Music Server vs Computer?

I am a fan of the Baetis Audio Revelation II (baetisaudio.com) server; just purchased it and love it. It buys its chassis from the same Australian company that Antipodes does but the design and build quality blows the Antipode away. Do not assume they are the same internally because they look the same. Baetis has done much research on the sound of different mother boards and tested several through a Wilson system and could hear the differences. It is the first server to take the sound right from the board via BNC. They started with the mother board and built enough computer around it for software etc. 8 USB ports for external Hard drives and Toslink, BNC out, etc., all galvanically isolated. An internal 128G solid state memory; 16G of RAM. Check it out. Extremely quiet; compact and powerful. You will hear more about this unit after the review forthcoming the beginning of next year! Reviewers and computer audio fans will finally realize just hooking up any computer doesn't produce the best computer audio has to offer.

I suspect the Baetis is higher priced and should be based on the extra effort and build quality put into the Revelation. Check the web site: www.baetisaudio.com and give the designers a call for a more technical explanation.

Wow, and the Antipode has a whopping two USB connections while the Baetis has 8; four of which are 3.0 and the others 2.0. The Baetis has 16G of RAM; plenty for buffering any digital stream. If you want a linear power supply, Baetis has it as an option and adding it, the Revolution II is still cheaper and more flexible than the Antidpode. The Baetis has 128SSD solid state memory internally and no disc drives internally to add additional noise; it is designed to use external hard drives. The Baetis understands a microprocessor needs cooling and adds a very quiet fan for cooling. The Baetis can connect to the internet via Ethernet or via wifi for those wanting the convenience. The USB on the Baetis streams DSD beautifully and while John prefers the BNC out, with my EMM Labs DAC2x the USB sounds equally as good. The Baetis optical drive allows for blue ray DVDs to be ripped as long as you purchase the software to do so. Playback of Blue Ray is superb and you can turn off the video and just listen. I don't remember even seeing an HDMI on the Antipodes. The only thing the two choices have in common is the chassis they are constructed in. Mr. Steve N must be a dealer for the Antipode and feels threatened by the superior construction and flexibility of the Baetis and should be. Beatis has a better warranty and one year of telephone support. Anyone in the market for a music server would be crazy not to look at the Baetis. It is far superior, more flexible, has a better warranty and support included and is less expensive. BTW, it plays all all files superbly; couldn't tell a difference between FLAC, WAV, AIF. DSD to me sound best.