Arylic S10+

The little Streamer that could do just about everything​

The Arylic S10+ is an affordable wireless music streamer that aims to bring high-resolution streaming capabilities to budget-conscious audiophiles. Competing directly with the WiiM Mini and actually currently cheaper than the WiiM Mini, the S10+ offers a plethora of features and configurability options.

It also has some nice tricks for those of us who enjoy tinkering with their audio setups.



If you like “pragmatic” audio devices, devices that sound good, have tons of features and are very affordable for what you get, I can guarantee you will be impressed with what you get with the S10+ but read on to find out more and how it competes with the WiiM Mini.

Introduction​

Arylic have a long history with very pragmatic streamers but in recent years LinkPlay (i.e. WiiM ) have stolen some of their thunder with a series of feature rich, low price streamers starting the WiiM Mini and more recently with their latest more premium offering, the WiiM Ultra (a full review coming soon). But this S10+ is Arylic fight back, priced directly against the WiiM mini, it has some compelling features not offered by the WiiM Mini. And I think crucially it actually uses the same streaming platform as WiiM, so you should not feel like you are missing out with the S10+.

But it’s not perfect and there are some cases where the WiiM Mini is still a better choice in this ultra cheap and competitive steamer market.

Read on to find out if the Arylic S10+ is the right streamer for you.

What’s in the Box​

It comes in a nice box:



Opening the box you get a manual:


Then the contents nicely secured within the box:


This is the complete contents of the box:

• Main Unit
• User’s Manual
• Aux 3.5mm Cable
• Power Adapter
• USB Type-C Cable
• Remote Control
• 2-1 RCA Cable

Design and Connectivity​

I really like the simple design of the front panel on the S10+:


Different ‘icons’ light up when different functionality is enabled.

On the back you get some crucial connections:


The optical output is a great addition over the Arylic S10 and the usb-c while providing power can also be used as an usb-dac (from a computer or smartphone unlike the WiiM Mini). The full size USB connection can be used to play music directly from a USB disk (though limits to 1000 songs), reminding me a little of the early days of streamers.

Having a line input allows devices like turntables (assuming they have a preamp) to connect, and you obviously use the analog output to connect directly to a speaker Amplifier’s RCA inputs.

But given the S10+ has digital output, I would strongly suggest using an external DAC like the also ultra cheap SMSL SU-1.

This is my SU-1 connected to the S10+:


For those interested this is the size of the S10+ compared to the WiiM Mini, I personally think the S10+ looks better and matches the SU-1:

Interface and Remote Control​

Another advantage over the WiiM Mini is the inclusion of a remote control.


As you can see the remote control offers convenient access to all functions, including preset modes, source switching, and EQ adjustments. I found this very convenient and a clear win over the WiiM Mini. It is one of the nicer Remote controls I have used with a streamer.

Setup Process​

I set my S10+ using the Wi-Fi setup process, but I believe you can also use bluetooth and for ultimate simplicity you can plug it directly into your router. The process was very similar to the WiiM products, where the S10+ appeared as a Wifi ‘router’ temporarily which I joined and then their 4Stream App would see the device and allow me to tell the S10+ the details of my home Wi-Fi Router and then the S10+ would ‘switch’ over to the home router and that was it.

But let’s get onto the main features of the Streamer.

Streaming Features​

There are roughly 4 different ways of ‘controlling’ the S10+, the remote control (which I described above) is the most basic (and very useful once you have set up some preset favourites e.g. like ‘Radio Paradise’ or your favourite TuneIn Radio stations) but beyond the remote there are actually ‘3’ different applications which offer control over different aspects of the S10+.

But let’s start with an overview of the key features.

Key Audio Features​

With so many features it is hard in a short review to cover them all but here is a summary of the key features:

• Streaming Capability: The S10+ supports Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, AirPlay, Qplay, DLNA, and UPnP protocols, allowing you to stream music from online services, smart devices, USB drives, Network connected devices and line-in sources (for example a turntable with a built-in pre-amp).
• Analog and Digital Outputs: It provides both analog output via a 3.5mm mini-jack and digital output via an optical port, catering to various audio setups.
  Note: The digital output is limited to ‘CD quality’ (so not high-res output) so while the S10+ is better than its predecessor the S10 (which didn’t have digital outputs) it is still more limited than the WiiM Mini in this area.
• Multiroom and Multi-zone Streaming: You can connect multiple units in the same network to create a whole-house audio system, synchronizing or zoning different music sources. This also works if you have other LinkPlay products on your network.
• High-Quality Music Support: Capable of decoding sample rates up to 24-bit/192kHz, it supports high-resolution
  streaming from services like Spotify, TIDAL, Qobuz, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Napster.
• EQ Adjustment: Lots of EQ adjustment options via the various apps or the remote control, allowing for customized sound profiles.

But let get into the specifics of each of the Applications provided:

4Stream app​

There are many poor streaming platforms (I have a $1000 Denon Amplifier which uses a very poor HEOS streaming Platform) but WiiM Linkplay is one of (if not) the best streaming applications and the S10+ utilises this same streaming platform. In fact, the S10+ appears inside the WiiM App as another playback Device, so you get all (or most as you will see) of the advantages of the WiiM Streaming Platform if you choose the S10+.

Here are a huge number of streaming options within this application (here is just a subset of the options):


Once you select your favourites streaming services they are available on the “Browse” option within the App:


So, the “4Stream” App is actually a rebranded ‘stripped back’ WiiM app, but it is a fully capable streaming application, and you can always use the WiiM Application to control your music on the S10+ which I feel is a clear advantage of the S10+ over other non Linkplay based streamers.

For example, here is the S10+ appearing inside the WiiM App:



You will see that the S10+ has fewer options within WiiM App, compared to WiiM Products (which is understandable) but most of those capabilities are actually available within the other “Go Control” App (as you will see in a minute).

Here are the S10+ configuration options:



For comparison this is what you can ’tweak’ for the WiiM Mini:


E.g. the EQ within the 4Stream App is pretty limited:



But as you will see these EQ and audio options are available in the Go Control App.

Go Control App​

While the 4Stream app is a rebranded version of Linkplay’s streaming app, the Go Control App feels like Arylic’s own ‘control’ application, controlling the key audio aspects of the S10+ that they fully control:



This is the app that you may only need to use initially, to tweak and get the sound the way you want, it offers lots of tweaking of EQ capabilities (ironically these are some features that WiiM have added to their App exclusively for their products ) but Arylic offer similar and in some respects better control over the audio quality with the S10+.

It actually includes some audio options not available in the WiiM App to WiiM devices like a Bass enhancement and a Crossover configuration capability.



But for me the crucial capability is editing the EQ to my tastes (and my Room / Speakers):

ACP Workbench​

This is an optional $20 upgrade to buy the application from Arylic, but I actually had a copy of this application I received with a different product, so I played around with it connected to my S10+.

The S10+ appears as Up2Stream usb device:


The main screen with the ACP workbench has lots of information:


But what I think is excellent is the PEQ editing capabilities:


In short, I was amazed that you can have this level of ‘audio nerdy’ control over such a cheap device. I had meant to write a detail review of the ACP Workbench previously and I will hopefully get to that soon, but hopefully the screenshots above show the level of configuration capability you get with the ACP Workbench.

To many Apps?​

So my one minor criticism of the S10+ is it actually does too many things, for most people, controlled from too many different ways. The 4Stream App is the main streamer controller, but you do probably do need to use the “Go Control” Mobile App at least initially to check for an upgrade for the S10+ and to tweak the EQ a little to your tastes and then finally for those really adventurous there is also the “ACP Workbench”.

Specifications and Measurements​

Let’s have a quick look at the measurements:

• Connectivity: IEEE802.11 b/g/n 2.4G Wi-Fi, Ethernet 10/100M RJ45, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Host 2.0
• Power Input: 5V-1A via USB Type-C
• Audio Outputs: Analog 3.5mm mini-jack, Optical port
• Audio Inputs: Analog 3.5mm mini-jack, USB Type-A, USB Type-C
• Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz
• SNR: 91dB
• THD+N: 0.03%
• Music Formats: FLAC, MP3, AAC, AAC+, ALAC, APE, WAV
• Sample Rate Decoding: Up to 24-bit/192kHz
• Sample Output Format: 44.1kHz/16bit
• Dimensions: 108x72x26.6mm
• Weight: 105g

Comparisons with the WiiM Mini​

So, the SNR and THD+N while good are not as good as the WiiM Mini which has THD+N of 0.009% and SNR 102dB, the WiiM Mini also effectively provides a digital pass-through of the streaming digital audio over its optical output, while the S10+ does down sample if needed the output to CD quality of 44.1/16bit.

But what the S10+ provides is perfect CD quality output which effectively as good as you need for 99% of the music you can stream. For example, Spotify does streaming quality is far below CD quality as it the basic tier of almost all the streaming services, it is only when you get into Apple ‘HiRes’ or the expensive tiers from Tidal / Quboz that you can optional stream music that might need to be ‘down sampled’ by the S10+ down to CD quality.

Basically, if you are not paying for High-Res music, then the S10+ is as good as you need and will no disappoint.

Features comparison​

Having used the S10+ for the past month in the same space as I had been using my WiiM Mini I personally did not find anything lacking feature wise with the S10+ with one minor exception, I occasionally (though not as often as I used too) use Alexa to control the audio output with Voice control, and you cannot do that with the S10+.

There are a few other minor things I noticed that are missing (that I never use) like Bluetooth audio output (though I will use that feature in a future review of the Vera-Fi Veralink Bluetooth Monoblocks).

On the other side, but I found the S10+ supplied remote very handy along with the various status lights and I didn’t need to use my mobile as much to control the S10+. I loved the extra configuration options (though it’s annoying to need multiple applications), but having the “ACP Workbench” level of tweaking from such an affordable streamer is great. I also liked the usb-c connection on the S10+ presented an usb-DAC and this allows me to connect my Mac directly into the S10+ (which is not something you can do with the WiiM Mini):

Rating​

I have given the Arylic S10+ a pragmatic 5-star rating, it provides an astonishing amount of capabilities and good audio quality at an amazing price and is ahead of the WiiM Mini in some key features but on the other hand the WiiM Mini does has some technical capabilities that are still ahead of S10+. So, in effect both are great devices (and both 5-star pragmatic devices at their current prices), but I hope I provided enough details to allow you to make a good decision about which is the best device for your setup.

Conclusion​

The Arylic S10+ is an excellent entry-level streamer that punches above its weight with extensive features, advanced configurability and a nice remote control. While the combination of the 4Stream and the Go Control
apps may not be as polished or integrated as some competitors, the sheer versatility and performance of the S10+ make it a standout choice for budget-conscious audiophiles and tech enthusiasts alike.

Whether you’re streaming from popular services or fine-tuning your setup with ACPWorkbench, the S10+ offers a robust and flexible solution for your audio needs.