Auralic Aries G2.1 Roon core?

Audio Gear Talk Auralic
1

Hello everybody,

I am wondering wether the Auralic Aries G2.1 can be used as a Roon Core. If so It would be the unit I have been looking for, if not, could you guys point to a unit with similar quality and characteristics, but able to work as Roon Core, other that the Nucleus?

Thank you in advance

2

One unit that does what you want is the Grimm Audio MU1: Grimm MU1

Can be both Roon Core and a Roon Endpoint of high quality.

1 Like
3

Simple answer is no.
Not many official supported Roon Core alternatives to the good old PC solutions I am afraid.
Antipodes is one but not cheap.
Look at the Nucleus or Nucleus Plus depending on library size and possible DSP needs

4

Mytek offers products that also contain a Roon Core, but I am not sure if these products actually are ready to be shipped.

5

Unfortunately, although the promos are big on generalities, they are short on specifcs. Such as what CPU is in the devices. The ones I’ve looked at all have low powered Celeron processors that keep the heat down, but can’t run any demanding Core tasks, i.e. multiple endpoints, DSP, etc.

As for the G2, it advertises as being RoonReady. That means it can act as an endpoint. That doesn’t mean it can run Roon Core.

You’re better off with a Nucleus, Intel NUC, or. something from Small Green Computer. Wyred 4 Sound has an i7 machine that, among other things, will run Core, but the machine is vastly over priced.

6

Get yourself a NUC, install ROCK, stick it in a cupboard and forget about it :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

Why would anyone combine Roon Core and Roon Ready endpoint (aka output) ? This completely goes against Roon’s recommendations

8

Most of that advice is about the noise a fan makes in a Core machine and the rest is just out-of-date.

I’ve been running USB off my ROCK for years, but the machine is in the cellar directly below my setup.

1 Like
9

Thank you everyone for your answers and help.

I’m new to Roon and I’m really disappointed by my streamer wish although is Roon Ready unit it give me no access to the music stored in the HDD added to it (BlueSound Node 2).
As I’m looking for High quality sound I would like to know wether the Aries G2.1 gives access, with Roon, to the music stored in the internal or in the external HDD. Can any user confirm this, please?

Thank you again for your answers.

10

For Roon to function, you need three things:

  • A core. This is the brain of the system, the central computer that hold your database, your music files and can connect to streaming services (Tidal, Qobuz). It can run on a laptop, a NUC, a Nucleus (a core device that is sold by Roon itself).
  • An end point. This where terms like Roon Ready and Roon Tested are used. These devices can receive a digital signal from the core and pass it through to a dac. Lots of times these endpoints also contain a dac. Auralic devices fall in this category, but so do Lumin, Bluesound and lots of others. Most dacs that have a usb connection can receive the audio sent by the Roon core, by the way. But these devices, Roon Ready or not, will only function if you have a core.
  • A control. This can be a smartphone or tablet, of a computer that is connected to your network… if you have the core running on a laptop, this same computer can also run as a control. The control is like the remote control with which you choose your music and read about it.

These are the basics. Please do understand this: even if you have Roon Ready devices, you still need a core.
I suggest you do some further reading in the Knowledge Base.

1 Like
11

Thanks Arlen for your clarification.