Auralic 

An hour is a long time to be in a hot and packed room but Auralic’s Xuanqian Wang was interesting, engaging and informative and the hour flew by whilst he introduced the new look Auralic products.
The new range comprises the Aries G2, Sirius G2, Vega G2 and Leo G2.

The Aries G2 is a wireless streaming bridge which essentially means it’s a streamer with a built in DAC and it really does up the game when compared to the previous model. The processor speed is 50% faster in the new model, memory and data storage are doubled, it will do DSD512, a true colour retina display is placed on the front, it gets a smart IR remote and has “smart” feet that balance the unit. The remote function is interesting as the unit will learn to operate from your existing remote so you don’t have yet another remote control cluttering up your coffee table.

The Vega G2 DAC likewise improves on the original in every respect and, like the other units in the G2 range comes with something Auralic are calling the Lightning Link. Lightning Link is a low-jitter, bi-directional 18Gbps coupling that takes advantage of high-speed HDMI-type hardware connectors to provide a superior level of transmission control, making today’s ultra-high resolution digital music shine like never before.

Different from the I2S standard, the bi-directional Lightning Link opens the door to jitter-free operation of all the devices in your system. Clocking information from destination devices such as the VEGA G2 can drive the ARIES G2 timing for example, providing perfect data synchronisation. Lightning Link also carries system control data for everything from volume control to processor engine setup, allowing all linked AURALiC devices to appear in a single, unified control interface.

Like all streaming-capable AURALiC products, the VEGA G2’s expansive functionality and connectivity options are thanks to its native integration of AURALiC’s custom-built Lightning Streaming technology. Lightning Streaming uses your existing network to create a dedicated music streaming environment capable of processing and streaming the highest resolution musical formats available, including DSD512 and PCM 32bit/384k.

Sirius G2 allows for DSD upsampling whilst Leo G2 is a very low jitter clock designed to boost the sound quality of the Vega G2.

All in all the new range looks very impressive on paper and sounded fab on the day.