Hello
What are the best sounding outputs for the K22, is it USB or AES etc?
I have an Auralic Vega G2.1 dac at present
Thanks in advance
According to the Antipodes homepage the outputs of the K22 are 2-Stage USB and 3-Stage Digital.
So on paper the AES output should be superior to the USB output.
But this is theory, you have to try with your own devices.
i read that after the recent upgrade the usb output is equivalent to all other outputs
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@daveyu my own experience is that there is no single ārightā answer to your question and that the best policy is to try for yourself.
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According to the homepage all digital outputs of all Antipodes devices have one more reclocking stage in comparison to the USB. But as @NickBacon mentioned the best policy is to try for yourself.
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I thought that was only with the Oladra. Would you share the quote that indicates this? I couldnāt find it.
I realise that listening is the real test, but as someone who believes cables make a difference, i want to invest in a good cable of the correct type
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Go to Antipodes homepage and select Oladra, then scroll down to specifications, you find ā4-Stage USB and 5-Stage Digitalā.
Going to K50 you find ā3-Stage USB and 4-Stage Digitalā.
Going to K22 you find ā2-Stage USB and 3-Stage Digitalā.
BTW, therefore I do not believe that a K41/K22 combo is the same as K50 
Great information- Begs a fuller explanation from Antipodes.
Good find. This suggests that in the K50, the reclocked USB is fed into the reclocker for the digital outputs. The Oladra has an additional USB reclocking stage and this is then fed into the digital outputs. The first two stages are the server engine followed by the player engine.
The point I donāt understand:
K41 sends data via ethernet to K22, then 2-Stage USB or 3-Stage Digital output
but
K50 offers 3-Stage USB or 4-Stage Digital output
IMO, the combo is inferior to K50
The K41 server engine represents stage 1. When combined with the K22, the final result is the same number of stages for USB and digital as the K50. And when combined with the K21, it gets the same number of stages for USB as the K50.
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You may be right, but the description of Antipodes is a little bit strangeā¦
They used to have diagrams posted that illustrated the flow across the stages. Maybe those just confused people even more, but it was my recollection of them that had me suggesting what I posted earlier.
I know what you mean but USB und Digital reclocking is performed by the player so it would be more correct to say for the players inā¦
ā¦Oladra: 3-Stage USB and 4-Stage Digital
ā¦K50, K22: 2-Stage USB and 3-Stage Digital
No, the reclocking stages come after the player engine, and the player engine counts as a stage. Thatās why the K21 is listed as ā2-Stageā. The player engine (stage 1) is followed by the USB reclocker (stage 2).
OK, my point is that it is somewhat misleading to add the server stage to the USB/Digital stages. The old diagram was better in this regard.
I disagree. This is an important distinction as this defines the Antipodes competitive advantage. Back in the CX/EX/P2 days, they were pretty much the only major server manufacturer who emphasized the importance of successive stages: start with one stage but then add additional stages to get the best sound quality (server + player + reclocker). The successive stages approach then carried forward to the K and S series models. When those models were introduced, their competitors were only just starting to add more stages. I think most of their competitorsā flagship models still run server and player functions on the same board so that a single CPU handles everything. This is true about the Grimm Audio MU1 and the Innuos Statement, for example. But the K50 has separate boards with separate CPUs for server and player, so it is accurate to count these as two of the stages.
Another key distinction of the original and G2 K50s was that each stage had its own power supply. There were three of them, with one powering the server board, another powering the player board and finally one powering the reclocker. Iām not sure how this was carried through to the G4. The competitors using only a single board can have only a single power supply or rail supporting both server and player functions.
The Innuos Statement could be thought of as a three stage server. Internally thereās both Ethernet and USB reclockers plus the main board. Each stage is powered by a dedicated rail.
The Grimm MU1 is just two stages, I believe. The main board plus their synchronous output stage that leverages a FPGA to upscale the output. Not sure about the power supply.
@kennyb123
Good point!
At least we might agree on the following:
1.) With all Antipodes G4 devices the digital outputs have one additional reclocking/regenerating stage in comparison to the USB output.
2.) Oladra G4 has one additional reclocking/regenerating stage for both USB and digital outputs in comparison to the other G4 devices.
Yes totally agree on those points
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