“Everything should be made as small as possible, but not smaller.” Kinda Einstein.
I’m a fan of the half width, the not full size when it comes to devices like phono stages and network players and even CD transports. Call it a fancy.
As regular readers may know, I’ve been using Auralic’s ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter (review) for more than two years as part of the Barn’s reference rig. Happily, I might add. Alas, that ARIES is being phased out and in its place as the entry into the world of Auralic streaming we find the ARIES S1.
Every picture tells a story but when it comes to things like a network player—Ethernet in / digital audio out (no DAC)—the backside view provides just the facts, ma’am. In addition to the Ethernet input we also find 2x Toslink, Coax, and USB, while the outputs include AES (I’m a fan), Toslink, Coax, and USB. That HDD USB slot is for attaching USB-based music storage and there’s also a slot for plugging in Auralic’s option External PSU.
Inside, the S1 is built on quad-core 64-bit architecture running Auralic’s latest Tesla G3 streaming platform that offers eight times the processing capability of the previous G2 platform as found in the ARIES G1.1. There’s 2GB of DDR4 system memory, Direct Memory Access (DMA) technology “for its audio input and output channels, enabling all audio-related hardware and software to access the system memory directly. This significantly reduces latency and jitter by 90% compared to Tesla G2, giving us more flexibility to fine-tune the performance and sound quality of our products”, a 60 Femto Master Clock, and 2nd Gen Galvanic USB.
From Auralic:
To avoid the interference associated with traditional open circuit designs, Galvanic Isolation in the ARIES S1 separates electrical circuits while allowing data to flow between them. We created two special high-speed galvanic isolators and configured them between the ARIES S1’s primary clocking, processing, and transmitting circuits. It’s a new level of protection against EMI that helps eliminate jitter, contributing to an unparalleled level of clarity.
For control you can use Auralic’s own Lightning DS app for iOS, any OpenHome compatible software (like BubbleUPnP), Roon which is how I’ll roll, Tidal Connect, and others (see Specs below). The Lightning app also provides access to a lot of useful features including Loudness Leveling, the Resampler and its options, a Parametric EQ, Speaker Placement Compensation, Enable/Disable the S1’s Volume Control, and more.
Going back even further into my history with Auralic, I reviewed their first DAC, the Auralic Vega, in 2013 and used it for years as my reference so I’m very much looking for to hearing what their latest entry streamer has to say. Stay tuned.
Auralic ARIES S1 Streaming Processor
Price: $1999 | $2998 w/upgraded external power supply
Company Website: Auralic
Specifications
Streaming File Formats
Lossless: AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, OGG, WAV and WV
Lossy: AAC, MP3, MQA* and WMA
Sampling Rates
PCM: 44.1KHz to 384KHz in 32Bit**
DSD: DSD64(2.8224MHz), DSD128(5.6448MHz), DSD256(11.2896MHz), DSD512(22.57892MHz)***
Control Software
AURALiC Lightning DS for iOS
AURALiC Lightning DS for web browser (device settings only)
OpenHome compatible control software (BubbleUPnP, Kazoo)
Roon (Roon Core required separately)
Audio Inputs
Digital Input: Coaxial, Toslink (2), USB Audio
Streaming Inputs: Network shared folder, USB Storage, USB CD Drive, UPnP/DLNA Media Server, Amazon Music Unlimited, HighResAudio, KKBOX, Qobuz Sublime+, Netease Music, TIDAL/TIDAL Connect, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, TuneIn, Internet Radio, Roon Ready****
Audio Outputs
Digital Outputs: AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink
USB Output: USB Host to compatible DAC *****
Network
Wired: Gigabit Ethernet
Power Consumption
Standby: <3W
Sleep: <10W
Playback: 25W at max.
Dimensions – W x D x H
20.7cm x 29cm x 8.5cm (8.1 x 11.4 x 3.3 in.)
Weight
4.0kg (8.8 lbs)
Product Finishing
Anodized aluminum case in matte black
Contents
AURALiC S1 Streaming Processor
Power cord
Quickstart Guide
* AURALiC streaming devices can act as a passthrough for unaltered MQA files to a customer’s own MQA-certified DAC for downstream processing.
** 352.8KS/s and 384KS/s and 32bit are supported through USB Output only
*** By ‘DoP V1.1’ or native DSD protocol
