Understood, thanks @NickBacon
As I’ve got the K41 (with only Ethernet output), and almost exclusively use Roon (despite it’s SQ shortcomings), I’ll experiment with the settings, but I anticipate that enabling Squeeze with Roon will improve the SQ…
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Nick, how did you connect the Oladra to your dCS system? Thanks. Franco
Thanks Ben. My Vivaldi stack is reclocked externally through a Mutec Ref 10 so, as far as clocking is concerned, I could connect the Antipodes server to the Mutec.
Need to better understand how the Antipodes would be connected to the Vivaldi Upsampler.
Meanwhile I’m also asking the Antipodes dealer.
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Hi Franco, the last dCS I had in my system was a Rossini Apex and that was connected to the Oladra BNC output.
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Thanks Nick. As I assumed, it’s just the dac.
Trying to understand how to integrate an Antipodes streamer into a full stack dCS Vivaldi.
No you can’t unfortunately Franco, the Oladra does not have a clocking input.
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I’m being told that the Oladra contains an exceptional clock which could act as an external clock to the Vivaldi system, thus replacing the Mutec in my system. Any thoughts?
I’m being told……mmmmmm
Obviously I need to hear it by myself but I first wanted to understand whether friends here with some experience of Oladra can confirm whether in principle this could make sense.
Not really as there is no information available on that output. Here is what their online spec gives you:
Out only
On BNC
That’s it!
Further the spec describes it as a master clock but the socket on the case calls it a wordclock. By convention those are two different things, the former being normally being a 10 mHz clock , the latter being a clock ( or clocks) of 44.1 and/or 48 kHz and integers thereof. Further most practice uses 75ohm connections but other hardware ( e.g. Esoteric) favours 50 ohm. The choice of impedance can exist for both word and master clocks. Antipodes do not inform you what this interface is.
Two magazine reviews have come out this month, Stereophile and Hi-Fi News. Two different reviewers but both technical measurements carried out by Paul Miller ( they are both owned by AV/Tech so I guess this shows some efficiency). Neither review sheds any light on that clock output.
Before getting too involved I would suggest that you get hold of both reviews. As for user interface and functionality read carefully.
I left the reviews feeing confused as to its merits other than SQ. The latter obviously being subjective and , according to one review, the outcome variable in accordance to the DAC in use. No app, need to use a browser or Roon, no supplied storage ( you need to buy and install this yourself) and an eye watering price tag.
According one review Antipodes recommend the AES3 output as best ( but limited to 24/192). However it seems to be a common opinion that the best sounding input to Vivaldi is network. OK , use the Oladra ethernet output. Oh it hasn’t got one?
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Apparently it outputs a 500 x PCM base-rate clock - 22.05MHz for redbook, and 24MHz for 48K sources - which audio journalist strangely don’t mention anything about.
It does have an Ethernet port that they call “Network Direct Stream” for connection to a streaming DAC. But the Oladra’s “magic sauce” is supposedly the “Re-clocker” for the synchronous outputs that comes after the Ethernet output.
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Thanks Anup. I can’t see how that clock output interfaces with ivaldi ( and the stack) however as per Frankie’s request. So I remain confused. No problem as that is my normal state of mind 
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Just to add to Anup’s post, the ‘Direct Connect’ port for the DAC is in addition to the ‘Network’ port to connect to the rest of the network (I know this was implicit, but thought I’d mention it).
I too am confused, though, about the clock output. What is the standard used by most DACs? It seems, like most standards, there’s a multitude of them!
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I’ve now asked Mark Cole at Antipodes what is the output of the Oladra. Will report back.
Antipodes confirmed that it’s a world clock not a master clock. It seems to me that the only way to connect it to a Vivaldi stack is via BNC or USB to the Upsampler.
This would mean that the Antipodes would play streaming and hi-res files through its own clock and the rest of the stack would play redbook cds and SACDs via the Transport. In my current system only the latter would be reclocked by the Mutec external clock.
Thanks but unfortunately that does not provide the answer that you need.
Firstly we still do not know what the impedance of the output is and therefore if it is compatible with the Vivaldi wordclock inputs. Secondly what are the frequency rates that it provides? A wordclock, unlike a master clock, provides the clock rate(s) at the same frequency as the sampling rate of the recording being played e.g. 44.1, 48, 88.2,96,176.4,192 etc kHz. What does the Olandra provide?
Secondly in a multi-box stack all of the units have to share the same wordclock in order that they are synchronised. However there is only a single port available so this cannot be achieved.
Frankly I do not think that this is a correct tool for the job. Yes , I get your second paragraph though even here there is no way to synchronise Transport and DAC. Why bother? Especially at a cost of £25,000 plus?
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Pete, for the time being this is the only answer I received: “ It’s a word clock, so the frequency will be based on the frequency of the track that’s playing. This word clock signal is in most cases passed along the cable when using a synchronous output. The word clock output just allows one to tap into this for devices that have a separate word clock input”
Pete, obviously one would need to audition it but could it make sense not to connect it to the dCS clock so that steaming and hires files would play from the Oladra through the Vivaldi Upsampler and the Vivaldi dac while the rest of the stack would be used to play redbook and sacd as it is now?
Did you ask Antipodes (or your dealer) how they’d advise using an Oladra with your Vivaldi stack, @Frankie67?
NZers are generally pretty straightforward, so I’d expect the answer to be direct and clear. It might even be as clear as saying that the Oladra and Vivaldi stack functions overlap a great deal, which could mean your money is better spent elsewhere. And the answer might be very different for someone who doesn’t already own a full Vivaldi stack.
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You need to decide exactly what the objective is and how to achieve this. It is getting very late here and I do not want to write a long posting about this. Briefly what you envisage is an odd way of approaching things as you are effectively splitting your system into two parts because of incompatibility. Incidentally you cannot attach an external wordclock to a Vivaldi Wordclock anyway. The Vivaldi Wordclcok has an input for a master clock not a wordclock. You have just confirmed that the Oladra ouput is NOT a master clock. It’s a different device with a different sort of output.
As you seem not to have heard the Oladra it looks to me that you have been rather seduced by the online discussion and perhaps by one of the two reviews. As I have already said it is not the correct tool for the job . At least not in these circumstances.
I very much agree with Ben 
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