Auralic Aries Unboxing

I will.

I recently saw a discussion on this. Normally like with the Denon link, the DRM is on the AV side.

Fascinating if true…and potentially the basis of a new ripper!
 
I've been doing a lot of discussing with friends. Mark Jones of Audio by Mark Jones in Toronto pointed out to me that the Oppo 105D (and perhaps other Oppo's as well), can output SACD CD's (DSD) natively over its HDMI connection. So given this, I think a really good digital stack is:

Auralic Aries with its Lightning DS App + Bryston BDA-3 (which can accept SACD over its HDMI connection) + Oppo 105D (which can output SACD's over HDMI).

Using the Bryston BDA-3 with the Oppo 105D is the plan I have in place. Unfortunately the anticipated January release date for the DAC now looks to still be a couple of months out.

I now need to look more at the Auralic Aries and see if that would be something that would make sense for me to consider. If it will stream from my Naim Unitiserve then it may be the way to go.
 
Not all SMPS are created equally. Chord uses them on their flagships too.

However, they tend to inject HF noise back into the mains cables and could pollute other low power components like Dacs. Therefore they may require the use of mains cables filtration to limit their impact. Its not just about protecting the instant component, but the entire playback chain from a wholistic, helicopter viewpoint.

As with all things, there are tradeoff, plus good and bad versions, and good and bad implementations. Clearly Chord, Soulution, Meitner is quality stuff.

LPSUs in cheaper gear is a no-brainer though.
 
Not all SMPS are created equally.

True. And if memory serves me correctly, it was Classe in their CP800 who helped bring back SMPS's to high end audio. I remember the collective gasping from the audiophile community when they read that Classe was using a SMPS in their new flagship preamp in 2010. Now, it's not even mentioned....it's accepted.

The Classe CP800 which, to this day, fails to get the respect it deserves. It's a $5,000 preamp competing with $30,000+ preamps sonically, and outperforming many of those, functionally.
 
Given the fact that SMPSs were developed in order to save money, space, and weight in comparison to a linear power supply (not to outperform the linear power supply) and they come with their own set of issues that must be addressed, it's hard to get excited about components that use SMPSs and charge you as much or more as components that use linear power supplies.
 
True. And if memory serves me correctly, it was Classe in their CP800 who helped bring back SMPS's to high end audio. I remember the collective gasping from the audiophile community when they read that Classe was using a SMPS in their new flagship preamp in 2010. Now, it's not even mentioned....it's accepted.

The Classe CP800 which, to this day, fails to get the respect it deserves. It's a $5,000 preamp competing with $30,000+ preamps sonically, and outperforming many of those, functionally.

I think the Marten amplifier that showed at CES two or three years ago also uses a SMPS. I don't remember the details but they were employing some new tricks to improve the SMPS particularly in the upper octaves.
 
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