Just curious, what do you guys have running the Roon Server?
I have a Roon ROCK - Gen 8 NUC i7 16GB Ram in a fanless case + 19V 5A LPS. Storage is Naim Uniticore with Samsung 870 QVO 8TB SSD
I have long been considering something more fancy like Antipodes S40+60 or K41. I know people here have been using K50. Just want to have more different opinions.
Hello Gordon,
I’m very happy with my K41 (Gen. 4) which I bought in the summer.
FYI, I upgraded from a SGC sonicTransporter i5.
Roon Nucleus+. Very happy.
Roon Nucleus and SBooster PSU, storage is Innuos Statement Next Gen 8TB.
roon on intel nuc
Synology nas
Both in my garage, which is entirely the right place for them
This one is mine…
Roon Core running on an HP EliteDesk 800 G1, media stored on a Synology DS1813+ with a pair of 5 bay expansion chassis.
Phil
Wonder if K41 would be a big gap up in performance comparing with Roon ROCK
It should be…
I certainly feel that the K41 is a big step up in performance (SQ) from the SGC sT i5…
I’m using a K50 and very happy with it. It was certainly a step up from their CX model.
I’m using a 2016 sonic transporter i5 (ifi PSU) with a Synology NAS (8TB Samsung 870 QVO drives). Works well and is certainly a high value solution but I know there is a lot of improvement potential at this end of the system…
I was really impressed by a demo of the Taiko SGM Extreme at my local dealer but €32k, ouch! And it’s kinda like a BMW, the price can climb another 50% when you add in all the options that any self-respecting OCD would require.
I am not really familiar with the Antipodes K Series. For those using them do you have them driving your DACs via USB or Ethernet? I know both Innuos and Taiko are optimised around USB, wondering if that is the same for Antipodes.
Any Taiko users here?
My K41 server is hooked up to my Rossini via Ethernet (all dCS kit is optimised for Ethernet).
Interesting. How much ‘network’ is there between the K41 and the Rossini? (i.e. how many switches etc? Copper or fiber LAN?). Are you using any “audiophile” switches (like SOtM or Uptone) or other audio-specific optimisations on the network side of things?
The fact that you notice a significant difference compared to your sonicTransporter over ethernet really makes me curious. I haven’t taken the time to compare other servers in my own system and the servers I have listened to at my dealer (whose reference system I know the sound of pretty well) tend to be USB-optimized. Is it possible to characterise the improvement (magnitude and nature) compared to, say the upgrade from non-Apex to Apex?
Uptone EtherRegen ‘B’ side → K41 → Muon Pro → Rossini
Copper
I’d say that it sounds more ‘natural’, less ‘digital’, especially when using UPnP (Minimserver) rather than Roon…
Very interesting, many thanks. At a whisker over €11k here the K41 is certainly a bit more approachable than the Taiko. I’m going to have to find out if there is any way I can get one for home audition.
Good luck, I hope that you can 
If you do, I would be interested in your impressions…
For my testing of the K50 vs CX, I was using USB into the Chord TT2 and there was a definite improvement there. I use ethernet with my dCS, but didn’t move to the dCS until after the CX had gone and I never got to compare their ethernet outputs.
How much NAS do you want?
Phil: YES! 
CORE is running on a SMG i9 Optical Transporter powered by Paul Hynes 19v LPS. With fiber connection to Meraki switch and 8TB of SSD local storage which is auto synced to a Synology NAS which is the primary media store for music and video.
