Antipodes K50

The K50 is our biggest ever selling model, integrating Server, Player and Reclocker functions in a single chassis, and delivering class-leading sound quality (learn more about Server/Player/Reclocker functions).

Server

The K50 employs a high-power V6H computing engine to run Server apps (such as, Squeeze Server, Roon Server, HQPlayer Server, Plex Server, etc). Users can easily install their own SSD storage – 3 disks, up to 24TB. The Server computing engine has 32GB of RAM installed, offers an external Direct Stream link to play to the Ethernet input on a DAC, and has a high-speed proprietary link to stream to the Player engine.

Player

The K50 employs a mid-power V6X computing engine to run Player apps (such as Squeeze (Squeezelite), Roon (Roon Ready), HQPlayer NAA, MPD, etc). The Player computing engine has 8GB of RAM installed, offers a USB Audio output to play to the USB input on a DAC, and provides galvanically isolated transmission to the Reclocker engine.

Reclocker

The K50 employs a FPGA managed, oven-controlled high-end clock, fed by a high-quality power supply employing Graphene super-capacitor smoothing, and discrete line drivers for S/PDIF (RCA & BNC), I2S (RJ45 & HDMI), AES3 (3-pin XLR) outputs. Completing the first synchronous clocking step outside the DAC allows us to use far more processing power than should be used inside a DAC. Your DAC will perform another reclocking step but the result is greatly enhanced by the K50 feeding it with a precision-timed signal. For this reason, and because noisy USB and Ethernet stages are not required to be used inside your DAC, the K50’s synchronous outputs (S/PDIF, AES3, I2S) will provide you with the best sound quality.

Because the K50 uses the world’s best available clock designed for audio, we make this clock available as a reference for any other device you have that can be slaved to a master clock. The master clock output is on BNC. Some DACs also offer master clock outputs for the same reasons. Master clock outputs are only useful for components that can be slaved to them. Some DACs have clock slave inputs and these can be connected to the K50. But you should not connect the K50 Master clock output to a master clock output on another device.

Design

The K50 was designed to be both highly revealing and highly musical, and many have found it to be more naturally musical than competing music servers at any price. To make this technology available to a wider audience, we created the K-Series Modular Options (see below). This allows a lower entry price, with options to upgrade to K50 level as funds permit.

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Specifications

	K50	K41	K22	K21
Price Before Duties & Taxes	$17,500	$10,000	$9,000	$6,500
Direct Stream Ethernet Output	Yes	Yes	No	No
USB Audio 2.0 Output – PCM to 32 bit/768kHz – DoP to DSD256 – Native DSD to DSD512	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
S/PDIF Output on RCA & BNC – PCM to 24bit/192kHz – DoP to DSD64	Yes	No	Yes	No
S/PDIF Output on Toslink	Yes	No	Yes	No
AES3 Output on XLR – PCM to 24bit/192kHz – DoP to DSD64	Yes	No	Yes	No
I2S Output on HDMI & RJ45 – PCM to 32bit/384kHz – DoP to DSD256 – Native DSD to DSD512	Yes	No	Yes	No
Slide-in user installable storage	– 3 Bay SSD – Up to 24TB	– 3 Bay SSD – Up to 24TB	– 1 Bay SSD – Up to 8TB	– 1 Bay SSD – Up to 8TB
Hardware Modules	– V6H – V6X – R2i	– V6H	– 6X – R2i	– 6X
Internal – 3 x HSL80.1 Power Supplies	3	1	2	1
AC Supply – 110-120VAC 60Hz – 220-240VAC 50Hz	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Width	445mm or 17.5″	445mm or 17.5″	445mm or 17.5″	445mm or 17.5″
Depth	370mm or 14.5″	370mm or 14.5″	370mm or 14.5″	370mm or 14.5″
Height	120mm or 4.7″	78mm or 3.1″	78mm or 3.1″	78mm or 3.1″
Weight	19kg or 42lb	11.9kg or 26.2lb	11.5kg or 25.6lb	10.8kg or 23.8lb
2 Years Warranty Extendable to 3 Years with Registration	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes