AURALiC ALTAIR G2.2 REVIEW

AURALiC ALTAIR G2.2 is an all-in-one streaming transport with onboard DAC that also manages to include a moving magnet phonostage and a headphone amplifier in a box of very modest proportions. It has some interesting tech onboard and costs a little over five grand. Stuart Smith takes a listen for HiFi PiG

The Altair series of AURALiC black boxes differs from the Aries series with the inclusion of an onboard DAC. Essentially, the Altair is an all-in-one streamer and DAC that you need only attach to an amp and speakers, or for a supremely compact home audio set-up, a pair of powered speakers. I like this kind of approach and even a committed box collector like myself can appreciate (and aspire to) the concept of a slimmed down number of boxes on the rack, so long as sound quality is not compromised and given my experience with AURALIC products, I guess that the team have gone to great lengths to ensure that no corners have been cut in this respect. 

As an aside, I’m writing this review shortly before we jet off on our annual pilgrimage to Munich (though this will be the last time as High End will move to Vienna in 2026) and the teasers that AURALiC are putting out on social media would suggest they are going to be introducing a box that also incorporates a CD transport – I have to say, I’m very much looking forward to having a look at that! 

AURALiC refers to the  ALTAIR G2.2 as a “fully-featured digital audio streamer,” but that rather undersells it. In reality, it’s a streamer, DAC, preamplifier, headphone amp (with its own amplification), and server all rolled into one sleek-looking and weighty chassis. 

But I digress. 

DESIGN AND FEATURES OF THE AURALiC ALTAIR G2.2

The subject of this review is the AURALiC ALTAIR G2.2 streaming DAC, and this one comes with a factory-fitted 4TB hard drive so that you can transfer files and have them stored directly on the ALTAIR itself. It’s also available with no included hard drive. Should you wish, you can buy yourself a relatively inexpensive CD drive and rip your CDs straight to the internal hard drive, though I’d always suggest you have at least one backup of your files kept elsewhere. You can even use a generic USB CD drive to play the CD whilst simultaneously ripping it to the hard drive – cool. The playback is interesting and it’s worth mentioning that the company’s Lightning file streaming works for CD playback too which essentially reads the CD’s data, compares it several times for accuracy into the system’s cache and then it’s played, meaning that transport-induced jitter is eliminated and allows for the use of very affordable and generic USB CD drives.

Physically the ALTAIR G2.2 looks pretty much like all the other AURALiC products I’ve seen. It’s a compact and stylish black box with little to adorn the front panel other than a colour screen that is used for displaying what’s playing, and can be used to navigate the set-up menus. Apart from a headphone socket and a control (volume) knob, that’s your lot. It’s minimal, it’s stylish, it’s hewn from a solid billet of aluminium, and it’s the kind of product that I think looks just “lifestyle” enough to be used on normal furniture, but with enough audiophile credentials for those looking for a serious bit of nerdware. This is a good move by AURALiC as it potentially broadens the appeal of their products beyond the audiophile and into the less obsessive home entertainment market. 

Understated elegance is the order of the day.

Round the back, connectivity is plentiful and well thought-out. You’ll find USB and coaxial digital inputs, balanced and single-ended analogue outputs, Gigabit Ethernet, and dual Wi-Fi antennae for wireless duties. There’s even an HDMI ARC input, which is increasingly relevant for those incorporating serious HiFi into their home cinema setups, though I’ll not be getting into this here. You also get the option of internal storage via a 2.5″ HDD/SSD bay, allowing it to act as a self-contained digital library— as mentioned, a very nice touch.

AURALiC’s own Tesla G3 streaming platform powers the show, bringing with it increased processing headroom, lower noise, and, crucially, snappy responsiveness via the Lightning DS control app. The ALTAIR G2.2 supports all the major streaming services, including Qobuz, TIDAL (with MQA decoding), Spotify Connect, and Internet Radio. Roon-ready status (vital for me), UPnP compatibility, and AirPlay 2 support round things off, making it a very flexible bit of kit. Note that you will need to have ROON Core housed on a separate device – I use a little NUC that is used only for this purpose. 

Internally, AURALiC have opted for a proprietary dual 60fs femto clocking system, galvanic isolation between key stages, and their Fusion DAC architecture, which blends custom DAC topology with an ESS chip to mitigate jitter and distortion. It’s clear they’ve taken noise control very seriously indeed, and the G2.2 platform introduces further improvements in power supply and mechanical damping over its predecessor.

In short, the ALTAIR G2.2 presents itself not just as a digital front end, but as a considered, all-in-one solution for those who want uncompromising performance without a pile of boxes. It looks smart, feels reassuringly premium (there’s a good weight to the unit), and, on paper at least, has just about every feature you could reasonably ask for in a modern high-end streamer.

As well as all the digital stuff you could want, the ALTAIR also has a line in so you can add a CD player, games console, radio, or whatever, plus a PHONO in that allows you to add a turntable, though the stage only supports Moving Magnet cartridges. Both these are useful features and I reckon that AURALiC have been very sensible in including the phono in given the rise in popularity of vinyl over the last few years. 

There’s more information on the tech inside the ALTAIR on the AURALiC website and product page, but for this review, I reckon that’s about as deep as we need to go.

The feet on the ALTAIR are carefully balanced (they are called a “chassis foot dampening system”) and the very nicely printed handbook that comes with the unit suggests that it is very important not to put anything on top of the unit to upset this balance. 

A quick note on the packaging of the AURALiC is in order, I reckon, because they do get it right. The test unit arrived double-boxed, with an inner box very well packed with high-density foam and with the actual unit in a really nice bag. Small detail, but one that immediately gives you confidence and a bit of a warm glow. 

SET UP

We use an ARIES unit as our reference and this usually goes into our upgraded Lampizator DAC which goes into the Vinius pre and then to our Electrocompaniet AW 800 M amps. Speakers are Audiovector R6. In short, all I’ll be doing in this review is swapping out the ARIES for the ALTAIR, bypassing our own DAC and putting the analogue out (balanced XLR) of the ALTAIR into our pre. Nothing else in the system will change. You can, of course, put the ALTAIR into preamplifier mode and do away with using a separate preamp. However, for the sake of keeping the system as close to our reference, I chose to put the ALTAIR through our regular preamplifier. I found it useful to reduce the output from the ALTAIR from 6v to 2v as 6v was a little “hot” for our pre. 

For those new to setting up AURALiC products, the handbook is very well written and very thorough. You can set the unit up using the AURALiC DS app (Apple products only) or by the on-screen menus – I did it through the app and it took me about 5 minutes to sort. Adding the unit to ROON was equally simple and took less than a minute to sort. I was doing all this by wired connection but see no reason why the wireless setup wouldn’t be just as simple. I’ve commented on this before when reviewing AURALiC products, but I would like to see an Android version of the app become available. 

AURALiC’s app for playing tunes works well, but I’ve been using ROON for ages now for the AURALiC we have as our reference, plus any other ROON-ready streamers that come in for review. However, the Lightning App will be an attraction for many users as it allows for a good deal of DSP and filter controls from within the app and without having to touch the unit itself. 

I cannot fault the ease of setup and the handbook is written in such a way that it’s simple to follow. Even for dullards like me. 

SOUND QUALITY

I always like to write a bit of a “what I’m expecting” comment in my reviews and here I’m expecting an accurate, clean, and quiet presentation that is a little more “analytical” than our reference DAC. I have reviewed the G1.1 version of this amp a couple of years back and recall that is the kind of thing I said about that version.

Let’s see. 

United Future Organisation’s I Bet You Thought I’d Never Find You is a sample-driven chunk of jazzy hip-hop from 1994. The whole album is OK, but this is pretty much the only track I use for review purposes. There’s really nothing at all for me to complain about here. Background noise is non-existent, suggesting to me that AURALiC have done a great job with all their efforts towards minimising noise in the system. There’s plenty of detail without venturing into the realms of the top-end being pushed too much in the mix. Likewise, the bass and mids are nicely balanced, and there’s a feeling of it just sounding “right” to the point that I may have been heard to mutter that “I could live with this.” The ALTAIR gets across the laidback vibe of this tune without sacrificing anything in the detail. Keep in mind here that we have a 5 grand or so streaming DAC going into the best part of 80Ks worth of amps and speakers. 

Turning to a bit of classical music and the Russian National Orchestra (Hilarion Alfeyev: De Profundis) I found the dynamics of the ALTAIR to be excellent. The quieter passages of choirs could be heard to build, and there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a dynamic little DAC in the AURALiC. I also noted that the soundstaging was excellent, with me able to pinpoint instruments in the orchestra and the choir being laid across the stage. Texturally, the ‘feel’ of the choir was all there, as were the different instruments.  I’d suggest that the overall sound of the AURALiC is a little more clinical-sounding than the Lampizator/ARIES reference, but you may or may not find this more to your taste. And do keep in mind that we are comparing an onboard DAC in a 6K all-in-one unit to a DAC that would now cost around 50K with its various upgrades. The difference is not huge, and, as I say, you may well prefer the ALTAIR anyway. 

Philipp Gorbachev’s Silver Album is a record that harks back to the early days of acid house, and the Roland 303, 808, etc, are all featured prominently. It’s a bit of a lo-fi kind of record, but the ALTAIR manages to separate the mix very well – I have heard this record sound like sonic mush. The sound of the filters on the 303 come across very well, as do the (overdone) delay effects that Gorbachev uses. On everything I listened to, the ALTAIR presented spatial cues and effects very well. All in all, the ALTAIR presents this album as it should sound, but without getting itself into a fluster. It sounds like stripped-back music made for dirty, dark, and sweaty clubs, which is exactly what it is! The ALTAIR neither polishes it up nor dulls it down – and this is a good thing. I sometimes think we have lost sight of what HiFi means (High Fidelity). Whilst I have nothing against preferring different flavours of sound (we’re all different after all), it must be remembered that ideally, we should strive for the music file being presented without embellishments. I think the ALTAIR succeeds in this respect. Crap recordings like my MP3 of the Dig This compilation from the mid 80s sounds like just what it is, a crappy MP3 of a long-lost vinyl record. 

Overall, there is a rightness to the sound of the ALTAIR. It’s balanced across the frequencies and has done nothing but delight when I’ve been listening to it. 

QUIBBLES

No Lightning DS app for Android.

CONCLUSION

What you want from a home audio system will vary from person to person, but with the ALTAIR G2.2 in mind this kind of fulfils all my dreams – despite being a dedicated box collector, I do dream of the day when I can clear the clutter and have a much simplified system that will sit on normal home furniture rather than a dedicated rack. I’m well aware that’s not going to happen as I’m too far gone, but think about it, one box that deals with all your streaming needs and has a phono input to add a turntable and an extra input for whatever line input you might want to add has to be a good thing. And this is a clever move from AURALiC (and others) – they have recognised that we are not all audiophiles and some people do actually want a music player at home that doesn’t get in the way of daily life. Even at shows, AURALiC (in the UK at least) regularly use a pair of active speakers to give an ultra-streamlined system. 

Sonically, the ALTAIR is excellent for the asking price and only the most picky music lover will be able to find fault with it. Yes, of course I prefer the presentation of our reference system, but that has been carefully put together over the last 15 years or so to be both our reference against which to compare all others, and, of course, to appeal to our listening preferences. Would I sell the reference system and swap it out for the ALTAIR –  no I wouldn’t, but if push came to shove and I found myself having to get rid, the ALTAIR would, I’m sure, serve my needs very well. 

As I’ve said in the body of this review, the ALTAIR has a rightness to the sound it makes and it neither embellishes nor adds blemish to the files it is fed. I reviewed the ALTAIR G1.1 a couple of years ago and whilst I cannot remember its sound, I’ve just read back the review here and it echos what I have said here to a great extent. Had I the two to compare directly, I reckon that I’d potentially hear improvements in the noise-floor reduction and overall ‘accuracy” with the G2.2 – but that’s conjecture. 

I’m gave the ALTAIR G1.1 the highest award I could back in 2023, and I can’t see that it would be fair to give the G2.2 anything but the same award. It is feature rich (look at the supplied specs below), sounds great, is easy to use, and just works. 

AT A GLANCE

Build and Features:

Weighty and well-built

Looks great

Feature-rich and has onboard headphone amp and phonostage

Sound Quality:

Hard to fault at this price

Clean, quiet and accurate are words I used over and over in my notes

Value For Money:

I believe this is a very fair price to pay for this unit

We Loved:

Excellent instruction manual

Great looking

Easy to set up

Onboard Phonostage

Onboard headphone amplification with a proper sized socket on the front

Wired or wireless operation for connecting to your home network

Can be used straight into power amps in preamplifier mode

ROON endpoint (you will need ROON Core running elsewhere)

We Didn’t Love So Much:

I’m all Apple now, but I’d like to see an Android app

Some might like to see a bigger screen, but given everything is controlled via the app on a phone or iPad, it’s a bit churlish to whine about this

Price: $6099 | €5999 | £5299. 

Elevator Pitch Review: At around 6K Euros, the AURALiC ALTAIR is a streaming DAC that also has an onboard phonostage and headphone amp. Essentially, it could be used straight into a pair of powered speakers for a super-streamlined system as it has an onboard analogue preamplifier section, but even slotting it into our somewhat rarified reference system, it performed excellently. Sonically, it is clean and accurate and presents the music it is fed with without guiding the lily or taking anything away. I enjoyed it very much.

Stuart Smith

SUPPLIED BY AURALiC

SUPPLIED TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

Frequency Response: 20 – 20KHz, +/- 0.1dB*
THD+N: < 0.00012% (XLR); < 0.00015% (RCA), 20Hz-20KHz at 0dBFS
Dynamic Range: 130dB, 20Hz-20KHz, A-weighted

Streaming File Format

Lossless: AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, OGG, WAV and WV
Lossy: AAC, MP3 and 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: Coaxial (2), Toslink, USB Audio, HDMI eARC
Analog Inputs: Line-stage (2Vrms max.), MM Phono (0.3Vrms max.)
Streaming Inputs: Network shared folder, USB Storage, USB CD Drive, Optional Internal Storage, UPnP/DLNA Media Server, Amazon Music Unlimited, HighResAudio, KKBOX, Qobuz Sublime+, TIDAL Connect, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Internet Radio, RoonReady

Audio Outputs

Balanced: XLR (6V / 2V user selectable, output impedance 5ohm)
Unbalanced: RCA (6V / 2V user selectable, output impedance 50ohm)
Headphone: 6.35mm Headphone Jack (output impedance 5ohm)

Network

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

Power Consumption

Standby: <0.5W
Sleep: <10W
Playback: 50W at max.

Dimensions – W x D x H

13.4 x 12.6 x 3.2 in. (34cm x 32cm x 8cm)

Weight

22.0 lbs (10kg)

Product Finishing

Anodized aluminum case in matte black with copper EMI shielding enclosure.

* Tested under Filter Mode Precise, Clear Tone Mode for all sampling rate
*** 352.8KHz and 384KHz and 32bit are supported through streaming and USB inputs only
**** By ‘DoP V1.1’ or native DSD protocol through streaming and USB inputs only