I'm a Spinner and a Streamer, But Not a Ripper
As I recently wrote in another thread dealing with the Oppo UDP-205, I do not use a computer to store, catalog, or serve up music in my system. At least not yet.
So far I prefer dedicated audio box solutions for music listening. I kind of leap-frogged over the whole local music file storage paradigm, concentrating for years now on the best "reasonably priced" playback of optical discs and Internet streaming services from low-res Sirius/XM to lossless Tidal FLAC. I realize that these choices are a bit unusual.
But I firmly believe that the whole idea of music catalog ownership (whether via discs or files) is rapidly becoming passé. Streaming via license from the Web is the new paradigm: no storage space (real or virtual) is taken up, and there are no worries about losing or damaging the media. Plus, we live in a world where many people increasingly value convenience. I definitely fit into that category, ever more so as I've entered my more senior years. Loading CDs onto a computer drive and cataloging them via software seems like a burdensome task to me. Accessing your favorite music via streaming services and exploring new music that way is just hugely more convenient than listening to CDs or local files or borrowing files or discs from others for exploration.
The risk is that a given streaming service may go out of business. But even if a given streaming service were to go belly up, there either are competitors or there will be competitor start-ups willing to plug the gap. A recent Wall Street Journal article talks about how streaming service Spotify has changed from slayer to savior of the music industry. Spotify's IPO started recently; we'll see how that goes long-term. Who knows, Spotify may actually make enough money to compete in the so-far-niche service area of lossless streaming, increasing competition in that area and thus perhaps driving prices for such streaming even lower. But even if prices for lossless streaming stay around $20/month, to me it seems like a huge bargain both from the monetary and convenience standpoints compared to buying, storing, cataloging, and handling/serving up discs or files.
My Low-Priced Streaming Spread
Up to now I've been using low-cost solutions to streaming Internet music files. Those methods have included:
I've also long used low-cost wireless and wired video streaming via such devices as the latest Apple TV, various Roku sticks and boxes (I currently use a couple of the Ultra boxes with my TVs), Google Chromecast, and the Amazon Fire box.
I've discussed some of my Internet audio streaming experience in other threads, particularly "The Lowly Toslink" and "Apple Airport Express as Internet Audio Streaming Receiver." In those discussions I concluded that given the right cabling and a good Wi-Fi signal connection, even the inexpensive Squeezebox, Airport Express, and Oppo USB dongle streamers can come very close to the subjective quality of CD disc playback of the same material in the same system with Tidal as the Internet source. Yes, these differ a bit in their "flavors," with the Squeezebox offering more inner detail and three dimensionality at the cost of a bit of additional brightness, while the Airport Express is tonally very relaxed but a bit less three dimensional, with the Oppo USB dongle being overall somewhere in between those two. But the differences from each other and from the CD replay seem minor to me and I often forget which source I'm using to stream Tidal.
Audiophile Nervosa Strikes
However, audiophile insecurity runs deep and the tax refund I recently received was burning a hole in my virtual pocket. Thus, I decided that, given how important Internet music streaming is to me these days, I should explore a high-end streaming solution to make sure I wasn't missing out.
"Missing out" on what, I wasn't sure, given the close match between even the economy streaming spread and CD replay. But, as I said, audiophile insecurity runs deep—the grass is always greener on the other side. I rationalized that since I could still hear (or think I can hear) slight differences among inexpensive Tidal streaming sources even with the supposedly superb jitter blocking/reclocking performed by my Benchmark DAC-3 HGC (as claimed by Benchmark and as seemingly confirmed by test reports), perhaps a better Internet streamer would produce yet-better sonic results from Tidal and maybe even (dare I hope?) lower resolution Internet radio sources.
My High-End Streamer Desiderata
Thus, what I looked for was a unit which threw a good portion of its designed resources at maximizing Internet streaming sonic quality and feeding the most pristine signal possible from Tidal and other Internet sources to an external DAC. It soon became apparent that most such devices also work to stream music from local network sources, but that some at least did not include internal drive storage. Eliminating internal storage has the potential for lowering the electronic interference and power supply load generated inside the box from an operating mechanical or even solid-state drive. And I certainly didn't need a unit which contained a DAC since I intend to continue using the fabulous Benchmark DAC-3 DAC.
In my research, the new Auralic Aries G2 Wireless Streaming Transporter quickly rose to the top of the list. It seems to hit all the right buttons for my desired audio streamer box:
More discussion of the Aries G2's functions and operation is available in the User Guide.
But at What Price?
I hesitated a bit because of the price tag of the Aries G2: $3,899. That's more than twice as much as the predecessor Aries streamer. And, given how close I judged the match between Tidal streaming from my Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, and Oppo dongle to my EVS-modified Oppo BDP-105D locally spinning the same program material on CD, could such a unit possibly be worth that cost? The Oppo dongle is literally a throw in, and either the Airport Express or a used Squeezebox Touch is about $100. Could the Aries G2 be worth 40 times the price of the Squeezebox Touch (the streamer I most used), even knowing about how the law of diminishing returns applies in full force to the subjective quality of audio equipment?
Throwing caution to the winds, I extinguished the smoldering fire in my virtual pocket by ordering the new Aries G2 straight from Auralic.
First Impressions
First impressions were outstanding. I actually got a confirmatory phone call from Auralic minutes after my order to verify that I had in fact ordered the Aries G2 through their brand-new online store. They had not expected an order to come in so soon that way apparently. I did not hear so much as a snicker in the background, much less the sound of Auralic staffers rolling on the floor with laughter.
That Auralic staff person assured me that the unit was en route from China and would arrive at the Delaware US office within a day and then be shipped overnight to me in Chicago. The unit did in fact arrive at my door within two days, packed as well as I've ever seen any audio equipment packaged. The plain white outer box was shrink wrapped and in pristine condition. The inner box slipped out of the outer box with just the right amount of speed to let me know that the dimensioning of the two boxes was spot-on. Custom fitted polystyrene inserts held all the parts inside very securely with at least four inches of hard foam padding on all sides.
The new Aries G2 is certainly a hefty, impressive box compared to the miniature Logitech Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express I've been using. The casework looks awesome, for one thing. The chassis is also quite dead sounding in response to the very revealing tap-it-with-my-fingernail test. The chassis feet also are also quite springy, seeming to isolate the box from everything above quite low frequency vibration, such as footfalls. If you listen closely, you can hear the spring-loaded feet make a bit of chatter noise when the chassis is disturbed by footfalls or the rumble of a nearby passing commuter train, suggesting that the spring suspension is definitely tuned to a primary resonance well below the 20 Hz audio range and will thus filter out much of the speaker-caused vibrations.
I do agree with others who have noted that the matte-black-on-matte-black front panel control buttons are effectively stealth camouflaged. You will likely feel them before you see them. Unless you have direct sunlight hitting the unit at just the right angle, you'll need your phone's flashlight app to actually read the icons on each button. But, the unit looks so great, I'm willing to forgive that design feature. In any event, the front panel buttons don't have to be used much at all after the initial set-up, and even for the initial set up there are two other ways to perform that set up which totally bypass the front panel buttons.
Set-Up
I used my usual magic juice, Caig Deoxit Gold GL100 liquid brushed onto all the metallic non-soldered back panel and power cord connections. I inserted an Electronic Visionary Systems Ground Enhancer into the not-to-be-used-initially-at-least digital coax jack output. I used the stock power cord which came with the unit. The manufacturer warns you not to use a heavy after-market power cord since this may upset the intended mechanical balance and vibrational isolation of the unit on its four spring-loaded feet.
Auralic also advises users not to place any other component on top of the unit, again in order to stay within the designed weight range for the isolating feet. I placed a Bright Star Audio Little Rock atop the cover of my Oppo UDP-205 and placed the Auralic unit atop that with nothing atop the Auralic. That Little Rock has felt covering its bottom side and further damps the already-pretty-dead top cover of the disc spinner and provides a solid foundation for the four feet of the Aries G2, while still being small enough not to cover up all the ventilation slots in the cover of the Oppo. This set up puts the Aries G2 in a great spot for receiving a very strong Wi-Fi signal at its two external short whip antennas.
I use Comcast Extreme 105 Internet service into an Arris SURFboard SB6190 32x8 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem. This modem is connected by CAT7 ethernet cable to my Netgear Nighthawk X8 Tri-band WiFi Router which is almost directly below the Aries down on the first floor.
With this Wi-Fi set up, via the Speedtest app on my iPhone and computers, I regularly clock about 120 mbps download and 23.5 mbps upload using either of the 5 GHz bands. I connect to the Aries G2 using one of the two 5 GHz bands. I reserve that band for my audio devices and iPhone, feeding other wireless devices and computers from the 2.4 or other 5 GHz router bands. (The iPhone/iPad running the Lightning DS software MUST be on exactly the same 5G Wi-Fi band as the Aries G2 in order to operate properly.)
Via the Wi-Fi Sweetspots app on my iPhone, I usually measure a signal strength/speed of around 460 Mbps at the G2. The signal is just as strong/fast at the listening seat from which I use the Lightning DS software on my iPhone. The strongest/fastest signal I can measure in the same room with the router even within a few inches or feet of it is about 520 Mbps. As far as I know, neither the Aries G2 nor the Lightning DS software contains any function for measuring Wi-Fi signal strength directly, unlike the Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express Utility app.
Based on the advice of Apple, I orient the whip antennas on the Aries G2 vertically since two of the four external antennas of my Netgear router are also oriented that way with the other two at 45-degree angles to vertical. That orientation of the router transmitting antennas is recommended as best by Netgear.
To connect the Aries G2 to the Benchmark DAC-3 HGC, I'm using the same NEO Oyaide Elec D+ Class A Rev2 USB cable connection I used with my Squeezebox Touch. I'm using USB instead of coax since my Oppo UDP-205 uses the only available digital coax input of the Benchmark. (The other coax input of the HGC is internally reconfigured in my system as a digital pass through output feeding my Benchmark DAC-3 DX which in turn feeds balanced analog out signal to my headphone amp, the Sim Audio Moon Neo 430HA). With the G2, the USB connection is separately clocked and power supplied from the other digital outputs.
The amps are two Benchmark AHB2 units, run in bridged mono mode. The speakers are the Harbeth Monitor 40.2. More details on this set up are contained in the Harbeth thread.
Functionality
Screen
The built-in four-inch color screen on the front of the Aries has nice sharpness and widely adjustable brightness. I've chosen brightness level 2 as the best balance between readability and distraction from the music. The way the screen looks during different functions is accurately illustrated in the Aries G2 User's Guide, except that the Guide is in black and white.
But, despite its appearance, it is not a touch screen. Whatever is displayed on the screen is controllable, if at all, from the buttons on the Aries front panel or the Lightning DS app. The Squeezebox Touch screen is similar in size and about equally informative, but is a touch screen as well as being fully remote controllable.
Unlike the Squeezebox Touch screen, the built-in screen of the G2 is apparently only meant to supplement, not totally duplicate, the visuals and functionality available through the Lightning DS app. Fair enough; the modern trend for such devices is to make the best control interface an app for a mobile device, not a screen on the chassis or a remote control wand.
Thus, the Aries G2 is really designed to be controlled via the Lightning DS app on an iPad or iPhone held in your hand at the listening seat, not from being close enough to the Aries chassis to touch the front panel buttons. The Squeezebox Touch, on the other hand, was designed to have the screen on the Touch be the primary interface and have that screen fully remote controllable by the included wand remote. My set up puts me about six feet from the screen of either the Aries or the Sqeezebox. At this distance it is much easier to read the Squeezebox Touch display than the Aries display, especially for menu functions. And for those desiring an attractive, fully functional iPhone app to control the Squeezebox Touch, the iPeng 9 Squeezebox Remote app is just about perfect.
Like the Squeezebox Touch, the G2 screen can be defeated. Unlike the Touch, however, once turned off, the Aries screen cannot instantly be turned on again via remote control—you have to touch one of the front panel buttons or go into the set-up menu on the Lightning DS app on your phone/pad to reactivate the screen. On the Touch, I had the screen set to time out after 20 seconds. The screen would reactivate whenever I touched any function button on the remote control or the iPeng 9 app. There is no time-out function for the Aries G2 screen.
Lightning DS
I can totally forgive any shortcomings with the Aries G2 screen, however, given the very slick Lightning DS control app which comes free from the App Store. As I said previously, Lightning DS is really the intended manner to control the Aries.
Whether it's the Lightning DS app or the computing horsepower built into the Aries G2, or a combination of the two, navigation from one program to another is considerably quicker than it is via the Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, or Oppo BDP-105/105D. This applies whether the source is Tidal or the lowest-res Internet radio station. Very snappy indeed. The Squeezebox Touch navigation is particularly slower when using its USB output.
Visually and graphically, Lightning DS improves on the interface with Tidal I've seen via the Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, Oppo BDP-105/105D, or iPhone/iPad running the Tidal app directly on the mobile device. The Web interface you see on a computer for Tidal is actually one of the worst looking, in my opinion.
In addition, Lightning DS arranges the metadata for Tidal tracks more usefully than the low-cost streamers. Complete biographies of the artists are more obviously accessible in-app, for example.
In terms of moving around among menus and program sources, Lightning DS for the iPhone/iPad seems very fine to me. Nothing is hidden or difficult. For example, accessing the set-up menu to get to the four available digital filter types from Lightning DS does not interrupt the programming at all and even switching the filter mid-track only interrupts the music for about a second.
Internet Radio: VTuner
All right, I admit it. I listen to a lot of Internet radio sources, despite the lower fidelity of most such than Tidal. The popular Internet-only Radio Paradise station recently launched a lossless FLAC stream, however, and I hope that more stations will follow suit.
As for lossy streaming, in my prior streaming experience, many stations which stream at 256 kbps or above have sounded quite acceptable. A few carefully crafted 128 mp3 or AAC streams have also been quite decent sounding. Once you are at 320 kbps, such streams are quite high quality with very few audible artifacts regardless of the program material, or at least can be if the station is not applying dynamic compression and a lot of other audio processing to its signal.
A lot of the original quality (or lack thereof) of the recordings comes through even at low bitrates. For example, Grateful Dead live recordings heard on Sirius/XM (100 kbps) are extremely variable in audio quality, but can sound truly excellent if the mix was right and the microphones used were of high quality and properly deployed. I'd rather listen to low-bit-rate playback of an intelligently miked performance than lossless FLAC playback of a highly processed and compressed ruthlessly multi-miked performance any day.
The VTuner app embedded in the Lightning DS controller app is very nice. It seems eminently navigable, you can organize stations several different ways, and the station choices are very broad. The streams listed usually seem to be the best the station has to offer. One exception I noted was the BBC channels. BBC Radio 3 classical (as well as other BBC stations) is available through the BBC's own iPlayer Radio app in 320 kbps quality, whereas VTuner steers you to the 128 kbps mp3 version. But with the Aries G2, when I find such exceptions I just use the AirPlay function. Besides a menu-driven search function, you can also find stations in VTuner by typing in descriptive words or call letters. You can make any station VTuner's search function locates a favorite. That station is then listed in your list of My Favorites in the Lightning DS app.
There are stations that the VTuner search function will not automatically locate. Sometimes, for example, there is a higher bit-rate stream available, or one which is a usually-better-sounding AAC stream as opposed to MP3. For many such streams, as long as you have the URL you can type in the URL of this stream and thus add this stream to the list of My Stations. My Stations is not the same list as My Favorites. As far as I can determine, there is no way to subsume My Stations within My Favorites. And not all streams are capturable in this manner. For instance, it does not seem possible to make a paid subscription stream like any of the Jazz Radio channels one of My Stations by typing in that stream's URL; doing so yields an error message from the Lightning DS app. Still, this My Stations function is often very useful for making sure you are able to listen to the highest quality stream for a given station.
Filter Sauce
The Aries G2 Processor menu provides four choices of filter modes. These are labeled Precise, Dynamic, Balance, and Smooth. They are selectable on the fly while music is being played. However, these filter modes are not available in AirPlay mode.
These filters range from the Precise's standard brick wall to apparently full-apodizing with no pre-echo. In my tests, I generally prefer the sound of the traditional Precise brick wall filter. Its high frequencies are the cleanest and its overall spatial presentation is definitely the most focused. For program material which is too bright sounding, the Smooth filter will take a bit of the edge off at the cost of some spatial defocus and spatial blur—the space may seem enlarged, but it is less real sounding—there is less there there, as some would say.
Another available function involves upsampling/oversampling streams from their native rate to some whole number multiple of that rate. This function works with native Tidal and the VTuner stations; it does not apply to sources listened to via AirPlay. I have just begun to explore the sonic effect of that feature. So far, my impression of over/upsampling typical 44.1 kHz media to 176.4 is that this adds a small dollop of extra space and envelopment to the presentation as well as adding a tiny bit of extra clarity with no downsides I can perceive. This is unusual for me since typically I've found that with good digital electronics, digital programs sound best in their native resolution. In the past I've found that upsampling can change the sound a bit, but not in ways which are clearly better. I've typically found that upsampling usually moves the sound toward a brighter balance, with more generally spacious sound, but with less focused space. This does not appear to be the case with the Aries G2.
Another available function I have not yet tried is the way the Auralic handles MQA sources. Since my access to MQA sources is at this point limited to the desktop version of Tidal, and since I don't have my audio system hooked up to a desktop computer, I have not yet listened to any MQA sources via the Auralic. The Aries G2 software is claimed to contain a proprietary resampling and de-blurring method allowing it to decode MQA without an MQA compatible DAC attached. Also offered are Automatic, 2x, 4x, and 8x resampling choices for MQA sources using this proprietary Auralic software. Alternatively, if you have an MQA-decoding DAC, the Auralic can be set for "MQA Pass-through" to allow the MQA-encoded program to be passed through untouched to the DAC for decoding.
As an aside on the digital filtering issue, I currently fall into the camp of the MQA doubters. I agree with the analyses of Archimago and Peter Moncrieff as to the wrongheadedness of modern digital filter design, including MQA. Reproduction accuracy to the source is the goal, not a short, pretty impulse response graph lacking all those messy "pre- and post-echo" squiggles.
Sound Quality
"Finally! I thought he'd never get to it." I thought the same thing, if that's any consolation. I was putting this off as long as I could since the Aries G2 presents some difficult sonic versus value considerations.
Okay, comparing the sound quality of Internet streaming through the Auralic Aries G2 to any of the prior methods I've used in my system: yes, the Auralic sounds better, to my ears.
How much better? Significantly better. Better enough that it's noticeable right away or at least pretty quickly on many streams. These are not huge differences, but they are noticeable and significant to me.
In what ways is the sound better you ask? Keep in mind that I have not yet done a new round of comparisons between the sound of CDs spun on my also-new Oppo UDP-205 and the same program streamed on the Aries G2. The below comparisons are strictly between my low-cost streamers and the Aries. I'll also state up front that all these sonic comparisons apply to native Tidal, VTuner, and AirPlay sources as heard through the Aries G2, not just the native Tidal played by the G2.
I first noticed that the Aries G2 background is blacker. Quiet studios are even quieter, while making yet more audible the air handling and other noises going on in the background of those recording venues which aren't dead quiet. This was immediately audible when listening to radio announcers on my hometown classical station, WFMT in Chicago, a 128 kbps AAC stream.
Next I noticed that the midbass was cleaned up in the sense of more controlled but still nice and full as I like it, with the low bass below that both stronger and better defined. Deep-voiced male radio announcers sound more natural.
Images are yet more stable in placement on the stage. There was no image wander or shifting before, but now they seem yet more rock solid. Of course, on poorly miked material like the singers on stage during the Metropolitan Opera broadcast, this quality translates into even greater image shifting/jumping as the singers move around on stage and thus move in and out of the primary pick up fields of several different microphones.
Fourth, the audible depth of field is enhanced a bit. Instruments in the back are further back and there are more gradations from front to back. The space around performers in naturally miked recordings is more focused, like a finer lens.
Fifth, the presentation always seems generally cleaner and lower in distortion. Together with, or perhaps as a consequence of this, the presentation sounds more relaxed and ingratiating, with further-reduced high frequency nasties of any kind.
Finally, and probably most importantly to me, all these qualities seem more evident on sources which have lower streaming rates than Tidal. Tidal, too, evidences these qualities, but the low-bit-rate stuff gets a proportionately greater sound quality boost. That's great from my viewpoint since it really makes exploring the curated music streams offered by many Internet radio stations all that much more rewarding. I'd say the effect is akin to more than doubling the sample rate of the broadcast. The sound quality it took 256 or 320 kbps to deliver via the Squeezebox Touch is now evident with 128 kbps streams. Digital artifacts typical of low bit rates seem considerably reduced, in other words.
But Is the Aries G2 Worth the Money?
These sonic differences are all to the plus or improvement side for the Aries G2. But, despite my sonic descriptions above, I judge that the sonic differences between the Aries G2 and the low-priced streaming spread are not huge. They are audible, but mostly pretty subtle. The functional differences are not huge, either. On the other hand, the price differences are definitely huge.
I'd estimate that the low-priced streaming devices I've compared the Aries G2 with produce at least 85% of the sonic quality of the G2. For Tidal, I'd say the inexpensive route gets you 90% of the way there. For lower bit rate sources, the inexpensive route gets you 80% of what the Auralic provides sonically. Whether getting that extra average of 15% is worth the extreme price difference, only you can decide. If you don't listen much to Internet radio and don't plan to in the future, the Aries G2 may well be too steep a price to pay for a 10% increase in Tidal lossless FLAC playback quality.
Keep in mind that I'm only exploring part of the functionality and sonic quality of the Aries G2. I have no idea how the Aries G2 might affect the quality of music streamed from your local network computer storage. For computer audiophiles, this may well significantly affect the value equation.
I still heartily recommend the combination of a Logitech Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express as a very fine means of hearing all music the Internet has to offer for a total investment of at most just a very few hundred dollars.
I've been using very high resolution speakers and headphones over my years of Internet streaming listening and that budget solution is something I've lived with for years without complaint and with much joy. It is something I could continue to happily live with. The functionality and audio quality are both staggeringly high for the money.
But now that I've experienced the Auralic Aries G2, I think I'll keep it. It does sound significantly better yet in my system, to my ears, and I can afford it. The Aries G2 is definitely not what I'd call a high-value component. The law of diminishing returns clearly applies in full force here. But if you are looking for the best or one of the best Internet streamers out there, the Auralic Aries G2 Wireless Streaming Transporter should be on your shortlist for consideration.
As I recently wrote in another thread dealing with the Oppo UDP-205, I do not use a computer to store, catalog, or serve up music in my system. At least not yet.
So far I prefer dedicated audio box solutions for music listening. I kind of leap-frogged over the whole local music file storage paradigm, concentrating for years now on the best "reasonably priced" playback of optical discs and Internet streaming services from low-res Sirius/XM to lossless Tidal FLAC. I realize that these choices are a bit unusual.
But I firmly believe that the whole idea of music catalog ownership (whether via discs or files) is rapidly becoming passé. Streaming via license from the Web is the new paradigm: no storage space (real or virtual) is taken up, and there are no worries about losing or damaging the media. Plus, we live in a world where many people increasingly value convenience. I definitely fit into that category, ever more so as I've entered my more senior years. Loading CDs onto a computer drive and cataloging them via software seems like a burdensome task to me. Accessing your favorite music via streaming services and exploring new music that way is just hugely more convenient than listening to CDs or local files or borrowing files or discs from others for exploration.
The risk is that a given streaming service may go out of business. But even if a given streaming service were to go belly up, there either are competitors or there will be competitor start-ups willing to plug the gap. A recent Wall Street Journal article talks about how streaming service Spotify has changed from slayer to savior of the music industry. Spotify's IPO started recently; we'll see how that goes long-term. Who knows, Spotify may actually make enough money to compete in the so-far-niche service area of lossless streaming, increasing competition in that area and thus perhaps driving prices for such streaming even lower. But even if prices for lossless streaming stay around $20/month, to me it seems like a huge bargain both from the monetary and convenience standpoints compared to buying, storing, cataloging, and handling/serving up discs or files.
My Low-Priced Streaming Spread
Up to now I've been using low-cost solutions to streaming Internet music files. Those methods have included:
- Blue Sound Node (the original) which had toslink digital output
- Logitech Squeezebox Touch with Enhanced Digital Output (EDO) software which outputs streaming via analog, digital coax, digital toslink, and digital USB
- Apple Airport Express which puts out toslink digital from its optical miniplug output and streams files from Apple devices via Airplay
- Various E-Z Cast models which rely on the Airplay protocol and plug into an available USB input
- EVS-modified Oppo BDP-105/105D which, as of a firmware update a couple of years back, started offering Tidal streaming via a USB dongle attached to the unit, much like the E-Z Cast models, but with much better fidelity, but without the capability to stream anything from the Internet except Tidal
I've also long used low-cost wireless and wired video streaming via such devices as the latest Apple TV, various Roku sticks and boxes (I currently use a couple of the Ultra boxes with my TVs), Google Chromecast, and the Amazon Fire box.
I've discussed some of my Internet audio streaming experience in other threads, particularly "The Lowly Toslink" and "Apple Airport Express as Internet Audio Streaming Receiver." In those discussions I concluded that given the right cabling and a good Wi-Fi signal connection, even the inexpensive Squeezebox, Airport Express, and Oppo USB dongle streamers can come very close to the subjective quality of CD disc playback of the same material in the same system with Tidal as the Internet source. Yes, these differ a bit in their "flavors," with the Squeezebox offering more inner detail and three dimensionality at the cost of a bit of additional brightness, while the Airport Express is tonally very relaxed but a bit less three dimensional, with the Oppo USB dongle being overall somewhere in between those two. But the differences from each other and from the CD replay seem minor to me and I often forget which source I'm using to stream Tidal.
Audiophile Nervosa Strikes
However, audiophile insecurity runs deep and the tax refund I recently received was burning a hole in my virtual pocket. Thus, I decided that, given how important Internet music streaming is to me these days, I should explore a high-end streaming solution to make sure I wasn't missing out.
"Missing out" on what, I wasn't sure, given the close match between even the economy streaming spread and CD replay. But, as I said, audiophile insecurity runs deep—the grass is always greener on the other side. I rationalized that since I could still hear (or think I can hear) slight differences among inexpensive Tidal streaming sources even with the supposedly superb jitter blocking/reclocking performed by my Benchmark DAC-3 HGC (as claimed by Benchmark and as seemingly confirmed by test reports), perhaps a better Internet streamer would produce yet-better sonic results from Tidal and maybe even (dare I hope?) lower resolution Internet radio sources.
My High-End Streamer Desiderata
Thus, what I looked for was a unit which threw a good portion of its designed resources at maximizing Internet streaming sonic quality and feeding the most pristine signal possible from Tidal and other Internet sources to an external DAC. It soon became apparent that most such devices also work to stream music from local network sources, but that some at least did not include internal drive storage. Eliminating internal storage has the potential for lowering the electronic interference and power supply load generated inside the box from an operating mechanical or even solid-state drive. And I certainly didn't need a unit which contained a DAC since I intend to continue using the fabulous Benchmark DAC-3 DAC.
In my research, the new Auralic Aries G2 Wireless Streaming Transporter quickly rose to the top of the list. It seems to hit all the right buttons for my desired audio streamer box:
- The predecessor Auralic Aries had a great sonic reputation.
- So does the Lightning DS app for iPad/iPhone used to access and run local network and Internet content and do all set-up functions.
- The Aries G2's Tesla G2 Platform has a lot of processing power and data storage for buffering. In my experience with the Squeezebox Touch, increasing the size of the buffer via the EDO aftermarket software enhanced the sound quality. This is also the theory behind "memory players" for digital discs which clock out data from memory rather than straight from the spinning disc.
- The Aries G2 has native streaming for Tidal and Qobuz Sublime, with Deezer, Spotify Connect, Apple Music, and Apple AirPlay functions also available. When you select AirPlay from your iPhone/iPad, whatever other music is streaming through the G2 is interrupted and the AirPlay stream takes its place. The G2 screen then shows the AirPlay icon. The availability of AirPlay means that single Aries G2 streamer could handle any stream I can view or hear on my iPhone/iPad. No longer would I need two streaming devices to cover the gaps between what was available via the Squeezebox and what I could hear on my phone (e.g., the Squeezebox Touch cannot access Sirius/XM radio channels, so I need the Apple Airport Express and AirPlay to do that).
- The Lightning DS software also includes very nice vTuner functionality which provides easy access to thousands of Internet radio stations all over the world. This radio functionality seems to operate independently of AirPlay. Thus, while my iPhone is running Lightning DS, the battery drain on the phone is lower since AirPlay is not also being used.
- With the new G2, Auralic seems to be pulling out all the stops in further refining the sonics of the highly reviewed Aries. Auralic claims better clocking, better power supplies, galvanic isolation, and better mechanical isolation.
- The Aries G2 can of course access music on my local network if I want to add that function and has options to play back music stored on a thumb drive plugged into the USB slot in back, or for the consumer to insert any 2.5-inch SSD internally. The manufacturer claims, however, that the best local streaming sonics result when using NAS storage away from the Aries G2 box since putting a drive inside the box raises the EMI and puts a greater load on the G2's power supply.
- Except when the AirPlay function is used, four digital filters are available on the fly to alter the flavor of the reproduction a bit from the traditional brick wall to full apodizing.
- MQA streams (if I wanted to listen to them) are supposedly decodable by the unit's proprietary software even if your DAC does not decode MQA (my Benchmark DAC-3 does not); or you can choose to let the MQA coding pass through the unit untouched if you have an MQA decoding DAC.
- The unit is designed to work optimally via a Wi-Fi connection. That's what I use in my listening room.
More discussion of the Aries G2's functions and operation is available in the User Guide.
But at What Price?
I hesitated a bit because of the price tag of the Aries G2: $3,899. That's more than twice as much as the predecessor Aries streamer. And, given how close I judged the match between Tidal streaming from my Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, and Oppo dongle to my EVS-modified Oppo BDP-105D locally spinning the same program material on CD, could such a unit possibly be worth that cost? The Oppo dongle is literally a throw in, and either the Airport Express or a used Squeezebox Touch is about $100. Could the Aries G2 be worth 40 times the price of the Squeezebox Touch (the streamer I most used), even knowing about how the law of diminishing returns applies in full force to the subjective quality of audio equipment?
Throwing caution to the winds, I extinguished the smoldering fire in my virtual pocket by ordering the new Aries G2 straight from Auralic.
First Impressions
First impressions were outstanding. I actually got a confirmatory phone call from Auralic minutes after my order to verify that I had in fact ordered the Aries G2 through their brand-new online store. They had not expected an order to come in so soon that way apparently. I did not hear so much as a snicker in the background, much less the sound of Auralic staffers rolling on the floor with laughter.
That Auralic staff person assured me that the unit was en route from China and would arrive at the Delaware US office within a day and then be shipped overnight to me in Chicago. The unit did in fact arrive at my door within two days, packed as well as I've ever seen any audio equipment packaged. The plain white outer box was shrink wrapped and in pristine condition. The inner box slipped out of the outer box with just the right amount of speed to let me know that the dimensioning of the two boxes was spot-on. Custom fitted polystyrene inserts held all the parts inside very securely with at least four inches of hard foam padding on all sides.
The new Aries G2 is certainly a hefty, impressive box compared to the miniature Logitech Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express I've been using. The casework looks awesome, for one thing. The chassis is also quite dead sounding in response to the very revealing tap-it-with-my-fingernail test. The chassis feet also are also quite springy, seeming to isolate the box from everything above quite low frequency vibration, such as footfalls. If you listen closely, you can hear the spring-loaded feet make a bit of chatter noise when the chassis is disturbed by footfalls or the rumble of a nearby passing commuter train, suggesting that the spring suspension is definitely tuned to a primary resonance well below the 20 Hz audio range and will thus filter out much of the speaker-caused vibrations.
I do agree with others who have noted that the matte-black-on-matte-black front panel control buttons are effectively stealth camouflaged. You will likely feel them before you see them. Unless you have direct sunlight hitting the unit at just the right angle, you'll need your phone's flashlight app to actually read the icons on each button. But, the unit looks so great, I'm willing to forgive that design feature. In any event, the front panel buttons don't have to be used much at all after the initial set-up, and even for the initial set up there are two other ways to perform that set up which totally bypass the front panel buttons.
Set-Up
I used my usual magic juice, Caig Deoxit Gold GL100 liquid brushed onto all the metallic non-soldered back panel and power cord connections. I inserted an Electronic Visionary Systems Ground Enhancer into the not-to-be-used-initially-at-least digital coax jack output. I used the stock power cord which came with the unit. The manufacturer warns you not to use a heavy after-market power cord since this may upset the intended mechanical balance and vibrational isolation of the unit on its four spring-loaded feet.
Auralic also advises users not to place any other component on top of the unit, again in order to stay within the designed weight range for the isolating feet. I placed a Bright Star Audio Little Rock atop the cover of my Oppo UDP-205 and placed the Auralic unit atop that with nothing atop the Auralic. That Little Rock has felt covering its bottom side and further damps the already-pretty-dead top cover of the disc spinner and provides a solid foundation for the four feet of the Aries G2, while still being small enough not to cover up all the ventilation slots in the cover of the Oppo. This set up puts the Aries G2 in a great spot for receiving a very strong Wi-Fi signal at its two external short whip antennas.
I use Comcast Extreme 105 Internet service into an Arris SURFboard SB6190 32x8 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem. This modem is connected by CAT7 ethernet cable to my Netgear Nighthawk X8 Tri-band WiFi Router which is almost directly below the Aries down on the first floor.
With this Wi-Fi set up, via the Speedtest app on my iPhone and computers, I regularly clock about 120 mbps download and 23.5 mbps upload using either of the 5 GHz bands. I connect to the Aries G2 using one of the two 5 GHz bands. I reserve that band for my audio devices and iPhone, feeding other wireless devices and computers from the 2.4 or other 5 GHz router bands. (The iPhone/iPad running the Lightning DS software MUST be on exactly the same 5G Wi-Fi band as the Aries G2 in order to operate properly.)
Via the Wi-Fi Sweetspots app on my iPhone, I usually measure a signal strength/speed of around 460 Mbps at the G2. The signal is just as strong/fast at the listening seat from which I use the Lightning DS software on my iPhone. The strongest/fastest signal I can measure in the same room with the router even within a few inches or feet of it is about 520 Mbps. As far as I know, neither the Aries G2 nor the Lightning DS software contains any function for measuring Wi-Fi signal strength directly, unlike the Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express Utility app.
Based on the advice of Apple, I orient the whip antennas on the Aries G2 vertically since two of the four external antennas of my Netgear router are also oriented that way with the other two at 45-degree angles to vertical. That orientation of the router transmitting antennas is recommended as best by Netgear.
To connect the Aries G2 to the Benchmark DAC-3 HGC, I'm using the same NEO Oyaide Elec D+ Class A Rev2 USB cable connection I used with my Squeezebox Touch. I'm using USB instead of coax since my Oppo UDP-205 uses the only available digital coax input of the Benchmark. (The other coax input of the HGC is internally reconfigured in my system as a digital pass through output feeding my Benchmark DAC-3 DX which in turn feeds balanced analog out signal to my headphone amp, the Sim Audio Moon Neo 430HA). With the G2, the USB connection is separately clocked and power supplied from the other digital outputs.
The amps are two Benchmark AHB2 units, run in bridged mono mode. The speakers are the Harbeth Monitor 40.2. More details on this set up are contained in the Harbeth thread.
Functionality
Screen
The built-in four-inch color screen on the front of the Aries has nice sharpness and widely adjustable brightness. I've chosen brightness level 2 as the best balance between readability and distraction from the music. The way the screen looks during different functions is accurately illustrated in the Aries G2 User's Guide, except that the Guide is in black and white.
But, despite its appearance, it is not a touch screen. Whatever is displayed on the screen is controllable, if at all, from the buttons on the Aries front panel or the Lightning DS app. The Squeezebox Touch screen is similar in size and about equally informative, but is a touch screen as well as being fully remote controllable.
Unlike the Squeezebox Touch screen, the built-in screen of the G2 is apparently only meant to supplement, not totally duplicate, the visuals and functionality available through the Lightning DS app. Fair enough; the modern trend for such devices is to make the best control interface an app for a mobile device, not a screen on the chassis or a remote control wand.
Thus, the Aries G2 is really designed to be controlled via the Lightning DS app on an iPad or iPhone held in your hand at the listening seat, not from being close enough to the Aries chassis to touch the front panel buttons. The Squeezebox Touch, on the other hand, was designed to have the screen on the Touch be the primary interface and have that screen fully remote controllable by the included wand remote. My set up puts me about six feet from the screen of either the Aries or the Sqeezebox. At this distance it is much easier to read the Squeezebox Touch display than the Aries display, especially for menu functions. And for those desiring an attractive, fully functional iPhone app to control the Squeezebox Touch, the iPeng 9 Squeezebox Remote app is just about perfect.
Like the Squeezebox Touch, the G2 screen can be defeated. Unlike the Touch, however, once turned off, the Aries screen cannot instantly be turned on again via remote control—you have to touch one of the front panel buttons or go into the set-up menu on the Lightning DS app on your phone/pad to reactivate the screen. On the Touch, I had the screen set to time out after 20 seconds. The screen would reactivate whenever I touched any function button on the remote control or the iPeng 9 app. There is no time-out function for the Aries G2 screen.
Lightning DS
I can totally forgive any shortcomings with the Aries G2 screen, however, given the very slick Lightning DS control app which comes free from the App Store. As I said previously, Lightning DS is really the intended manner to control the Aries.
Whether it's the Lightning DS app or the computing horsepower built into the Aries G2, or a combination of the two, navigation from one program to another is considerably quicker than it is via the Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, or Oppo BDP-105/105D. This applies whether the source is Tidal or the lowest-res Internet radio station. Very snappy indeed. The Squeezebox Touch navigation is particularly slower when using its USB output.
Visually and graphically, Lightning DS improves on the interface with Tidal I've seen via the Squeezebox Touch, Airport Express, Oppo BDP-105/105D, or iPhone/iPad running the Tidal app directly on the mobile device. The Web interface you see on a computer for Tidal is actually one of the worst looking, in my opinion.
In addition, Lightning DS arranges the metadata for Tidal tracks more usefully than the low-cost streamers. Complete biographies of the artists are more obviously accessible in-app, for example.
In terms of moving around among menus and program sources, Lightning DS for the iPhone/iPad seems very fine to me. Nothing is hidden or difficult. For example, accessing the set-up menu to get to the four available digital filter types from Lightning DS does not interrupt the programming at all and even switching the filter mid-track only interrupts the music for about a second.
Internet Radio: VTuner
All right, I admit it. I listen to a lot of Internet radio sources, despite the lower fidelity of most such than Tidal. The popular Internet-only Radio Paradise station recently launched a lossless FLAC stream, however, and I hope that more stations will follow suit.
As for lossy streaming, in my prior streaming experience, many stations which stream at 256 kbps or above have sounded quite acceptable. A few carefully crafted 128 mp3 or AAC streams have also been quite decent sounding. Once you are at 320 kbps, such streams are quite high quality with very few audible artifacts regardless of the program material, or at least can be if the station is not applying dynamic compression and a lot of other audio processing to its signal.
A lot of the original quality (or lack thereof) of the recordings comes through even at low bitrates. For example, Grateful Dead live recordings heard on Sirius/XM (100 kbps) are extremely variable in audio quality, but can sound truly excellent if the mix was right and the microphones used were of high quality and properly deployed. I'd rather listen to low-bit-rate playback of an intelligently miked performance than lossless FLAC playback of a highly processed and compressed ruthlessly multi-miked performance any day.
The VTuner app embedded in the Lightning DS controller app is very nice. It seems eminently navigable, you can organize stations several different ways, and the station choices are very broad. The streams listed usually seem to be the best the station has to offer. One exception I noted was the BBC channels. BBC Radio 3 classical (as well as other BBC stations) is available through the BBC's own iPlayer Radio app in 320 kbps quality, whereas VTuner steers you to the 128 kbps mp3 version. But with the Aries G2, when I find such exceptions I just use the AirPlay function. Besides a menu-driven search function, you can also find stations in VTuner by typing in descriptive words or call letters. You can make any station VTuner's search function locates a favorite. That station is then listed in your list of My Favorites in the Lightning DS app.
There are stations that the VTuner search function will not automatically locate. Sometimes, for example, there is a higher bit-rate stream available, or one which is a usually-better-sounding AAC stream as opposed to MP3. For many such streams, as long as you have the URL you can type in the URL of this stream and thus add this stream to the list of My Stations. My Stations is not the same list as My Favorites. As far as I can determine, there is no way to subsume My Stations within My Favorites. And not all streams are capturable in this manner. For instance, it does not seem possible to make a paid subscription stream like any of the Jazz Radio channels one of My Stations by typing in that stream's URL; doing so yields an error message from the Lightning DS app. Still, this My Stations function is often very useful for making sure you are able to listen to the highest quality stream for a given station.
Filter Sauce
The Aries G2 Processor menu provides four choices of filter modes. These are labeled Precise, Dynamic, Balance, and Smooth. They are selectable on the fly while music is being played. However, these filter modes are not available in AirPlay mode.
These filters range from the Precise's standard brick wall to apparently full-apodizing with no pre-echo. In my tests, I generally prefer the sound of the traditional Precise brick wall filter. Its high frequencies are the cleanest and its overall spatial presentation is definitely the most focused. For program material which is too bright sounding, the Smooth filter will take a bit of the edge off at the cost of some spatial defocus and spatial blur—the space may seem enlarged, but it is less real sounding—there is less there there, as some would say.
Another available function involves upsampling/oversampling streams from their native rate to some whole number multiple of that rate. This function works with native Tidal and the VTuner stations; it does not apply to sources listened to via AirPlay. I have just begun to explore the sonic effect of that feature. So far, my impression of over/upsampling typical 44.1 kHz media to 176.4 is that this adds a small dollop of extra space and envelopment to the presentation as well as adding a tiny bit of extra clarity with no downsides I can perceive. This is unusual for me since typically I've found that with good digital electronics, digital programs sound best in their native resolution. In the past I've found that upsampling can change the sound a bit, but not in ways which are clearly better. I've typically found that upsampling usually moves the sound toward a brighter balance, with more generally spacious sound, but with less focused space. This does not appear to be the case with the Aries G2.
Another available function I have not yet tried is the way the Auralic handles MQA sources. Since my access to MQA sources is at this point limited to the desktop version of Tidal, and since I don't have my audio system hooked up to a desktop computer, I have not yet listened to any MQA sources via the Auralic. The Aries G2 software is claimed to contain a proprietary resampling and de-blurring method allowing it to decode MQA without an MQA compatible DAC attached. Also offered are Automatic, 2x, 4x, and 8x resampling choices for MQA sources using this proprietary Auralic software. Alternatively, if you have an MQA-decoding DAC, the Auralic can be set for "MQA Pass-through" to allow the MQA-encoded program to be passed through untouched to the DAC for decoding.
As an aside on the digital filtering issue, I currently fall into the camp of the MQA doubters. I agree with the analyses of Archimago and Peter Moncrieff as to the wrongheadedness of modern digital filter design, including MQA. Reproduction accuracy to the source is the goal, not a short, pretty impulse response graph lacking all those messy "pre- and post-echo" squiggles.
Sound Quality
"Finally! I thought he'd never get to it." I thought the same thing, if that's any consolation. I was putting this off as long as I could since the Aries G2 presents some difficult sonic versus value considerations.
Okay, comparing the sound quality of Internet streaming through the Auralic Aries G2 to any of the prior methods I've used in my system: yes, the Auralic sounds better, to my ears.
How much better? Significantly better. Better enough that it's noticeable right away or at least pretty quickly on many streams. These are not huge differences, but they are noticeable and significant to me.
In what ways is the sound better you ask? Keep in mind that I have not yet done a new round of comparisons between the sound of CDs spun on my also-new Oppo UDP-205 and the same program streamed on the Aries G2. The below comparisons are strictly between my low-cost streamers and the Aries. I'll also state up front that all these sonic comparisons apply to native Tidal, VTuner, and AirPlay sources as heard through the Aries G2, not just the native Tidal played by the G2.
I first noticed that the Aries G2 background is blacker. Quiet studios are even quieter, while making yet more audible the air handling and other noises going on in the background of those recording venues which aren't dead quiet. This was immediately audible when listening to radio announcers on my hometown classical station, WFMT in Chicago, a 128 kbps AAC stream.
Next I noticed that the midbass was cleaned up in the sense of more controlled but still nice and full as I like it, with the low bass below that both stronger and better defined. Deep-voiced male radio announcers sound more natural.
Images are yet more stable in placement on the stage. There was no image wander or shifting before, but now they seem yet more rock solid. Of course, on poorly miked material like the singers on stage during the Metropolitan Opera broadcast, this quality translates into even greater image shifting/jumping as the singers move around on stage and thus move in and out of the primary pick up fields of several different microphones.
Fourth, the audible depth of field is enhanced a bit. Instruments in the back are further back and there are more gradations from front to back. The space around performers in naturally miked recordings is more focused, like a finer lens.
Fifth, the presentation always seems generally cleaner and lower in distortion. Together with, or perhaps as a consequence of this, the presentation sounds more relaxed and ingratiating, with further-reduced high frequency nasties of any kind.
Finally, and probably most importantly to me, all these qualities seem more evident on sources which have lower streaming rates than Tidal. Tidal, too, evidences these qualities, but the low-bit-rate stuff gets a proportionately greater sound quality boost. That's great from my viewpoint since it really makes exploring the curated music streams offered by many Internet radio stations all that much more rewarding. I'd say the effect is akin to more than doubling the sample rate of the broadcast. The sound quality it took 256 or 320 kbps to deliver via the Squeezebox Touch is now evident with 128 kbps streams. Digital artifacts typical of low bit rates seem considerably reduced, in other words.
But Is the Aries G2 Worth the Money?
These sonic differences are all to the plus or improvement side for the Aries G2. But, despite my sonic descriptions above, I judge that the sonic differences between the Aries G2 and the low-priced streaming spread are not huge. They are audible, but mostly pretty subtle. The functional differences are not huge, either. On the other hand, the price differences are definitely huge.
I'd estimate that the low-priced streaming devices I've compared the Aries G2 with produce at least 85% of the sonic quality of the G2. For Tidal, I'd say the inexpensive route gets you 90% of the way there. For lower bit rate sources, the inexpensive route gets you 80% of what the Auralic provides sonically. Whether getting that extra average of 15% is worth the extreme price difference, only you can decide. If you don't listen much to Internet radio and don't plan to in the future, the Aries G2 may well be too steep a price to pay for a 10% increase in Tidal lossless FLAC playback quality.
Keep in mind that I'm only exploring part of the functionality and sonic quality of the Aries G2. I have no idea how the Aries G2 might affect the quality of music streamed from your local network computer storage. For computer audiophiles, this may well significantly affect the value equation.
I still heartily recommend the combination of a Logitech Squeezebox Touch and Apple Airport Express as a very fine means of hearing all music the Internet has to offer for a total investment of at most just a very few hundred dollars.
I've been using very high resolution speakers and headphones over my years of Internet streaming listening and that budget solution is something I've lived with for years without complaint and with much joy. It is something I could continue to happily live with. The functionality and audio quality are both staggeringly high for the money.
But now that I've experienced the Auralic Aries G2, I think I'll keep it. It does sound significantly better yet in my system, to my ears, and I can afford it. The Aries G2 is definitely not what I'd call a high-value component. The law of diminishing returns clearly applies in full force here. But if you are looking for the best or one of the best Internet streamers out there, the Auralic Aries G2 Wireless Streaming Transporter should be on your shortlist for consideration.
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