REPRODUCEDFROMHI-FI+
Intermsofwhat’sinsidethatG1chasis,the ALTAIRisalmostlikea‘greatesthits’of AURALiC.It’ssortofwhathappenswhenthe ARIESandVEGA platformsdrinkalitle wineandlistentosomeBaryWhitetracks, anditsblood-lineincludesmorethanalitle bitofG2aswelasG1.Grantedit’sinaG1 seriespresed-aluminium instead ofthe ‘forged by the dwarflords ofMoria’ clamsheloftheG2,buttheinternalorgans oftheALTAIRG1areimpresivegivenit’s thecheapestentryintothefulAURALiC streamingplatformandDACsolutions.The hardware platform inside that case is AURALiC’sproprietaryTeslaG2systemwith 1GBofRAM actingasacache.Giventhat meanstheALTAIRG1couldbuferanentire CDandstilhaveroomformore,thisisboth impresiveandusefulforstreamingsources. ThosestreamingsourcesincludeTidaland Qobuzandthenewaddition;thehigh-res service HRA,and itsupportsto 32-bit, 384kHzPCM,512DSD,andMQA(although notpureMastersQuality).Italsoalowsthe userto unsampled CD-qualitytracksto high-resolutionsamplingratesshouldyou choose.It’salsoaRoonendpoint. The rest of the building blocks are impresive,too.Itincludesthecompany’s ownPurer-Powerlinearpowersupplyand includes dual Femtosecond clocks. Its Ethernetconnectionisrobustenoughto workwelwithWi-Fievenifit’sbestwith wired connections.Itcan be used with optionalinternalstorage(there’sanoptional 100SSDmountingkit,whichiswelworth considering),externalUSB storage,ora UPnPmusicserveronthenetwork.Itcanbe usedasapre-amplifierinitsownright(with bothbalancedandsingleendedoutputs) andasacomponentinanexistingsystem.It also includes a very tasty headphone amplifierinitsownright,outputingtoa 6.35mm stereo jack. Sadly, balanced headphoneoutputisn’tonthemenu.Lastly intermsoffeatures,intheDACsection, therearefouroptionsforsetingthedigital outputtoyourpreferences.Theyarecaled ‘Dynamic’,‘Precise’,‘Smooth’and‘Balance’.
Couplethatwiththesamplingoptionsandyoucanfine tunethistoanysystem. Intermsofsystemthen,IusedthisinasystemthatIfelt matcheditscontext,connectingit(viatheSynergistic ResearchFoundationcablesreviewedinthisisue)toa MarkLevinson5805(reviewedinisue176)anda ful-specPrimareI35foranupcomingreview,inboth casesoutputingtoapairofAudiovectorR1Aret stand-mounts (also reviewed in isue 176).The equipmentsatonQuadraspireequipmenttableswith notweaks,podsorplatforms;again,reflectingthe system context a product of the ALTAIR G1’s magnitude. TheimageshereisverymuchonaKraftwerktip.That’s notabadreflectiononwhattheAURALiCALTAIRG1 doessowelsonicaly.Itabsolutelyknocksthattight, fast,leading-edgedrivenpercusivesoundoutofthe park.It’sfast-paced,upbeat,energetic(withoutbeing frenetic),andstartsandstopsinaheartbeat.Andwith thecombinationofarewardingsoundandtherecent pasingofFlorianSchneiderofKraftwerk,it’shardnot to delve deep into Kling-Klang studio’s past masterpiecesoutofrespect. Ofcourse,ifaltheALTAIRG1didwasleading-edge detail,you’dquicklytireofitsperformance.
MUSICATHOME+ 15
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