Auralic Vega

2string1

Super Member
Just want to say...The Tubedac11 was great for a couple of years and then the Auralic Vega came into my life... WOW WOW WOW
 
...and then the Auralic Vega came into my life... WOW WOW WOW
They are one of those smart companies that realized the digital filters embedded in present day DAC's just don't cut it, so they use their own DSP to do the digital filtering and upsampling.
Even if on paper, for sinusoidal signals, those integrated filters are great, they are still underpowered for real music.
Auralic bypasses their ESS Sabre 9018's internal upsampler with the ARM processor and that's why sound good.

Now, it is worth the $3500? Only the guy who buys it can tell, because it's his pocket.
 
I pulled the trigger and purchased the Vega. It should arrive in a few days. For those on this thread that have one do you have any best practices for using it? Which filter sounded best to you with PCM and with DSD? Is it ok to still use my USB REGIN that I have?

Thank you.
 
I use filter 4 on mine. It gives the best all around performance in my system.

I didn't care for the Regen in my system, however I'd try it in your system with and without to see if you like it.
 
Maybe I'm missing something. I got to hear the Vega a year or more ago when the US agent brought it to our store. We put it in our main system alongside the (then-current) Chord QuteHD. Within about 10 minutes the Auralic guy started packing up his unit as he knew us too well to try to argue his case, especially when his unit was twice the price of the QuteHD. We really wanted to like the Auralic as we didn't have something at that price level at the time (we now have the HugoTT) and it's a well equipped unit, but ..

As I say, I'm guessing we missed something about the product in that demo so I'm interested in what you guys like about the Vega? Maybe it's a system synergy thing?
 
I am using filter 4 for PCM and filter 5 for DSD. I kept the Regen in the system since I feel it gives the Vega a better USB input to work with. I kept the clock setting in Auto as I am sure it will probably use the exact mode most of the time anyway but I could not see having to always go in and tweak the clock setting depending on the stability of the input. Compared to the USB that I was using in my OPPO BDP-105D the sound is miles ahead of what I was getting with the OPPO. So far everything I have played through it is just magic. One of the best examples so far was when I played the 96/24 version of the Moody Blues - Days of Future Past. I have listened to that record for most of my life and have never heard it with the clarity and dynamics that heard the other day through the Vega. I am a happy customer.
 
Maybe I'm missing something. I got to hear the Vega a year or more ago when the US agent brought it to our store. We put it in our main system alongside the (then-current) Chord QuteHD. Within about 10 minutes the Auralic guy started packing up his unit as he knew us too well to try to argue his case, especially when his unit was twice the price of the QuteHD. We really wanted to like the Auralic as we didn't have something at that price level at the time (we now have the HugoTT) and it's a well equipped unit, but ..

As I say, I'm guessing we missed something about the product in that demo so I'm interested in what you guys like about the Vega? Maybe it's a system synergy thing?
Maybe it has something to do with you trying to sell the Chord
 
Maybe it has something to do with you trying to sell the Chord

Honestly, you're probably right - at least in the sense of it's a sound signature I'm very familiar with (and like). But on the other hand we sell other brands that I 'get' but don't happen to like as much. With Auralic, I really think I'm missing something somewhere as there's a lot of love for their stuff and I think they are well thought out products . . . but the sound left me wondering what all the fuss was about.

I'm sure my 'career' calls any interest in this topic into question, but I'm genuinely interested in hearing from folks who've spent some time with Auralic DACs about what captured their attention. I always try to understand my tastes are not those of my customers necessarily and we're happy to recommend brands we don't deal with if we don't have something that will satisfy. I'd frankly love to have time to listen properly to all the options out there just for my personal knowledge as much as anything.
 
All I can say about my Vega is that is was the least mechanical sounding, least digital sounding and most musical dac that I had auditioned. And I have auditioned a lot of DACs.
 
Oh, and a detail that some may overlook with the Vega. To get the best sound, one must use the balanced outputs. The RCA outputs go through an op amp. The balanced outputs use the Class A modules that Auralic has developed.
 
I've owned the Vega for about a year now and have a question. I'm running the balanced outputs to a preamp. Has anyone experimented with turning the volume down from 100 to see if it improved the sound. I've read that some DACs with volume control do not sound there best at 100%. I tried turning the volume down to 80 last night and thought I detected some difference, but wasn't 100% sure.
 
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I bought one of the Mini units not too long ago. It came with a free one year subscription to TIDAL. I think it's great. And for those people with no iOS devices, all it takes is a little iPod and you're all set. The iPod app is great. Anyway, the whole thing sounds very nice.
 
I've owned the Vega for about a year now and have a question. I'm running the balanced outputs to a preamp. Has anyone experimented with turning the volume down from 100 to see if it improved the sound. I've read that some DACs with volume control do not sound there best at 100%. I tried turning the volume down to 80 last night and thought I detected some difference, but wasn't 100% sure.

Yes I tried it with several volume settings and re-adjusting my pre-amp to get the same over all loudness but I could not hear any difference. I just leave mine at 100% and adjust my main pre-amp for volume. I believe the audio circuits in the Vega have more than enough headroom to handle anything you listen to.
 
Anybody notice that the Auralic Vega is no longer listed on the Auralic website? I have a vega ordered and expect it to be delivered on Friday. A little worrisome that the vega isn't listed on the support.auralic.com page.

Is that the one that has been on sale for $1000 off? If so, maybe a replacement is in the works.
 
Is that the one that has been on sale for $1000 off? If so, maybe a replacement is in the works.
I edited my post to say no longer listed on the "auralic support website'. Even if they discontinue the product it should still be listed on the support website.
 
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