16-Sep-2015, 22:52
(15-Sep-2015, 21:15)Confused Wrote: 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.
JRiver MC20 --> Devialet 250 Expert Pro --> KEF Blades II
