Auralic Aries G2 Gapless Playback?

Network Audio
1

Hi Folks!

I could use some advice from Auralic G2 users.

I’m currently using an Oppo 105 to stream Tidal and pull flac files off of a WD solid state 1 TB USB drive. These days I use the Oppo only as a file server and send the digital coax output to my DAC. The Oppo allows me to browse the directory structure on my drive and play directly from the drive. I spent a lot of time organizing the directory structure, and I prefer to browse and not use playlists.

I listen primarily to classical, and this is where the gapless problems start. Many classical pieces (and some non-classical) are continuous performances with separate tracks on a CD. I have ripped my CDs to flac files, and each CD track becomes a separate flac file. The trick is to play these tracks truly gapless. No breaks, no pauses, no clicks or pops.

The Oppo does play gapless (with some timing problems that can cause premature termination of play), but it requires additional controller clicks to get it to do that. The firmware is kind of a kludge. And, it will NOT stream gapless from Tidal.

So I’m thinking of getting an Aries G2 that I can control from my iPad. I want to use the G2 to play flac files with gapless playback and send the digital data to my DAC. I have some questions about how this puppy will work for me:

  1. Will the Aries G2 allow me to browse my music directories on my external drive and play gapless directly from the drive? I was told by Auralic support that this is “not recommended”! Really?

  2. Will the G2 stream gapless from streaming services like Tidal? And I mean gapless without any interruptions. As in continuous music. The response I got from Auralic was not at all helpful on this question.

  3. Does the G2 require a lot of special setup to gapless play a directory full of files? (I have entire classical pieces as separate files in one directory.)

So, has anybody out there had experience with the G1 or G2 with these gapless and browsing questions?

Finally, has anybody had experience with the difference in sound quality between the Oppo 105 digital output and the G2?

Thanks for the help!

Charlie

2

Wow - bunch of stuff to parse. ; )

I’ve had a 105 for years (great box), and now have a G1… though I wouldn’t even begin to compare them or talk about them in the same breath, and have never used them for similar purposes.

Just to get it right out there - haven’t done any gapless testing. If you are asking because you’re a Playlist Guy…I’m sorta not. Play what I want when I want it. So - JSYK.

Had my HD hooked up at my prior place (where I lived since I bought the G1 within the past year) and ended up almost entirely forgetting about it, due to the SQ and massive variety (including most of what’s on my HD) of Qobuz and Tidal via the G1.

But since moving (again!) last month - haven’t bothered to hook up the external HD yet (the G1 having no internal HD, but having USB to hook up an external, and the G2 coming with an internal, as I reckon you know).

  1. You can browse whatever. Dunno about gapless. Never noticed issues that way.

  2. Yes - AFAICT - though not sure what your definition is.

  3. The G1 started cataloging my attached HD right out of the box WHILE I WAS still configuring the G1 how I wanted. Maybe a half hour total between slitting the box open and having it all set up…and it had my HD all sorted long before that. (YMMV depending on library size and HD speed). I was so surprised and delighted by this experience I’ve told Paul twice that he should spend the money to see what he is competing against ; )

3

badbeef,

Thanks. Sounds like you’re quite happy with the cataloging that the G1 does.

Do you listen to classical? If so, have you had any beefs (pun intended) with the way it handles continuous classical?

4

Hi,
I’ve just landed a Vega G2 replacing my DSJ (and potentially my pre-amp). I’ve attached a link to the Auralic community below which may assist (or where you can pose your questions).

Unlike Mr Beef I am a playlist guy. I have used Soundiiz to move my playlists around the various streaming platforms I use – most recently to Tidal - which I control from the Auralic app with no issues at all.

As to gapless I’ll get back to you – I don’t have any classical – happy to check something on Tidal if you have a recommendation? Meantime I’ll play a few live albums and see how we go…

I don’t have a separate library on NAS now but have used an Auralic Altair previously and at start-up it found my external library and went through the process of making it available for playback (via their app). I understand this process is now considerably faster based on the tech improvements in the Vega G2.

5

Sorry - again, not able to comment on that. I’m a very temporally selective player of music and formats and devices and so on, typically. I play digital much as I’ve always played analog. I do listen to classical on occasion, but not as much lately as in former decades. Gone mostly, pretty Jazz-y these days, and tend to listen to whole sides/records, whether vinyl or digital. Never been a big playlist person.

Though - every time I drive past a street in my new neighborhood named “Iris”, for some odd, old neuronal-connection-reason I can’t account for (spelling-wise), I start singing, in my best Kurt Moll imitation, “O Isis…und Osiris, schenket…der weisheit geist…”

Maybe because “iris” is the end of “Osiris”. At least, in the catalogue of Old Man brain-farts, this is a Happy One ; )

As far as being happy with the cataloging - the thing that killed me was how fast it sorted my former Entire HD catalog in minutes, without me doing anything.

HOWEVER: If one is looking at this from a Roon-ish perspective…ehhhh. Maybe not so much.

But the thing is - I would not get my knickers in a twist over such things. But that’s me, not you.

One has to Prioritize, and figure out which aspects matter most to You. This device was such an improvement in terms of sonics and functionality for me (vs. the identical Mac Mini setup as Paul had for years, built by the same guy) that I’ve been able to Not Worry About It ever since. Which is what I want. No Worries - just Music.

Again, I would qualify this by saying that part of my thing at the time (last year…) was to Lose my Roon sub, not wanting to purchase any sort of Roon Core, and so on. If you have a Roon Core, and Roon Subscription, this is a Roon Endpoint.

I do miss the Roon metadata and organization and so on. But as I mentioned, this suits my style of playing music.

I may be behind the times, as this stuff changes all the time, but if it is possible to play stuff via Roon without the music Running Through Roon sonically (requiring a Roon Core)…I’d sign up again.

6

Ok, I’ve been streaming Black Crowes and Jimmy Page Live - not classical but a classic! No problems with gapless via Tidal using the Auralic app.

1 Like
7

A review in HiFi Choice of the G2 last year stated “The gapless playback mode works perfectly on every format I have at my disposal.”

8

Thanks, everybody, for the feedback! You have been very helpful. That Auralic community link shows that there WAS a problem, but it appears to be fixed now.

That leaves the directory browsing question. Does anybody browse directories in an external HD for files to play and then play them from the HD subdirectory? (I’m beginning to think I’m the only guy who does that. That’s my Oppo legacy.)

Charlie

9

It is organized like many streaming and server softwares - you can enter words into the Search field, or view by Album (shown - a list of current favorited albums that either I like or want to check out) Artist, Song, etc. - the stuff on your HD shows up in this way as well.

image
52EE9C7A-32B7-4988-89D4-DC25AEAE48B0.jpg2732×2048 1.72 MB

You tap the upper left to show the side menu - this shows I’m viewing my Favorites on Qobuz:

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38FD9952-0781-47E6-BB40-D21A0390BAB1.jpeg660×2048 425 KB

Here are the options for viewing Your Music on HD:

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A3344D91-4E03-467E-B097-5FC20FCBD9BD.jpeg711×2028 251 KB

(You may need to tap on these photos to see the column)

10

Great! The last entry in the column is “Browse by Folder”. While the other options may work with classical, I worry that some of my modifications to file header data during ripping may confuse the G2 search engine. As long as it has a browse option, I can probably make it do what I want.

Thanks!

Charlie