It’s not perhaps ‘news’ to say we have some fresh Active ATC SCM 40s here. This’ll be our third or forth demonstration set. Nevertheless, these arrived today and we need to get them fully run-in. To do this, what better than some Auralic kit that also needs running in?
We are planning a fully explanatory report on how the slightly baffling Auralic range of products work together. Over several consecutive moments of madness, we’ve rather taken the plunge and now have, I think, everything in their range on demonstration. It’s good stuff, not hard to justify!
At ‘Mad’ Maxed Out level, the four box system comprises :
Vega G 2.1 Streaming DAC
Altair G 2.1 Streaming Transporter
Sirius G2.1 Upsampling Processor
Leo GX1 Master Clock
Given that two of the above items can be used individually to play music unaided, explaining the weirdness that is Auralic will take a little time. We’ve already established the relevance of separating transport and DAC functions across two boxes. The new arrivals are the Clock and the Scaler. With digital, the analogue rules of chasing simplicity at all costs seem somewhat irrelevant. More really can be more.
It’s a fairly intimidating stack of compact but heavy and beautifully built components, mind you. A situation hot helped by the rather generous shelf spacings on our spare Lateral rack. Suffice it to say that even freshly fired up, this kit holds its head up relative to the alternatives at this price level.
Connected to the active ATC’s it’s a dynamic and highly resolving system. With windows open, you can even hear it across the road . . . 🙂
Our £24k stack of electronics could justify higher end active speakers and we know that the SCM 50, 100 better still at SE level would make a lot of sense.