Article: Review | AURALiC ARIES G2.1

[George Hincapie]

On 12/5/2020 at 9:13 AM, firedog said:

Essentially, it's a network bridge like the Sonore Rendu series or the dCS bridge. The difference is that it has a lot of added functionality: the Auralic Lightning DS UI, multiple inputs, DSP - upsampling, ability to add storage, and a screen. You could use one of these and not need a separate server or outside UI software.

 

Except if you want to run Roon then you still need a server running Roon Core, so it only offers an improved value proposition if you ignore Roon and use the Lightning software exclusively.

[George Hincapie]

On 1/2/2021 at 10:01 PM, Pro Jules said:

Roodness! 
 

I don’t use Roon, me got no files. Qobuz all the way. 
 

The End. (point)

 

I don't get the fascination with Qobuz. I tried their highest performing tier and was underwhelmed.

[The Computer Audiophile]

52 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

and was underwhelmed

Seems like that's easy to do :~)

[bbosler]

1 hour ago, George Hincapie said:

I don't get the fascination with Qobuz.

 

I can't imagine living in an audiophile world without Qobuz, and/or Tidal and/or some similar service now that I've been exposed.

 

I  listen to these services for many hours everyday using Roon radio. I have been introduced to thousands of songs and hundreds of artists  I would never have heard any other way. All for what a few CDs would cost each month. I don't say this lightly.... It IS the golden age for music lovers all because of services like Qobuz.

[Rexp]

5 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

I don't get the fascination with Qobuz. I tried their highest performing tier and was underwhelmed.

Depends what you listen to, most of the downloads I've bought have been poor, but that is what the labels supplied to Qobuz. 

[PavelDosko]

Since January 2022 the price of Auralic Aries G2.1 in Europe has risen from 4699 Euro to 5499 Euro, which is 17.02% ...

 

[LarryS]

Great review - many thanks Chris. Here’s my experience with the Aries which I hope is some help to other readers. 
 

The digital streamer product space is complex and packed with an abundance of very good products. I therefore found this review really helpful in narrowing down the search. In January 2022 I purchased the aries g2.1 streamer (€4699 in Dublin from Cloney Audio - Irish prices haven’t changed yet).  I have paired it with a chord qutest having spent a lot of time and research testing various options many of which were beyond my budget (side note: wish I could afford the DCs bartok - it was the best I heard).
 

The sound is extraordinary from this Aries g2.1/qutest combination and the Aries is tremendously versatile as per Chris’s review. Worth every penny. If I had more funds I would have paired it with the Metronome Le dac but I’ve decided to go with the less expensive qutest with a view to upgrading in a few years as DACs improve.
 

One annoyance with the Aries was that lightning ds needs an iPad or equivalent iOS device to get the best from the Aries. I think an iPhone screen is too small to get the best from it but that’s just my subjective opinion. Forget android - I found I could use the Aries (just about) but it’s really clunky and I kept returning to the manual interface on the Aries itself and toggling thru endless menus.
 

If you don’t have an iOS device add €500 or so to your budget for an ipad. You’ll need it. One caveat is that I do not have Roon so Roon users maybe okay using the Aries in the android ecosystem via Roon.

 

Other than that iOS issue I highly recommend the Qutest/Aries2.1 combo. Lightning ds has so many features including volume control (like a preamp) and it brings all digital sources into one place including Nas, Spotify, Qobuz and tidal. 

 

System specs: Speakers are Ohm Walsh Talls and I’m using an Arcam integrated power amp on loan while I get a vintage Luxman L309 recapped (thanks Ivan at Cloney Audio in Dublin for the Arcam loan). I am streaming music from tidal and a Qnas. 

 

[LarryS]

Re: price update. G2.1 just increased to €5499 here too.