Auralic Aries

If your seller isn't noting a problem, you may never have to do anything.

As @jond said, many of the original Aries had failures of their WiFi cards, an Intel model that Auralic's Xuanqian Wang colorfully called "a master of pain." If you use Ethernet, it won't matter. And maybe you'll win the roll of the dice and wind up with a good card.

@mgrif104  said: >> With respect to Auralic vs any number of streaming transports - there’s a fair amount of differing opinions.  My takeaway is that they’re all pretty good and they get better as you go up the food chain within each line. That’s certainly been my experience.   <<
It's been mine, too.
Regarding "noise floor" -- this now seems to be widely used as an audiophile term for "I don't like it." In other words, for cases in which one hears no audible noise -- and often, no measurable noise --  but something in the sound doesn't appeal. I have no issue with people not liking anything, including the gear I use. Still, I am not a fan of this use of "noise floor." Again, I don't dispute the subjective reaction of not liking something, finding it x or y or z, but I'd prefer to have that stated without the use of "noise floor," which has a specific technical meaning.

I think Auralic does well with Roon. Most agree that the sound differs between OpenHome mode (Lightning DS) and Roon, but I can't say that one is better than the other. On some tracks, Roon seems more mellow, OpenHome more detailed.

Auralic has been a leader in getting good, reliable sound over WiFi. I've compared WiFi on my original Aries (femto) to Ethernet, then again with the Aries G1, and I could not hear the difference.

@ghdprentice -- Thanks for your reply. I suppose we disagree on terminology. So be it!

1) You can always spend more.
2) There’s always something better sounding out there.
3) Pursuing #1 does not guarantee arrival at #2.

@ghosthouse -- thanks for posting that. It's perfect!