues, the worst among which was the inability to play very short tracks. (Now, I'm not saying it's Aries' fault. JRiver may be to blame). And when I used JRiver as the server, and Lightning DS as control point, the latter would keep on losing the music library after it was first loaded (the library would show up empty upon subsequent launches of Lightning DS).
Here is what I did not like about other (than JRiver/Jremote) control points in general:
1) They would combine albums with the same title, even if the composer/artist is different for them. In JRiver, this can be easily remedied by creating a custom Library field concatenating the album name, composer and artist, and updating the Albums View to use this field.
2) JRiver/JRemote understand semicolon separated Artists and Composers assigned to an album. For example, if you assign "Bach;Mozart" to the composers field of the album, this album will be cross-listed both under Mozart and Bach in the composers view. All other control points I've tried would display this album under the composer with the name "Bach,Mozart". To me, it's a serious shortcoming. Given that there may be multiple composers per album, the Composers View can quickly get out of hand.
I could continue this list, but I think you're getting my point.

[marcor]

Thanks Alex,

I'm not familiar qith Jriver but what you described is the same thing I was thinking to do using iTunes.
The mac mini would also serve me as alternative to apple tv. It seems be the cheaper and more versatile solution until Devialet doesn't fix AIR.
Cheers
M

[Womaz]

In the USA and Canada you get a free years subscription to Tidal when you buy a mini. Now that's some deal!!