I am a very satisfied user of a K50 G2 (=1st generation). In 2023, I missed the upgrade to G4. Now it’s almost the end of 2025, and I think it’s better to wait for G5. To then upgrade to G5 (assuming there will even be an official, commercial Antipodes upgrade program), I expect some innovations. The player section should at least offer Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect. The server should allow HQPlayer upsampling to DSD512 with the most complex filters without issues (if possible, even to DSD1024, though I think that’s a requirement for the Oladra). I have no interest in an HQPlayer drama on a DIY PC. If that’s not the case, I will pivot and leave the upsampling task to a capable FPGA DAC. What are the prospects?
That’s not a reasonable expectation as the processing you describe will require a more powerful CPU with some kind of active cooling. This would be detrimental to sound quality when leveraging the other software options so little chance Antipodes pursues something like that.
New modulators added to HQPlayer this year might allow DSD512 on the K50 without cooling providing that one doesn’t choose too complex of a filter. Unfortunately we are still stuck on an older version of HQPlayer that doesn’t yet have these modulators.
As I said, these are my expectations. The competition (Innuos, Lumin, etc.) isn’t sleeping. Why is complex DSD512 upsampling unrealistic? Even the upgrade from G2 to G4 brought significant improvements in DSD upsampling without changing the engines themselves. I expect a trickle-down strategy from the Oladra for the upcoming price.
For the reasons I stated: a more powerful CPU would need to be swapped in and it would need active cooling (fans or a liquid cooler). Neither the Oladra nor the Kala series have active cooling.
That was not my experience. The G4 upgrade brought USB reclocking, better power supplies, new feet and some other less notable enhancements. None of these made the K50 better able to upscale using complex filters.
To the best of my knowledge, the current Oladra can’t run the more complex HQPlayer filters at DSD512.
Antipodes prioritizes sound quality above all else. Making the server engine powerful enough to handle the most complex filters at DSD512 (or even DSD256) would degrade sound quality.
And yet Antipodes is out ahead of them as far as HQPlayer goes. To the best of my knowledge, HQPlayer server isn’t supported on any Innuos server. Even their $50,000 Nazaré can only act as an NAA endpoint for HQPlayer. Lumin’s servers don’t support HQPlayer at all. I don’t expect them to ever add support for HQPlayer server for the same reason I don’t expect us to ever be able to run the most complex filters on Antipodes. A sufficiently powerful CPU plus the necessary cooling would degrade sound quality.
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Thank you for the detailed response. I’m afraid you’re right. It looks like I have no choice but to wait for the specs of the G5 series. Another thing that bothers me is that the Wordclock output is essentially useless. 10MHz outputs and inputs are slowly becoming the standard, and I expect a 10MHz input on Antipodes players. If it’s going to be an output, you’d need two: one for the DAC and one for the network switch, as demonstrated by the Lumin U2x. I am also missing SFP LAN connections. Depending on the specs, I’ll decide whether to continue using my K50 G2 or switch to a K41 G5 and invest more in streamers and DACs. With the Luxman L-509Z, Dynaudio Confidence 20, and Dynaudio Sub6, I have a pretty high-resolution analog chain.
I’d give up the leading edge of HQ Player for Tidal Connect or Qobuz connect!
Right. This is why i mentioned it first. 
I haven’t been impressed with Headphonesty thus far, but I can’t quibble with what this guy Snyder is saying here as far as the harm of a heavy CPU load in the endpoint:
“We want to offload as much processing as we can from your streaming device,” he emphasized.
https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/09/tidal-qobuz-connect-ruining-hifi-sound-engineer/
These connect app implementations are promising as far as convenience and usability go, but I wonder how well they will hold up when it comes to sound quality on Antipodes.
At the time of implementing Spotify Connect, there didn’t seem to be any concerns at Antipodes either. I sincerely hope that disabling the Connect services mitigates any potential negative impact on sound quality. Interestingly, the same applies to Roon software, as we’ve learned from Christiaan Punter.