Hi-Fi Choice

Eagle-eyed readers will recognise the form of the Auralic Aries G1 from our review in the January issue of its high-end Aries G2 sibling at £3,899. Understandably the G1 sacrifices some of the features of the flagship model to come in at less than half the price. The principle is the same, though, and this is a streaming transport that focuses on the business of accessing your digital music files on a home or external server and presenting them to an outboard DAC via its digital output connectivity.

There is 50 percent more silver used in the Silver Melody 2. 5 compared with the company’s original Melody 2 tonearm cable. The solid wire conductors are made from 99. 99 percent silver and insulated with the company’s dielectric material.

Known for its mid-priced moving-coil cartridges, Hana has announced a deluxe line with its M-Series moving-coil cartridges. Hailing from Tokyo’s Excel Sound Corporation, the ML and MH cartridges (Low and High output options) are a development of its SL and SH designs that we reviewed in HFC 408, and utilise a Microline nude diamond tip stylus for improved tracking and performance. Both cartridges quote a frequency range of 12Hz to 45kHz with a tracking force of 2g and have threaded fittings built into the top of the cartridge body for ease of mounting. Distributed in the UK by Air Audio Services Ltd.

Following the introduction of its Ingenium turntable design almost half a decade ago (HFC 379), Cambridgeshire-based AVID Hi-Fi has unveiled the Ingenium Plug&Play. Priced at £1,250 and fitted with a tonearm and moving-magnet cartridge, the packaged deck replaces previous Ingenium models and the company says: “Everything on this turntable has been reworked, from the chassis design that now sports AVID’s trademark oversized A emblazoned into the body, to the new inline power switch – now 5A with dual pole switching to allow total power isolation to the motor”. A new bearing hub has been designed with future upgradability in mind, allowing for the supplied MDF platter to be changed to a precision aluminium version to further enhance sound quality and lower the noise floor. Look out for our world-exclusive review next issue and click here for more.