And how about Roon Server, Squeeze player? Best of both worlds or still experiencing the mid-range congestion? It would be nice if Roon features would be accessible whilst stil providing good to optimal sound quality.
At this point in time, I personally find Roon + Squueze to be so much better than Roon only and the former is definitely a very nice best of both world s option given Roon UI is “no contest” the best… i could live with that without regret if I had to. But because I can, and if I want the absolute ultimate in SQ then my own “go to” is without question Squeeze on its own. I too have a Roon lifetime membership and wish that this was not the case.
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Last night I thought I would give Roon + Squeezelite an outing whilst listening to an album of my youth - Wishbone Ash’s album Argus recorded in 1972 (ie when I was 17!). I was listening to the remastered version from 2007.
About half way through the first track on the album I was enjoying the music but I got itchy to try it with Squeeze + Squeezelite and it was another of those ‘oh, yes, that is so much better’ moments. I didn’t have any inclination to try any other tracks with Roon.
Indeed I enjoyed the album so much that I went on to listen to the same tracks recorded live at various venues. I had a great evening reliving my youth!
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Yes, I started experimenting with Squeeze on Squeeze and Roon on Squeeze. And I agree that former is so much better. Is there a recommneded iPhone control app that connects to the K50 squeeze instance ?
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The browser interface is best in my humble opinion. It will get even better with AMS 5.
Yes; you can download iPeng for iOS for around $7.95 US and the interface is very nice and there is good email support from the developer.
I’m not sure I prefer this app to Squeeze as supported by Antipodes but some do.
There is also Squeezepad.
Would you know if Squeezepad supports streaming from Qobuz or Tidal? Thanks
Yes, it does. Both are supported.
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I’ve finally gotten a chance to hear the G4 upgrade for myself. This has been with what was a second generation K50, so this seemed like the right thread to post some observations.
The K50 feeds a Gustard x26 Pro via USB with the Shunyata Omega USB making the connection. A REF10 SE120 provides both my DAC and the EtherRegen a reference clock and my DAC directly drives a Spectral amp.
My initial reaction during the first 24 hours was, wow, what a massive upgrade. Every single positive trait of the K50 was made even more positive, as if the dial was cranked up to eleven (Spinal Tap reference).
I had listened to Peter Gabriel’s latest album, i/o, quite often since it was released to the point where I felt that I knew it like the back of my hand via the K50 G2. And yet, I was stunned by what I heard from the G4 even right out of the box. Peter was in front of me as if I had somehow been transported to the recording studio. It was so palpably real in a way that hadn’t been conveyed before. I dare say that I didn’t even think this recording was capable of making Peter sound so real. That’s why this was so surprising.
One other surprise was the impact to dynamics and the speed of attack. The G4 upgrade has had me thinking that my DAC and amp have dynamic capabilities that weren’t able to be fully appreciated because the power supply in the G2 hadn’t been able to keep up with the demands of the music. This is astonishing to me as I never imagined that a server had such a say in this aspect of music reproduction - but that could very well be because this is the very first time I’ve heard a server powered by an excellent SMPS. Maybe also the USB reclocker is helping here too.
It’s obvious to me that the K50 still needs some time to settle in. The first night my excellent recording sounded even more excellent but my poor recordings were more difficult to sit through. The second night it was easier to sit through them so I’m confident that they’ll get even more enjoyable. I will share some more impressions as things settle in.
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[quote=“crwilli, post:38, topic:1780”]
I once tried Squeeze only but hated the interface and moved on quickly to ROON / Squeeze
[/quote]FWIW, with the new AMSv5 the Squeeze interface is considerably better than previously, and the SQ (IMO) is even than Roon today than it was a month ago. I’m a lifer with Roon and yet hardly listen to it much these days.
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Further observations on the G4 upgrade…
I believe I have mentioned before that the Trilogy albums from the Chick Corea Trio have been reference recordings for me, particularly the second one. I probably also mentioned that I’m a drummer so how realistically drums, percussion and cymbals are reproduced is important to me. What amazed me about hearing this album reproduced on a friend’s system was that it was just so obvious that the drummer’s two ride cymbals were Zildjians. I guessed that one was an A Zildjian and the other was a K Zildjian and pulled out my iPhone, did a quick search, and confirmed that I was right.
My system didn’t convey that same information about the tonality of those cymbals. My friend had invested more dollars in his system and it was truly excellent so that didn’t get me down though I had hoped that it would one day get closer to that. My friend has a Taiko Extreme so I think that played a big part in allowing me to hear that. The K50 G2 did provide some hints and a cable change last year brought more of it out, but I don’t think I would have as easily recognized what brand of cymbal was being played had I not already known. With the the K50 G4 it seems like it could not be more clear. Tonality is spot on - and not just with the cymbals. Everything sounds more real and more lifelike.
The G4 along with the AMS 5 upgrade have profoundly increased clarity and transparency. I mentioned in a mail to friends last night that this was likely the biggest step change I’ve experienced here. The improved clarity and transparency are a big part of it, but also is the improved focus. Sounds emerge precisely from where they are supposed to emerge with exactly the right rise and decay times. Human voices are more convincingly real and more than a few times my breath was taken away. And it’s only day three!
I know that some folks weren’t delighted that Antipodes was offering a Kala-series upgrade so soon after these models were released but now I think I get why they did it. The improvements they achieved were very much worth getting out to their customers as soon as possible. They really moved the needle and did so for a very fair price. I think $4k for the G4 upgrade for a K50 might actually be a bargain given the magnitude of the improvements I’ve been hearing.
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Your comments resonate with me. Love Brian Blade, although I’ve always been a Paiste guy 
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Beautiful albums for sure. When I listen to the live, fluid, effortless, captivating and diverse range of music these three cats (all at the very top of their game) create, i get lost in the magic of it all and all thoughts of hardware, sample rates, cables, etc get forgotten. Back to the topic on hand, i never did understand all the initial complaints about the K50 G4’s sound. Your impressions resonate much more with what i hear on my system and with the type of music I listen to. If you prioritise open, transparent, alive and totally natural sounding muic reproduction with zero digital grain, do yourself a favour by home demo’ing a K50 G4 if you can. I suspect an Oladra will be even better again for you if you favour a denser, more full bodied but no less (& probably, paradoxically, more…) resolving sound. And in case you are wondering, no I do not work for Antipodes.
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I wasn’t sure what to make of those comments either. I hadn’t heard the G4 upgrade myself at that time, so I wondered if maybe the new power supply technology had caused a divergence from the Antipodes house sound. But now that I’ve heard it, I’m even more perplexed as the G4 upgrade left this K50 still sounding like a K50, but just much improved in the areas you mentioned.
Same for me.
Last week I moved back to all Squeeze after the AMS 5.0’upgrade. After a day of listening, I moved back to ROON server and Squeeze player. The all squeeze option began to sound thin to me… There was no weight to the sound.
Of course, my system, my ears.
I like having the options!
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On my updated K50 (latest version installed, AMS v5.0), Squeeze audio compared again with Roon audio. First listened to Squeeze audio for a long time, then listened to Roon audio for a long time. I come to the conclusion that Roon audio sounds much fuller, calmer and more spatial. Roon audio has a noticeably blacker background. So Roon audio sounds really good and to me better than Squeeze. Roon audio = Roon Server - Roon Player - native output - no Roon’s own upsampling, Squeeze audio = Squeeze Server - Squeeze Player - native output - no C-3PO.
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I see it the same way. Squeeze audio also sounds too thin for me. Roon audio is more audiophile.
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One man’s “thin” is another man’s “not bloated’, so I think relative measures like thinness aren’t a good guide if one is in pursuit of getting as close as possible to what was captured by the microphones. Of course not everyone has that as their aim, so we shouldn’t expect to have a consistent agreement on what’s best.
It’s been helpful to me to have a local friend who shares my same aim and also has a much better system than mine. Ironically his system sounds thinner, but that has more to do with the rooms. He’s using his living room and has limits on what he can place in it. I have no such limits in my dedicated audio room. Despite these differences, the realism I hear from his system easily takes my breath away. It’s less like hearing a recording and more like attending a live performance at his place. When I return back home, my ears tell me that only Squeeze can put me on the path to having my system reproduce a realism that takes my breath away just as often.
That my room is well treated may also be why I don’t find Squeeze too thin. I can’t speak highly enough of the improvements ASC Isothermal Tube Traps have delivered. Our rooms do a ton of damage. Sounds get masked as reflections arrive at our ears a bit late. My room was smearing and bloating things far more than Roon does. It was quite astonishing to hear what the addition of those traps did for reducing the room’s harming influence.
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I have never sat in a concert hall or opera house and heard music that sounded thin. Likewise i have never listened to Roon (on any system no matter how good() and heard it sound anything close to what i hear in a concert hall. It’s an impossible comparison you are making and there are no definitive judgements, much less definitions for what “audiophile” actually means. It’s also posibble that roon makes a poor or sub optimally set up system or listening space sound better and squeeze makes a good system / optimally treated room sound even better. Don’t rule out that possibility.