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    Antipodes OLADRA or K50

    Apparently AES/I2S/SPDIF etc. also improve with the update, not just USB.
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    Antipodes OLADRA or K50

    @gentcan Kev, no, not yet. I intend to do so but Antipodes have withdrawn support from the Australian distibutor and I am waiting for the dust to settle. Somehow, it seems as though my dealer is still an Antipodes dealer so will probably do the deed next month through them. Must say I am...
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    Antipodes OLADRA or K50

    I've had both in my system...purchased the Oladra. Am using Kassandra Ref II dac but same result with AC Helene, Tambaqui and Holo May.
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    Kassandra II Ref E280F options

    @Willgolf no, I've not bothered to trial different tubes just yet. This whole question started because I like to have spare tubes, and it turns out that the E810F I have here will suffice in case of emergency (not that one is expected). One day I will have the spare time to start experimenting...
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    Battle of the giants! Taiko vs Antipodes etc

    @Zeotrope the Taiko switch is working fine with many other servers... no problems there... and the router is just a router with no special "Extreme Only" functions. I question if the PD dac would even benefit from any of this stuff as the digital moat it puts around itself is perhaps ahead of...
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    Battle of the giants! Taiko vs Antipodes etc

    It is cult-like to be honest... some very effective marketing for sure. @grandsoir in my part of the world people have preferred the Antipodes Oladra when compared to Taiko Extreme and voted thus with their wallets. If the Taiko switch/router etc are so great then you don't need an Extreme to...
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    AC Kassandra Inputs - Is There a 'Best' Option?

    I had to dig deeper to buy the Oladra. K50 is very nice, Oladra is wonderful.
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    AC Kassandra Inputs - Is There a 'Best' Option?

    @WLGMuzza I've done this comparison so have an idea what you may hear. Was also able to directly compare K50 vs Oladra into my Kass Ref 2...oh my...pity you can't unhear some things, but thankful I was able to make the comparison.
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    AC Kassandra Inputs - Is There a 'Best' Option?

    @WLGMuzza the 'best' input to the Kassandra probably depends on the streamer you are trialling at the time. I've found nothing better than Antipodes Oladra using AES into my Kass. Other streamers will be more focused on USB and therefore will have their strengths there. Note that synchronous...
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    Kassandra II Ref E280F options

    @Aries Cerat , I am in Australia. Am sort of a tube person and will certainly use them where they get better results (almost everywhere!), but I had to use a little bit of sand in the preamp for it to be able to do the job it needed to do, and I do enjoy the sound of some SS gear too. Sure...
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    Kassandra II Ref E280F options

    You were not intentionally tagged into this conversation, but thanks for replying. I've built from scratch all my electronics: six channel SET amps, hybrid DHT preamp, discrete LCR valve phono etc. There are 42 tubes currently in my playback and would be more if I did not use solid state...
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    Kassandra II Ref E280F options

    I like to have spares for all my vacuum tubes and the last to source are for the Kassandra Ref II. Stavros, do you have any tips for purchasing E280F spares? Do you supply them? What should I look for when purchasing, measuring and matching? All incoming tubes are tested and traced on my...
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    Interesting information Rob. Did not know that it was designed initially as a center speaker with Hartfields in support. But no, the stereo image was not convincing by modern standards.
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    Not heard the Klangfilm Bionor and would not know where to go to do so. They do look interesting supposedly horn loaded down to 80Hz although I have doubts as to whether that huge baffle is actually horn loading or merely acting as an open baffle/waveguide above say 250Hz. All the below were...
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    Not heard the Aries Cerat speakers...doubt there are any in my part of the world...do have a Kassandra dac though (and love it). Aurora looks a very clever design. Everyone talks audio speak differently and attribute certain elements of the sound to different descriptions. I have trouble...
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    We do not need to agree of course. Those speakers listed of which I have heard I consider to be 'average' ie. either not full range or not particularly dynamic nor particularly resolving and simetimes quite coloured, at least when I heard them...although I have been invited to listen to some...
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    Sort of. Enough bass channels to sort out the room frequency response below its Schroder frequency then horn load everything from there on up. For instance, I have three horn loaded channels and the RAAL ribbon above circa 110Hz and that is enough to keep the horns operating optimally (remember...
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    Compression drivers / Horn FR graphs ( Vitavox S2 )

    Regarding the Vitavox S2, I am using two pair in my 6 way horn system. The first is 600Hz - 1kHz in a 250Hx tractrix, second is from 3.2kHz and it rolls off at 12kHz in a 400Hz tractrix. 12kHz and up is handled by a RAAL Lazy Ribbon for which I am considering horn loading. If you want the...
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    Antipodes Owners - Systems - Whats Best at Your House

    Agreed. I have a large six-way horn system which the Oladra has let "breathe"..it sounds so alive now. That may not be heard in a less dynamic system. The K50 was nice for the short time it was here...but the Oladra is something else entirely.
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    SET amp owners thread

    Mismatch for sure. Judging by the Stereophile measurements, I suggest your speakers are not candidates for SET amps of any persuasion. They are 7dB-10dB shy in sensitivity for 60watts SET and the impedance/phase plot will likely cause frequency response problems for a lot of SETs given their...
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    DaVa FC-A1 a field coil contender

    Am considering a custom 6 wire Korf 11" tonearm for my DaVa when it arrives.
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    What ethernet cables are members using?

    I'll agree with @Terry0 the Vertere Pulse HB is something else and is akin to a component upgrade.
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    What Brands of Cables to Fans of High-Efficiency Speakers Use? (Not Hi-fi Sounding!)

    My amplifiers, preamp and phonostage were all built with captive power leads so I have complete control over shielding and do away with an IEC connection. I also make my own powerboards with high quality industrial sockets and reasonable wiring practices (no daisy chaining sockets).. The only...
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    Can Some Top Amplifiers Hide or Exacerbate Horn Colorations? Or Are Such Claims about Preference?

    There are horns, and then there are horns. The higher sensitivity types, say 109dB/w/m like mine, do most of their work with that first fraction of a watt the amplifiers provide, so the amp has to perform brilliantly with milliwatts rather than watts, which is not so easy. SET amps will have...
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    DOES ANYONE REGRET BUYING A TAIKO EXTREME SERVER? ANYTHING BETTER?

    One of my dacs has an upgrade path like that and it has been lovely to update rather than replace it as new technology comes along that improves the sonics. Antipodes have also done something similar in the music server space, so Taiko is not alone there, although you are able to concentrate...
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    DOES ANYONE REGRET BUYING A TAIKO EXTREME SERVER? ANYTHING BETTER?

    I don't really know what Stavros uses but for some reason I thought it was a MacBook. Either way, the general consensus in my part of the world is that the AES input of the Kassandra sounds better than USB... it is not even close when using an Oladra... which obviously is optimised for...
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    DOES ANYONE REGRET BUYING A TAIKO EXTREME SERVER? ANYTHING BETTER?

    I think so too, and have met someone that prefered Antipodes K50 to the Extreme. I've not heard an Extreme because they are so expensive where I am in the world and cannot demo in my room, but I did demo Antipodes K50 and Oladra and purchased the Oladra. My dac (AC Kassandra) sounds better by...
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    What Brands of Cables to Fans of High-Efficiency Speakers Use? (Not Hi-fi Sounding!)

    My speakers are active 109dB/w/m and are currently 5-way horns but moving to six ways to better integrate bass into the room. All speaker wires are Duelund 16GA one end soldered directly to the output transformer of the amplifier driving them and crushed into the binding posts of each...
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    DaVa FC-A1 a field coil contender

    So I blame you for the fresh divot from my finances...haha.
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    DaVa FC-A1 a field coil contender

    Not surprised. I bet there has been a spike in orders following your recent report.

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