03-Oct-2017, 21:26
Antipodes seem to believe that USB output will give you better results than using ethernet and roon/air only allows for wifi or ethernet. The Antipodes does not do wifi so that means roon/air from an Antipodes only works over ethernet.
Originally I was using Devialet AIR into the Devialet's ethernet input because I couldn't get wifi to work reliably from my Mac mini. I went to using roon/air over ethernet from the Mac and thought that sounded as good as or maybe slightly better than Devialet AIR but seemed a bit more reliable. Then I got the Antipodes. I tried both roon/air and the Antipodes roon ready USB connections from the Antipodes and feel that roon ready/USB sounds slightly better than roon/air over ethernet. Both sound very good but I think that USB is slightly better than what I get using roon/air over ethernet and that agrees with comments I've seen from Antipodes themselves. I haven't tried any tweaks on the USB connection and I wasn't using any high end USB cables with roon/air, just ordinary computer Cat 6 and 6A cabling. I don't know if I could have tweaked the ethernet connection to do better than the USB connection.
I definitely think I'm getting better sound using the Antipodes than I was streaming from my Mac and I'm glad I bought the Antipodes. I bought a DS which is a lot cheaper than a DX. I have no doubt the DX would improve on the sound I'm getting but I don't know by how much. Is it worth the investment? That's a decision you have to make for yourself but I would not go back to streaming from my Mac after using my DS for 7 weeks or so. I also wouldn't go back to roon/air from my DS after using the USB connection but I can use the USB connection because my DS is next to my Devialet. If it were in a different room then I'd have to use roon/air and I'd still prefer to use my DS and roon/air than stream from my Mac using roon/air.
For me, my DS is definitely worth the investment. I don't know if I would consider the DX worth the investment and I couldn't afford a DX anyway. I can tell you that I definitely think an Antipodes will give better sound quality than streaming from a computer but I can't tell you whether you are going to think that the improvement is worth the investment. You have to make your own value for money judgements, no one else can make that sort of judgement for you.
As for MQA, roon doesn't support it as yet though they say they're working on it and Devialet don't support it yet either though that may change when we see the new Core Infinity board in actual use.
Originally I was using Devialet AIR into the Devialet's ethernet input because I couldn't get wifi to work reliably from my Mac mini. I went to using roon/air over ethernet from the Mac and thought that sounded as good as or maybe slightly better than Devialet AIR but seemed a bit more reliable. Then I got the Antipodes. I tried both roon/air and the Antipodes roon ready USB connections from the Antipodes and feel that roon ready/USB sounds slightly better than roon/air over ethernet. Both sound very good but I think that USB is slightly better than what I get using roon/air over ethernet and that agrees with comments I've seen from Antipodes themselves. I haven't tried any tweaks on the USB connection and I wasn't using any high end USB cables with roon/air, just ordinary computer Cat 6 and 6A cabling. I don't know if I could have tweaked the ethernet connection to do better than the USB connection.
I definitely think I'm getting better sound using the Antipodes than I was streaming from my Mac and I'm glad I bought the Antipodes. I bought a DS which is a lot cheaper than a DX. I have no doubt the DX would improve on the sound I'm getting but I don't know by how much. Is it worth the investment? That's a decision you have to make for yourself but I would not go back to streaming from my Mac after using my DS for 7 weeks or so. I also wouldn't go back to roon/air from my DS after using the USB connection but I can use the USB connection because my DS is next to my Devialet. If it were in a different room then I'd have to use roon/air and I'd still prefer to use my DS and roon/air than stream from my Mac using roon/air.
For me, my DS is definitely worth the investment. I don't know if I would consider the DX worth the investment and I couldn't afford a DX anyway. I can tell you that I definitely think an Antipodes will give better sound quality than streaming from a computer but I can't tell you whether you are going to think that the improvement is worth the investment. You have to make your own value for money judgements, no one else can make that sort of judgement for you.
As for MQA, roon doesn't support it as yet though they say they're working on it and Devialet don't support it yet either though that may change when we see the new Core Infinity board in actual use.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
