Auralic Aries G2

Have been impressed by Auralic pedigree and have had my eye on the Altair until I started reading about the Vega G2, which reads very impressive. I’ve heard a lot about Apps in this thread, but what I’m really interested in is how Auralic components sound, Altair and Vega G2 in particular. What kind of music are they best suited for? I’m an opera and classical music buff for example. How do they handle simple music, like solo piano, solo violin, solo guitar, or especially operatic sopranos, which on lesser components can sometimes sound shrill or edgy. If they are a bit on the warm side, that’d probably be good.
 
Echolane said:
Have been impressed by Auralic pedigree and have had my eye on the Altair until I started reading about the Vega G2, which reads very impressive. I’ve heard a lot about Apps in this thread, but what I’m really interested in is how Auralic components sound, Altair and Vega G2 in particular. What kind of music are they best suited for? I’m an opera and classical music buff for example. How do they handle simple music, like solo piano, solo violin, solo guitar, or especially operatic sopranos, which on lesser components can sometimes sound shrill or edgy. If they are a bit on the warm side, that’d probably be good.
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Welcome to AS! I too favor a warmer tone and rich midrange. I have not heard the Vega 2 or the Altair but I have heard the Original Vega and was not impressed. It is definitely not warm. I am not sure how it compares to the 2 you are looking at. If you want warm, consider my Luxman DA-06 (still a Stereophile Class A+ DAC), Hugo Chord 2, Marantz NA11s1. I have the Luxman and owned the Marantz. The Marantz had the best tone for piano and vocals along with excellent texture. Others to consider are the PSA DSD since it allows you to tailor the sound with different software packages. A friend of mine loves the slightly warmer tone of the latest software release. Another is the T+A DAC8 but it needs HQ Player at 8x DSD to sound its best. It is a fabulous DAC.


I am sure others will chime in with recommendations as there are a lot of DAC's to choose from.

Larry
 
Mechnutt said:
Welcome to AS! I too favor a warmer tone and rich midrange. I have not heard the Vega 2 or the Altair but I have heard the Original Vega and was not impressed. It is definitely not warm. I am not sure how it compares to the 2 you are looking at. If you want warm, consider my Luxman DA-06 (still a Stereophile Class A+ DAC), Hugo Chord 2, Marantz NA11s1. I have the Luxman and owned the Marantz. The Marantz had the best tone for piano and vocals along with excellent texture. Others to consider are the PSA DSD since it allows you to tailor the sound with different software packages. A friend of mine loves the slightly warmer tone of the latest software release. Another is the T+A DAC8 but it needs HQ Player at 8x DSD to sound its best. It is a fabulous DAC.


I am sure others will chime in with recommendations as there are a lot of DAC's to choose from.

Larry
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Thanks for comments, but it’s the last sentence that I’ll respond to because I’ve just been offered a used Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC Series 2. I had no intention of spending that amount of money, but after reading every review I could find, it sounds almost impossible to resist. Though I have yet to scour the forums for real world opinions. Or should I say more down to earth opinions. Has anyone listened to it? If I would choose it, I’ve considered adding a Naim Uniti Core in front of the Berkeley, and saving some cash by ripping my own cd collection instead of hiring out that job.
 
That Berkeley is great for sure. Also consider a used Lampizator. Lampi's are beautiful sounding DAC's.
 
Mechnutt said:
That Berkeley is great for sure. Also consider a used Lampizator. Lampi's are beautiful sounding DAC's.
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Oh my gosh, you’ve introduced me to a product design company and philosophy that pushed all my buttons in a good way. I don’t think I have the $$$ to play at that level even for used. It’s $22k for their top of the line DAC, for example. But, yes, I would love to hear what they sound like!

Also, brings up the tubes vs solid state issue. I have two tube amps, a CD player with tubes, a phono stage with tubes. It all seemed like a great sounding idea when I bought them, but I’m not really enjoying the maintenance side of ownership. There’s the knowing when it’s time to replace tubes problem, there’s the cost of doing it problem, and for me the worst part is unhooking all the interconnect wires so my husband can transport the 50 lb amps in to our dealer to have those tubes changed. I haven’t been able to change tubes myself. In fact, I might have harmed one of my amplifiers trying to do it myself. :-(
 
Echolane said:
Oh my gosh, you’ve introduced me to a product design company and philosophy that pushed all my buttons in a good way. I don’t think I have the $$$ to play at that level even for used. It’s $22k for their top of the line DAC, for example. But, yes, I would love to hear what they sound like!

Also, brings up the tubes vs solid state issue. I have two tube amps, a CD player with tubes, a phono stage with tubes. It all seemed like a great sounding idea when I bought them, but I’m not really enjoying the maintenance side of ownership. There’s the knowing when it’s time to replace tubes problem, there’s the cost of doing it problem, and for me the worst part is unhooking all the interconnect wires so my husband can transport the 50 lb amps in to our dealer to have those tubes changed. I haven’t been able to change tubes myself. In fact, I might have harmed one of my amplifiers trying to do it myself. :-(
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What is your Budget? Used Lampi's come up for sale from time to time on www.audiogon.com from time to time. There is one Lampi, 2 Berkeley's and a Luxman DA-06 for sale there.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings?c...fieds=false&order_by=current_price+ASC&page=3

Don't be scared off by tubes. Many tube designs have easy to change tubes. And many do not need tube changes until 4,000 to 5000 hours of use. Not all tubes are expensive. My $10,000 preamp uses tubes that cost $26 each. Of course there are 8 of them, but many designs use only 2 or even 1 tube.
 
What is my budget? That’s a hard question to answer. I once went shopping for a CD Player, planning to spend about $300. I made the mistake of visiting a showroom and listening to a Meridian 508.24. I then went running from showroom to showroom (that was back in the 80s when there were lots of show rooms to visit) and listening to everything else I could find, before I came to the realization that nothing else came even close. I wound up spending $3k on a used Meridian. I think retail at the time was around $4k. Budgeting is not one of my strong suits. I will add that I did get a lot of good listening mileage from the Meridian and it suited me well until two years ago when it started to fail and it was impossible to find a replacement transport for it. Now it’s a paperweight on my desktop because I can’t bear to dump it.

However, back to your question, times change, and I’m now well into retirement years and can’t behave so frivolously, so I would feel very uncomfortable going above $3k. I’d be even happier at $2k.

Speaking of tubes, the player I replaced the Meridian with is a Japanese made Triode that has a couple of small tubes as a feature. I can toggle between listening with tubes or without. Presumably these will last a long time, but quite honestly, I struggle to hear a difference. I blame that on my older ears, but maybe the tubes really don’t make much difference.
 
I would consider a used Chord Hugo DAC or Chord 2Qute which is the Hugo without the headphone amp and some say sounds better. It has a slightly warm and romantic sound with a full rich mid range and sounds great with all types of music. Both can be had for well under $2K. The Hugo sold for just about $3K new.

https://www.whathifi.com/chord/hugo/review

https://www.whathifi.com/chord/2qute/review

Here is a review of the Hugo 2 which can be had for $2K

https://www.whathifi.com/chord/hugo-2/review

To you statement "I guess tubes really don't make a difference". The definitely do make a difference. It depends upon the tube type and company and year it was made as they can be the same tube number but use different materials and configurations. The piece of audio gear makes a difference as well. Tube Rolling (swapping out different tube variants) is hit and miss.

Larry
 
Larry,
instead of Chord, I am back to your recommendation for the Luxman DA-06 which the reviews make sound as though this DAC was made to order for my kind of musical tastes. I couldn’t possibly afford a new one, but I just might keep my eye out for a used one. Thanks for the many good tips on others too.

I will add that I am already favorably disposed to Luxman because I owned a great Luxman product, a TV Tuner TR-???, probably TR-107. Though Luxman disappeared from the American market not long after, didn’t it? Should I assume that the Luxman DAC is not made by the old Luxman company?
 
If PCM only is not a deal breaker, do check out Schiit Yggdrasil dac. Costing just a little over $2k, it’s an unbelievably high performer.
 
I'm using a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC with the Lumin U1 and very pleased with the results. I miss what I'd call the "organic-ness" of my tubed NOS Audio Note DAC, but the DSD does many things really well, especially at it's price. I feel it neither adds or subtracts anything. One thing I like about it in particular is that it's FPGA based and therefore will be re-programmable/upgradeable for it's life.

Based on what I've read, the Lampi's are well worth considering, even in their lower price range. It reads to me a bit like my AN but with more modern technologies. I'd really like to try one of those as well as the Berkeley. In the meantime though I'm entirely happy listening to the Direct Stream. And, it serves me fine as pre-amp to boot.
 
Echolane said:
Larry,
instead of Chord, I am back to your recommendation for the Luxman DA-06 which the reviews make sound as though this DAC was made to order for my kind of musical tastes. I couldn’t possibly afford a new one, but I just might keep my eye out for a used one. Thanks for the many good tips on others too.

I will add that I am already favorably disposed to Luxman because I owned a great Luxman product, a TV Tuner TR-???, probably TR-107. Though Luxman disappeared from the American market not long after, didn’t it? Should I assume that the Luxman DAC is not made by the old Luxman company?
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Here are 2 used Luxman's for sale on Audiogon

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8i2he-luxman-da-06-dsd-usb-converter-da-converters

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8hbf4-luxman-da-06-da-converters

Just a few words about the Luxman, it has beautiful tone and leans slightly on the warmer side. Bass is full but not overpowering. It has great front to back depth and a wide sound stage but it is not the last word in detail. It has good detail and transparency but not like a PSA DSD or T+A DAC8 and for that matter a Yggdrasil from what I have read on it. It sounds great with a Wire World Starlight Platinum usb cable and an Uptone Amber Regen which takes the DAC to another level of enjoyment and refinement. If you get the DAC and a Regen, you can go with a cheaper usb cable like a Starlight Red which I use. It sounds very similar to the Platinum when used with the Regen.
 
So now I have several really promising suggestions, But the hard part is how can I go about listening to them? Particularly since I need to buy used, at least in some cases. This sounds frustratingly daunting.
 
The thing with going used, is that you can always flip it if you don't like it. Just don't over pay. You may take a loss of $100 or so but when you consider the savings vs new it is worth it if you are on a budget but want a higher end piece. If you go new, many companies have a 7 to 30 day money back guaranty, although some like Schiit Audio who makes the Yggdrasil has a restocking fee. Music Direct will also make you pay shipping both ways.

By the way, AVA HiFi makes a great sounding DAC within your budget. I did a review on it over at the Audiocircles forum. It bested my Luxman in most area's except for DSD. I live 3 minutes from the company owner Frank Van Alstine and do reviews on his gear from time to time. He has a 30 day money back guaranty, no questions asked. His gear is a lot of bang for the buck but they do not come in fancy chassis or face plates.

https://avahifi.com/collections/d-to-a-converters
 
How do you like your Altair, any issues with software or hook up? The Stereophile reviewer seemed to have some issues but other reviews didn't mention much. Something like the Altair is really what I'd like. I'm only wanting to stream Tidal at this point. I'd like good sound too as it will be in my main system. I have never streamed, except Bluetooth, so I sure don't need issues with set up or software, and the like. I'll be lucky to get it to work if the unit is flawless, LOL

DSkip said:
I don't but I'm looking forward to your impressions. I currently run the Aries and Altair in different systems.
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Can you guys comment on set up? I'm actually thinking of the Altair.

Once connections are made, is it possible to use an iPhone to set up AURALIC? I need to be able to do set up without having to use the controls on the unit and especially without reading the display. I can touch the iPhone screen and have it read to me.

Will the Lightning app see I have Tidal on my phone, or, will I have to somehow set it up in the Altair?

Thanks
 
Mr. P

You do everything in Lightning DS with IOS devices. Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Spotify are all inside the software you will just need to sign in to the accounts through Lightning DS. If you want to use the Altair wireless then all you have to do is plug it in and screw on the antennas. The setup a new device procedure will take you through the rest. Some of us can walk you through anything else as it comes up.
 
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