Auralite vs. Seals
Demon Seals:
With Demon Seals, there are three different levels: Emerald, Saphire, and Diamond. The DF loot is also divided into three different levels and sold by different merchants. In order to buy the higher level loot you have to use the higher level seals. The seals also drop from monsters divided into three different level ranges also, with the highest level monsters dropping the highest level seals. The only exception to this rule is with the Boss mobs at the very deepest areas of DF. They will commonly drop Fiery Seals instead of Demon Seals which are actually exactly the same in value as normal diamond seals, with the difference being that they drop in stacks of 20.
Auralite:
Like Seals, Auralite is also used to buy loot from merchants located in the Catacombs main cities. Unlike Seals, Auralite is not divided into levels (well, not the way Seals are anyway). The value of one Auralite Chip is the same as one Auralite Shard or one Auralite Cluster. The loot is divided into five level ranges and sold by different merchants who, unlike the DF merchants, will accept ALL forms of Auralite. The merchants do not care what types of Auralite you have, they only care about your overall quantity... as will Salvagers/Crafters. How many Auralite "pieces" you get from each mob you kill depends on the level of the mob. Lower level mobs will drop Chips that have fewer "pieces" in each drop than higher level mobs which may drop Shards or Clusters that contain many more "pieces" per drop. It is sort of like the Demon Diamon Seals and Fiery Diamond Seals, were both are worth the same amount per seal, but they simply drop in different stack amounts. With Auralite, as you fight higher level mobs, the type of Auralite drops you get will change and the number of "pieces" that drop from that type will increase also.
I am not entirely certain, so someone should really check me on this, but I beleive that Chips drop in stacks of 5 pieces, Shards drop in stacks of 10 pieces, Cashes drop in stacks of 15 pieces and Clusters drop in stacks of 20 pieces. I might have some of those mixed up and might have the values a little off too... so if someone could check and let us all know for sure it would be appreciated.