Auralic Vega S1 Review

Auralic Vega S1 review

Auralic have rather broken the mould with the S1. Their designers have replaced the complex, chunky and heavy machined case of their current streamers, and come up with a simpler and smaller enclosure, which is less expensive to make, and therefore more affordable to buy.  They have also trickled down a lot of technology and experience from their more expensive streamers and poured them into the S1: for instance, their Fusion DAC, analogue volume control from the Vega G2.2, and 60 femto second clock.

Incoming data is stored in their Direct Digital Record memory and output to the DAC via Direct Memory Access, to reduce jitter. When used in Pure DAC mode the streaming function is disabled to better perform D-A conversion – this allows the user to replay up to an hour of music that’s been stored in memory, should they want to. 

It’s also possible to connect a USB hard drive or an optical disc drive, from which the Vega S1 can re-read and buffer files/CDs to minimise errors and jitter for improved sound quality. 

The Vega S1 outputs analogue audio via both RCA and XLR sockets, and it also features a comprehensive range of digital inputs to allow external devices to utilise its DAC. Additionally, it offers onboard streaming from local libraries and online services, all being controlled via their class-leading Lightning DS App. The Vega S1 is also Roon ready. 

The Vega S1 has an upgrade path – unusual at its price point – by way of the similarly sized S1 External Purer-Power Supply Unit, which can either be purchased at the same time as the Vega S1 or added later. The external power supply contains two electrically independent linear power supplies which provide total galvanic isolation between the Tesla 3 processing and the audio circuits in the S1, noticeably improving the performance, which we’ll come to in more detail later. 

Overall, we rather like the look of the Vega S1, with its clean rectilinear lines, small footprint and clear full colour display under a mirror glass front panel. Combining this with the level of performance we found, we believe it offers a lot for the money.  

Sound quality.

To hear what the Vega S1 could do we hooked ours up to a pair of ATC SCM40A active loudspeakers, as we know these extremely well and they have always been popular with other models from Auralic. For cabling we chose a pair of The Chord Company’s EpicX XLR to XLR interconnects, forming a very neat system. 

On its own, the Vega S1 sits just under the price of Auralic’s well-regarded and established Altair G1.1. The Altair G1.1 has long been a favourite of ours, so we wondered how this new-comer, in its neat narrow-format box, would compare. Initially we tried it as a one-box solution, with the filter set to smooth (our usual Auralic go-to), and without the external power supply. We were surprised to find that, right from the off, the Vega S1 showed itself to be a livelier and more dynamic performer than the Altair G 1.1, with noticeably greater bass weight and depth.

For instance, playing the title track from Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, everything was clearer and crisper, with more punch and drive. Bass notes seemed to have more power and impact with the loudspeakers seeming to shift more air, having greater depth as well as weight. Echo and reverb were more apparent, improving the sound stage. The tonal balance was brighter and crisper than with the Altair G1.1, but also 

 smoother and more controlled. Overall, the improvement in the way the music was presented was very noticeable.  

Next we played Fink’s ‘Looking Too Closely’ from his Hard Believer album. 

The bass guitar had a lovely texture to it and was well-weighted. This is a good recording, and the Vega made the absolute best of it, with a real sense of acoustic space and atmosphere. 

Next up was adding the S1 power supply to the Vega S1, to see what effect this had. It’s worth noting that these components connect with an HDMI cable that must only be attached with both the streamer and the power supply powered off, then it’s only the external power supply that connects to the mains.

We were certainly not disappointed with the result – adding the external power supply made a much bigger difference than we expected. Where the bass with the standard S1 was already impressive, with the external power supply attached the combination seemed to deliver even more depth and power here, along with a richer tonality, allied to a more open presentation and a cleaner treble delivery. For instance: the tambourine and cymbals in the test track were now smoother and better defined, making the Vega S1 on its own sound artificial.

 We had similar results with Gregory Porter’s Purple Snowflakes from his Christmas Wish album. The Vega S1 as standard sounded clearer, livelier  and more open, with greater bass presence than the Altair G1.1, but with the external power supply this effect was further enhanced, with richer vocal  tones, fuller bass and a much cleaner treble. Gregory sounded great with just the S1, but more like himself with the added power supply!

We also listened to Yuja Wang playing Albeniz’ No 10 Malaga from her The Vienna Recital album, and again, the Vega S1 delivered a livelier and more exciting version of this piece which highlighted the vigour, delicacy and power of her technique. Once again, the external power supply provided greater warmth, clarity and depth, while controlling and rendering her piano’s  attack more effectively. 

The results of our listening sessions were so impressive, we wondered how close the Vega S1 with external power supply would be sonically to the Vega G2.2 from further up Auralic’s range, so we played the same tracks again (plus a few more) to find out.

This proved to be rather interesting, because these comparisons showed that the extra power supply had taken the Vega S1 further in refinement towards the direction of the Vega G2.2, but that the latter still had definite sonic advantages. The Vega G2.2 was more controlled and poised, more assured across the audio range, and it cleaned up the treble delivery even further, although the G2.2 is rather more expensive. 

The Vega S1 on its own is an incredibly accomplished streamer and DAC which we have since partnered with a lot of different equipment with great results, and with the S1 power supply added it provides more than just a taste of the Vega G2.2, although it’s worth noting that the G2.2 does have additional features such as an analogue input (implementation of which is no small task with a primarily digital component) and additional digital inputs (AES/EBU and Auralic’s proprietary Lightning Link), so it makes a great all-round preamp too, whereas the Vega S1 has a selection of digital but no analogue inputs.

Wrapping up, we were mightily impressed by the extra life and clarity which the Vega S1 brought to these listening sessions over its predecessor, and the extra bass weight and drive, which seemed to underpin the music more effectively, which we really had not expected. It sounded more expensive. So, we think it also offers great value for money.

Adding the external power supply noticeably improved on that, giving the music greater substance, warmth, clarity, control, and even more impactful bass, which felt almost subsonic at times. Of course, if it’s not affordable within the original budget, the extra power supply can be added at some later date when funds allow.

The Vega S1 is great streamer with DAC in this price range  and well worth auditioning. Quite apart from what it does for music, it makes a very neat and simple solution with a pair of active speakers, or with a suitable stereo amplifier and passive speakers.