Aries 2018 Horoscope with decans for a more accurate forecast. If you are on a cusp, use the free horoscope to find your decan.

Aries Decan 1 born Mar 21 to 30
Aries Decan 2 born Mar 31 to Apr 9
Aries Decan 3 born Apr 10 to 19

Decan 1 Aries 2018 Horoscope

All yearSaturn square your decan can represent a forced turning point where you feel pressured and burdened. It can sometimes feel like everything and everyone is against which can lead to feelings of isolation and discouragement. Your may face challenges to your ego from father figures such as bosses, teachers, parents or the government. You will have to face this adversity with patience and persistence and keep struggling so they don’t get the better of you. Once this transit passes then your confidence and enthusiasm will grow again and you can start building new foundations with a better sense of purpose and more strength. (December 12, 2017 to December 29, 2018)

Until January 31 you are still under the testing influence of the August 2017 solar eclipse. This is a confident, ambitious and adventurous eclipse phase. However, any hard-earned gains you have made can give rise to envious and jealous enemies. You may have to tone down your self-assertion and think about what you really want, and if this is the best option for you. Determined and sustained effort is the best way forward.

January 31 to July 27 the January 2018 lunar eclipse is well placed to bring inner balance and a supportive home and family life. It will help you balance competing factors in your life, such as work and family, children and career, and between looking after yourself and nurturing others. Single women, working women and single parents are a special focus of this sensitive and caring eclipse. Other eclipse themes include parenting styles, custody rights, maternity leave and childcare.

April 3 to 15Mercury retrograde in your decan can play havoc with your thoughts, communications, travels and electronics. Take extra care with your words and try not to react too quickly in any arguments or if provoked. Take some time out if you start to feel overwhelmed by the hectic pace. Double-check all of your emails and posts on Facebook before hitting the send button.

July 27 onwards the July 2018 lunar eclipse will focus your attention on your personal life. You will likely feel more sensitive and should trust your instincts, especially about relationships. This is a good time to fix relationships problems before they get out of hand. If things are already beyond repair then this is the right time to move on. This is also a good time for making friends and finding a soul mate. (July 27, 2018 to January 21, 2019)

November 5 to December 25Jupiter trine your decan is a time of good feelings and well-being. The normal challenges and strains of life will seem to fade away during this lucky transit. This is the perfect time to make the effort to get ahead while you feel confident and optimistic. Be sure to make the most of any lucky breaks. Make an effort because there will be opportunities to make money on investments and all sorts of financial deals. This is also an ideal time for broaden your horizons and general knowledge through study and long distance travels.

November 5 to 20Jupiter quincunx Uranus can change your belief system, wealth, education, travels and general happiness and contentment with life. In this constant state of flux you can swing between optimism and uncertainty, and between confidence and anxiety. The ups and downs and the give and take are stressful but the changes will help you can grow. A growth spurt is possible now in the physical, material and spiritual worlds. You need patience, moderation and research to choose the best of the opportunities coming your way. Open mindedness and flexibility will increase your chances of success.

Aries 2018 Horoscope is based on planetary transits to Aries Decan 1, not to houses, zones or sectors. The transits and eclipses for Aries 2018 Horoscope are calculated using the Solar Fire Astrology Program.

Weekly Aries Horoscope
Aries Monthly Horoscope Decan 1
Aries 2017 Horoscope Decan 1
Aries 2019 Horoscope Decan 1

Decan 2 Aries 2018 Horoscope

All yearPluto square your decan will be felt directly this year by Aries born from April 7 to 9. Those of you born earlier in Aries decan 2 have already experienced this life changing transit but should still feel some after effects. Your Aries horoscope 2018 be a test of your character, authority and power. Extreme forces are at play requiring you to stand up and be counted. If you experience a crisis or defeat then see it as the beginning of a transformation in that area of life affected. Power conflicts can lead to ruthless behavior to claiming your personal power. (January 2013 to December 2018)

Until January 31 you are still under the helpful influence of the August 2017 lunar eclipse. It is possible that a powerful drive for personal success has affected your mood, behavior and close relationships. If you have not already enjoyed personal success in the last six month then don’t give up. Your subconscious will increasingly try to push you in the right direction. Follow you intuition and don’t be shy.

January 31 to July 12 the January 2018 lunar eclipse is also well placed to bring inner balance and a supportive home and family life. It will help you balance competing factors in your life, such as work and family, children and career, and between looking after yourself and nurturing others. Single women, working women and single parents are a special focus of this sensitive and caring eclipse. Other eclipse themes include parenting styles, custody rights, maternity leave and childcare.

March 22 to April 4Mercury retrograde in your decan can play havoc with your thoughts, communications, travels and electronics. Take extra care with your words and try not to react too quickly in any arguments or if provoked. Take some time out if you start to feel overwhelmed by the hectic pace. Double-check all of your emails and posts on Facebook before hitting the send button.

July 12 onwards the July 2018 solar eclipse will focus your attention on your personal goals and professional life. Added pressures or responsibilities at work may begin to affect other areas of your life. If you need a job or more work, this eclipse may bring added pressure from others. If you cannot make progress no matter how hard your try, some major adjustment or a totally new direction could be your answer. (July 12, 2018 to January 5, 2019)

December 11 onwardsSaturn square your decan can represent a forced turning point where you feel pressured and burdened. It can sometimes feel like everything and everyone is against which can lead to feelings of isolation and discouragement. Your may face challenges to your ego from father figures such as bosses, teachers, parents or the government. You will have to face this adversity with patience and persistence and keep struggling so they don’t get the better of you. Once this transit passes then your confidence and enthusiasm will grow again and you can start building new foundations with a better sense of purpose and more strength. (December 11, 2018 to December 29, 2019)

December 20 onwards Jupiter trine your decan is a time of good feelings and well-being. The normal challenges and strains of life will seem to fade away during this lucky transit. This is the perfect time to make the effort to get ahead while you feel confident and optimistic. Be sure to make the most of any lucky breaks. Make an effort because there will be opportunities to make money on investments and all sorts of financial deals. This is also an ideal time for broaden your horizons and general knowledge through study and long distance travels. (December 20, 2018 to February 18, 2019)

Aries 2018 Horoscope is based on planetary transits to Aries Decan 2, not to houses, zones or sectors. The transits and eclipses for Aries 2018 Horoscope are calculated using the Solar Fire Astrology Program.

Weekly Aries Horoscope
Aries Monthly Horoscope Decan 2
Aries 2017 Horoscope Decan 2
Aries 2019 Horoscope Decan 2

Decan 3 Aries 2018 Horoscope

All yearPluto square your decan will be felt directly this year by those born from April 10 to 12. Those of you born later in Aries decan 3 may begin feeling a subtle influence this year but not the full impact until coming years. Your Aries horoscope 2018 will be a test of your character, authority and power. Extreme forces are at play requiring you to stand up and be counted. If you experience a crisis or defeat then see it as the beginning of a transformation in that area of life affected. Power conflicts can lead to ruthless behavior to claiming your personal power.(January 2018 to December 2024)

All yearUranus in your decan brings change and higher awareness. You will become more in tune, more aware of your true nature. You will most likely feel less inhibited and more open-minded. Is it possible that you have lived your life as your family, friends, or society expected you to, instead of being true to your own personal identity. The inner changes that you go through will often manifest outwardly as big changes in your life, from work to home and relationships. Look forward to more excitement and change, especially if you have felt stagnate over the last few years. (March 2016 to March 2019)

Until February 15 you are still under the helpful influence of the August 2017 solar eclipse. It should still be making you feel more confident, ambitious and adventurous. This is a good time to focus on your career or apply for a new job. Continued determined and sustained effort should bring the growth and happiness you deserve. This is an excellent solar eclipse to change destructive or outdated behaviors such as prejudices and addictions.

February 15 to July 12 the February 2018 solar eclipse brings a burst of confidence and initiative. This is a great time for making positive changes, setting new goals and starting new projects. This eclipse will fill your head with ideas on how to improve your life through education and positive change. Some of your thoughts will turn to companionship and love. Other themes of this eclipse include health and medicine, especially mental health issues and women’s health issues.

July 12 onwards the July 2018 solar eclipse will focus your attention on your personal goals and professional life. Added pressures or responsibilities at work may begin to affect other areas of your life. If you need a job or more work, this eclipse may bring added pressure from others. If you cannot make progress no matter how hard your try, some major adjustment or a totally new direction could be your answer. (July 12, 2018 to January 21, 2019)

August 10 to 27Mars retrograde in your decan means you should think twice before acting. Fated events and repeating themes will reinforce which of your passionate desires need more background work before being acted upon. Use this time to take stock and make sure everything in order before you continue. Fated and sometimes painful events may occur to make you back off and avoid major mistakes.

October 30 to November 16Venus retrograde square your decan means that your love life enters a fated period. Giving and receiving love and affection will become more difficult. Old friends or lovers may reappear or you may relive past life experiences in order to sort out karmic issues. This is not an ideal time for investing or buying luxury items.

Aries 2018 Horoscope is based on planetary transits to Aries Decan 3, not to houses, zones or sectors. The transits and eclipses for Aries 2018 Horoscope are calculated using the Solar Fire Astrology Program.

Weekly Aries Horoscope
Aries Monthly Horoscope Decan 3
Aries 2017 Horoscope Decan 3
Aries 2019 Horoscope Decan 3

More 2018 Horoscope Decans

The Auralic Mini is a streamer of diminutive proportions, but does this mean it has to compromise on sound? Dan Worth attaches this £450 unassuming black box into his system to find out.

Flexibility usually comes at a premium in the world of Hifi and streaming devices often have limits to the configuration of outputs and services they offer. Aurelic’s Aries Mini however, is a wireless/wired streaming hub designed for connecting to your existing home audio system. Differing from the full sized Aries the Mini has both digital and analogue outputs, for connection to a standalone DAC or digital amplifier via USB, Coaxial or Optical and can also connect directly to any analogue amplifier or powered speakers via its RCA outputs.

Aries Mini will stream high-resolution music quickly and wirelessly in virtually any sampling rate, even the latest Quad-Rate DSD and DXD. It is powered by Aurelic’s proprietary Tesla hardware platform which has as its brain a Quad-Core ARM Coretex-A9 processor running at 1GHz supported by 512MB of DDR3 RAM and 4GB internal storage. The Tesla platform has a calculation ability of 25,000 MIPS, more than enough to decode a vast selection of audio formats, including AAC, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WV and WMA.

In order to obtain music from the Aries Mini one will need to add a library or source to playback from. Options include a NAS via uPnP/DLNA, Minimserver, Twonky, Asset UPnP, JRiver or any other DLNA/uPNP compatible server software. TIDAL, Qobuz and WiMP online streaming, Internet Radio, AirPlay, Songcast and Bluetooth, USB hard drive files or Optional internal HDD/SSD all controlled via the Lightning DS App, which is only compatible with iOS Apple devices, a big disappointment for Android customers, however, an older full sized iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone or Touch would make for a great inexpensive remote control. I use a separate device myself to control my music playback, leaving my iPad for any browsing or music investigation during playback. So be sure to factor this in when purchasing as the Aries Mini has no remote or real onboard controls, just a volume up/down button and play/pause is present for a little additional convenience.

I had a few initial issues with the Lightning DS app. I could play one track from my NAS and the app would freeze or crash out, the current song would continue to play and I would need to reload the app, play one track and the same would happen. I quickly gave up and listened to another source and contacted Auralic.

After the Xmas period had passed and I was recovered from all the treats that the festive period brings I thought I’d try the Lightning DS app again, noticing that Auralic had indeed left me a message to arrange a convenient time to have a chat over the telephone to determine where the problem may lie and to my satisfaction, whatever little bug may have been preventing normal use, whether on my network, iPad or the app itself had been resolved and I was soon using all features of Lightning DS without any issues.

Firstly I went back through many of my own personal albums on my NAS drive, as this is where I first began and was a quick and easy way to get some appreciation of what the Mini had to offer. Performance and usage of the system reminds me very much of the Squeezebox setups of the past, the sonic signature is very informative and detailed, overall dynamics are strong and somewhat unexpected from this little Apple TV sized box, and it soon became clear that sonically the Aries Mini was a leap ahead of the famous Squeezebox devices. Clarity in the upper registers is very good indeed and really nicely detailed and open, the midrange showed strong vocal presence and clarity of tone, bass lines were punchy and detailed, whilst lacking the lowest of extensions had a shape and presence to the bass which is musical, fun and bouncy.

I much prefer what the Aries Mini does with more upbeat and toe tapping music, the more mellow stuff is still dealt with very tastefully, but for me the Mini is an enthusiastic fun loving little fella with a big smile and a big heart, rather than a slipper touting, pipe smoking old man retired to the compost heap!

This comment had me instantly thinking of a dear friend of mine, Barrie is 87 and far from a compost heap. He always has a smile on his face and has a great sense of humour. We often sit around his house listening to his system and a wonderful arrangement of Trad Jazz, which I enjoy very much. It’s usually not long before Barrie gets up and starts dancing around the room too and educating me on some of his most favourite artists. It goes to show that age is only a number and the heart and soul are a constant throughout life. The Aries Mini has a heart and soul for life just like Barrie and the fun loving care free way it presents music isn’t really your typical hifi sound, it’s just musically enjoyable and most satisfying.

Next up and keeping in line with local library playback I popped a Samsung Evo 850 250gb SSD drive into the underside of the Aries Mini, which is an incredibly easy task for anyone who can undo two screws. Simply slot the drive into position and attach the underside flap. Moving files from the NAS or a local computer shared on the network to the internal drive was a breeze through the rather comprehensive Lightning DS App and playback produced a darker background and more insightful performance playing from the SSD direct, allowing for even more information to come through. Soundstaging was notably more focused and had cleaner edges to the overall width, yet still retaining that great Aries Mini sound character.

Alongside the ability to play local files Auralic have given the Mini the ability to play and emulate your TIDAL and Qobuz accounts, no Spotify Connect though I’m afraid, which is a big disappointment as something such as the Aries Mini wouldn’t be my first choice for critical listening in a high-end system and nor is Spotify, but both would get more use (as they have done individually) for when friends come over. The combination of the fun musical presentation and the sheer amount of playlists Spotify offers would have been a match made in heaven for me personally. On further inspection the Mini does offer the ability to play Spotify through the Airplay feature from an iOS device, adequate but not as good as having it integrated.

TIDAL however, which I also subscribe too has come along way since its release and through the Mini sounds fab, far better than Spotify Premium would, but the pre-made playlists are not as vast. Needless to say I got on with the combo extremely well and love how fast the Lightning DS app rendered, buffered and selected everything I wanted to hear.

Sat back going through many genres on TIDAL I had a chance to explore the soundstage a little further; it’s not the airiest of soundstage, but it’s very encapsulating giving harmonic references to notes all around my room, again its that Auralic draw you in sound that boasts musicality rather than what many refer to as a hifi sound that captivates listening.

Qobuz, another newbie to quality lossless streaming is also supported and also very easy to setup through the app. I’m not as big a fan of Qobuz as I am TIDAL, I think it still has a long way to come with its PC orientated GUI, although on the Lightning DS app it appears very nicely. Sound quality for me and also to a few other friends who had listen is not quite as good as TIDAL, but I think over time Qobuz is going to be extremely effective and build significantly on its already strong platform. Most importantly that Auralic character shone through and did smiley things to my face…again!

I must say I was impressed with the Aries Minis via way of rendering radio stations, first of all there are options for, genre, worldwide and local stations, navigation and buffering was extremely fast and the Mini produced great flow and musicality to radio stations over the range I tried, admittedly more for background listening but I did find myself using radio more on the main system over my time with the Mini as it was just so easy and sounded very pleasing.

During the review process I had the opportunity to also use the various connections from the Aries Mini and my findings were that the coaxial RCA output provided the most consistently lovable sound. Optical is never as good, but with a glass optical cable was far better and USB was very good indeed and the USB implementation of the DAC in question (I tried a few) plays a big factor in overall performance. There were no bad ways of connecting the Aries Mini, including wired or wireless, there just happened to be slightly better configurations if you like to compare and get the best from this flexible little sprite.

Lastly in order to be thorough and for my own interest I connected the Aries Mini to my Focal CMS Actives, now this would be for me an absolutely brilliant and compact system for any other room in the house from the main system. A simple wireless connection, internal or network hard drive and an iPad on a stand offers a fully integrated digital system that sounded fantastic. The Focal’s detailed and clean approach was backed up with the Mini’s flare for reproducing music. This system in an office or kitchen, even a bedroom would be a staple that the majority of people would simply fit and forget.

Conclusion

I didn’t really expect too much from Auralic’s entry level streamer the Aries Mini; I had the misconception that like many other lower priced streaming devices that the sound would be somewhat flat and lack lustre. How wrong I was, the Aries Mini is the most fun I’ve had from my music in a non hifi sense in a while. It’s a feature rich streamer that integrates the most popular lossless streaming services and radio with the families local files to produce a musical and enthusiastic sound that for the money could be called a gift from Santa at this time of year.

The perfect companion to any mid priced system and for those with more expensive tastes a truly great addition to less critical listening in other areas of the home.

AT A GLANCE

Sound Quality: The most fun you will have for £450 unless you live in Amsterdam!

Build Quality: Simple and solid

Value For Money: Brilliant, you can’t put a price on musicality, so if Auralic deems it at £450 then I’m convinced

Pros:

Musical, enthusiastic, detailed and fun sound

Feature rich software

Digital and analogue outputs

Good app

Cons:

No Spotify Connect (although Spotify can used via AirPlay)

Price: £450

Dan Worth