Antipodes DX Gen3 vs Innuos Zenith MkII SE

[rickca]

Have a look at Antipodes FAQ What sounds best?   It's interesting that they say

 

With poor quality servers, playing over the network to an Ethernet DAC can make sense, but with an excellent server playback via USB sounds clearly better. With Antipodes music servers we recommend you use USB rather than put the signal over your network. 

 

Has any information been released about what CPU or motherboard is used in the 'high power' CX?  Antipodes says you need the CX in order to upsample to DSD256 or DSD512. 

[rickca]

35 minutes ago, simorag said:

I'll not be surprised if we find that also Innuos is showing something new there... the SE has sold out very fast and this should have been very encouraging for Innuos guys

Not very encouraging for those of us who bought an SE.    Everybody is always working on that next prototype.  There's also the chance that Innuos may do a streamer ala CX/EX.

 

I'm not sure whether the CX will sound better than the SE.  It will be interesting if Antipodes has made some good progress in scaling up their technology to a more powerful CPU.

 

Antipodes seems to roll out new models quite regularly.  It's nice that they have an upgrade path for some of their older units.

[rickca]

36 minutes ago, KingRex said:

I found it refreshing the Antipodes literature on the cx-ex says a high quality DAC cannot make up for a poor quality server.

I agree and only recently have I begun to appreciate that fact.

37 minutes ago, matthias said:

IMO, the Antipodes concept is more flexible for customers. The customer can decide whether he/she needs storage.

Yes I think Antipodes is doing some smart things with their product line.  I was also impressed to read about their upgrade program.

 

Antipodes is about to relaunch their cable business producing a new generation of wire using their proprietary Optimised Lattice Long Crystal (OLLC) technology.  I can only imagine the prices.

[rickca]

3 hours ago, KingRex said:

Not really sure if the CX is also the DAC.

Looks like you can use the EX as a DAC or use it with an external USB DAC.

[rickca]

And yet, in the Antipodes FAQ it says

 

The CX+EX solution is the ultimate. Next best is the one-box DX. Next best is the CX. Next best is the EX. But you will find the DX, CX and EX are close to one another in audio performance. The big leap in audio quality comes when you move up to the CX+EX solution. The CX, when used just for the server app, provides the best possible performance of server apps. The EX, when used just for the renderer app, provides the best possible performance of the renderer app. The superiority of the CX+EX is jaw-dropping.

 

Because of course, two boxes are better than one!  Especially if you're selling boxes.

[rickca]

2 hours ago, flkin said:

Will do a writeup of our experiences after.

Fantastic!  This will be really useful input.

[rickca]

4 hours ago, FredM said:

 

Secretly hope that the Antipodes performance is on an equal/similar level as ‘stable’ set ups, so a serious reduction in boxes / spagetti is on the horizon.

What are you going to do if the best sound includes both the Antipodes and the SOtM trifecta?  

[rickca]

Your BNC Coax cable Digiflex Gold II between the Mutec MC-3+ USB and DAC ... what is the quality and price of this cable?  It's pretty important because it's the final link in the chain.

 

I realize you were using the REF 10, but what clock is native to the Mutec MC-3+ USB?

[rickca]

So why use a cheap BNC cable as the final link to the DAC when all the other components are so good?  Surely it has to influence the results.  

[rickca]

7 hours ago, flkin said:

To be fair, in test (3) there are many variables there - like Mac/Stable/USB input in DAC via Lush cable and the other was Antipodes/MC3+/coax input to DAC via Digiflex. So it's fair to say the conclusion isn't as clear as I stated it.

OK that is a very important new piece of information!

7 hours ago, flkin said:

Test Tracks were all streamed from Tidal. We didn't get around to comparing the storage in the Antipodes, which I gather is pretty good, to the Mac storage which was a attached USB drive.

Again, that's a very important new piece of information!  Thanks a lot for clarifying these two points.

 

7 hours ago, flkin said:

Not sure what you mean about native clock in the MC3+ but in our tests, it was always re-clocked by the Mutec Ref10 via the Habst cable. 

I'm asking what clock does Mutec use in the MC-3+ USB?  Does it come with something like the Crystek 575 used in the ISO REGEN?  Also, I understand the MC-3+ USB uses a SMPS.  Have you modified your MC-3+ USB to use a linear PS?

[rickca]

18 minutes ago, magnuska said:

I received the new Antipodes EX yesterday. I can confirm that it works fine the  Vinnie Rossi LIO DAC 2.0.

 

Interesting.  @flkin and @Kritpoon reported problems getting the Antipodes DX Gen 3 to work with the LIO DAC 2.0.  I wonder what Antipodes has changed.