Network Streamer? Network Player? What am I looking for?

[Jack]

When you order your Innuos you have the option of 1,2,4 or 8 TB. 1TB is the base number. G2 with 2TB is $4800 so much cheaper to buy an attached external drive. I just use a 256 mb flash drive with the G1 if there is something I want to download and play.

[Howiebrou]

When you order your Innuos you have the option of 1,2,4 or 8 TB. 1TB is the base number. G2 with 2TB is $4800 so much cheaper to buy an attached external drive. I just use a 256 mb flash drive with the G1 if there is something I want to download and play.

Thanks. I just got an email from Innous about this and they said the HDDs are only available with the Zenith/Zenith mini models. I was looking at the Statement model but that is only SSD and i think the limit is 4TB which means i will use it all up now. Once 6/8 TB SSDs become commonplace then it would be great.

[Howiebrou]

Yes, Roon was developed by the same individuals who initially did Sooloos. I exported my music from Sooloos and moved on as Roon is more than a generation beyond Sooloos. There is no further development of Sooloos going to occur.

Thanks Jim. Yes, my Sooloos is hanging on for dear life and will be replaced as soon as i stop deliberating.

[Howiebrou]

I certainly agree on internally storage and backing up to your NAS. It simply makes things work smoother without any speed or connection issues.

Are you moving away from your Meridian Sooloos? My understanding is that the Sooloos and their app (two of our club members use it in their systems) is similar to Roon because the guys who designed and built it are the same guys who started Roon. Roon has evolved way beyond it of course.

I like the Sooloos GUI which is, as you say, naturally similar to Roon. The only issue I had was it never sounded as good as a CD but the convenience won over. Now that it is on it's last legs I want to choose the right system. Back then (my Sooloos is ancient) there was not much choice at all. Now is a different story.

[tino27]

Thanks again everyone for your input. After doing some research and weighing options on both sides of the Roon argument, I've decided to go for an Auralic Aries G1, even though officially it only works with iOS devices. The G1 ticks off every other feature I wanted, so it's a small compromise I'm willing to live with. I take delivery tomorrow (although the USB cable I ordered with it won't get here until next week some time -- it'll be a nice way to compare a simple "data cable" I bought tonight from the local computer store to the Audioquest cable I ordered alongside the unit).

[Jack]

Congrats tino the G1 is a great piece and you should enjoy it. If by chance that "data cable" you bought is a Belkin Gold you will find it is a pretty good sounding cable for the price.

[Randy Myers]

Congratz. Glad you found something to your liking. What AudioQuest USB cable did you get? I use two AQ USB cables in my setup.

[tino27]

It was a toss up between the Carbon and the Coffee, and in the end I ordered the Coffee.

[Randy Myers]

It was a toss up between the Carbon and the Coffee, and in the end I ordered the Coffee.

Nice... I have two Coffee's... gong out of my server to the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery, and then out of the Recovery to my DAC! I think they are good cables. It will definitely do the job for you!

[Howiebrou]

Congrats on the Auralic. Let us know how you like it as it settles in.

[tino27]

Now that I've lived with the Aries G1 for a couple of days, I have a few thoughts (for those who care to read them).

First, the sound. I am still waiting for my Audioquest Coffee USB cable to arrive, so I've done all of my listening with the $15 USB A-to-B cable I picked up at my local computer megastore. Even with just that simple cable, I am quite amazed with the sound that is now coming out of my speakers from the same digital files that were previously being served from my Oppo. Strings have a richness that wasn't there before, spatial cues have improved dramatically, and I am hearing complicated orchestral passages rendered with much more clarity. From that perspective, I am a happy camper.

Second, ease of use. Once I got everything to talk to each other (see next point for more on that), both the iOS app (Lightning DS) and one of the Android apps (BubbleDS) both behaved well, although I think I prefer the iOS app. Having to enter a SSID / Password into the Aries G1 using an up/down arrow and a selection key is a bit of a pain in the ass, and one would think you'd only have to do that once (warning, foreshadowing) ... ahem ... so it shouldn't be too bad, right?

Lastly, setup. Straight out of the box, the Aries was at firmware build 5.7. Latest build on Auralic's site is 6.2.1. First question: How do I get an upgraded firmware downloaded? Read the manual? Not a single mention. Read the Internet? Sort of / kind of mentioned. I eventually managed to figure out that firmware upgrades are automatic (which also means you can't prevent a new one from being installed if you're device is always connected to the Internet). I woke up the next day to find that the newest firmware had been downloaded and installed overnight. I decided to first try connecting the Aries to my wireless network. While I was initially successful, the streamer kept randomly restarting tracks it was currently playing. If I added an entire album to a playlist, it would only survive for a couple of minutes (usually until a random track repeat) and "poof", it was gone. This was with the BubbleDS app for my Android tablet. Assuming it was the tablet, on Saturday I went out and purchased an iPad. Now, for some reason, while the Android app seemed to be able to find the Lightning Server service, with the iPad, I could never complete the setup through the app. It always timed out at the end of the process when it was searching for the device on the network. I am speculating, but it could be because the firewall that Spectrum set up for my apartment complex was blocking certain message types.

I then decided instead of using my as-provided wireless service, that I would pull out my old wireless router and try creating my own private wireless connection for my Aries/iPad, even though it wouldn't have Internet connectivity. This worked marvelously ... for a while. This solved the previous problem of blocked messages and there was much digital goodness happening on my system. Then I made the mistake of downloading some new music last night from Acoustic Sounds and turning off the Aries and removing the USB drive so I could transfer the files onto the drive. When I turned the Aries back on, it simply would not connect to my private wireless network anymore. I must have spent 45 minutes going through the configuration process over and over again, to no avail.

Finally, I had the idea of using an Ethernet cable to tether the G1 to my wireless router (which has 4 RJ-45 ports in the back as well). This FINALLY worked, and I still have no idea why the G1 started failing to connect with my private wireless when it had been working just fine for more than 24 hours.

At one point last night, I was about three seconds from throwing my hands up in the air and retrieving the shipping container so I could send it back today.

So, if I had to give out grades (A B C D F) ...

Sound: A-
Ease of Use: B+ (iOS app) / C (Android app)
Setup: D-
Documentation: C-

I will say that the upside of having the Aries run on a non-Internet-based connection is that I can now control when new firmware gets downloaded (because I can always switch it to the apartment's wireless connection if I want to download it -- assuming it will still connect). The downside, of course, is that anything streamable (Tidal/Qobuz) is a no-go while on this "internal" network. I can live with that.

[Jack]

Tino

If your Complex wireless network's firewall has no problem with you playing movies or games etc. then I doubt it is causing a problem with the G1 or Lightning DS. My suggestion since you have tried so many different combinations is to do a factory reset and start from scratch with your wireless setup and do setup as a new device. Also I have found from owning a Mini, a Femto and a G1 that when you switch from wired to wireless you need to start that change with the streamer and the iPad off and then do the setup again as a new device to clear the previous setup. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me by PM. As to the software updates I have found in over four years that they are always an improvement. Also if you haven't join the Auralic forum where your questions are often answered by the CEO.

https://community.auralic.com/

[tino27]

One more follow-up post, since I have managed to solve a few more issues. To Jack's point, I did try doing a complete factory reset and tried setting everything up from scratch. Unfortunately, joining the Aries G1 and my iPad to the apartment's wireless was still a complete no-go with regard to them seeing each other, even though I can play movies on Netflix on my Roku. I continued to go with the "private" wireless solution I described in an earlier post to get the two devices to talk to each other, but instead of using my old wireless router to do it, I went to my local computer megastore and purchased the TP Link TL-WR802N travel router (https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wirel...dp/B07WSVTQ9K/). It has a mode called WISP Client Router Mode which essentially allows you to connect the device to a target wireless access point (e.g., my apartment's wireless) and then create a separate (private) wireless access point that you can connect other devices to. This allowed me to maintain connectivity between the Aries G1 and my iPad, but then allowed both devices to actually be routable to the Internet. In fact, as I am typing this, I am listening to the Linn Classical streaming Internet radio station (320kbps feed) via the G1. Having solved this issue, I'm assuming I can now also stream Tidal/Qobuz once I get accounts set up and get firmware updates whenever they are published.

As this device is exceptionally tiny (about 2" x 2") and super cheap, I am thinking of buying a second unit to throw in my laptop bag for when I travel. I can think of many times it would be useful to isolate my devices on their own "private" network instead of connecting them directly to the hotel's Internet connection.