I’m a Canadian dealer and have received and Oladra Presence late last week. A couple things worth sharing with the community. Because the new units strive for such a high sound quality bar (SQ), some features we’ve had in the past won’t be available initially, or not at all because they unfortunately they lower the SQ bar. For example:
Because USB is the predominant DAC connection type, it was chosen as the defacto standard for the initial release. While some DAC’s might prefer AES, I2S, or Toslink, having extra outputs raises the noise floor. BTW the USB implementation on the Oladra is stunningly good. It might be as late as Q4 before other iterations (dealer installable) are offered. (like UBS/AES-EBU etc.)
I have always been enamored by the Roon interface and how you can drill into artist details, members in the song sessions - all fascinating stuff. It was the best GUI vs the other options. Never was a fan knowing that Roon (both server & player) would not yield the best SQ. I was a fan of using Squeeze on the player side as it had a nice uptick in SQ. That combination not being offered because the new hardware is so good with a pure Roon/Roon implementation. I’m been informed that the SQ with the Roon Server / Squeeze player had almost no difference. (A limitation is the Squeeze player can only render 24/192. If your source file was higher, it wouldn’t work) With Roon end to end there was no limitation to the maximum 32/768 resolution. If you still want Squeeze end to end, just use the Lyrion option in the setup. I’ve been informed it is somewhat better, but it’s marginal. (Once my unit is completely broken in I’ll have a go at that and report my findings)
The initial hard drive offering is limited to 4tb internal and isn’t user upgradable. (Return to service depot for that.) No date yet for drive upgrades. The good news is, most users don’t have local libraries higher than 4tb and the streaming has got so good, most users can’t be bothered curating local copies.
Cheers,
Ian Anderson
Northstar Audio
Kitchener, Ontario
@Ianderson Interesting comments.
I am an original Oladra owner and have always found the best sound quality from using Squeeze/Squeezelite rather than using Roon in any part of the playback. You say that the Roon/Roon play is “so good” but I will be interested when you have compared it to Squeeze/Squeezelite. My evaluation is that Roon/Roon cannot compete in terms of sound quality with Squeeze/Squeezelite and there are user interfaces up and coming for Squeeze/Squeezelite which offer a very good user interface whilst preserving the sound quality compared to Roon.
Obviously I have not heard a Presence but with my Oladra the sound quality uptick from using the Lyrion option in the setup is not ‘Marginal’, its is ‘Significant’.
I am an Mscaler / Dave user and in my experience that combination definitely sounds best using the BNC output from my Oladra so it will be hard to convince me to be limited to USB as found in the Presence. In fact I simply will not consider the Presence if it is USB only.
Thanks for the note, and I’d like to thank you for the extensive contributions you’ve made on this and other forums!
Prior to the presence I had a G4 Oladra going to my two reference DACs, the Rockna Wavedream Reference Signature and the Playback MPD-8. In ether case the G4 Oladra sounded better with Squeeze/Squeeze. (For convenience and the average user familiarity both at the showroom and the Audio shows (Toronto, Montreal and Chicago) I ran Roon core, and Squeeze player. It’s a convenience and familiarity thing for everyone that I hand the iPad too. Like you, I believe pure Squeeze sounds better by a bunch on the G4 Oladra. It’s also a synergy thing, perhaps with the Dave DAC, the differences are even wider?
The good new is, your current Oladra has a plethora outputs. I originally came from the pro audio side where AES is prolific. I sell Dutch & Dutch speakers and it the best connection. Even for a multitude of DACs I’ve had through here, more often than not, AES was one of, if not the best input.
A lot of DAC makers are putting there best effort towards USB. (It is with the Payback) The good news is, Antipodes will address situations like yours and offer different output boards. Currently you’ve got the best of both worlds, the lovely SQ of the G4 with the best connectivity for your Dave. You can wait with the Q4, then when the upgraded G5 will be offered it will have the new optional outputs available. You can decide if the SQ bump is worth it. (Juice is worth the Squeeze - lol)
At 10 years old, the Dave DAC is due for an overhaul, it will be interesting to see in what ways the next version evolves.
Once I’m confident the Presence has settled I’ll report back.
I have an interest in audio digital matters in that I own Wave High Fidelity who manufacture RF filtering digital cables which have become something of a legend with the Dave and the Mscaler as well as for other digital devices.
Yes the Dave is 10 years old but with a few tweaks such as a replacement power supply instead of the supplied smps, not to mention WAVE cables, it still beats any other competitor I have tried.
It will be interesting to see what the G5 upgrade brings to the Oladra. The dilemma will be how to evaluate that before doing the upgrade,
Terrific the Wave High Fidelity tick all the right boxes for you Dave! Too bad they don’t apply there expertise to the 1sS, AES, or usb area as the vast majority of the DAC makers pur there best efforts to one of those inputs.
To bad you didn’t live on this side of the pond s it would be easy for me to get toy a loaner Presence to try.