The Aria Music Server will arrive in our showroom in Stockholm/Sweden very soon. One of the most complete, well designed and reasonably priced units I've found.
http://ariamusicserver.com/
interesting. Please can you explain why it is better than AURENDER or LUMIN or WEISS ? What are its keys selling points against those already well established products ?
The very short version - it's new years eve after all- is that it has ripping capabilities built in combined with lots of powerful features (fanless, SSD-storage, network connectivity over DLNA/UPnP, DSD-support, iPhone/Ipad connectivity etc.) as well as a great flexibility (optional DAC, harddrives, power supplies, analogue inputs etc.). All at a starting price of €4000.
Full specification here.
Looking at the internals, Aria it is way overpriced IMO. It is like 300 euro in computer parts + soundcard + a nice box.
A regular CAPS v3 on batteries is much more advanced and way cheaper too.
Thanks for the "inside info". What makes the competition more impressive (internally) in your opinion? These units are computers optimized for music playback after all. There's always the option of building your own music server - if you've got the time, knowledge and interest in doing so.
And then you have solutions like Vortexbox with complete hardware + software solutions for £300...
I believe you need to judge these products within the context of the overall experience. Sound quality, casing, industrial design, flexibility, upgradeability, usability, software interface etc. all contribute to the overall experience.
Vortexbox seems impressive in their own right, but to be fair, it does look more like a DIY-project to me.
Thanks for the "inside info". What makes the competition more impressive (internally) in your opinion? These units are computers optimized for music playback after all. There's always the option of building your own music server - if you've got the time, knowledge and interest in doing so.
Indeed - bringing the question back to "what makes the Aria product better than competing products"?
As a customer, I believe you need to ask yourself this question. In other words, what matters to you? If convenience, industrial design, and user experience matters (besides the obvious - sound quality), the premium cost might actually be quite fair.
I agree about the "customer experience" part - there are lots of people out there that pay silly amounts of money for mechanical wrist watches that are far less accurate than my cheap Seiko. But how do you justify your statement about sound quality? Any special reasons why this box would deliver a better quality sound than a Vortexbox or a CAPS server? Any measurements to support the claim?
As I haven't yet recieved the unit partnered with the fact that it's a rather new product on the market, I can't tell you if it performs as well or better than the competition.
Personally, I believe there's rather small differences sonically inbetween products within this segment as soon as the basic criterias has been met. The largest challenge for the manufacturers at the moment in my opinion is to create "plug and play" compability, a simple setup and a superior user experience.
The Aria Music Server will arrive in our showroom in Stockholm/Sweden very soon. One of the most complete, well designed and reasonably priced units I've found.
http://ariamusicserver.com/
excellent sound
love the design and built quality
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