Hi everyone,
I have a new K22 arriving in a couple of days and I’m looking forward to setting it up. With that in mind, I’m curious what the current thinking is on best SQ for server/player software is. In my experience with a Roon Nucleus, Roon is too unstable for me so I’m considering moving away from it for good if something is better.
Thanks in advance,
Michael
Hi there, welcome to the Antipodes Audio family.
We would say Squeeze is the best-sounding software on our servers.
Im sure others will chime in.
Hi MarkCole,
Thanks for your quick reply. I’m not surprised and look forward to trying Squeeze soon.
If anyone has a different favorite id love to hear all about it.
Best,
Michael
After several years with Roon-Server/HQplayer on my K50 G4 I am now verry happy with pure Squeeze.
May also depend on your DAC.
I use Soulnote D2 with USB-Cable „Siren“ from Ideon Audio to Vitus SIA-025.
I wish you a lot of fun with your new Antipode Gera 
atb, Tom
I would say squeeze is best quality followed closely by MPD/Jplay. But… the ability of roon to explore Tidal, Qobuz and your own collection is hard to ignore. It’s developers and community’s belief that bits are bits and there can be no improvement in sound quality is quite frustrating.
Does Squeeze not allow you to access both your files along with Qobuz or other services at the same time? I’ve only used Roon over the last several years so I am learning…
Yes, Roon is frustrating for me on several levels. Most critically is the lack of stability even when using their own Nucleus.
Yes it does but it is quite cumbersome for my use case. Most of the roon instability are usually traced down to networking issues, usually wifi. I find the roon sound lacks air. If they would pay attention to their sound they could once again be the premiere music software.
Interesting. All of my Roon issues are software related with the software resetting regularly during listening sessions (daily). I’m on a hardwired network so that has been removed from the equation.
Good to know it’s cumbersome to use both sources in Squeeze. I’m going to have to experiment and see if it will work for me or not. Thanks for the heads up!
I have no issues using Roon from a stability perspective; your issues were either the Nucleus or the network. I cannot comment on the Nucleus, however, hard wiring doesn’t necessarily make a network good. Check your cables, remove as many switches as possible, and set your DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Thanks Mark, I’ll pursue this as needed. I think the main problem is the software on the Nucleus as this same network support a full development lab and other services without issue. It’s run by a pro admin.
Yes … works fine (and great) and plenty of control apps available but I simply use myantipodes app to enjoy my music. Cheers
As a FYI, link to Roon FAQ and DNS:
Hey… I’m running a K22 feeding into a Mola Mola DAC via USB.
I am running both Roon Core and endpoint on the K22, without any issues at all.
It’s completely stable.
I also asked Antipodes Support (their CIO in my case) and he said that it’s better to run Roon for both Core and endpoint rather than Roon plus squeeze. That would tax the K22 more. He also said that USB output, which is also now reclocked in V3, is the best output. (It also obviously depends on what input the DAC prefers but the Mola Mola DAC has a very good USB input so that was an easy choice for me.)
Thanks, I’ve moved forward with Squeeze for now as it burns in. However, I’ll circle back and try Roon as well once it’s ready to go. As for USB, I’m currently running AES/EBU, but based on your experience I’ll go back and try USB for a comparison. The cables aren’t equal, but it’ll still be interesting.
Hi all,
I played Squeeze exclusively for several weeks and found that while it sounds very good, it was also randomly truncating the end of the songs. I tried changing many different settings and even resetting them to no avail. I gave up as this was extremely annoying and switched back to Roon.
Wow, what a difference. Roon doesn’t have the richness of timbre that Squeeze has, but it is very even handed with better sound staging, imaging and MUCH better timing (PRAT). It also doesn’t truncate the end of songs. That coupled with the album art, etc and I think I’ll stick with it for now.
If anyone knows why Squeeze was lopping off the ends of songs please let me know.
I still have the same problem with Squeeze/Squeeze. The end gets cut off. But not always. I have no idea why; the problem was never solved. I also switch back to Roon every now and then. I agree with you that it sounds more balanced. Spatially, it also sounds completely different than Squeeze/Squeeze. I always test Roon/Roon vs. Squeeze/Squeeze. But when I do switch back to Squeeze/Squeeze, the sound is simply amazing. Well, Squeeze has its quirks… always has… for me, Squeeze/Squeeze is both a blessing and a curse.
I spent time in both Roon/Squeeze and Roon/Roon this week. The harm that I hear done to the upper frequencies relative to Squeeze/Squeeze makes it impossible for me to consider Roon more fully even if it gets other things right. I never do come away with the belief that Roon (regardless of player choice) has any advantages over Squeeze.
We each have different systems and different ears so it seems that maybe I have a greater sensitivity to the harm Roon does.
Squeeze/Squeeze when playing my files that have been upscaled with PGGB makes it seem to me that my system becomes more mid-fi than hi-fi with Roon (regardless of player choice).
Thanks Christian and Kennyb123,
It’s good to know the issue is not just with my installation. Unfortunately, from my perspective, the most basic thing a Player needs to do is actually play the whole song. So while Squeeze may be preferable in some ways this is a basic disqualifier. I don’t know of any other player with this behavior and it boggles my mind that this is an accepted behavior.
I’ll try other player server combinations, but for now I’ll stick to Roon.
As for the time and phase coherence of Roon vs Squeeze, I need to do more experiments and agree that my ears/system/preferences may differ from yours/others. For clarity, my system is time and phase aligned which makes hearing this difference pretty easy (using Vandersteen Model 5A speakers). I can even hear the difference on a mostly time aligned system which has Magnepan 3.7i/DWM panels. YMMV
I agree with both of you on everything 
. This is also why I keep switching back to Squeeze/Squeeze in terms of sound. Squeeze/Squeeze offers more freedom and naturalness in the music, and the timbres are also much more pronounced than with Roon/Roon. Squeeze’s strange behavior at the end of the song, and many other points besides, are accepted because it’s free. Such deficiencies are either never resolved or only resolved in months. That’s why most people switch to another server/player solution.
Thanks Christian. I think that if Squeeze can fix this Play problem along with the time coherence of the music it serves they’ll have a hands down winner. I suspect the time smearing is what is causing the difference in imaging/soundstaging.