Auralic has updated its award-winning G2 and GX product ranges with CD player/ripping functionality, new chassis and spring feet.
The new models are the Aries G2.1 Streaming Transporter, Vega G2.1 Streaming DAC, Leo GX.1 Master Reference Clock and Sirius G2.1 Upsampling Processor.
All new products have what Auralic calls a “Unity Chassis II” where there are two separate chassis, one inside the other, underneath which is a heavy metal base.
The external chassis is aluminium and the internal chassis is copper. “This design enhances EMI shielding, providing an audible improvement to performance,” says Gareth Weller of HiFi Collective, which distributes Auralic in Australia. “The substantial base adds overall mass to the product and further builds on Auralic’s modest elegance and improves the sound of the product overall.”
Another change is the addition of sprung feet to all models in the two ranges. Each of the four support feet on each new model now has six separate coil springs, each one tuned to a different resonance frequency.
“Potentially harmful vibrations are absorbed within these acoustically calibrated feet, resulting in greater sound clarity and a more open sound field through vibration damping at separate frequencies, providing for enhanced sonic performance,” says Weller.
Auralic has added CD player/ripping capabilities by using the functionality enabled by Lightning OS7.0. It is now possible to connect an external CD drive via USB to compatible Auralic components for either conventional playback or to rip CDs for storage.
When used as a ripper, Lightning’s CD function reads each disk sector several times to ensure data accuracy before saving to memory. “This makes for a completely jitter-free CD playback experience, besting the performance of other, far higher-priced, standalone CD players,” said Weller. “It also adds welcome utility to any capable Auralic set-up."
Available now, the Auralic Vega G2.1 sells for £5999 ($6899, AU$9995), the Aries G2.1 for £4199 ($4799, AU$7295) and the Leo GX.1 for £7999 ($8999, AU$13,995).