Upgrading from a VPI Aries 1- is it worth it?

If you decide on a new arm, may as well get speed control taken care of also.

Sota Total Eclipse

more accurate than VPI ADS-if you don't already have it.

I support the following recommendations from other members as follows:   
1:  Stick with the Aries.  It is a wonderful sounding product. 
2:  Go with a gimbal rather than knife edge bearing tone arm. 
3:  If wall bracing is not possible, try Symposium or Townshend platforms.  
My set-up and suspended floors are my systems weakest link.  Root cause of set-up issues is the WAF and small home.  Judicious attention to vibration isolation of all equipment including my TT and location of cabinet on main beam weight bearing wall has helped.  Note I have not followed my own recommendations on the tone arm and deal with the JM knife edge bearing.  I know a gimbal bearing tone arm will be better but on fixed income and focus on digital streaming it’s not a priority for me.  

I have an original Aries Extended which uses the 12" arm vs. the 10" arm of the standard Aries, which I assume is what you have.  I've changed a lot on it; aluminum platter (used) and periphery ring (came with table along with frosted acrylic platter), Unipivot Needle Assembly (new), an early 12.7 tonearm base assembly (demo from VPI), and IsoAcoustics Gaia II feet (new).  I still have the original JMW-12.5 arm and motor assembly.  I also have the single motor flywheel (used) but not using presently, mainly because I don't have (or really want) a 30" wide platform on top of my rack (I can't use a low table, I have cats ...).

I agree with most of what the others have said, you have a very nice table and it can be a very expensive journey, but from a cost standpoint there are a few things you can do relatively "cheap".  First, if you haven't already, replace the Unipivot Needle Assembly ($115 from VPI; note: it's not really a knife edge, it's a very sharp very pointy and very hard needle).  The needle point is likely dull if it is the original.  A new one will have less resistance to movement and resultant better detail to the music. 

A second, more costly upgrade, would be a used replacement arm, either a stainless steel version (pretty rare) or a 3-D printed version (more common, but stay away from the early ones with the finger lift built in, the finger lift breaks).  My only hesitation on the arm is VPI moved from a 10" to a 10.5" arm along the way and getting the 10.5" to work on a standard Aries may require moving the arm base.  Slight aside, the VPI forum used to have a LOT of information on this (and a lot more) but a lot of that data was lost a few years back.  Matt is trying to recover as much as he can but it's not going well.

A third improvement, as mentioned by others are the feet.  As I mentioned I use the Gaia II; for a standard Aries, which is lighter than my Extended, the Gaia III ($200, work with up to 70 lb. total for the four feet) would likely be a better, and cheaper fit.  There are a couple of offerings from VPI, but they are pricey.  I think the HW-40 feet are the best and most likely to provide a noticeable improvement, but they're $475.  I tried the mini-TNT feet and they were ok, but they're in storage now ...

One last thing, if you have the original platter, i.e., the composite one made of aluminum and black composite (can't think of the actual material) stick with it, that's a very good platter.  The only downside is it can't accommodate the peripheral ring, which I really like, but others not so much.

You can be very happy with what you have, the cartridge is very important and you have that part of the battle covered. Piecemeal upgrades can help but they can be a rabbit hole (I know from experience). Good luck with your (continuing) journey!

I used an Aries 1 for about ten years and in that time I changed out everything but the plinth. I can agree with all the positive comments here and I’ll also add an anecdote. I ended up creating a bit of a ’Frankentable’ that couldn’t be compared to anything else so for that reason and others, I found myself wanting to start over with a clean slate. I sprang for a Kuzma Stabi R, partly inspired by the 4 point 11 tonearm I had installed on the Aries. When the Stabi came last spring, I transferred the 4 point tonearm to the new table. That gave me a controlled comparison of the Kuzma turntable and the VPI. The big surprise was that the difference wasn’t all that great. It was something an audiophile would hear, but I doubt my ’civilian’ friends would notice it. Kind of painful to admit that, given the cost of the Stabi R. I considered the upgrade process to be an exercise in learning about turntables and audio, so I didn’t mind that the value equation sort of went out the window. 

a few points: a Teres Audio Verus II rim drive motor was a decisive upgrade. not sure if that’s available anymore but either way it’s expensive and changes the character of the turntable. (for the better IMHO).

classic platter with an upgraded (DIY) bearing was also key. I used a ceramic ball and optical lithic plate. there was a thread about this on the VPI forum but it may have been wiped. kind of gonzo but cheap and effective.

I went through the VPI tonearms from the original through the 3D to the Fatboy. I liked the latter but found the Kuzma 4 point to be another big jump up from there.

Mapleshade brass feet, powder coated black, screwed directly to the plinth, look and sound great. sitting on an HRS platform on top of a very sturdy rack.

peripheral ring, platter weight, mat, junction boxes, etc etc. all to taste.