OK, to begin an update, I want to thank Carl for moving a number of posts from this thread to this thread.
I was delighted by the new version Roon build 88 supporting Squeezebox players, and thrilled to have my little Linux Squeezebox emulator running as an endpoint substitute for the Aries Mini. IMO it’s BETTER than the Mini, if you want DSD or higher than 16/44.1 support. Details in the linked thread. Granted if Auralic decides to make the Mini RoonReady, that differentiation will go away. After that any comparisons would be sonic, ease of use/setup, and economic vs. the feature advantage Squeezebox support has now.
Now the bad news… I sat down tonight for a serious listening session tonight. One comparing the Mini over coax to the DAC vs. my CD transport over coax to my DAC. And generally speaking - after a number of selections - I was hard pressed to hear a difference. But I wanted more music to convince myself - or not. And then the unexpected happened. My CD transport went belly up. Cannot read CD’s any more. At all.
Granted, this might be a transient problem. Maybe if it cools down it’ll work again. But for the purposes of this comparison, we both know that it is understood to be performance flawed. So any comparison would have to be regarded with suspicion IMO.
So now I’ve got to decide if I even want to invest in a new CD player, in this day and age. All my digital music is either sourced over the Internet, or ripped from a CD on the drive on a PC. I still buy CDs. I just don’t play them.
I guess that means - Sorry Folks - not sure if I’ll be continuing this comparison. Got to go see what a quality used CD player costs. I know I’m not shelling out a lot for a quality new one. No faith in the long term viability of the medium. Sorry.