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acg

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  1. Which is all you need if your gain structure is good. Not many playback rooms offer 72dB dynamic range...
  2. Calm down. I never said I did not understand "noise". The word is often used as an excuse for not understanding the problem. What kinds of noise? Sources? Mechanisms of "infection"? Lots of broad statements about noise but little actual detail. I made my earlier post a reply to yours about optical removing common mode noise in ethernet signals and 10Gbe ethernet noise levels. If this proved true in the real world, as you posit, then my experience seems to provide a data point that neither removing common mode noise nor using 10GBe ethernet are necessarily the answer.
  3. Interesting take on this. I agree that the network switch should not have an SQ, but unfortunately some or all of them do...I do not know which is the correct answer there. As my playback is situated in my office I started running it from the available 10GBe pro switch until someone brought over a Melco during a visit. Plugged the Melco+LPS in between the 10Gbe switch and the server (Antipodes Oladra) and the sound of internet streaming improved a little. Tried several fancy ethernet cables and the sound changed a little bit again...tried optical between the 10GBe switch and the Melco and the sound got worse...even worse than the simple original setup without a fancy switch or cables, but still sounded very good I must say..it's not like the sound became horrible. Tried the Melco with and without the LPS and definitely with LPS is preferred. I like the notion of optical eliminating common mode noise with ethernet, and I've used optical before with an LDR preamp and optical USB DDC (cannot remember the brand...it was about 8 years ago...both those things quickly left my system), but if the "issue" is not common mode noise then optical will not really fix anything, especially if the process of converting optical to electrical downstream introduces noise again to the digital system. Can't say I understand the root causes of internet streaming SQ changes with network gear but I don't really buy the "noise" argument either as it seems to be a convenient go-to that no-one really seems to understand but many seem happy to parrot (like me in the previous paragraph).
  4. You can only connect a SSD to one motherboard, and there are two in Oladra. The motherboard to the left of the SSD in that photo has a NVME drive.
  5. I'm not sure there is a best to be taken from the mix of three approaches. What works on Antipodes is likely different to what works for Taiko because one is focused on taking a processing load out of the dac (Antipodes) and the other focused on mitigating the effect of that processing within the dac (Taiko). DIY servers, as you would expect, are all over the place in focus, but generally, from what I have seen trend towards the Taiko way of doing things, certainly in this thread.
  6. There are two motherboards in the Oladra: one OS is on NVME and the other SSD as you say.
  7. Antipodes are running OS on nvme these days. Their scope is different to the servers in this thread in that (in their top models at least) they opt for better power supplies and smaller, lower power motherboards with high quality reclocking for synchronous outputs (aes, spdif, i2s) rather than asynchronous outputs (usb, ethernet). I was not a believer of this approach until an audition in my own system. Taking processing of asynchronous signals out of the dac really works to improve sound in quite a substantial way...why go to Herculean lengths to optimise USB if USB is the problem in hi-end audio? I can assure you that Antipodes Oladra sound is well ahead of the best servers in this thread (take that how you like). People I know that have heard both Oladra and Taiko (I have not heard a Taiko in my system) all now run an Antipodes machine. Of course, I am sure that this is not a universal predictor of preferences between the options, but it does seem relatively uniform in my part of the world...so Antipodes is doing something right...as I am sure Taiko is doing something right...but each with focus on different outputs.
  8. Could be. It may also be a design choice of either audio frequency clocks for I2S, AES, Spdif, I2S connections or usb frequency clocks... not both. I don't know. Taiko only do usb as far as I know so you can't even compare other connections without an external device. The Kassandra can be set to double reclock all inputs, not just the usb, but the server and its clocking still matters. Maybe Stavros has just not used a server with such quality AES/SPDIF outputs before recommending the USB input? Again, I don't know, but I do wish the dac had I2S input too...
  9. So, my DIY Music Server as inspired by this thread will now never get off the ground. Should someone wish to get into this project I have all the bits for the power supply here and unused...just drop me a PM...you will save some $$. Location is Australia. Back to normal programming...
  10. Oladra is much less expensive than the Taiko in Australia...but still certainly not inexpensive. I found that review you mentioned. Very interesting and more or less what I heard with my own short comparisons. I did not know that the USB socket of the Antipodes servers is the only output not reclocked, but it would not have changed my mind on its purchase. The real beauty for me is that I can connect several dacs at once (using different connections of course) to the same server and switch between them all from my chair using my tablet and the preamp remote. Thanks for this. Your channel looks great!
  11. Would be nice... but I would not know where to find someone with a Taiko. I met a fellow that had one for a while, but he quickly sold it on in preference for his K50. Can't help thinking he didn't give it enough time, or that perhaps there was something not right with the unit he had.
  12. @matthias, my Oladra is in transit, I'll have it next week. We've used a K50 with the Kassandra and preferred AES over USB, but never tried SPDIF. In another system I've heard the Oladra with Kassandra where AES was the preferred connection, but I'll do my own testing over the next month or so.
  13. It is horses for courses really. Taiko, and others that are wed to USB puts much of the processing for the interconnection at the dac side of the USB cable i.e. USB to I2S conversion. Antipodes adds to this by giving the user an option to keep the processing within the server, behind some stout reclocking, so that other outputs (i.e. SPDIF, AES, I2S etc.) can be used that do not require such processing on the dac side. Many K50 and Oladra users report better sound from say AES or I2S than from USB because of this, even into dacs that have excellent USB inputs (such as my Kassandra Ref II). Neither approach is in error. I am sure Antipodes and Taiko both do a lot of listening as both have high-end factory and personal playback systems.
  14. My understanding is that the K50 uses high quality SMPS after the bridge recitifiers. That is why the power supplies are relatively small. The new Oladra has zero linear elements in its power supply. Faster than LPS, higher bandwidth, more current on demand, less heat...potentially a much better solution.
  15. Chris, I would be interested in your thought processes on choosing surround/atmos speakers for atmos music to pair with existing stereo speakers? I'm not keen on replicating my stereo speakers for the other channels so I should go read your articles...perhaps you have written there about it.
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