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AURALiC Aries price reduction

I have been considering ditching my "laptop as music server" setup I have been using for the past 7 years and purchasing the  AURALiC Aries music streamer.  Last week Audio Advisor dropped the price of the "full" version of this product to $1,279.99, a $319 savings.  Upscale Audio and HiFi Heaven have followed suit . Has anyone on this forum heard why the price drop?  Is AURALiC getting ready to release an update / upgrade / Aries II?  If so then I play the mind game of do I wait until the updated version is released, or purchase something at a reduced price that I was pretty close to sold on based on all the positive reviews.  

Any information would be appreciated.  Also, if you own one, what is your opinion?  If you upgraded from a Mac or PC to the Aries, was the sound upgrade worth the price of admission?  My biggest concern is if the Lightning DS will meet my needs.  I have invested a lot of time building my library and tags in Foobar 2000, which I will have jettison if I go with the Aries.  I am a TIdal HiFi subscriber, so I know the Aries will work well with that, and the Lightning DS interface would most likely be a step up from the Tidal interface..

Anyway, thank you for reading, and any constructive suggestions / opinions you have to offer.
exile_ken
exile_ken OP
8 posts
 
Thank you for the responses.  I was having a hard time with paying $1,599 for the Aries, so $2,200 (two N100Hs on AG currently) for an Aurender is a bit outside of my range.  I did miss the coverage on the G2, although I am not an avid "audio press" consumer, I do pop into AudioStream fairly often though so not sure how I missed it.  A quick glance shows the G2 to be even more north of my price range.  
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Hi Ken,

Be patient - mint used N100H can be had for ~$1800.

Dave
mikhaelkuz
56 posts
 
I got used Aries recently. I do not know how much Aurender is better, but compared with OPPO-105 Aries streaming sound quality is way, way better and easy audible. I actually very surprised as I bought it for convenience and was shocked how much more smooth and detailed sound from Auralic Aries is. And especially imaging - image from proper hi-rez became 3-dimensional, like I only had before from the very best CDs or even better (I am using AES/EBU to my AYON CD-5). Apparently I was blaming HDtracks downloads for nothing )).


Ag insider logo xs@2x
dbphd
1,630 posts
 
I confess to being confused about what goes together.  I'm running Roon as a core on an upstairs iMac and planned to run the Roon remote app downstairs on my iPad.  The Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC is downstairs and receives files via ethernet.  Would a N100H or Melco have any role in such a setup?

db
exile_ken OP
8 posts
 
Thank you Mikhaelkuz for the update.  How do you find the LightningDS app.  I have 20K plus tracks in Foobar 2000.  Would my library be manageable, plus Tidal access, with the LightningDS app?
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