Auralic Aries

Nice thread.  I'm looking at the Vega G2.1 DAC and the Aries G2.1 based on everything I've been told by folks I trust who know the line well.  I still need to audition to see if I go that route or just use the streamer in the Vega (but I have about 20-30T of music (much of it 32 bit and well recorded) that I dont' want to lose, so that's why I'll most probably get the Aries with it.

I like using the same companies digital as they are designed to work together and I'm a bit challenged at times.  I'm using The Memory Player by Laufer (he installed a DAC and analog preamp for me), but it's Window's based and hard for me to work.  It's the best sever I've ever heard and I've heard many high end servers, but I'll be fine changing as it will be easier for me and I know the Auralic app is so easy to use.  

Glad you guys are enjoying your gear. 

Glad you like your Aries, I just started streaming around 9 months ago. I also started with Aries/outboard psu with femto clock. I believe they made Aries without femto clock and one with, for an extra $700-$800. I went from a MacBook to Aries and found a fairly large improvement, certainly noise floor. Then ran across a used G1 at a great price and found it was definitely a step up from Aries/femto. 

I would not say it was a night and day difference or I was blown away but definitely was an improvement and did not regret the purchase. I am looking to trying roon but have heard Auralic doesn't work well with roon but that is only something I have read. Someone mentioned on here sound stage improved when they moved away from Auralic and found that very interesting. I am looking at other streamers but happy with g1 for now.

@paulcreed 

I found Auralic actually plays fine with Roon.  However, as I noted in an earlier post in this thread, Lighting DS (“LDS”), sounds significantly better than Roon whether streaming Qobuz or playing a file on a NAS. I’m not the only user with this view.  If you want the user interface, go Roon and be happy - it still sounds good over Auralic units.  If you want the best sonics available from the unit, go LDS and be happy as it works just fine as a library management system as well.  

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.  

As you stated, it’s not night and day difference, but those differences do reveal themselves mostly via more spatial information, particularly depth, and to a lessor extent, more detail. 

I was also well rewarded with network tweaks and cable upgrades.  You may find the G1 rewards such efforts as well.

Best,

It’s kind of funny that I went this route, as my primary interest lies in analog. Unfortunately, due to space concerns in my current housing arrangement, I figured I’d get the most mileage out of a DAC/Streamer combo. No point in shelling out for a hifi turntable if it’s just going to sit next to my Technics in storage.

@mgrif104 I’m running the Aries via WiFi, which is what Auralic recommends in the manual. Experimenting with an Ethernet connection isn’t really in the cards, unfortunately,  as it would probably be at least a 30 foot run from the router to to the room I have my stereo in.

Roon isn’t really something I’m interested in pursuing, as I’m extremely impressed with the LightningDS interface. Especially the Tidal integration, which was a concern I had while shopping for a streamer.

I love analog as well. The Aries was the first major step for me to realize sound that was equally satisfying compared to analog.

A simple trick if you want to plug in the Aries, or any streamer, when you are not next to the router. You buy a wifi extender… that plugs in like a wall wart near your streamer (really easy to configure, just push two buttons… and it’s done). The extender has an Ethernet port on it. Works great. One of the reasons I bought my Aries was because it had the ability to put itself on the wifi, as my router was upstairs. All my streamers are on using extenders, sound great.