Hi All,
I haven't been on the forum for a long time as I've been very settled with my 52/CAP/135s. A few years back I opted to sell my CDS2 and replace it with a Sonos Connect which is reclocked /up-sampled by Empircal Audio's Synchro Mesh feeding a Teddy Pardo DAC.
I've recently started to explore options for a new digital front end - I guess I wanted to check on the state of the art a few years on. My requirements were simple:
- stream red book and Hi Res audio (up to 192/24) from Synology NAS over ethernet
- access loss-less streaming services (Tidal / QoBuz)
- fast and efficient user interface from iPad / iPhone as close to Sonos UI as possible
- high quality digital output to give the most accurate signal to my DAC possible
- as future proof as possible and able to upgrade DAC as funds allow
- a range of connection options to DAC USB/AES/SPDIF)
I have had an AuraLiC Aries Streaming Bridge in the house for a few days and it ticks all these boxes. It acts as a bridge from the music file wherever than might be stored to the DAC and will support pretty much any file format going including DSD and also has AirPlay and Songcast support.
The software is based on OpenHome as used by the Scottish HiFi company and the proprietary Lightening DS app is about as close to a Sonos UI as I have seen - it's brill!
The technical support has been first class in helping me get everything running and the company seems to be very much on the ball when it comes to new software releases which happen frequently to support new functionality (Tidal and Internet radio recently added). There are rumours that they will be one of the first to support a possible Hi Res streaming service from QoBuz. The Aries is effectively a fan-less, audio grade PC running a stripped down Linux OS - which means alot of flexibility on updates to functionality.
I love my Naim Boxes and will never part with them , and with this device I get alot of flexibility, high quality sound and a great UI.
The aesthetics are a little Marmite and the casing is plastic (to enable an internal wifi aerial to work) so it does not feel like a hifi product, but it absolutely is.
I want to be clear that I am not running down any Naim streaming product, I has the pleasure of hearing an NDS and was really very impressed by its musicality. I wanted to post this only because I am sure there are many committed Naimees out there who have a great DAC and Amps and are looking for a cost effective and flexible way to stream their music which does not rely on a Sonos front end.
Hope this is useful all.
Posted on: 16 July 2015 by Sloop John B
I've been keeping an eye on this product as a possible replacement for my squeezebox touch.
From perusal of various websites it would seem that this product may be bedevilled with the little bugs that streaming products seem obliged to exhibit.
Thanks for sharing your experience, it does tick an a lot of boxes
SJB
Posted on: 17 July 2015 by Rowegroup
Yep - I also read of technical problems, but their development team do seem to be on top form and quickly respond to fix any issues. I contacted the support email to get some help indexing my NAS and the reply came from the European Sales Manager! He talked me through setting up their own Lightning server. This creates a Sonos-like index for the app to use so it's very fast with no lag on album art - also this indexing is being done on WAVS ripped in dbPoweramp, which can be tricky when it comes to reading tags
The only glitch I had had is an instance when the iPad controller could not find the player and I had to restart the player. Other than that it's been stable. Also aery simple to log into Tidal and search from the app if loss less streaming is important to you. Player runs quite warm and does not feel as expensive as perhaps it should given the price tag (I am using the higher spec version with separate power supply and femto clocks). They say the plastic casing is chosen for technical reasons.
What encourages me is the intensity of updates and the speed at which new functionality is being added.
So. probably not the very best in terms of absolute sound quality, but when you weigh the mix of functionality, flexibility and ease of use it does make quite alot of sense.
Best of luck!
Posted on: 20 July 2015 by Rowegroup
Hi
I was listening to the Aries with a Vega DAC using USB and SPDIF. I found the sound much more holographic than the NDS - instruments felt more tangible - for example when a conga drum was slapped it seemed solid and 3 dimensional. Anybody who says naim Amps are too 2-d is talking rubbish ! I did start to suffer with occasional drop outs on the vega using USB and the exact clock setting . Less of a problem on SPDIF . I thought the sound with SPDIF was slightly fuller than the USB connection.
Posted on: 20 July 2015 by likesmusic
Originally Posted by Goon525:
That mini looks like a very interesting product for those of us who want lossless streaming and have tired of waiting for Naim to integrate. Has anyone thought through how it might operate in conjunction with a Naim streamer (which will presumably have a superior DAC)? I see a UK price of £435 which is irritating, to say the least, relative to the US $399.
Not sure I can see the point of using it with a naim streamer (although there's nothing stopping you if the streamer also has an s/pdif input), but using it with a naim DAC should surely be possible. I would imagine you could use either the s/pdif outputs into an nDAC or V1, or the USB out into a V1. And if you wanted a second cheap(-ish) system somewhere else in your house, you could use the analogue outs into an amp or even active speakers. I agree about the rip off UK pricing, but it should be easy enough to buy from a european retailer in euros. If it works, it is a lot of product for the money. I can't see naim ever having a product with as many capabilities.
Posted on: 20 July 2015 by likesmusic
Originally Posted by Goon525:
Originally Posted by likesmusic:
Originally Posted by Goon525:
That mini looks like a very interesting product for those of us who want lossless streaming and have tired of waiting for Naim to integrate. Has anyone thought through how it might operate in conjunction with a Naim streamer (which will presumably have a superior DAC)? I see a UK price of £435 which is irritating, to say the least, relative to the US $399.
Not sure I can see the point of using it with a naim streamer (although there's nothing stopping you if the streamer also has an s/pdif input), but using it with a naim DAC should surely be possible. I would imagine you could use either the s/pdif outputs into an nDAC or V1, or the USB out into a V1. And if you wanted a second cheap(-ish) system somewhere else in your house, you could use the analogue outs into an amp or even active speakers. I agree about the rip off UK pricing, but it should be easy enough to buy from a european retailer in euros. If it works, it is a lot of product for the money. I can't see naim ever having a product with as many capabilities.
Wouldn't it provide a means of integrating Qobuz and Tidal, using a purposely designed bit of kit, instead of say a Mac mini for the same purpose? Or am I misunderstanding what it can do?
Absolutely, all I was saying is that it doesn't make sense to feed it into a streamer, since it already is a streamer itself. It needs fed into a DAC like the nDAC or V1. But if you have a naim streamer already and want to use it to to get you Qobuz and Tidal then sure it'll work, but the inelegance and redundancy of having two streamers would annoy me.
