Review: Auralic ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter

Streamer Check List: Easy setup, intuitive interface, free and user-friendly control app, native streaming support, Roon-Ready, multiple digital outputs including AES, DSP, solid build quality, color screen a plus, and most important of all—do no harm.

It’s not a particularly long list, OK I generalized, but you’d be surprised by how many streamers out there don’t check all those boxes. Auralic has been making network transports/streamers since it introduced the ARIES Wireless Streaming Bridge along with the company’s Lightning DS app in 2014 and they continue to develop and refine their family of digital products and the guts that run them.

The ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter is the latest incarnation of their entry, in terms of the Auralic lineup, pure streamer—you won’t find any analog outputs on the ARIES G1.1 but if that option is of interest, the Auralic ALTAIR G1.1 has got you covered. The AIRES G1.1 runs on the latest Tesla G2 platform, borrowed from Auralic’s upscale G2 line, which brings faster processing power, 50% faster than the first Tesla G1 platform, and a 1GB Memory Cache that reportedly helps reduce network-induced noise from polluting the audio signal. Inside also reside dual Femto clocks and dual Purer-Power linear power supplies. The G1.1 also gets AirPlay 2 and the company’s high-mass base from their G2.1 series of products to round out its upgrades over the older G1 model.

The ARIES G1.1 offers a number of digital outputs including AES (check), 2TB of optional internal storage, and the ability to rip and store CDs by attaching a USB CD drive to the G1.1’s HDD port around back, where you can also attach a USB storage device. You can control the G1.1 using Auralic’s (free) Lightning DS app (check), Roon (check), any OpenHome compatible control software and/or opt for the optional Auralic hand held remote.

As I mentioned in the related in Barn post, I like the new look of the G1.1 and its silver high-mass base, which adds a nice touch of visual interest along with claims of better sound quality. The G1.1 is also built to a very standard (check), so it looks and feels the part of a fine piece of hifi gear. The 300ppi 4-inch true color in-plane switching display (check) adds the finishing touch for anyone who enjoys looking at the album cover art in play (who doesn’t?).

Review: Auralic ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter - Twittering Machines (5)

For the duration of this review I used Roon to control playback because it’s my favorite way to control digital music playback. The Auralic ARIES G1.1 sat in with the totaldac d1-tube DAC (review), bypassed the latter’s internal streamer, and the review Sonnet Pasithea DAC (review), with both DACs being fed via the G1.1’s AES output. Why AES? In my experience AES is the better sounding connectivity method as compared to S/PDIF and in many cases USB. The main system in play saw the DeVore O/96 and Sonner Audio Legato Duo speakers (more info) powered by the Leben CS600 and Audia Flight FLS10 Integrated Amplifier (more info). All cabling was from AudioQuest and included their Firebird Interconnects, Robin Hood Speaker Cables, Diamond AES/EBU, and Thunder High-Current and NRG-Z3 power cables all plugged into the AudioQuest Niagara 3000 power conditioner.

There was a time when I was infatuated with the first quarter, or so, of 20th Century Paris. Every creative discipline was firing on all cylinders, tearing norms down only to rebuild them in a new image. Debussy’s Préludes for piano date from this period (1909-1910) and I’ve been living in them since I first heard Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s fiery rendition a lifetime ago. Fiery! Listening in at serious volume levels, i.e. louder than casual, it’s as if Michelangeli wants to construct this beautiful music before our eyes (ears) like those shimmering Monet cathedrals. Attack, and boy does he ever, decay, the lightest dancing touch, big shimmery clusters and the slow fade into space, if we’re connected to this music without another care in the world, it’s as if time and space are defined by the pianists’ hands, whirling us through a world of pure wonder.

This is also very revealing music, in that the door to complete entry is largely defined by the quality of reproduction. Sure, there’s no trouble connecting through any sound source, but I’m talking about living and breathing by-the-note where artistry overwhelms sound and takes control of the senses. In these terms, the Auralic ARIES G1.1 offered a purity of sound when paired with the totaldac d1-tube DAC that transformed digital into transcendental virtuosity, to quote Gramophone’s review of these works. The G1.1 breathes purity, clarity, and control without unnatural edge or that awful leanness that accompanies poorly done digital replay, as you can hear from the USB output of a Raspberry Pi, for one easy example.

I Killed Captain Cook from the Unknown Mortal Orchestra has been haunting my waking thoughts for weeks. A simple acoustic song, it tells the story, from the perspective of the Hawaiian that killed Captain James Cook, of Cook’s demise. You might think that would make this a sad song, and it is and isn’t. Although the man lay dead on the sand/Darkness had not lifted there/There were much more on their way/With dollars in their hand. The sound of this song, the lovely acoustic guitar accompaniment, is sprightly and uplifting, adding up to a study in contrasts. When we want the most from music’s emotive qualities, every last bit of detail, nuance, and timing come into play and once again the ARIES G1.1 delivered this music, via the totaldac and Sonnet Pasithea, in pure form.

Arvo Pärt’s Miserere from 1991 features the Hilliard Ensemble along with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn for a sombre walk around these liturgical works. Background noise is a no go for this subtle, and at times very quiet fare where every breath and voice seems to spring from a well of sorrow, only to explode into full out fury. I’m going to stick to purity as a defining character of the ARIES G1.1 because all of the music I experienced through it had this quality. From dead silence, to a whisper, to an all out sonic assault, there was no sign, no sonic fingerprint of the ARIES G1.1 resounding around the Barn to detract from the power of the music in play.

These systems, whether paired with the DeVore O/96 or Sonner Legato Duo with the Leben or Audia Flight in charge of power, are revealing in the best sense of the word, allowing for deep exploration of whatever music I sent their way. The ARIES G1.1 fulfilled its role as a transparent digital delivery device, never drawing attention to anything other than the music at hand. By contrast, something like the much less expensive Bluesound Node acting as streamer can cloud things up, as if recordings are covered by gauze, blurring detail and hom*ogenizing tone color like a subtle sepia filter. In my experience, what we want from a streamer/network player is purity above all else and the Auralic G1.1 delivers a clear stream of sound ready to be turned back into music unharmed.

While I didn’t use many of the ARIES G1.1’s DSP features, things like upsampling and its parametric EQ, I view them as very useful tools in the digital toolbox. As is the free Lightning DS app which is one of the better control apps out there, at least in my experience, and its something Auralic have been refining for 8+ years. If you value knowledge, experience, and a proven track record, I do, then add these clear pluses to the ARIES G1.1’s growing list of attributes.

During its two month+ Barn stay, I sent all manner of music through the ARIES G1.1 and it never drew my attention to anything other than the music. It also performed without so much as a hiccup. Over the past decade or so I’ve had the pleasure of living with and listening through some fine digital gear and I rank the Auralic ARIES G1.1 right up with the best performing digital transports to have come through the Barn. If you’re looking for a very full featured streamer that checks all of the right boxes in terms of what we want a streamer to do, the ARIES G1.1 belongs on your audition list.

Auralic ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter
Price: $3249 | $3649 w/2TB of internal storage
Company Website: Auralic

Review: Auralic ARIES G1.1 Wireless Streaming Transporter - Twittering Machines (2024)

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