Should I get a Vega G2.1 or an Aries G2.1 + $2k DAC for about the same total amount? External DAC could be Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ or Chord Qutest.
I do not need wireless and also streaming using Roon and their own app seems perfectly fine to me. I don’t have a server and don’t need an internal drive.
What option would you prefer? Thanks.
Someone who has the new gen auralic needs to chime in and answer your question but the vega is a streaming dac which supports roon. You don’t technically need another streamer. Adding a separate streamer is supposed to improve sq. One way or the other, I’d invest the money in the dac and buy as good a dac as I could and move up from there. I have the first gen vega and altair. The vega isn’t streaming so I can’t really comment and the new vega blows this away. Good luck with your purchase and let us know what you decide and how it sounds.
I can’t comment on the G2 series, but I have an Aries G1 coupled to a Mytek Brooklyn DAC, and I’m extremely happy with the combination. I stream Qobuz and have a large music library of ripped CDs and hi-res downloads on a sonicTransporter-AP server.
Thanks for the input. When you suggest getting the best possible DAC, would you favor the Vega G2.1 over the Brooklyn DAC+ (Or Brooklyn Bridge)?
Now thats a tough question. I haven’t been able to hear the new vega and do a head to head comparison. Someone else who has would have to weigh in on that.
I an owner of an Auralic Aries G2 (not the 2.1). And I pair that with an external dac the Chord Dave.
Even so I would definitely recommend the Vega G2.1 over the Aries G2.1 if the budget for an external dac is $2k.
I can’t see that an external dac would outperform the Vega G2.1. So unless you do like the upgrade ability and consider later playing around with even more expensive dacs or would like a certain “signature”.
In my opinion the Vega G2.1 has excellent sound reproduction and a great streamer — I’ve only heard the G2, but if there is any difference it should be positive difference. Most Vega users do not see any point in adding an Aries to the stack since the Vega is very close to, or actually is perceived by some, as the same performance.
I should have said I own the originally vega and love it. My complaint with the auralic stuff was always price, not quality. At full msrp it wasn’t worth it in my opinion. Based on my experience with auralic and with my vega in particular (have taurus and altair as well) I would tend to favor the Vega G2.1 going for a Leo on the backend. What I did however was go with a dave and mscaler. I’m saving up for a sonore signature rendu as the streamer ultimately. Good Luck.
Interesting since I’m using the Aries G2 to feed a M-scaler feeding a Dave. This is to my ears superior to the Aries+Vega but I’ve never tried the rest of the Auralic stack.
They are not cheap, and possibly not “affordable”, but I still think both the Aries and Vega are both competitively priced in the high end segment.