If I were to replace my VPI Airies1 with a 4k or so budget?

I have an Aries 1 (Extended). You will probably be disappointed with anything new in the $4K price range. You might want to keep the Aries. It could be better to spend some small coin on a VPI "Dual Pivot" arm upgrade. IMO, will improve the performance of the arm and help the Delos sing.

SOTA Sapphire.

Mike

Thank for this.  Indeed I have told on several accasions that the Aries is going to very hard to beat without spending a lot more money.  I have wanted to call VPI to ask them about upgrading the tonearm- i wasn't sure it is possible but then again I have no real reason to think that.  On top of that I could have tonearm rewired with better quality wire (nordost etc)

If I were to actually change anayway Ithink a Sota would have to be on the list.  Yje 2 above I was asking about were new offerings I am less familiar with I was curious about.  In other words, my search not be restricted to those.

Another friend of mine suggested that if a really wanted to make a change and improve the sould too he would think that nothing lessthan a Bardo would do....and that one is a fantabulous amount of cash- even used.

I would say ditch the flywheel which is the major space-eater and add a motor controller specifically the SOTA Eclipse if the vpi motor is ac synchronous. You’ll experience a major upgrade AND a reduction in size in one fell swoop. If the vpi motor is not ac synchronized then replace it with one that is.

I would say ditch the flywheel which is the major space-eater and add a motor controller specifically the SOTA Eclipse if the vpi motor is ac synchronous. You’ll experience a major upgrade AND a reduction in size in one fell swoop. If the vpi motor is not ac synchronized then replace it with one that is.