Auralic Aries G2.2 - Market-Worthy or Not?

I agree with not too much resale value or updates. However as an auralic owner, they are extremely well built and sound awesome.  If you want to consider trading it for full resale value, try ps audio. I’ve heard good things about their dac and air lens streamer 

You have at least a year or two to go before needing to replace. By then who knows what will be available so I would just ride it out like I am doing with my Altair G1.1. I am use it as a DAC only. Sounds great.

Also, the user registration is not a problem for resale. I never registered my unit to begin with but others thought it was required to use the device or get the warranty.

Thanks for the responses. Agreed, it does sound very good! Very low noise floor, black backgrounds etc.  And I don’t care about I2S for now. Did a direct comparison between AES and USB on the G2.2 and found very little difference (using Network Acoustics Muon Pro for both).

Guess I can keep the G2.2 a little while longer.

Software on a hardware device does not break unless the hardware holding the code fails. If your device does not need to be on the internet and connected to a server at Aurelic then I see no reason why your unit would become obsolete.

Software like ROON will keep updating (the GUI) but the communication protocol that ROON uses to talk to all clients, such as Aurelic, is call RATT and that likely is very stable.

Now if ROON decides to radically alter RATT then you are cooked, but why would ROON do that since it would mean all ROON READY devices from all manufacturers would need an upgrade, Not going to happen.

I was curious about Aurelic gear because wireless streaming should be the cleanest, but in my experience, it has been problematic with the current wireless protocols. There is a new version of wireless that is out and it is supposed to be better than the old. If Aurelic was a bit forward thinking maybe they already support this new wireless. You could have future high demand streaming device.

Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7, formally known as IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is the latest generation of wireless LAN technology developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. It builds on Wi-Fi 6/6E to deliver faster, lower-latency, and more reliable wireless networking across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. In 2024 the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced the Wi-Fi 7 Certified program, signaling the technology’s readiness for mainstream devices.(TechTalkThai)

Key facts

• Formal designation: IEEE 802.11be (EHT)

• Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz

• Peak theoretical throughput: ≈ 46 Gb/s

• Wi-Fi Alliance certification launch: January 2024

• Core innovations: 320 MHz channels, 4K QAM, Multi-Link Operation (MLO), 16×16 MU-MIMO

Technical advancements

Wi-Fi 7 doubles maximum channel bandwidth to 320 MHz and increases modulation density to 4096-QAM, boosting spectral efficiency by ~20 percent over Wi-Fi 6E. The EHT standard adds Multi-Link Operation, allowing a device to transmit and receive simultaneously across multiple bands, improving throughput and reducing latency. Support for 16 spatial streams and enhanced OFDMA resource-allocation mechanisms further expand network capacity and responsiveness.(LB-LINK)

Performance and use cases

With aggregate speeds approaching 46 Gb/s under ideal conditions, Wi-Fi 7 enables high-bandwidth, low-latency applications such as 8K video streaming, cloud gaming, and extended reality (XR) experiences. Enterprises can leverage it for hybrid work, industrial automation, and automotive V2X scenarios requiring millisecond-level responsiveness.

Backward compatibility and adoption

Wi-Fi 7 devices interoperate with earlier Wi-Fi generations while optimizing performance when connected to Wi-Fi 7-capable access points. Hardware from vendors such as Intel, Cisco Systems, and TP-Link began shipping in 2023–2024, with broad market availability expected through 2025.

Outlook

As the IEEE finalizes the 802.11be specification and the Wi-Fi Alliance expands certification, Wi-Fi 7 is positioned to become the core wireless standard for home and enterprise networks in the second half of the 2020s, bridging the gap between traditional Wi-Fi and multi-gigabit wired Ethernet.(Wit)