Innuos Pulsar ????

[Di-fi]

Although more expensive it might be interesting to compare the new G4 K21 vs Pulsar. Both seem to have excellent USB outputs.

Matt

Antipodes has distinctively segregated player- and serverboards within their devices. In the case of the K21 model, it exclusively incorporates a player board (without a reclocker). In order to ensure a fair comparison, focusing on optimal sound quality, it's essential to couple the K21 with a dedicated server and deploy it as an endpoint. This setup can then be juxtaposed against the Pulsar when operating in its endpoint mode.

This is purely theoretical, but I believe that despite the K21's combined server and player capabilities on a single board, and the comparison between the Pulsar's Standalone and Endpoint modes, it's prudent to avoid overcharging the devices. It seems maintaining ample resources and current for the endpoint function is advisable to achieve the best possible SQ.

 

[matthias]

(without a reclocker)

AFAIK, the USB in the new G4 K21 is reclocked.

Matt

 

[matthias]

This is purely theoretical, but I believe that despite the K21's combined server and player capabilities on a single board, and the comparison between the Pulsar's Standalone and Endpoint modes, it's prudent to avoid overcharging the devices. It seems maintaining ample resources and current for the endpoint function is advisable to achieve the best possible SQ.

A fair comparison would be to let both devices do streaming from Qobuz for example.

Matt

 

[Di-fi]

AFAIK, the USB in the new G4 K21 is reclocked.

Matt

I believe you but as far as I understood only the K22 engine plays straight over USB and re-clocks over S/PDIF, AES3 and I2S.
Below the K21 interior, no clock as far as I can see. But K21 has the K50 player board and a nice switch mode PSU. Looks empty besides a Pulsar!

 

[matthias]

I believe you but as far as I understood only the K22 engine plays straight over USB and re-clocks over S/PDIF, AES3 and I2S.
Below the K21 interior, no clock as far as I can see. But K21 has the K50 player board and a nice switch mode PSU. Looks empty besides a Pulsar!

Why do you complicate things? I am talking about Antipodes G4 only.
The G4 K21 is USB out only as it is Pulsar and both work preferably as endpoints.
So they are likely comparable
BTW, I have not yet seen internal photos from the new G4 series.
You can read about the new G4 USB here:

Antipodes Audio - Updated Range and Upgrade Program - July 2023

The main impetus for the revisions and the upgrades was the new USB output. I was never happy with the ‘PCIe to USB’ card approach. You can get nice sound with them but the music is, for me, lost. It becomes mechanical. This does not seem to bother a lot of audiophiles, given how they seem...

antipodes.support

Matt

 

[Di-fi]

Why do you complicate things? I am talking about Antipodes G4 only.
The G4 K21 is USB out only as it is Pulsar and both work preferably as endpoints.
So they are likely comparable
BTW, I have not yet seen internal photos from the new G4 series.
You can read about the new G4 USB here:

Antipodes Audio - Updated Range and Upgrade Program - July 2023

The main impetus for the revisions and the upgrades was the new USB output. I was never happy with the ‘PCIe to USB’ card approach. You can get nice sound with them but the music is, for me, lost. It becomes mechanical. This does not seem to bother a lot of audiophiles, given how they seem...

antipodes.support

Matt

Antipodes audio: ''a new USB '' and ''new technology has become available that does the USB regeneration ‘properly’'' ?

With the Pulsar, we can, at the very least, get a glimpse of what's happening under the hood.

Wasn't G4 being set to debut this month? It might be premature to delve into the Antipodes K21 just yet; it seems better to await the release of photos and accounts from those who have had the chance to try it. Hopefully, someone here will do a comparison between the Pulsar and the K21in the coming months.

 

[Di-fi]

A fair comparison would be to let both devices do streaming from Qobuz for example.

Matt

Hi Matt,
''Fair'' comparison. You refer to this one?
I am joking, but it is a worthwhile write up.
Below translated from German to English.
Cheers!
Paul

Innuos Pulsar: Netzwerkplayer/Streaming-Bridge im Test | fairaudio

Wenn man den Innuos Pulsar aus der Kartonage schält, dann fällt zuallererst auf, dass sein Gehäuse nicht von Pappe ist …

www.fairaudio.de

Some quotes below are links to the English (Google translate) version:

'' (edit) About time: The digital specialist Innuos, now offers thoroughbred network players in the new Pulse series for the first time. To date, there has been the Zenith series alongside the Statement Next-Gen flagship, but these models are music servers that come with a hard drive and a ripping drive in addition to the player functionality. Audiophiles who appreciate Innuos but already own a good NAS or only access music via streaming services anyway should have asked themselves why they should invest in a server that they don't need or already own. This target group can be helped with the three new streamers of the Pulse series.'The following test is about the top networker of the Pulse series, the Innuos Pulsar'(...)''

''But the Pulsar is not only recognizable as an Innuos, but also somehow different - I don't remember a resolution on this level from the Zenith Mk3.''

'' If I define the Antipodes K21 (about 6,500 euros) , which was tested a good year ago and subsequently won an award, as a neutral benchmark, then the Innuos Pulsar deviates from it about as much to be warmer/milder as the Grimm streamer/server MU1 (about 11,000 euros ) to the leaner. So not really much, but audible in a balanced system.''

''if you want to put it in a nutshell: the Innuos, despite all its precision, has more charm in spatial representation, the Antipodes, with all its charm, a little more precision. What you like better in the end is a matter of taste..''

(Pulsar) ''a wealth of detail with a slightly milder focus''

 

[matthias]

Hi Matt,
''Fair'' comparison. You refer to this one?
I am joking, but it is a worthwhile write up.
Below translated from German to English.
Cheers!

Hi Paul,
thanks, to be "fair" the K21 for comparison was the old one and Jason Kennedy mentioned in this review that Pulsar is leaner than his Melco N5:

Innuos Pulsar: Star Quality | The Ear (the-ear.net)

Matt

 

[Di-fi]

Hi Paul,
thanks, to be "fair" the K21 for comparison was the old one and Jason Kennedy mentioned in this review that Pulsar is leaner than his Melco N5:

Innuos Pulsar: Star Quality | The Ear (the-ear.net)

Matt

Hi Matt,
I am aware that K21 is not the G4, there simply are not much out there yet. I will monitor the Antipodes forum for updates.

In the Fairaudio comparison of the Pulsar and K21 the reviewer adds a K22 (which features a more powerful server board) as a NAS to stream to both. The K21 utilizes its single low-power player board to process this stream, while the Pulsar plays in Standalone mode from a multifunctional low power board (while using the Sense app).

Regarding the Pulsar, Fairaudio doesn't comment on any differences in sound quality between Qobuz or NAS sources, nor between Standalone and Endpoint modes. It could indicate that with the latest server iterations, distinctions between local playback and streaming have become negligible, at least in this price range even though Jason writes: ''it (Pulsar) sounds excellent with a good recording on Qobuz and even better with the same thing on a music server''.

 

[kennyb123]

thanks, to be "fair" the K21 for comparison was the old one

This is an important point. The K21 will be gaining the kind of power supply that first appeared in the Oladra. Power supplies have a huge influence on the sound as I think everyone in this thread knows, so the new K21 should get a really nice bump in performance.

 

[kennyb123]

I am aware the K21 is not the G4, there simply are not much out there yet. I will monitor the Antipodes forum for updates.

The upgraded models are just starting to find their way back to customers. Reports should start trickling in soon.

 

[matthias]

Reports should start trickling in soon.

Christiaan Punter from HFA will get a G4 K21 for review.

Matt

 

[matthias]

''it (Pulsar) sounds excellent with a good recording on Qobuz and even better with the same thing on a music server''.

I must say I am a little bit troubled when I read this since the with the best of the best servers there seems to be no difference...

Matt

 

[kennyb123]

I must say I am a little bit troubled when I read this since the with the best of the best servers there seems to be no difference...

On which servers are there no differences between music streamed from Qobuz and music stored locally and how much do they cost? I believe Taiko may be approaching this, but it requires their new switch and network card. I think that combo may actually exceed the price of the Pulsar.

 

[Di-fi]

I must say I am a little bit troubled when I read this since the with the best of the best servers there seems to be no difference...

Matt

In an ideal world there shouldn't be a difference.

a) It would be hard to know IF he listened to the same music files from Qobuz as the local files on his server.
b) as @kennyb123 wrote, to achieve equal SQ for local- and streamed files one of the best of the best servers also needs a specific router, switch and network card combo plus a custom software (and possibly an independent power system).

PS I do not want to make things complicated, for best SQ, and even below that, they just are

 

[Tuckers]

Innuos Pulsar: Netzwerkplayer/Streaming-Bridge im Test | fairaudio

Wenn man den Innuos Pulsar aus der Kartonage schält, dann fällt zuallererst auf, dass sein Gehäuse nicht von Pappe ist …

www.fairaudio.de

Good review. Description of its sound quality jibes with my own, though the change is more dramatic in my system then they report. It is a tiny bit on the warm side, tonally similar to good reel to reel playback. Instruments have body and are fleshed out more than I've heard in digital in my system. The reduction of digital haze or grit is significant, this allows me to hear deeper into instruments/voices, their inner voice, if that makes any sense.

 

[Vule]

 

[Vule]

Alan Sircom in his review claims that
Pulsar takes a big step forward with a well designed network switch and a set of network cables designed with audio in mind.
Furthermore in his comparision Statement (Next Gen???) has more space and depth to the sound and is considerably more rhytmically adept.

 

[Di-fi]

Alan Sircom in his review claims that
Pulsar takes a big step forward with a well designed network switch and a set of network cables designed with audio in mind.
Furthermore in his comparision Statement (Next Gen???) has more space and depth to the sound and is considerably more rhytmically adept.

Thanks @Vule , and to add some more details:


hi-fi+ Jan. '23
Alan Sircom had the STATEMENT Next?Gen for quite some time (“the Statement, which I know well”) before doing his comparison with the Pulsar: “The new (ARC6) power supply transforms the Statement in ways I wasn’t expecting. (…) In fact, it improves almost every aspect of the Statement, and by no small margin.”

hi-fi+ Aug. '23
“The PULSAR sounds good out of the box, but you must be thorough about your network connection to hear its potential. Like its bigger STATEMENT-shaped brother, the PULSAR takes a big step forward with a well-designed network switch and a set of Ethernet cables designed with audio in mind. While the PULSAR is good at keeping RFI and EMI at bay, giving it a helping hand from the switch onwards makes for an even more potent sound quality and authoritative bass. Hundreds of options are open to the listener, including a switch from Innuos called PhoenixNET”.

“There is a definite performance jump across all three models (Pulse series) ,with the PULSAR sounding considerably more open and with more potent, full bass than the other two. And then there's the Statement, which I know well. In this setting, the PULSAR gives a surprisingly adept performance and acquits itself very well. The STATEMENT has more space and depth to the sound and is considerably more rhythmically adept, but the PULSAR gets closer to the STATEMENT's stellar performance than it has any right to expect.“

''(...) I used the PULSAR (and the STATEMENT) in Standalone mode, using my Synology NAS, into the outstanding Allnic Audio D-10000 (...) through USB''. Alan also ''used the Statement sending signal via USB to a dCS Bartók DAC'' because ''STATEMENT sounds noticeably better when played through USB''.

''The Innuos PULSAR is a fantastic streamer for those who have left CD ripping behind. It integrates so well with the Sense App that it's almost impossible to separate their performance'' (...) This INNUOS server can show you just how far streaming has come''.

 

[matthias]

Alan also ''used the Statement sending signal via USB to a dCS Bartók DAC'' because ''STATEMENT sounds noticeably better when played through USB''.

Yes, this seems to be the case also with other top servers/streamers. The ethernet input of DACs is inferior in comparison.

Matt