Auralic Network Player Abilities

[Peter_Rangeley]

I am looking to upgrade to an Auralic Aries Network Bridge.

I currently run Roon Server on Mac mini, connected to OPPO BDP105 as DAC, which gives me pretty good SQ, in my opinion.

I currently convert to DSD128 using Roon, for my OPPO to decode.

If I upgrade to the Aries, would the conversion to DSD be done by the Aries or would I continue to need Roon to do this?

If I understand correctly, can I connect Roon Server to the Aries via Ethernet rather than USB, which would allow me to use my iMac located elsewhere for higher processing capabilities.

Thanks

[Hartmut_Berg]

I run the roon software on a MacBook Pro and upsample there to DSD 256. The dac of the Aries Mini can handle DSD data up to DSD 256. Then the signal goes via line out to my preamp. I don‘t run a wired connection between MacBook and Aries.

[Peter_Rangeley]

Thanks,

To be clear, my main question is whether I can offload the conversion to DSD to the Aries as my Mac mini is not that powerful.

[Hartmut_Berg]

No. The Aries Mini to which I am referring cannot upsample to DSD. This must be done by roon software or you feed him with native DSD files.

[orgel (David Orgel)]

Just to restate, all DSP is done on the machine running the Roon core. You can’t offload that work to an endpoint, Aries or otherwise.

[Peter_Rangeley]

Thanks for the answers.

In my set up of upsampling to DSD 128 to feed my Oppo DAC is there any point to having an Aries in the chain?

Where would the jump in SQ come from if Mac mini and Oppo DAC doing most of the work?

[orgel (David Orgel)]

Where would the jump in SQ come from if Mac mini and Oppo DAC doing most of the work?

To oversimplify, the ideas behind upsampling in software are to move noise out of the audible band, minimize artifacts within the audible band, and allow the use of “fancier” upsampling and filtering schemes.

IME, the audible difference resulting from upsampling/filtering in software varies by system — especially the DAC, I think — and how much you like the difference is up to you.

So the best thing you can do to evaluate this is to give it a try for yourself and listen to how it sounds.

[Hartmut_Berg]

Maybe this helps.

Looking For Your Opinion

In most cases, the DAC performs some DSP to upsample the incoming signal to its maximum sample rate (more or less) regardless of what you feed to it. There are a small class of DACs out there that do not work this way, but for the most part, most of the gear that you will encounter is doing something like this.

So upsampling is going to be happening either way. Either you do it first, or the DAC does it later. Or you do some of it first, and the DAC does the rest. Either way, the digital signal is ending up at a very high sampling rate before it is converted to analog.

So if we use the photograph analogy. The question is not “will upsampling it to 20 megapixels make it look better”. The question is “If I must display a 10 megapixel photo on a 20 megapixel display, what is the best way to scale it up?”.

And that is not a question with just one answer–in the domain of audio or in the domain of imagery. There are lots of algorithms/approaches at different (performance) cost levels with different quality implications.

The reason why software upsampling can be an enhancement is that there are far fewer performance limitations in a computer–big general purpose CPUs can run more complex and expensive algorithms than DAC chips do. Software-based upsampling opens up the opportunity to select filters/algorithms that make different design tradeoffs than the one that the manufacturer of the DAC chip made.

There is nothing inherently good or bad about the design choices made in the DAC. They were designed by practical engineers working within performance constraints just like everything else. There are always tradeoffs to be made. Software-based upsampling gives access to a more resource-rich environment where fewer tradeoffs are necessary, that’s all.

There is an awful lot in the audiophile world that truly doesn’t make sense–where no-one can do better than theorize loosely about the mechanism upon which a change might affect perceived sound quality. This isn’t one of those cases. With upsampling, we understand what we are changing, how, and why.

[Peter_Rangeley]

Many Thanks for that. Has proved helpful in my understanding of what is going on.

[MusicFidelity (Guy)]

If you using just as an Roon Ready endpoint together with Roon up-sampling features then there’s no need to get a very expensive Roon Ready streamer. I’m using Aries Mini with a linear power supply, I can switch either Roon Ready endpoint or simply use it with its LDS software itself. If you got an external USB-DAC then use it otherwise the in-built DAC is also very good.

Add in a USB Regen to the USB-DAC further improve the sound quality.

[Hartmut_Berg]

Hi. Which linear power supply do you run with your aries mini? I do use mine with the standard power supply and want to upgrade.

[MusicFidelity (Guy)]

I’m using KECES DC-116, it has dual outputs, one that power my NAS(12V) and Aries Mini(15 to 16V). If a single output just to power Aries Mini can consider below:

VINSHINE AUDIO | Product Page

[Hartmut_Berg]

Thank you for your answer. I am from Germany. The Keces power supplies are available here. The other one not. Did you ever had the chance to listen to different power supplies?

[MusicFidelity (Guy)]

I own both KECES and Jay Audio, both are equally good compared to the stock switching power supplies. I also build my own linear power supplies to power up my modems, Router and Access Point. As I use exclusively gigabyte LAN connection throughout my house. Below is a fibre switch box/fibre modem which I built a linear power supply, 12V at 1.5A.

[Hartmut_Berg]

Thank you. I am not able to build my own power supplies. So I will get me one or two of those you recommended for the aries and the modem. It is a big help for me to get recommendations from a „real“ person who likes listening to music than to read tests in commercial hifi-publications. Thank you once again.