guerph

From the horse's mouth,

To be clear, the Aries G1 doesn’t not allow for SSD installation, you have to move up to the Aries G2 for that. After having bought the Aries G1 to pair with my Hugo 2 and since then replacing the Aries G1 with a Vega G2, I’ll offer my two cents. 1) I miss having the ability of creating a Lightning Server that came with Aries. The Vega as Roon endpoint works and sounds great, but I found myself using Lightning DS over Roon while I had the Aries. I think it sounded a smidge better too. The Vega does not allow creation of Lightning Server. You need to use Minimserver, etc. So far I can’t get it to work, so I’m using Roon. 2) I miss WiFi with Aries. Sounded better than Ethernet connection. 3) My comparisons between the Vega G2 and Aries G1 paired with Hugo 2, revealed that the Vega G2 is more analogue (and by that I mean more relaxed) sounding perhaps, but not necessarily better. Missing is the top end sparkle and depth that came with Hugo 2. I ended up keeping the Vega G2 in the end and sold Aries G1, but kept the Hugo 2 for a better headphone listening experience. The Vega G2 headphone out sounded muddy and completely flat using my Focal Utopias. I love the Auralic gear I’ve had and enjoying the Vega G2 in my system. But there are trade offs with both the Vega G1 and G2. As you said it can’t do it ALL. It can do most of what I need and very well indeed. I think the reviewer side skirts the Lightning DS functionality on the Vega G1 which I find a bit convenient if not disingenuous having tried to use it on both the Aries G1 and Vega G2. It only really works on the Aries. No such luck on the Vega G2. This needs to be made clear as it’s what most folks who’ve used Lightning DS in the past are likely interested in knowing they can continue using as a cheaper alternative to Roon.

$1000 USD (OBO), buyer pays shipping and fees from Canada. Just a brilliant set of interconnects. Recently sent back to Cardas to be re-terminated so I could use with Hugo 2. Came back looking better than ever.

SOLD Buyer pays shipping and fees from Canada. Used for a few short months. I bought new from Crux for $1640 USD. Perfect cosmetic and working condition. Looking for a wireless solution, so selling to fund. Note that this comes with the stranded 7N UPOCC silver 30 cm lead that is a $160 USD option. NOTE: boxes went missing during our last move, but will be packed and shipped with the utmost care. I also have a couple Curious "Regen" 200mm USB cables that I used to feed two seperate DACs from the USB outputs on the tX-USBultra. I will throw them in for additional $150 USD if you agree to buy the whole kit.

Any more news on the Neo?

I use an Audioengine D1 DAC with my A2+ speakers for my computer (MacBook) desktop setup. I have used iFi iDSD BL, Chord Mojo, Chord Hugo2, Audioquest Dragonfly Red in the chain as well, but settled on the trust old D1 for the few times throughout the week that I'm sitting at my desk to listen to music. The D1 is a respectable DAC and pairs nicely with the A2+ speakers. I can't say the A2+ benefited much from the more expensive DACs, IMO anyway. I love the RCA output to the speakers, option to use either optical or USB inputs (no additional power supply needed) and the volume control. No drivers needed. I wouldn't say it compares to any of the other DACs that I have owned (the Hugo2 is my daily driver now), but I have never for a second considered replacing it. If it died tomorrow, I would probably buy it again. Check eBay, etc. You can probably get one for less than $100. Anyone telling you that the A2+ will not benefit from a decent DAC is steering you wrong. To me, it was night and day. The real question, is how much do you really want to pay to improve the sound on a pair of inexpensive desktop speakers like the A2+? I would recommend you keep it under $100. In my case, the D1 delivers enough of an improvement to warrant keeping it in my system.

From someone who owned the Mojo, 2Qute and most recently Hugo 2... The improvement from Mojo to 2Qute was huge to me. As soon as I compared the two, I just completely lost interest in the Mojo. I immediately started looking for something to replace the Mojo for portable use. For a short time used the iDSD BL, then jumped on the Hugo 2 when it became available. I spent some time comparing the 2Qute and the Hugo 2. There were differences, but I can't say that I preferred one over the other. I ended up keeping the Hugo 2 because I could take it to the office during the day and use it at home in my main system at night. But I was honestly torn to sell 2Qute. I still regret selling it. To me...the 2Qute is the best DAC under $2k. If you can find one for about $800 (which is what I sold mine for)...do not hesitate. You have to spend a lot more to better it.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you PhilR. Good luck with sale!

I have a 200mm Regen Link for sale. Great condition. Looking for $90 shipped within CONUS. Thanks for looking.

Hey there. I have a PS-1 in mint condition for sale with three modules (and cables) included. It's modular design allows up to four devices to be powered at once, and they can even be different voltages. The PS-1 has four power zones in back. Each power zone holds a power module. Each power module can be set to one of four voltages (5v, 9v, 12v, 15v) and can power one device. I bought brand new from Wyred 4 Sound and have used it to power up to three different devices myself, including Chord 2Qute, SOtM sMS-200, and SOtM tX-USBultra. It's bloody brilliant, but I recently sold my sMS-200 and 2Qute, so I really only need a power supply for the tX-USBultra. Retail on the PS-1 with three modules is $700, plus shipping. I am looking to get SOLD $500, asking buyer pay PP fees and shipping. Pics up shortly. Thanks for looking!

@PhilR The PS-1 has served me well. I have three modules installed and can't say I've ever regretted buying. That being said, I am selling my PS-1, because I don't have need to power multiple devices anymore. If you're interested PM me.

Wouldn't count on it based on info on their Facebook page. Looks like an entirely new design Micro iDSD.

I have both the 2Qute and Hugo2. They each have their own flavor, but I can't for the life of me decide which I prefer.

Yes, Curious short link from NUC to txUSBultra and another Curious short link to 2Qute. NUC (running ROCK) connected direct to 2Qute sounded dull. Things improved significantly with txUSBultra and again improved once I added the Sbooster to power NUC.

I plan on testing "bridged" connection tonight using NUC (running ROCK) to sMS-200. My current setup has NUC (powered by Sbooster) connected to a tx-USBultra (powered by W4S LPS) connected to Chord 2Qute (also powered by W4S LPS). I am quite happy with the sound at the moment. My question is whether adding the (unmodified) sMS-200 to the chain, bridged between NUC and tx-USBultra, makes sense. Or am I only complicating the chain? Is there reason to expect an improvement?