Hey
@Whazzzup and any other Antipodes - or any other server/player owners to which this might apply.
After my recent (pleasant) surprise at the potential performance of the TT2/HMS/Antipodes DX combo - and which will respond to any and all upgrades to the rest of the system - I discovered something that takes my own system at least another notch higher...and refers basically to
FLAC vs
WAV recordings.
My Antipodes DX (gen 1) copies CDs to its SSD as uncompressed FLAC files, and is stated as the best quality option...and superb it truly is. However, after copying some hi-res WAV files over to it I always felt they could do even better. After noticing in ipeng player that they'd been converted to much lower bitrate FLAC files, I found in the server's Logitech Media Player/Server
settings/advanced/file type that WAV files had the FLAC streaming option enabled. So I disabled it (along with mp3) and enabled
PCM (native). The leap in performance was unmissable...much greater depth, dynamics and stage spaciousness. And a bass I never thought the Empyreans capable of...quite outstanding.
So next I copied over some CD quality WAV music to compare with the Antipodes's FLAC internal recordings of the same material...and with very similar results, even though this time the FLAC bitrate was similar to WAV/PCM...???? Lastly in 'file type' I changed the FLAC file setting from flac to PCM...and blow me down with similar results once more, even though with file conversion 'on the fly'.
Conclusion...
in my setup, performance from WAV recordings outshines FLAC every time, even when at similar bitrates. And when FLAC bitrates fall well below WAV/PCM, it's no contest at all. I personally have always believed WAV to have the edge, despite FLAC 'lossless' claims...to lower bits-per-second playback and expect no consequences at all does not compute with me I'm afraid!
Plus...RW has optimised TT2 and m-scaler functioning for...
PCM, WAV being the wrapper for these files of course, and so logic would dictate this being their best food no?!
NB... A word of caution however. At first the much more dynamic/deeper presentation threw me off balance somewhat...a little
too much perhaps? It was quite a long while before I reminded myself of the need for
brain burn-in as well as in all the rest of the system. But this time it took much longer than usual for the brain's quirky tendency to focus more intently on new/unexpected sounds and almost ignore others in the FR before regaining a correct balanced perception...(something often ignored/not realised by folks when assessing/judging performance - of
any hi-fi gear). But thankfully, days of 'readapting' have confirmed that all the performance changes I mentioned have
not been at the expense of the superb qualities I've covered recently, and have come to appreciate what a
truly dynamic delivery can sound like...especially when it can be enjoyed at lower listening levels lol!