Auralic Aries mini

[Confused]

Personally I'm not expecting the Dialog to be better than most other purpose built audiophile music servers/streamers, rather the opposite. Can't know for sure of course till I tried it but I would be VERY surprised if it did. It's way too cheap to be built with great parts and I'm quite sure Devialet does not yet recognize there's more to the "bits are bits" dogma.

+1 couldn't agree more

Guillaume

I seem to recall some comments that Devialet had stated Dialog was being sold more or less at cost, and the real retail price should be nearer Euro 1000.  So on that basis, you could argue that the Dialog has every chance of sounding as good as AIR and some dedicated streamers.  You could also argue that spec wise, it is little different to a NUC or similar.  Either way, we will know for sure in 2017, when the Expert compatibility is implemented.  (Maybe)

[Womaz]

Personally I'm not expecting the Dialog to be better than most other purpose built audiophile music servers/streamers, rather the opposite. Can't know for sure of course till I tried it but I would be VERY surprised if it did. It's way too cheap to be built with great parts and I'm quite sure Devialet does not yet recognize there's more to the "bits are bits" dogma.

+1 couldn't agree more

Guillaume

I seem to recall some comments that Devialet had stated Dialog was being sold more or less at cost, and the real retail price should be nearer Euro 1000.  So on that basis, you could argue that the Dialog has every chance of sounding as good as AIR and some dedicated streamers.  You could also argue that spec wise, it is little different to a NUC or similar.  Either way, we will know for sure in 2017, when the Expert compatibility is implemented.  (Maybe)

2017???? Please tell me this is your sense of humour

[AlexS]

If you read some of the older threads on this forum, the conclusion appears to be that the original Auralic Aries does not quite match the sound quality of AIR.  The mini would need to be better than its older big sister if it were not meet your "not inferior to AIR" requirement for sound quality.  I'm not aware that anyone has tried one with a Devialet (is it even available yet?), so you never know.

Actually, I've tested Auralic Aries at home for about a week, and don't agree with this conclusion. In my opinion, sound-wise, Auralic Aries is on par with AIR. That I completely disliked the app that drives it (Lightning DS) is a different story. I'm totally spoiled by the JRiver/JRemote combination. In theory, JRiver can be used as a music server and control point for Auralic Aries. In practice, they don't play well together. That is, if you play normal length tracks, things should fine (and gapless). But I have a number of albums with extremely short tracks (under 30 secs). In this case, the music would just stop from time to time.
As far as Aries Mini, it may be worth a try: Devialet's USB input, being asynchronous, may compensate for Aries Mini clock's deficiencies (compared to the more precise Auralic Aries' clocks)
However, given that Dialogue looms on the horizon, I'd personally prefer the latter. And I'd prefer AIR to both of them, as long as it can be gotten to work.

[Antoine]

Personally I'm not expecting the Dialog to be better than most other purpose built audiophile music servers/streamers, rather the opposite. Can't know for sure of course till I tried it but I would be VERY surprised if it did. It's way too cheap to be built with great parts and I'm quite sure Devialet does not yet recognize there's more to the "bits are bits" dogma.

[GuillaumeB]

Personally I'm not expecting the Dialog to be better than most other purpose built audiophile music servers/streamers, rather the opposite. Can't know for sure of course till I tried it but I would be VERY surprised if it did. It's way too cheap to be built with great parts and I'm quite sure Devialet does not yet recognize there's more to the "bits are bits" dogma.

+1 couldn't agree more

Guillaume

[Womaz]

Once again this is where I get to , I lose patience with Devilalet over the AIR issue and even Dialog. I make the decision to go and get a streamer and then when I start to investigate the options none of them really push all the right buttons , and I therefore tend to sit on the fence again.
I think I do this as I love the sound of AIR and I would be gutted if I shelled out extra cash for a streamer and I found myself with inferior sound quality.

The Aurender N100 is the one I would ultimately chose if I wanted to do the job property, but I go back to my original hopes when purchasing the 200. For a sort of one box one brand solution feeding my PMCs which I would have possibly upgraded to the 26s in time.
This is why Dialog appeals , but I do understand the concerns stated above. I guess over the last few years I have sort of subscribed to the view that getting the music to the system should be as good with a cheap option as its the 200 and the speakers that ultimately do the work and produce the sound quality.........although I am by no means any expert on this. Also with the likes of the Melco and Aurender products I am now starting to question this. I do feel that for my needs though this is the way I will go. AIR serves that purpose well and I am not sure my system will benefit form lots of cash being thrown at a streamer.
AIR is great but I think will always have problems as PCs always have software issues and classes from my experience . So eventually I will probably take this out of the playback chain, although as Alex points out I also love the JRiver app and remote, it's brilliant for my needs.

Thanks again for all the very helpful replies.

Back to square one

[AlexS]

@Womaz, perhaps, the situation is not as hopeless as may be concluded from your last post
I also dislike the idea of buying a dedicated network streamer, even though I'd flirted with Auralic Aries for a week. 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.
If you give up on AIR (but before you do, are you running the latest BETA version of AIR; have disabled the screen saver, auto Windows updates, configured your Anti Virus to ignore JRirver folders, tried to switch your PC to the high power mode ? - experiment with these, before you rule out AIR on your current computer).
So, if you give up on AIR, but still like the flexibility of your current setup, get yourself a MAC mini for under $500. Run JRiver on it, and still stream over AIR. Don't even have that MAC connected to the Internet. No extra programs. If this works, you retain both the SQ and flexibility. If you still encounter AIR issues (not likely, in my opinion), you can always fall back on USB. If there is a better option in the future, you'll just sell the MAC or give it away as a present.

[Womaz]

@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

[Magagne]

+1 here too, MacMini rule for flexibility because like you say, we're not stock with a control point. And we can stream with any music provider for convenience (AppleMusic/Spotify/...name it). I would like to use Air, but I don't find a solution yet that works for me, so I rely on a trusty USB connection until Devialet fix the issue of Air.

[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