Auralic Spills The Beans On Its New 2nd Generation DAC and Streamer – RMAF 2017

Last we saw the new VEGA DAC and Aries streamer designer Xuanqian Wang was a bit mum about the details. At this year’s Rocky Mountain Audiofest, the curtain was peeled back and the fine information was dropped like a hot potato. Xuanqian has clearly put a ton of careful thought and planning into the new lineup, garnered from his rapidly expanding experience and expertise within the field. The feature list feels tight and innovative. He’s even gone so far as to add in vibration dampening within the suspension, a system which evenly compensates for additional cable weight in the back. There are analog upgrades to the volume pot and the main chipset is a fully custom design, not something off-the-shelf like the new offerings from ESS or AKM. Paired this time with the YG Acoustics Carmel 2 Floor Standers ($24,300/pair) the room was also tight with razor sharp imaging and details for days.

In an adjoining room Auralic was showing off exactly how versatile and accommodating the all-in-one Polaris streaming amplifier ($3k) can be, paired with the Ryan Speakers R610 Bookshelf ($2k) for a complete package prepped and ready for nearly any room – just add files.

The next generation of Auralic flagship products is packing quite a lot of technical savvy into its value proposition. The company wasn’t afraid to sink some serious R&D into their creation, it took a team of 5 and two years of development to bring the pair of digital dancers to market. The ecosystem has its own interface and the two new separates work together like they were born in an Apple conference room. For the full download, check out Xuanqian’s rundown in the embed below.

The VEGA and Aries G2 are currently taking preorders and will start shipping out to the states near the end of this month to Auralic’s dealer network. Expect retail prices of $5,699 for the new VEGA and $3,899 for the Aries.