@rritcher email sent.
@ghosthouse You raise some good questions/issues, sorry for long reply:
Yes, the Aries Mini has many convenience features built-in, but the sound quality won't be up to the same standard because many of those conveniences are implemented in a way that works against better sound quality. The microRendu approach can provide basically the same level of convenience in a more structurally advantageous fashion. More specifically...
You are correct that mR has only ethernet input. This is because using ethernet will give you the benefit of a hard connection(minimizing RFI interference and other sonic degradation inherrent to WIFI wireless connectivity). I highly encourage you to run ethernet cable into your listening room with the other end in the next closest room, basement or attic space, wherever you can locate your internet cable coming into the home, your router and a NAS(Network-Attached-Storage) which is simply a hard drive that connects with ethernet cable directly into your router and is accessible over your network. The previously mentioned Synology and QNAP are the two most popular/worthy brands of NAS...the Toyota and Honda(maybe Lexus and BMW) of network storage products.
If you have an impossible situation for running ethernet cable into your listening room, you can get "powerline adapters" that are a pair of jacks that plug into your a/c(one in listening room, the other in the room wth the router) and allow a short ethernet cable in the listening room to connect by utilizing the home's copper a/c lines to pass the ethernet signal to the router. This is a whole topic in itself, but you can read threads on CA explaining $100/pair adapters that sound better than wifi for many.
So now assume you have ethernet input to the microRendu in your listening room. You use a free small hard connector that's included to connect the USB output of the mR to the USB input of your DAC. Yes, there is only USB output on the mR!, if you're DAC has no USB input, you are SOL(sh*t out of luck!). The mR is a bit smaller than a deck of cards and it will sit directly adjacent to the DAC's USB input(pic in situ on my system page).
If you have learned or read over the years that USB sound quality is mediocre vs. coax, AES/EBU etc or optical, that is obsolete thinking. USB is typically weaker, but John Swenson who is a renowned designer of the UpTone Regen and many power supply products worked with Sonore to build an innovative USB output implementation that just sounds better than anything I've heard or read about (and it's far from just me).
Eliminating the very expensive USB cable (Harmonic Lightspeed) that I used to own and all the filters/add-ons like IFi power splitters, Audioquest Jitterbug, & event the Regen whose tech is basically built-in to the mR USB output, is a huge added savings.
This approach appeals to me because I usually find myself preferring gear that takes uses fewer gain stages, better parts and shorter signal paths. This is the mR approach. It's basically a single-purpose computer running simple Linux based programming that can run on a totally audio-focused board that doesn't run a bunch of extra noisy processes like a Mac or PC.
Yes, the mR can stream Tidal, Spotify & internet radio. I've done Spotify and internet radio using the mR's Squeezelite mode, which is a menu choice that lets you use iPad apps and/or computer browser control that was originally designed for Logitech's Squeezebox players, and already familiar to many users.
I prefer the graphical style and functionality of both Linn's Kazoo app and the even more so, Lumin player app, which is another free iPad, Andriod, iphone app that lets me control music play using DLNA mode, which is a different choice(just a click on the menu) on the mR.
Regarding "2TB external hard drive and play local music files". That's what the Network Attached Storage is for. By keeping the music files in another box in a different room, you can eliminate any mechanical drive noise of traditional drives and other noise / sonic artifacts still present with solid state drives controlled by a shared function audio board. Also NAS drives will give you more bang/buck in terms of expandability and backup. They also can be used for general storage, for family, video etc. if you are so inclined. Also important, you minimize risk of "one broken box" taking down more of your system. Owners of failed one box products like Olive servers have learned the hard way. Investment in a NAS could still be worthwhile even if digital renderers change in a few years.
Yes, the iFi is a good sounding inexpensive power supply, but if one can spend the $399 for the new linear power supply from Uptone Audio, I've read great things about it specifically regarding use with mR and would think it's probably worthwhile. That wasn't available when I was looking for a power supply.
IMHE, this approach provides near SOTA performance at a fraction of the price, and many visitors here have headed down this road from more expensive alternatives after listening to it. Cheers,
Spencer
