AURALiC ARIES G1 Wireless Streaming Transporter

The ARIES G2, which was seemingly designed with cost-no-object mentality, is excellent in every respect but it carries a rather steep price tag of $3899. Earlier this year, AURALiC released a cheaper alternative to the ARIES G2, called the ARIES G1. It is based on the same Tesla G2 platform as the ARIES G2 and thus, it has the same wireless streaming capability, meaning it can handle high-resolution music formats up to DSD512 or PCM 32 bit/384 kHz. Just like the ARIES G2, the ARIES G1 is also equipped with dual femto clocks, dual Purer-Power supplies, and 1 GB memory cache. The ARIES G1 also looks similar to the ARIES G2 with its matte dark-gray finish and clean front-panel appearance sporting a high-resolution 4-inch colored LCD display. But with the price tag of $2199, obviously there are features of the ARIES G2 that are not found in the ARIES G1, such as the unity chassis, specially-damped feet, lightning link connection, and the USB galvanic isolation. Will the omission of these features significantly degrade the performance of the ARIES G1 when compared to that of the ARIES G2? Well, the answer to this should be found in my upcoming review of the ARIES G1, which I am currently evaluating. Stay tune readers!