Antipodes DX Gen3 vs Innuos Zenith MkII SE

[matthias]

The upcoming Antipodes CX seems to outperform the DX/3:

 

http://www.antipodesaudio.com/antipodes-cx.html

 

https://d11fdyfhxcs9cr.cloudfront.net/templates/32726/myimages/antipodes_pricing_2018_v2.pdf

 

Matt

[matthias]

4 minutes ago, rickca said:

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. 

 

They use a special board from ASUS:

 

http://www.antipodesaudio.com/server-upgrades.html

 

Matt

[matthias]

@simorag

I would compare the new Antipodes CX to the Zenith SE.

I would not be surprised if the CX is superior.

 

Matt

[matthias]

42 minutes ago, rickca said:

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. 

 

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

Maybe the DX and the SE are on par. But the CX is better than the DX.

And the SE is certainly not able to upsample to DSD512.

 

Matt

 

[matthias]

12 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

It looks like the DX will still be the flagship 1 box solution due to its dual power supply. You'll need the ex/cx combo to outperform it a seperate server and renderer - 2 box solution so the cost is likely to be a lot higher. The upgrade path is a bonus (many companies eg Mytek can learn from this), plus the fact you can fit your own storage. I like it.

 

Yes, you are right, in this link DX is better than CX:

http://www.antipodesaudio.com/server-faq.html

But in this link the CX is better than the DX:

https://d11fdyfhxcs9cr.cloudfront.net/templates/32726/myimages/antipodes_pricing_2018_v2.pdf

 

Matt

[matthias]

Both CX and EX can be used with external USB- and Ethernet-DACs.

The EX has some (in my understanding) basic DAC in-build.

 

Matt

[matthias]

7 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

 The electronics should be similar in all models.

 

No, the CX has a higher spec CPU board than the other models.

 

Matt

[matthias]

From the Antipodes Homepage:

 

" The CX delivers stunning sound quality, exceeding the audio performance of even the excellent DX while also providing high processing power to handle demanding server features with ease. The reason the CX can outperform the DX is that the CX provides much more processor headroom for the server app, and therefore running the server app in the same device interferes less with the renderer app"

 

IMO, in a situation with a very large music library and heavy upsampling to high rate DSD it may be possible that the CX has the edge over the DX regarding sound quality.

 

Matt

[matthias]

2 hours ago, Kritpoon said:

Reporting back. Got my UltraRendu direct connection with the DX thru the excellent support of Antipodes support teams. Thumbs up to them. The result is very pleasing! Better dynamics, clarity, airiness and such good imaging. Wow. The problem was early shipment of the DX Gen3 LAN port was not factory configured as bridged. So the supporting team remotely access my DX3 and bridged the port. Perhaps this can be a poor man CX+EX solution. CX in this case is the DX3 and EX is the UltraRrendu.

 Thanks for reporting.

Just for clarification:

You compared the USB output of the DX/3 vs. the USB output of the uR in combination DX/3 + uR.

Correct?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

IMO, the Innuos Zenith SE and the Antipodes CX are direct competitors (the CX is slightly more expensive).

A new review about the SE from Jason Kennedy:

 

http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/innuos-zenith-se-mkii-std-network-audio-server

 

Matt

[matthias]

On 11.4.2018 at 1:52 AM, Celts88 said:

Antipodes is sharing one of the new Superior DemoCabins at Munich 2018, Hall 4, W12 with Aequo Audio loudspeaker manufacturers.

 

Interesting to compare to Innuos Zenith Statement in Hall 1, B12.

 

Matt