Love the Auralic Aries. Ordered the G1 early this year, to replace a BlueSound Vault, then on day 30 of the return-window sent it back to upgrade to the G2. Fear of missing out as G2 has some key additional features. Sounds great in my system. Connected over wifi. Have a disk with few hundred ripped CD’s hanging off my router, but find myself streaming Qobuz 99% of the time, which is nicely integrated into the Lightning app. By the way, the build quality of these G2’s, especially at their $4k price point, is stunning. Machined from a solid block of aluminum. Black custom boards. All kinds of high-end components.
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I hooked an Aries G1 to my system an hour ago. For the moment I have it connected to my DSD via simple coax cable. I also signed up for a test account with Qobuz and the G1 is pulling down a 24.96 version of the brand new Tool album. In the meantime the Lightning DS app is storming through an attached usb drive, with so very much music on it.
I have been using a pc to play music to my DSD using JRiver. I was sad when I hooked up the G1 and it did not pop up as another zone on JRiver. I guess that is how it will stay too. Bah.
The G1 with this streaming content sounds awfully good. Hmmmmm.
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It’s a great piece. I’ve had mine since the end of June. I prefer AES/EBU into the DS Sr. but USB sounds the best into the Aqua La Voce S3. It is a solid improvement over the old Aries Femto.
I’ve been considering the Vega G1 or G2 to replace my DSJ. I’ve had it for 12 months and it looks like i’ll need another Bridge replacement😢
I have a really great AES/EBU cable as well as an awesome usb/Matrix/LPS 1.2/i2s setup. Tonight I thought I’d start simple. It sounds really good, although the soundstage is a bit narrow. It’s a well broken in unit a friend borrowed me. I think I’ll try the AES in a minute.
Edit: yes sir, that was a nice change. Usb/Matrix… next.
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Definitely interested to hear what you think of G1->AES->DSD vs G1->USB->Matrix->I2S->DSD.
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Have you tried using WiFi on the g1 instead of Ethernet? I remember Darko saying something like the designers dedicated a lot of time and effort on it to give the Ethernet a run for it’s money
I didn’t get hypercritical about comparing, but couldn’t tell the difference.
I never could either on the Mini, Aries Femto or the G1, but hard wired is more stable.
I hooked up a fancy and expensive ethernet cable to the G1, but then my iPad could not find it. The iPad of course is WiFi. So I set the G1 up wireless and all seems well. No problem streaming 24.96 from Qobuz.
If you switch from WiFi to Wired or the reverse you have to do the setup device again but do the setup of an existing device and pick wired or wireless to make the change then it will be recognized.
If it is true that you can’t tell the difference… Then I would call that a tremendous win.
I went through the process many, many times. At no time with a wired connection could my iPad find it. Since I am just trying the G1 out I am fine with it for now. Should I choose to own one, then something will have to give. 
If you choose to own one and set it up the first time wired it won’t be a problem. I already had the wired connection setup when I switched from the DS/Bridge II to the G1 and Aqua so I just stayed with it. I have run the two prior Auralic streamers both ways and I don’t hear a difference.
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Trying USB to Matrix to DSD now.
Hmmmmmm. Of course it sounds really good, at the very least it sounds as good as the AES/EBU output. I am using Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 cables for both. I suppose the next thing I need to try is USB from the G1 straight into the DSD. I am not too interested in doing that but it’s gotta be done I suppose.
I feel confident in saying if you are doing AES/EBU you don’t need to spend the money on the three cables, Matrix, and power supply.
I am back to AES now, same track. I think there is a possibility that this sounds a bit darker, a bit less sparkle than the usb Matrix route. I might be imagining it though. It’s so close.
Now it’s straight USB to the DSD, it sounds decent, not as good as the other two methods perhaps. I would have trouble saying the cost of the Matrix and related gear would be worth the money and effort to improve this.
So my experience is:
First place: AES/EBU or Expensive USB cable, Matrix, Expensive LPS, Expensive LPS to Matrix power cable, Expensive i2S cable.
Second place: Expensive USB cable
Third place: Cheap Coax cable. ( it’s all I have)
The difference between first and second is minor, the difference between first and third is more noticeable.
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Unless you want something faster than the 192kHz / DSD64 maximum you can carry over the AES/EBU, SPDIF or Toslink connections. Then the Matrix et al come into play.
Did you try Toslink?
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No sir.
So if I understand your comment, the three digital outputs have limitations that the USB output doesn’t have. But if you don’t have anything higher bitrate than 192 or 64k DSD you are fine without USB?
I haven’t played with super high rez files thus far.
Limitations both on output and input.
The DS DAC will only accept up to 192kHz or DSD64 as DoP via AES/EBU, SPDIF and Toslink inputs. For 352.8kHz PCM or DSD128 (DoP or native) you have to use USB or I2S inputs.
Most devices like the Aries similarly are limited to 192kHz on their AES, SPDIF and Toslink outputs.
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Thanks for doing these tests, very interesting.
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My experience with the previous model, aries femto, is that aes/ebu sounds significantly smoother than usb. I tried several time to stay with usb but I always reverted back to aes/ebu. USB sounds more “digital”, high frequencies sound fatiguing.
Now I have aurender n100, which has only usb output, but sounds better than auralic (aries femto) 