Auralic Aries and Devialet 200

[Beajuju]

Like some, I have problems with Air. I think bying the Aries because or its price and functionnality. However, I would not buy if the sound quality is not as good as Air. So, Aries or Air? I have an Audioquest USB Diamond.

In my (very humble) opinion it is not as good as AIR, having said that I base my opinion on tests I carried out last year and it's very possible the SQ has improved with firmware updates.

If I were looking at a DAC-less streamer (to replace AIR)  I would also consider the 3DLabs NANO Transport which is roughly the same price. I haven't tested this one myself but I have heard many good things about it, mainly on the French forums.

Also in the same price range you have the Melco N1A which is also a transport. In my tests it was considerably better than AIR and on a par with my totaldac d1 server which of course is much more expensive.

All 3 devices (Aries, NANO and N1A) will require a UPnP control point which will also give you access to streaming services depending on the app you choose.

Guillaume

Thank you Guillaume for the suggestions. I live in Québec city, and the Melco is not available here. Aurender 100X can be a solution. BTW i received an emai from Devialet to my question. Unfortunately, the Dialog won't be available for the expert line this spring but more at the end of the year...