There isn’t a ‘game changer’ at the moment because so many aspects of the game of hi-fi are taking a bit of a rest right now. But I feel strongly that the nearest we get to a game changer is the AURALiC ALTAIR G1. Sure, it’s a more modest proposal next to the digital big guns (including the big guns from AURALiC itself), but I can’t help but feel it’s the right proposal for the job right now. Best of all, that ‘more modest proposal’ makes few concessions to performance in absolute terms. It’s easy to set-up, easy to use, fun to listen to, and is priced to appeal to a wider audio enthusiast base than many of its contemporaries. In the audio world of 2020 and beyond, it makes all the right noises and ticks all the right boxes. 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Digital Streamer

Frequency Response: 20Hz–20kHz ±0.1dB 
THD+N:< 0.0002% (XLR); < 0.0003% (RCA), 20Hz–20KHz at 0dBFS
Dynamic Range:124dB, 20Hz-20KHz, A-weighted

Streaming File Formats: AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, OGG, WAV and WV,AAC, MP3, MQA, WMA

Sampling Rate: PCM:44.1KHz to 384KHz in 32Bit DSD:DSD64(2.8224MHz), DSD128(5.6448MHz), DSD256(11.2896MHz), DSD512(22.57892MHz)

Control Software: AURALiC Lightning DS for iOS
AURALiC Lightning DS for web browser (device setting only). OpenHome compatible control software (BubbleUPnP, Kazoo). Roon (Roon Core required separately)

Audio Inputs: Digital Inputs: AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink, USBAudio. Streaming Inputs:Network shared folder, USB Drive, Optional Internal Storage, UPnP/DLNA Media Server, native TIDAL and Qobuz Sublime+ streaming, Internet Radio, AirPlay, Bluetooth, Songcast, RoonReady

Audio Outputs: 

            Balanced: XLR (4.5Vrms at 0dBFS, output impedance 10ohm). Unbalanced: RCA (4.5Vrms at 0dBFS, output impedance 50ohm). Headphone: 6.35mm Headphone Jack (output impedance 5ohm)

Network connections:

            Wired: Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless: 802.11b/g/n/ac Tri-Band WiFi

Dimensions (W×D×H):34 × 32 × 8cm

Weight: 6.8kg

PRICE: £1,999 

Manufacturer: AURALiC LIMITED

UK Distributor: AURALiC Europe

Tel: +44(0) 7590 106105

URL: auralic.com

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