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+--- Thread: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server (/Thread-Mac-AIR-v-MiND-180-v-Auralic-ARIES-v-totaldac-d1-server)
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Confused - 18-Sep-2014
I think this will be absolutely fascinating, but very slightly bonkers perhaps, eh Matt?
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - ErikM - 01-Oct-2014
I'm also looking forward to your opinion of the Aries, especially in comparison to AIR
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Kunter - 01-Oct-2014
Hi guys.
Sorry for the delay.
I sent the Aries back.
It is a glorious piece of gear, responded well to power conditioning (sound was considerably better with Valhalla power cord connected to the isolation transformer compared to wall with regular power cord) and that way it would have been a keeper. That way, better than my AIR setup.
But my new love, the Cubox i4Pro, is now even better. More air around instruments, much better detail, beautiful tonal picture, you name it. I am now using it with battery power supply (see my last posts on the Cubox project) and still waiting for eSATA disk for music. But even playing from the thumb drive, and through a relatively cheap USB cable, sound is really beautiful.
Will post further comments once I have my final setup in place.
But current conclusion is,
If you want to have a nice piece of gear added to your system, easy to use, sounding great, and wish to spend some effort on power conditioning, Auralic Aries is the way to go. AIR is not too far behind, but Aries takes the burden of using PC (except for a NAS server).
But if you like fiddling around with small gear, would chose a bit more "diy" approach, and would like to spend much less, Cubox is the way to go.
My Aries setup that beat AIR had a 2000 USD power cord connected to a 5000 USD power isolation transformer on top of 1700 USD for Aries.
My Cubox setup that beat Aries has 140 USD PC, 50 USD Anker battery power supply, some cables (say 10-20 USD for power connection and all) and a thumb drive.
Silly..
Kunter
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Jwg1749 - 01-Oct-2014
(01-Oct-2014, 21:09)Kunter Wrote: My Cubox setup that beat Aries has 140 USD PC, 50 USD Anker battery power supply, some cables (say 10-20 USD for power connection and all) and a thumb drive.
Silly..
Kunter
Silly indeed, and a breath of fresh air. Nice work, Kunter!
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Confused - 01-Oct-2014
Yes- good work Kunter. I had a feeling that the CuBox might get close to, or even match AIR. But come out better? Remarkable I would say! This has definitely got my interest, although I am not an IT wizard, so I'm sure that I would get stuck with this. Cheap enough just to give it a go though! I think I'll start researching this Lynux stuff.
(01-Oct-2014, 21:18)Jwg1749 Wrote: Silly indeed, and a breath of fresh air. Nice work, Kunter!
Silly? Bonkers! I would say......
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Borgen - 02-Oct-2014
Very interesting, I guess this shows the value of battery power supply. I presume that the perceived sound quality drops significantly if you connect it to a regular PSU (SMPS or linear)?
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - Antoine - 02-Oct-2014
Can't wait to receive mine. I received the memory cards yesterday, the Cubox should arrive tomorrow, the batteries and other parts next week.
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - ErikM - 02-Oct-2014
Hey Kunter thanks for the update. The thing I'm kind of missing from most of the feedback on these devices ( not just Kunter :-) is how they were hooked up.
The Aries as an example can be used wired or wireless, and according to Auralic wireless sounds a bit better. Then we have four choices of output, USB, Coax,Toslink, AES..
This all makes me wonder.. and it seems that almost everyone is using it USB.. so I keep wondering how Coax or AES sounds; better, worse, different? Also I imagine that the server side software could effect the SQ..
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - mauidan - 09-Oct-2014
Auralic Aries review:
http://www.audiostream.com/content/auralic-aries-0
RE: Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server - GuillaumeB - 09-Oct-2014
(09-Oct-2014, 17:55)mauidan Wrote: Auralic Aries review:
http://www.audiostream.com/content/auralic-aries-0
I'm quoting from the review:
"Compared to the Simaudio Moon MiND (see review) connected to the Vega DAC via AES/EBU, I felt the MiND offered an even lower noise floor as compared to the Aries. Music just sounded more full bodied, more colorful. Bass also appeared to be deeper and more robust. The MiND is limited to PCM data up to 24/192 but on a purely sound quality basis, I preferred its presentation to the Aries as it drew me into the music more."
I think I'd agree with the bit about being drawn in more.
Guillaume