Auralic Aries G2.1 Wireless Streaming Transport

Rating:

Streamers, they all do the same thing right? Wrong, not only does it need to function silently, it needs to make sure the stream it’s delivering is flawless into the DAC - this takes quality design which is not a given. That aside, you’ve got the user aspects as well, e.g. software and hardware.

Auralic pride themselves in their wifi performance, this was the first thing that drew me to them. My listening room is on the third floor of the house, wiring the house up was not an option. Secondly was the app, I don’t want to use roon, tying myself into a platform for all my music I need to pay for on top of all streaming subscriptions just didn’t appeal. I run apple products anyway so Auralic only functioning with Apple products was no issue to me. People often wonder why, but it’s because Apple has one operating system, so Auralic can focus on making sure their equipment works flawlessly with it rather than trying to accommodate all the android platforms.

I could have gone for the G1, however I have intentions to in the future consider the Vega G2.1 DAC. Plus, the idea of there being multiple stages of signal decoding to make sure it was perfect caught my attention. I fully appreciate it is very expensive, I myself bought this on credit, however I saw this as the central piece to my digital system. I knew buying this would give me both audible and emotional satisfaction, let’s be honest KNOWING your digital is being treated right adds to the enjoyment of the listening itself. I’m an audiophile that enjoys using and looking at the equipment as much as listening to it, the full package of this ARIES G2.1 has not disappointed one bit. From the weight, to the look, to the functionality, to the clarity of sound has been incredible. I wanted to wait before leaving this review, to make sure my thoughts remained the same, they have not changed at all. On top of everything the wifi and app have been rock solid since installation, the app provides bios and other interesting reading, plus the integration of Tidal and Qobuz is superb with the ability to search within the app and see results from both platforms easily. When adding tracks from this search function it adds it into the respective app and vice versa.

I can’t speak highly enough of this unit, perhaps the G1 might give me everything I enjoy currently, having never heard it I can’t say for sure. So why bother with something so expensive? All I can say is I don’t regret the outlay one bit for this, I use it everyday and the experience is still so rewarding. With a product like this, you need it to be fit and forget and this has been that and some, with the slick app and rock solid connection on top of sound I have not had one complaint about. If I do end up adding a Vega G2.1 in the future my digital front end will be complete, my experience with the Aries is why I am even considering it.

For the price I’m not going to sit here and say go and buy it, what I am going to say is invest in Auralic if you want a digital hub for your music system. The user interface, wifi performance, lack of bugs and a highly intuitive app makes it everything you’ll want and need.

For defence my full system is the ARIES into a Hegel H390 by USB, running Spendor D7.2s.