Antipodes K22 vs Innuos Pulsar

I've owned the Innuos Zenith Mk 3 and currently own an Antipodes K50 G4, so I definitely agree with verdantaudio comments on player software of choice. The Innuos Sense software is fantastic, I actually like the search capabilities much better than Roon. The other point to consider is that the Pulsar does not have internal storage whereas the K22 can have up to an 8TB internal SSD that's easily user installable. From my personal experience, music stored locally on my Zenith sounded better than either streamed music or files stored on a NAS. I would same the same applies for my K50. 

mclinnguy - I run my K50 using the playback method of Squeeze with Roon Server. This seems to give the best overall UI and sound (to my ears). 

Finally, a couple years ago I had a Bricasti M1 SE DAC with the network card, and  it sounded really good when connected via network to my Innuos. 

I agree that on the K50, squeeze is best sound but most people still control it with Roon.  You can turn on squeeze lite on player size and still use Roon remote.

sense is a squeeze derivative and is a thinner package than Roon in terms of how much system resource it takes up.  That is theoretically why it sounds better but someone with more technical knowledge may be able to explain better.

The Bricasti player is best way to connect and I had to get a K50 to beat it.  Short of a k50 or Oladra, k41 into the renderer will be top performer.  
 

I had Grimm vs k22.  I don’t get Grimm vs k50 compare.  Thought it was quite a bit better.  Maybe vs old gen 3 but not gen 4.  I had playback DACs I demo’d that Grimm with.

@jayrossi13

I would have posted earlier, but it took me quite a while to browse through all the fantastic gear you have/had in your systems. Very nice!

The Innuos Sense software is fantastic, I actually like the search capabilities much better than Roon.

Wow, it would be hard to give that up going from Innuos to a competitor.

 

The other point to consider is that the Pulsar does not have internal storage whereas the K22 can have up to an 8TB internal SSD that’s easily user installable. From my personal experience, music stored locally on my Zenith sounded better than either streamed music or files stored on a NAS. I would same the same applies for my K50.

That could be valuable information for some.

You probably have read that Samsung PM893 is the best sounding SSD to get, and is the one recommended by Antipodes. I cheaped out and got a EVO 870 (I think) as I typically stream only. I have some files on the SSD but again I haven’t noticed any difference between the two.

mclinnguy - I run my K50 using the playback method of Squeeze with Roon Server. This seems to give the best overall UI and sound (to my ears).

I didn’t notice any differences worth noting using Roon/Squeeze vs. Roon/Roon, Actually I recall at one time comparing I actually liked the latter better, at least with the particular track that I compared them with, so I have stuck with Roon/Roon since. More recently after playing around with Roon/HQplayer using HQplayer trial I see no point paying for HQplayer, but I did not try every filter, just a few reported to be the best from others.

I find Squeeze/squeeze much more noticeable a change compared to any of the above permutations. If a find a track where the bass seems to be too prevalent/boomy/robust/ or in general lacking in definition is when I will switch to Squeeze/squeeze from Roon, and then typically finish the listening session with squeeze, but many times grow impatient with the UI and revert back.

As we know the goalposts are always moving with Roon updates and our proprietary squeeze software and getting updates. At least with cables one has the option to go backwards, not so with software updates so we are under the impression someone "improved" it! Roon just updated last night from build 1496 to build 1510- is it any different? Don’t know yet. Maybe I will try all the combinations again when I have the patience and see if there are any changes to be had. Been more keen of late to play around with different tubes in the pre and amps instead, which make much more differences, as one would expect.

Looking forward to Audirvana later this year! (fingers crossed) Yet another option for us Antipodes owners.

@verdantaudio

I had playback DACs I demo’d that Grimm with.

You carry Playback Designs also? Man, I see a big road trip in my future.