To al who are using MSB dac with their Oladra, which digital connection do you prefer?
AES/EBU XLR connection. It shouldn’t sound better, but it does. Despite me trying over and over to prefer the USB or fibre or whatever.
I use a ZenSati Silenzio cable, by far the craziest cable price I’ve ever paid (second hand), and it sounds fantastic.
Oladra / MSB /Audionet / Magico.
As I understand it, the relative quality of word clocks can still have a say in which interface sounds best. AES is synchronous, which means that digital conversion is clocked by the word clock in the Antipodes server. USB is asynchronous so digital conversion is clocked by the word clock in the DAC itself.
I tried AES / Pro-USB / I2S and although I’m now settled with I2S, the AES does seem to have more meat on the bone, the midrange is fuller and the music is more engaging/emotional. Since I have some DSD256 music that’s why I can’t keep using it, the AES was intended to be used with Aqua La Diva M2 when it arrives. (Oladra G4 → Ref DD → Ref DAC → MSB S500 → Magico M2)
The I2S is a hdmi cable right? If so I read the hdmi input module is a recent addition to MSB.
I also read somewhere that G4 Oladra recommends a USB connection although I don’t recall if it was recommended by antipodes itself. I use AES but have not experimented with other types.
Yes it’s the Universal I2S module, MSB has been working with Antipodes on this module so there is specific pin out just for Antipodes server. USB Reclocking has been added to the G4 and MSB is really proud of its Pro-USB so “theoretically” it will be a perfect match but in the end you have to trust your ears 
How’s your USB connection on the G4 Oladra compared to I2S and I2S?
actually the difference is negligible. To me, the USB wins all but the musicality to I2S. Also I love the simplicity of just one HDMI cable instead of the USB cable and the Pro-USB adapter.
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