[Hydrored]

What is the general consensus on the Altair? Looking for something to pair with the MKII for listening, streaming is a big plus to appease the wife. Other option i'm looking at is the Sony HAPZ1ES.

Thanks!

Thank you everybody for your feedback.

Went and looked at both units today, decided on the HAP-Z1ES. The app was a big selling point and easy to use for the wife. Well i'm sure there is something better out there but i got the unit for 1470.00

 

[BoyNamedSue]

Personally I couldn't tell much of a difference between the two, but factor in I didn't A/B them (sold the Vega to get the Altair) and like I said I don't have golden ears by any stretch of the imagination. For example I can't tell any appreciable difference between a lossless 16/44 file and a 24/96 file, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It was definitely more about the technology and ease of use for me versus the last bit of performance. I also really wanted to untether from a computer.

I've only used it with a NAS. I intended to install an internal SSD, which based on the early press releases I read implied it could be user installed, but to my surprised upon unboxing the end user isn't able to do it. There aren't any screws! Then I found this upon searching: http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/222582088-Can-I-install-hard-drive-into-ALTAIR-by-myself-

According to Altair the NAS or internal disk drive are the best options because of the current draw from an external USB drive: http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206602787-Is-there-any-sound-quality-difference-between-USB-NAS-and-internal-storage-

So I just stuck with the NAS I already had and never looked back.

 
Thanks for sharing your impressions. I'll have to try a NAS when I get a chance, but the sound is great with the USB hard drive so probably won't be anytime soon. 
 
If there aren't clear differences in SQ, it sounds like the DAC section of Altair is very good even if its not at Vega's level.
 
BTW, I discovered that the hard drive attached to my Altair is discoverable as a network drive. This has made transferring files from multiple computers very easy. Another big plus for me.  

 

[Icenine2]

Really like the look of this amp.  Wondering how it compares to Cavalli Gold.

 

[ubs28]

The Taurus MKII It's the best looking headphone amplifier in my opinion. Looks very sexy. 
 
No idea how it compares to the Cavalli gold since I don't know anyone who has it. 

 

[Lavakugel]

  The Taurus MKII It's the best looking headphone amplifier in my opinion. Looks very sexy. 
 
No idea how it compares to the Cavalli gold since I don't know anyone who has it. 

Yes it looks just awsome. Has anybody heard grados on auralics? How do they sound?

 

[kirenoj]

  Yes it looks just awsome. Has anybody heard grados on auralics? How do they sound?

GS1000i is great on Taurus, i do have SR325is also but it does sound better on tubes. 

 

[Hydrored]

Proud new owner of a Vega-

 

[ubs28]

Congrats. I heard the Vega a couple of times and it was pretty good. 

 

[CoLdAsSauLt]

It is, I can attest to that. But not all is good...
Auralic, if you are reading this... I own the Aries for over 2 years now. Two whole freaking years... and you still haven't managed to offer a non-Apple app. I don't want to change to the Apple ecosystem. I own Android and Windows and I'm more than happy with it. I shouldn't have to change either, since at the time I bought it, both Android and Windows support were promised. A promise you broke without even giving notice to your faithfully waiting clients. They had to find out theirselves. The new cross-platform development has gone silent as well... I feel scammed. I payed a whopping €1500 for this brick. It's a joke. What kind of attitude and service is this?

 

[olek]

Hello
 
New AURALiC owner happy to report here

 
Took delivery of a new (to me) Auralic Taurus MkII couple days ago, and still trying to recover from the shock.
 
First, it totally shaken up my headphone priority list. My top-of-the-list-by-far T1 (first gen) suddenly taken a step back to allow a different headphones into the limelight of first place, headphones that got zero listening time in last 6 months or so and were close to the bottom of my proverbial totem pole - HD600 (with HD650 cable that was re-terminated to XLR).
 
Single-ended, those HD600 sound fairly good from Taurus, just not 'T1 good', but in balanced configuration.... oh my. Soundstage expands, imaging is greatly improved, everything just snaps into focus, also transients are soft no more. Not a minor improvement at all. I can't believe I am saying this, but currently I prefer sound of HD600 to T1, there is better imaging and better transients/details to HD600, and I am total sucker for those. Blasphemy, I know.
 
Second, this amplifier works kinda like X-ray machine for the rest of my system. Sound is so much more accurate, that I can easily hear significant differences in sound when changing configuration of my system, that were not obvious at all before (like going back and forth between 2 different good DACs, or switching usb cables/hubs/switchers around). Very impressive 'see-through' ability.
 
Needless to say, very satisfied with this upgrade, even if its results are not quite as expected. My good old Bottlehead Crack+SB was really good to me, and frankly, sound of single-ended T1 is only incrementally improved moving from Crack to Taurus, but latter is much more versatile and is just simply amazing with balanced HD600.
 
Question to anybody experienced in the matter: if I re-terminate T1 with XLR, am I likely to observe jump in sound quality similar to HD600's? I know that the only way to get conclusive answer is to just do it, but still curious what others think about the prospects of such surgery.

 

[Xdaggersoul]

  Hello
 
New AURALiC owner happy to report here

 
Took delivery of a new (to me) Auralic Taurus MkII couple days ago, and still trying to recover from the shock.
 
First, it totally shaken up my headphone priority list. My top-of-the-list-by-far T1 (first gen) suddenly taken a step back to allow a different headphones into the limelight of first place, headphones that got zero listening time in last 6 months or so and were close to the bottom of my proverbial totem pole - HD600 (with HD650 cable that was re-terminated to XLR).
 
Single-ended, those HD600 sound fairly good from Taurus, just not 'T1 good', but in balanced configuration.... oh my. Soundstage expands, imaging is greatly improved, everything just snaps into focus, also transients are soft no more. Not a minor improvement at all. I can't believe I am saying this, but currently I prefer sound of HD600 to T1, there is better imaging and better transients/details to HD600, and I am total sucker for those. Blasphemy, I know.
 
Second, this amplifier works kinda like X-ray machine for the rest of my system. Sound is so much more accurate, that I can easily hear significant differences in sound when changing configuration of my system, that were not obvious at all before (like going back and forth between 2 different good DACs, or switching usb cables/hubs/switchers around). Very impressive 'see-through' ability.
 
Needless to say, very satisfied with this upgrade, even if its results are not quite as expected. My good old Bottlehead Crack+SB was really good to me, and frankly, sound of single-ended T1 is only incrementally improved moving from Crack to Taurus, but latter is much more versatile and is just simply amazing with balanced HD600.
 
Question to anybody experienced in the matter: if I re-terminate T1 with XLR, am I likely to observe jump in sound quality similar to HD600's? I know that the only way to get conclusive answer is to just do it, but still curious what others think about the prospects of such surgery.

I think balanced T1 will sound stellar with the Taurus. 

 

[whill]

I have the following set up Roon > Musical Fidelity VDACII > Auralic Taurus MKII > Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen and i can say that this is one satisfying set up. The soundstage, the even tonal balance, the details, the low up to high frequencies (though, VDAC II has more of a neutral bright sounding) that is why it has sibilance on bad recordings.

I am now in search for a better DAC like Mytek, Wadia and Benchmark.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[headfirocks]

I highly recommend the battery powered and now discontinued Red Wine Audio Bellina DAC. Just so natural sounding.

 

[olek]

OK, I have re-terminated T1 today with balanced Neutrik connector and silver Cardas solder.
 
Imaging/focus definitely improved and it sounds like certain veil was lifted, improvement is very much akin to what happened to HD600 upon re-termination, except improvement of HD600 was more pronounced.
 
Still, those $10 were spent with very good effect

 
Now I feel like using T1 again. In this incarnation they are definitely more detail-oriented than HD600, although they can be a bit shouty.
I tend to reduce volume on Taurus when using T1, and it is very tempting to crank up volume when using HD600.
 
Overall, it is probably not very surprising that there is synergy between high impedance headphones and Taurus's balanced output, given that it has 4 times more power available for them compared to its single ended output.

 

[whill]

My current set up: