AMSV2 User Guide

Guide Index

INSTALLATION

Introduction

• Introduction to Music Server terminology - p1

Make The Connections

• Install an EX in your system – p8 • Install a CX in your system - p11 • Install a CX+EX in your system – p42 • Install a P1 in your system – p137 • Install a P2 in your system – p139

Basic Operations

• How to start and shutdown your Antipodes music server – p124 • Use any desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone to manage your Antipodes – p14 • Easily manage the applications on your Antipodes – p117 • Optimising Audio Quality – p121

Assemble Your Music Library

• Add internal storage to your Antipodes to enable playback from internal storage – p3 • Rip your CDs to internal storage using any USB Optical Drive, or with high precision using an Antipodes P1 – p39 • Copy your music files to the internal storage of the Antipodes over your network – p16 • Manage your music library on your desktop or laptop and synchronise the Antipodes library to it – p18 • Setup an automated backup where every change to the Antipodes music library is backed up to your desktop, laptop or NAS – p125 • Backup internally stored files to a USB drive – p31 • Add files stored a your desktop/laptop/nas, or on a USB disk, to the music library of your Antipodes – p29

SETUP

About Playing Music

• Remote control playback using any desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone – p115 • Play from the Antipodes music library – p116 • Play from internet streaming services – p5 Complete Playback Solutions

• Roon Server Local – p35 • Roon Server With Roon Ready – p63 • Roon Server With Squeezelite – p58 • Roon Server With HQPlayer – p87 • HQPlayer Local – p67 • HQPlayer Server With HQPlayer NAA – p78 • SqueezeBox With Squeezelite – p46 • MPD Solution – p55

DLNA Server Options

• Squeezebox Server – p93 • Minimserver – p95 • BubbleUPnP – p98

DLNA Renderer

• MPD Renderer – p91

Other Playback Options

• Shairport – p101 • Spotify Connect – p105 • SONOS Integration – p109 • Plex Media Server – p110 • HQPlayer NAA – p122

Music Server Terminology

MUSIC SERVER TERMINOLOGY: The purpose of this article is explain a handful of basic terms we use on this website to describe what our products do.

REMOTE CONTROL – Use your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone to tell the Server what to play.

SERVER – The Server organises your music, and displays your library, streaming services and radio stations on the Remote Control’s screen. When told to play a le, the Server pushes the music le to a Renderer.

RENDERER – The Renderer turns the music le into a digital audio signal to send to your DAC.

DAC – The DAC converts the digital signal to an analog signal and sends it to an amplier.

Different products on the market may combine two or more of these functions:

STREAMER – This term is used loosely, but it usually means a DAC with an Ethernet input, and combines the Renderer and DAC functions in a single device. Many streamers work by ‘pulling’ les stored on other devices on the network, and so in this case the remote control talks to the streamer. Other streamers, such as Roon Ready DACs, work by les being ‘pushed’ from a server to one or more streamers, and so the remote control talks to the server.

MUSIC SERVER – Most devices called Music Servers combine the Server and Renderer functions in a single device, and may include a ripper.

RIPPER – Ripping simply means reading the data on a CD and storing it as a playable music le. This process needs to be done well or you will be disappointed in the results, and given that it takes a lot of time to rip a large library, you should make sure this process is done at the highest possible quality.

HOW THESE TERMS APPLY TO ANTIPODES MUSIC SERVERS

All Antipodes Music Servers combine the Server function and the Renderer function in a single device, for a simple solution. The DX also incorporates a ripper. The CX and EX do not incorporate a ripper, but you can add a P1 to add a ripper to these models. The P1 is a slim isolation platform carved from a solid block of alloy, that holds a high quality ripper.

1 / 140 One of the things we have observed is that many customers that start with our entry product quickly decide they want to move to our top product. So we have thought long and hard about how to make this easier. The Modular Series (CX/EX/P1/P2) approach addresses it like this:

EX – The EX is our lowest priced model, combining server and renderer functions, plus a simple DAC. So you can move from a CD Player to an EX and leave getting a DAC till a later date. You can progress from here to our top of the line solution without needing to sell the EX. The two upgrade steps are to add a USB DAC, and to add a CX. See the CX+EX Solution described below.

CX – The CX is like an EX, but there is no DAC included, and it uses a very powerful computing core to enable DSP functions, and to manage large libraries with ease. The CX also provides superior sound quality to the EX, when they are used as both server and renderer. So the CX is an alternative starting point to the EX, except that you will need a good USB DAC. Another option with the CX is to use it with a Streamer, and this makes most sense with a Roon Ready DAC.

CX+EX – The emphasis in the EX is on the renderer function. The emphasis in the CX is on the server function. In the CX+EX solution, you use the CX as the server and the EX as the renderer, and connect them together with a short high quality Ethernet cable. In this conguration each of the CX and EX are performing just one function and this results in much higher performance. Therefore, whether you start with an EX or a CX, you can progress to our top of the line solution by adding the other unit.

UPGRADING – Upgrading is straight-forward. For example, if you bought an EX and P1, and then add a CX, you can simply disconnect the P1 from the EX and connect it to the CX. Storage disks can be installed and removed from the EX and CX without you having to use any tools, because the disks slide in through the rear panel. Therefore if you bought an EX and installed storage disks in it, when you add a CX you can remove the disks from the EX and insert them in the CX. Because the storage has to be optimised, you will need assistance from your dealer or from Antipodes Support to setup the storage, but this can be done over the internet without you even removing the EX or CX from your stereo system.

2 / 140 User Installed Storage

ADD INTERNAL STORAGE: Because Antipodes Music Servers are so low-noise then you get the best sound quality by playing from les stored on internal SSD storage.

Beginning with the CORE and the EDGE, and in the current line-up with the EX and CX, users are able to buy and install their own storage. This makes the use of SSD storage, and future expansions of storage more affordable and much simpler to accomplish.

The high-end audio industry is very specialist and low-volume, so adding commodity items at the factory can add a lot of cost before it gets to the consumer, and SSDs are still costly items. The computer industry is much higher-volume and more suited to selling commodities, so customers can buy SSDs much more easily and at lower cost from their computer store. SSD Warranty issues will also be much simpler to manage and resolve if they arise. This is why we introduced user-installable storage.

You don’t need any tools. What you do is this:

1. Buy any one or two 2.5″ 7mm Sata SSDs (the most common kind) from your computer store. 2. Slide the SSDs in the slots at the rear of your Antipodes server and push them home rmly. They will be gripped very securely. 3. Contact Antipodes Support to book an online session to setup your storage.

When installed, the SSDs sit a little proud of the rear panel so that you can grip them for removal.

3 / 140 The disks should only be inserted or removed when the server is completely shut down and the power turned off.

We recommend you use Samsung EVO SSDs. The quality of rmware differs between SSD suppliers and some brands can create problems for you under various circumstances, but we have found that the Samsung SSDs have the best and most robust rmware out of the many we have tested. Some people claim different SSDs sound different, and we agree that is true during a burn-in period of about a week, but that after burn-in the sound is very similar. One exception to this is that we nd 2.5″ Sata SSDs to sound considerably more natural compared with any of the msata or m.2 SSDs.

The online support session will setup a single logical location across the disks so that it appears to you to be a single large disk and all the les will automatically be part of your music library.

Similarly, you can replace the disks with larger capacity disks with the assistance of Antipodes Support without the Antipodes server even having to be removed from your stereo system.

4 / 140 Internet Streaming Services

MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES:

Most Antipodes users use Roon and therefore have the option to have TIDAL and QOBUZ integrated with their libraries.

Users of Squeezebox can also use TIDAL, QOBUZ, DEEZER and a number of others, plus can access internet radio stations.

Many of you also use Spotify Connect on your Antipodes to allow your family members to easily use your system.

But there are some less obvious ways to access streaming services.

What you can do is this:

5 / 140 1. Set MPD as your renderer and set the resolution that matches your TIDAL and/or QOBUZ memberships (see above). 2. Setup DLNA access to your Antipodes library (Using Squeezebox Server, MiniDLNA or MinimServer). 3. You can also setup DLNA access to your NAS or other devices on your network. 4. Make sure BubbleUPnP is uninstalled. 5. Open your remote control device (tablet or smartphone) and search your App Store for DLNA/UPnP apps, to install an appropriate app (see below).

There is a large number of potential apps to control DLNA/UPnP solutions. They work by discovering DLNA libraries on your network and compatible players on your network, and letting you select which ones to use and then what music les to play.

A growing number of these apps are including streaming services, particularly TIDAL, QOBUZ, Google Music, plus the ability to play from les on cloud storage such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.

We currently recommend you try ‘mconnect Player HD’, ‘BubbleUPnP’ and ‘Linn Kazoo’. Be aware that some players limit the resolution of streamed les or will downsample them. If you have a Hi-Res QOBUZ subscription, ‘mconnect Player HD’, is available on both iOS and Android and is the only one that QOBUZ lists as able to stream Hi-Res content. Note that the app store for your device may list this as just ‘mconnect Player’ without the HD part of the name.

6 / 140 We need to add some notes of caution. Many of these apps are in rapid development and may have bugs from time to time, but the competition is erce and winners will emerge that are very good. Some are pretty good already. You also need to have a good local network in your house for these services to work well at high bit rates, preferably a wired network. If your network has limited streaming quality you may nd that playlists stop between tracks, and sometimes during tracks.

The sound quality varies but can be excellent, suffering only a little of the softening and lack of immediacy and image specicity that is typical of playing across a noisy network.

As always – contact us if you need assistance.

7 / 140 Install An EX

HOW TO INSTALL AN EX: The image below illustrates all EX functions

This is broken down into the four separate functions below. Select the tabs to see the network conguration and the rear panel connections for each function. You can make the connections shown to run either functions 1, 3 and 4, or functions 2, 3 and 4 at the same time.

1. Play from the EX to your Amplier via Analog Interconnects

CongurationConnections

8 / 140 2. Play from the EX to your DAC via USB

CongurationConnections

3. Play from the EX to your DAC via Direct Ethernet

CongurationConnections

9 / 140 4. Stream from your EX to networked players on your network

CongurationConnections

10 / 140 Install A CX

HOW TO INSTALL A CX: The image below illustrates all CX functions

This is broken down into the three separate functions below. Select the tabs to see the network conguration and the rear panel connections for each function. You can make the connections shown to run all 3 functions at the same time.

1. Play from the CX to your DAC via USB

CongurationConnections

11 / 140 2. Play from the CX to your DAC via Direct Ethernet

CongurationConnections

3. Stream from your CX to networked players on your network

CongurationConnections

12 / 140 13 / 140 Antipodes Control Panel

ANTIPODES CONTROL PANEL:

For most setups, you will need to access the Antipodes Control Panel, such as to:

set which renderer app to use, install or uninstall apps, update your software periodically, mount external storage.

The Antipodes Control Panel is a web-app installed on your Antipodes music server that you access using a browser (such as Safari, Firefox, Chrome). Use any device with a browser (eg. desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) that is connected to the same network as your Antipodes music server.

To get to the Antipodes Control Panel, start your Antipodes (see below for details of starting and shutting down your Antipodes) and use any device to browse to http://myantipodes.com. Whenever you start or shutdown an Antipodes, it will communicate with myantipodes.com to keep a record of any Antipodes on your network, and what its IP Address is. The sole purpose of this process is so that you can quickly get to the Antipodes Control Panel of any Antipodes device on your network.

Click on the ‘Manage’ button or on the IP address of the Antipodes you wish to open and this will open the Antipodes Control Panel.

14 / 140 Amongst other things, the Control Panel allows you to install or uninstall optional applications. We recommend that you uninstall apps you do not think you will use, to minimise services activity and therefore optimise sound quality. You can easily re-install these apps at any time.

Click on “Apps” and then on the “Software Manager” icon. This will allow you to complete a “Software update”, see the “Installed apps” you might decide to uninstall, or the installable “Available Apps” you might decide to install. See the next article for more details.

15 / 140 Copy Files

COPY MUSIC FILES: To copy les to or from your Antipodes, or delete les on your Antipodes, open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).

Antipodes will usually show in the left pane under ‘Network’ (Windows) or ‘Shared’ (Mac). You can now copy and delete les in the same way as if they were located on your computer.

If ‘antipodes’ does not show in File Explorer then there may be a network problem. Enter the address of your Antipodes in the address bar of File Explorer – eg. \antipodes\storage, or \192.168.1.214\storage (use the IP address found by browsing to myantipodes.com). If you are asked for login credentials, just enter ‘guest’ as the user and submit.

Similarly if Antipodes does not show under ‘Shared’ in Mac Finder, click Finder menu item Go, and then sub-menu item Connect To Server. In the dialogue box that appears, enter address smb://antipodes/, or smb://192.168.1.214 (but use your actual IP address, this is just an example) and click Connect. If you are asked for a username, click on the Guest option.

You can now copy/paste or drag/drop your les between the server and other locations on your network.

16 / 140 17 / 140 Synchronise

SYNCHRONISE TO AN EXTERNAL LIBRARY:

Resilio Sync by Resilio, Inc. is a proprietary peer-to-peer le synchronization tool available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle Fire and BSD. You can use it to back up the music library on your Antipodes to Windows or Mac PCs or to a NAS drive. You can also use it to sync downloads and other music tracks from yourPC or Mac to your Antipodes music library.

To use Resilio Sync you must set up and congure the Resilio Sync app on your Antipodes, and you must also download/install/set up and congure the Resilio Sync app on the PC , Mac or NAS where your downloads and other music les are stored (the home version is free but there are some limitations in its functionality) that you will be syncing with.

The Resilio Sync software is pre-loaded on the Antipodes but must be installed as an active application.

How to set up Resilio Sync on the Antipodes Go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps , click on the Resllio Sync icon and click ‘Install:

Go to Apps and click ‘Resilio Sync’. On the rst screen enter a User Name and Password (e.g. admin/admin) that you will use to manage the application on the Antipodes and click ‘Continue’.

18 / 140 On the next screen enter a name for this Resilio Sync device (suggestion: use the host name, e.g. AntipodesCX). Also check the two boxes at the bottom:

19 / 140 Then log in to the Resilio Sync app on the Antipodes using the Id and Password you have just created:

You will get this screen. You will come back to this screen in Step 5 after you have set up the music folder that you want to sync to the Antipodes:

20 / 140 Installing and Using Resilio Sync on PC or Mac Go to the Resilio Sync Downloads page at the Resilio Sync website ((https://www.resilio.com/platforms/desktop/) )and download, install and setup the app for the device(s) that will be used to store the Antipodes music library copy :

Installing and Using Resilio Sync on NAS devices The Resilio Sync app runs on selected NAS devices. A NAS is an ideal location to hold a synchronised backup of the Antipodes music library.

Go to the Resilio Sync Downloads page (https://www.resilio.com/platforms/desktop/) and download the app for the NAS that you will be using with the Antipodes

Syncing a folder on PC/Mac/NAS to the Antipodes Identify a music folder that you want to copy/sync to the Antipodes internal drve, for example, ‘\Music\My Downloads’:

Also decide where to store the music les on the Antipodes. You can use the /storage/music/ac folder, where CD rips are stored. Alternatively or you could create a new folder, using Windows File Explorer or Finder, for example /storage/music/MyDownloads:

21 / 140 The new folder must be under the ./storage folder so that it will be scanned by Roon and Squeezebox Server.

How to setup the Music Folder to be synced to the Antipodes In this example Resilio Sync on a Windows PC is going to send a copy of the music library to the Antipodes music library and update it with changes as they occur (synchronise). Here you will congure the music folder to copy/sync.

Click the + at the top left of the blank screen. On the new screen choose the ‘Standard folder’ option:

22 / 140 Select the folder to be copied/synced:

A settings window will open. Check the ‘Read and Write’ permission ad uncheck the ‘Link will expire’ option (these settings can be changed at any time):

How to use the Key option for the copy process If you click the ‘Link’ option and then ‘Copy’ (bottom right) an http link will stored in the clipboard. You can use this link to activate the sync action from the Internet browser on PC or Mac.

23 / 140 Alternatively, if you click the ‘Key’ option and then Copy’ a key will be copied to the clipboard that you can use in the Resilio Sync app on PC, Mac or NAS to activate the sync action.

The music folder has now been set up on the PC for syncing to the Antipodes music library. At this point the destination locations (peers) have not yet been set up.

How to setup the Antipodes music library to receive the sync copy Here Resilio Sync on the Antipodes is going to receive a copy of the music foder on the PC, and then sync any subsequent changes. Here you will congure the Antipodes music library folder to store the copy.

Start the Resilio Sync app on the Antipodes

Click the + symbol and select the ‘Enter a key or link’ option:

24 / 140 Go to the Resilio Sync app on the Windows PC/Mac/NAS and click ‘Share’ at the right-hand end of the line that identies the music library folder you previously set up:

25 / 140 On the following screen click ‘Copy’ next to the ‘Read & Write’ key:

The key will be copied to the Windows clipboard.

Go back to the Resilio Sync screen on the Antipodes, right click the keyboard or mouse button.and click ‘Paste’:

You will then be prompted to enter a destination folder. Select the folder for the music to be synced to, for example /storage/MyDownloads, and click ‘Open’:

26 / 140 You will see the copy process start immediately:

You can view the progress by clicking the clock icon

You can check that the les have been copied to the Antipodes:

27 / 140 28 / 140 External Storage

PLAY FROM EXTERNAL STORAGE:

The Drive Mounter app lets you ‘mount’ an external USB drive or a folder on a PC or NAS on your home network, play music tracks stored on them.

To be able to play music from a USB drive:

Connect the drive to a spare USB port on the back of the Antipodes At the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Settings’ menu In ‘Settings’, click on the ‘Drive Mounter’ icon.

Select the USB drive from the drop down list and click on ‘Save Changes’.

The USB drive selected is now mounted on \storage\usbdrive on your Antipodes.

Note that the USB controller electronics will typically inject high levels of noise interference into your Antipodes and so the sound quality is likely to be a little inferior to all other methods.

29 / 140 The Drive Mounter app also lets you ‘mount’ les stored on a NAS or any network share.

To be able to play music from a drive on your network:

At the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Settings’ menu In ‘Settings’, click on the ‘Drive Mounter’ icon Click on the ‘SMB’ tab.

Enter the network address of the les Provide User Name & Password for the device the les are on Click on ‘Save Changes’.

Your remote les are now mounted on your Antipodes and can be added to your library for playback.

30 / 140 USB Backup

BACKUP TO A USB DISK:

We strongly recommend that you make backups of your music library.

This application provides you with a very simple way to make incremental backup copies of your music les. ‘Incremental’ means that if you add new music the Storage Backup app will only copy the new les. The backup is unencrypted, so you can remove the drive from the Antipodes, attach it to another device, and copy from it.

For this reason there is no need for a Restore application. The les on your backup drive are easily and simply copied back onto the Antipodes.

Connect an external USB drive to a spare USB port (but not a USB Audio port) at the back of your Antipodes. At the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Apps’ menu item, and then click on the ‘Storage Backup’ icon.

If this is the rst time you have connected the USB drive to the Antipodes for backup, make sure you do not need any les that are currently on the drive, and click on the ‘Format USB drive’ button.

If you have backed up to this USB drive before do not format it and go straight to the step below to click on the ‘Backup to USB drive’ button, and the process will only add new and changed les to the USB drive.

31 / 140 Click ‘OK’ and the screen will display progress until it has nished formatting the USB Drive.

When the USB drive has been formatted then click the ‘Backup to USB drive’ button.

32 / 140 Click the ‘OK’ button and the screen will display progress until it has nished the backup to the USB Drive, adding all new and changed les added since the last backup.

When the backup has nished disconnect the USB drive and store it in a secure place.

33 / 140 34 / 140 Roon Local

SETUP ROON LOCAL PLAYBACK:

The simplest way to play music with Roon Server, is to play ‘Local’. In the Antipodes Control Panel, select the Settings Menu, and then click on the Roon Server icon.

Click to enable local playback and then on ‘Save changes’.

Roon Server will enable all compatible outputs on the Antipodes.

Setting Up Roon Server Roon Server is pre-installed on your Antipodes, but the next steps require you to install Roon on the device you intend to use as a remote control. For a PC go to roonlabs.com to download the application. For a tablet or smartphone, go to the app store for your device and search for ‘roon’.

Once downloaded, open it and follow the steps to setup Roon on the remote control device. Note that with an Antipodes music server you do not need to enter a location for your music library during the Roon setup, because it has already been preset for you.

While installing Roon on your remote device, you can select the Antipodes that you intend to use for Roon Server. We recommend that you then make the following 3 setup alterations to Roon Server.

– DSP Settings If you intend to use DSP for resampling/transcoding, then to tap into all of the power of your server, you should turn ‘Parallelize Sigma-Delta Modulator’ on. To optimise sound quality, an Antipodes server runs the CPU at around 50% of its full speed. To deliver high power without compromising sound quality, you can use all of the CPU cores for the task by setting this option to ‘Yes’.

35 / 140 – Library Settings There are two Library settings we recommend you make. Open Settings and click on Library.

Antipodes servers run fanless for silent operation and for optimum sound quality. We highly recommend that the Background Audio Analysis function be set as shown below.

If you have Background Audio Analysis on, then it will diminish sound quality while it is analysing your whole library. If you like the feature, then set On-Demand Audio Analysis to ‘Fast’ and the analysis will happen almost instantaneously and only the rst time you play the track. This makes it unnecessary to have the analysis running in the background.

But most importantly, you should never set the Background analysis to run any of the cores of a CX at 100%. The passive cooling of the CX is not designed to support such a heavy sustained load.

The second setting is optional, and at Library Settings click on ‘Import Settings’.

We nd that most of our customers want to use the Genres already setup in their music les, because they have carefully organised their library by setting genres that make sense to them. The default is to use Roon’s genres, and you can simply change to using the Genres in your

36 / 140 music les by making the settings shown above.

Setting Up Roon Local Once Open Roon (remote control) on your desktop/laptop, tablet or smartphone. Click on the button ‘Manage Audio Devices’, or click on the menu icon top left, then on ‘Settings’ and then on ‘Audio’.

The screen that opens needs a little explanation.

At the top we have ‘Connected to this …’. Ignore this section, as it is just displaying the outputs available on the remote device you are using, but you can enable these if you wish.

The next section down is labelled ‘Connected to Core’. This displays available outputs on your Antipodes and in the image at right, it shows that an ‘Antipodes Prototype DAC’ is connected.

The next section down is labelled ‘Networked’ and displays the available compatible player devices on your network, that you can stream to.

You can enable any or all of these devices for Roon playback, play them independently, or group any set or sets of them in order to synchronise their playback, and now you can play music with Roon Remote.

To use Roon Server Local, you need to make sure none of the alternative Roon playback methods described in the rest of this section are enabled. The easiest way to address this is to use the ‘App Switcher’ to select a non-Roon related renderer.

37 / 140 Note however that while the alternative Roon playback methods involve more setup, they provide slightly superior audio performance.

38 / 140 Rip CDs

RIP CDs TO INTERNAL STORAGE:

If you are going to rip your music then you should do it once and do it the best available way. Using the ripper in your Antipodes, or using the P1 with an Antipodes makes sure of that.

To get the best possible rip, you need to use the right software and the right hardware, and we have selected that for you.

Some ripper drives are not appropriate for ripping your music. Some have lasers and servos that are not precise enough to read damaged or poorly pressed disks accurately, and so will use a lot of error correction. Some high priced rippers are designed for a fast and certain rip by building error correction into the process, regardless of the ripper software used. You don’t want either of those things happening.

The ripper in the P1 has incredibly high precision servo and laser electronics, able to read pits 100 times smaller than the pits on a CD.

The ripper software runs in a form of paranoid mode. What this means is that every sector is read at least twice. If the two reads match perfectly with each other then the process moves on to the next sector. If they do not match perfectly then the read speed is reduced and two more reads are made. The process of reducing speed is continued until two identical reads are made. This inevitably means the ripper process will take at least twice the time you are used to with ripping. Instead of rips happening in 3 to 5 minutes, they will take 6 to 10 minutes or even longer if the disk is dicult to get a perfect read from.

The fact that rips are taking longer with the Antipodes solution indicates deciencies in your other ripping options, not the reverse.

Other software settings are biased towards getting a perfect rip, by preventing error correction. This may mean a small percentage of your disks may not rip. In such a case you can rip on a more forgiving device and copy the les to the Antipodes. We think this is better than compromising the other 90%+ rips in order to rip 100% of your disks.

39 / 140 Connect your USB optical drive to any of the blue ports of a CX or EX, or any of the USB ports on earlier models, but do not connect to the USB Audio output ports.

To rip a CD just insert the CD (label up) into the Antipodes, and wait until the CD ejects. The software has a time-out period where the disc may eject before the CD is completely ripped. This is a safety precaution in case you leave a very dicult CD in the tray and leave it for a long period, which might result in damage to the ripper. If the disc ejects before completing the rip you can re-insert the disc to continue/complete the rip.

You can also specify whether music is ripped to compressed FLAC (to save space), or uncompressed FLAC (to optimise playback sound quality – and we highly recommend you use this setting). To change this setting, click on ‘Settings’ menu in the Antipodes Control Panel and then click the CD Import icon. At the screen below, select the FLAC compression setting and then ‘Save Changes’.

Some Antipodes music servers have integrated rippers, but you can add an Antipodes P1 Platform to add auto-ripping to a CX or EX. You can also add your own USB CD optical drive to use the CD Import application, simply by attaching it to a spare USB port.

To observe the ripping progress, click on ‘Apps’, then on the ‘CD Import’ icon.

40 / 140 41 / 140 Install A CX+EX

HOW TO INSTALL A CX+EX SOLUTION:

The image below illustrates logical CX+EX functions

42 / 140 This is broken down into the three separate functions below. Select the tabs to see the network conguration and the rear panel connections for each function. You can make the connections shown to run either functions 1 and 3, or functions 2 and 3 at the same time.

1. Play from the CX+EX to your AMP via Analog Interconnects

CongurationConnections

2. Play from the CX+EX to your DAC via USB

CongurationConnections

43 / 140 3. Stream from your CX+EX to networked players on your network

CongurationConnections

44 / 140 45 / 140 Squeezebox

SETUP SQUEEZEBOX WITH SQUEEZELITE: Setup the renderer in the Antipodes Control Panel of an Antipodes that is connected via USB to your DAC:

Select the ‘Settings’ menu item Click on the ‘Squeezelite’ icon – this will open the screen shown below Select the correct output driver Select how your DAC likes to receive DSD ﬁles Leave the other settings at the default values Click on ‘Save Changes’.

46 / 140 Squeezebox Server is already installed on your Antipodes and is free to use. However the remote control applications for download to tablet and smartphone have a small charge. As with Roon, visit the relevant App Store for your tablet/smartphone and search on Squeezebox. We recommend iPeng for iPads and Orange Squeeze for Androids.

DESKTOP/LAPTOP You can use your Desktop or Laptop computer to control what plays. To do this, open the Antipodes Control Panel and click on the ‘Apps’ menu item.

47 / 140 Click on the Squeezebox Server icon.

48 / 140 This will open the admin interface for Squeezebox Server in a new tab. This interface not only allows you to play music, but it also allows you to manage the setup of Squeezebox Server.

You get much better interfaces for playing music when using the tablet and smartphone apps, but it is useful to get to know the Squeezebox admin interface available on desktop and laptop, because of the large range of features included.

At the top right hand corner of the screen you will see the name you previously gave to the Squeezelite player, in this example ‘Antipodes_USB’. If the name does not show there click the downward arrow and select it from the displayed list.

The pane at the left of the screen, headed ‘Home’ is where you select the source of the music you want to play. You can select from ‘My Music’, ‘Radio’ or ‘My Apps’. The pane on the right hand side will display the music you have selected to play.

Here is a quick run through of the playback options.

‘My Music’ consists of music tracks stored on the Antipodes, on network-connected NAS drives, or on other shared devices in your home network. You have a wide range of selection choices available, from ‘Artists’ or ‘Albums’ to ‘Playlists’ that you have compiled and stored, and random mixes of tracks from your music library:

49 / 140 ‘Radio’ gives you access to a wide range of streamed Internet radio stations from around the world

My Apps lists streaming services you have setup and are subscribed to, such as Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, Qobuz, and Deezer. You need to have a ‘mysqueezebox.com’ login to register for some of these streaming services.

PLAYING MUSIC To play music you make your selection from one of the options in the left hand pane:

You then click on the play or the plus symbol to add the selection to a ‘playlist’ in the right hand pane:

50 / 140 The controls at the top of the ‘playlist’ pane allow you to play or pause the music.

To clear the ‘playlist’ pane click the cross icon at the bottom right of the screen.

STREAMING SERVICES You need to have a ‘mysqueezebox.com’ login to register for some of the streaming services in Squeezebox. As an example we will go through the steps to enable TIDAL streaming. Go to ‘Squeezebox Server Settings/Plugins’ and check that TIDAL is enabled. If it is not there, look under ‘Inactive Plugins’ or ‘Recommended 3rd Party Plugins’, tick the ‘Enabled’ box and then click ‘Apply’, to enable it.

Now go to Squeezebox Server/Settings/mysqueezebox.com, check that you have an account, or create a new one.

51 / 140 Click ‘Congure’ and enter your TIDAL credentials (email id and password).

Go to the Squeezebox Server screen, click ‘My Apps’ and you should nd that TIDAL has been added to the list of apps.

52 / 140 Click the TIDAL icon to start using TIDAL.

SQUEEZEBOX SETTINGS At the bottom right hand side of the Squeezebox Server control screen is a Settings icon. Click on this to make various settings for Squeezelite and Squeezebox Server. When you click this icon a new window will open in your browser. Most of the settings have already been set to the commonly used options. However you may wish to make changes as you become familiar with Logitech Media Server and its options.

You click the different tabs to access various settings. We will only cover library scanning in this guide. The range of options available is too large to cover in this document.

Basic Settings

53 / 140 This window allows you to set the folders in your Antipodes to be included in the Squeezebox library. And it allows you to force Squeezebox to scan for new additions. CDs ripped will be automatically added to the library, but les copied to the Antipodes require a scan before they are included in the Squeezebox library. Scanning options appear in the drop-down box at the bottom of the screen shown above.

54 / 140 MPD Solution

SETUP THE MPD SOLUTION: MPD can be used as a complete solution, able to perform the server and renderer function with a single app. This contrasts with the more common requirement to have a separate server app and separate renderer app.

When using MPD as a complete solution, the rst step is to setup the MPD renderer app at the Antipodes Control Panel:

Select the menu item ‘Settings’ Click on the ‘MPD’ icon This will open the screen shown below.

Now:

Give the player a name Select the audio device Select how your DAC should receive DSD les. Set streaming quality levels consistent with your streaming service license. Click on ‘Save Changes’.

REMOTE CONTROL

55 / 140 To use MPD, you need a remote control app. Via the remote control app, you can point MPD at the Antipodes music library, and play music. In effect the remote control app is performing the server function. As such, you may suffer lag issues with a large library that taxes the resources of your remote control device.

The best remote client for MPD on desktop or laptop is Cantata. It can be downloaded free for Windows devices or Macs from: http://www.easympd.com/en/tips/0045_client.php

Tablet/Smartphone Apps to run MPD incur a small fee, and are downloaded from the relevant App Store for your tablet/smartphone.

Just search on MPD. We recommend MPDroid on Android and mPad on iPads. If you are not looking for a lot of server features and your library is not large, then MPD is an excellent choice.

56 / 140 You can increase the functionality of MPD by using it as just a DLNA renderer, and installing a DLNA server to handle the server function.

For example:

Setup a DLNA server on your Antipodes using either SqueezeBox Server or MinimServer, or on any other device on your network Set MPD as the Antipodes renderer as described above.

When setup this way, you can now use any DLNA/UPnP remote application. Many of these applications are very good and include desirable features like access to TIDAL, QOBUZ and several other streaming options. Some apps that do this include BubbleUPnP, Linn Kazoo, Mconnect, etc.

But when you go to the app store for your remote device, you can check out UPnP or DLNA players and nd an ever-evolving range of possibilities.

57 / 140 Roon With Squeezelite

SETUP ROON SERVER WITH SQUEEZELITE: You can use Roon to play to Squeezelite (Squeezebox) end-points on your network.

To use Squeezelite on an Antipodes open the Antipodes Control Panel:

58 / 140 Setting Up Roon Server Roon Server is pre-installed on your Antipodes, but the next steps require you to install Roon on the device you intend to use as a remote control. For a PC go to roonlabs.com to download the application. For a tablet or smartphone, go to the app store for your device and search for ‘roon’.

While installing Roon on your remote device, you can select the Antipodes that you intend to use for Roon Server. We recommend that you then make the following 3 setup alterations to Roon Server.

– DSP Settings

59 / 140 If you intend to use DSP for resampling/transcoding, then to tap into all of the power of your server, you should turn ‘Parallelize Sigma-Delta Modulator’ on. To optimise sound quality, an Antipodes server runs the CPU at around 50% of its full speed. To deliver high power without compromising sound quality, you can use all of the CPU cores for the task by setting this option to ‘Yes’.

– Library Settings There are two Library settings we recommend you make. Open Settings and click on Library.

Antipodes servers run fanless for silent operation and for optimum sound quality. We highly recommend that the Background Audio Analysis function be set as shown below.

But most importantly, you should never set the Background analysis to run any of the cores of a CX at 100%. The passive cooling of the CX is not designed to support such a heavy sustained load.

The second setting is optional, and at Library Settings click on ‘Import Settings’.

60 / 140 We nd that most of our customers want to use the Genres already setup in their music les, because they have carefully organised their library by setting genres that make sense to them. The default is to use Roon’s genres, and you can simply change to using the Genres in your music les by making the settings shown above.

Setting Up Squeezelite In Roon Remote go to Settings/Setup and set ‘Enable Squeezebox Support’ to ‘Yes’.

Finally, in Roon Remote, go to Settings/Audio. Under Networked you should see a Squeezebox device. Click ‘Enable’, enter a Zone Name and you will then be able to select the Squeezelite audio zone and play music through the Squeezelite player.

You can also use Squeezelite with Roon Server on the same Antipodes or on an Antipodes you are using as a renderer. Go to Settings/Squeezelite, set the ‘Audio Device’ setting to the correct output, and click ‘Save Changes’.

Roon Ready sounds a little better than Squeezelite, and the Roon DSP feature set is reduced, but you may wish to use Squeezelite if your DAC has a rmware bug described in this post. The Squeezelite renderer is stable despite the bug due to latency differences.

To use Roon with Squeezelite, you must delete the Squeezebox Server app if it is installed on your Antipodes. Go to Apps/Software Manager, click the ‘Installed Apps’ tab, locate the Squeezebox Server icon, and click ‘Delete’. You can now use Roon Remote to play music.

61 / 140 62 / 140 Roon With Roon Ready

SETUP ROON WITH ROON READY:

You can play from Roon Server to Roon Ready DACs or Renderers on your network.

But while Roon Ready is designed to be installed on a separate device from the Roon Server app, you can enable Roon Ready on the same Antipodes device that you run Roon Server on.

The simple reason we recommend you use Roon Ready instead of playing ‘Local’ as described in 5.1, is that sound quality is improved. Using both Roon Server and Roon Ready together on the same device will result is more coherent sound and we believe this is because there is less interference/contention between the server and renderer functions.

If you are using any Antipodes to stream to a Roon Ready DAC/Renderer via Ethernet then you don’t need to setup Roon Ready on the Antipodes.

If you are using any Antipodes on its own to play to your DAC then setup Roon Ready on it.

If you are using a CX+EX solution, then you setup Roon Server on the CX and Roon Ready on the EX.

To setup Roon Ready, open the Antipodes Control Panel, click on ‘Settings’ and then click on the ‘Roon Ready’ icon.

Make sure the correct output is selected, set how volume levels should be set, and how DSD les should be handled, and then click ‘Save changes’.

63 / 140 Setting Up Roon Server Roon Server is pre-installed on your Antipodes, but the next steps require you to install Roon on the device you intend to use as a remote control. For a PC go to roonlabs.com to download the application. For a tablet or smartphone, go to the app store for your device and search for ‘roon’.

While installing Roon on your remote device, you can select the Antipodes that you intend to use for Roon Server. We recommend that you then make the following 3 setup alterations to Roon Server.

– Library Settings There are two Library settings we recommend you make. Open Settings and click on Library.

Antipodes servers run fanless for silent operation and for optimum sound quality. We highly recommend that the Background Audio Analysis function be set as shown below.

But most importantly, you should never set the Background analysis to run any of the cores of a CX at 100%. The passive cooling of the CX is not designed to support such a heavy sustained load.

64 / 140 The second setting is optional, and at Library Settings click on ‘Import Settings’.

Setting Up Roon Ready Once you have saved, the Antipodes will appear under ‘Networked’ as a Roon Ready device in Roon’s Audio Settings, and will display the IP Address. If the IP address is 127.0.0.1, it signies that the player is on the same device as the current Roon Server app.

Open Roon Remote and play music.

65 / 140 There are some USB DACs using the XMOS U8 chip that have a bug in their rmware. This bug surfaces with Roon only with very low latency servers such as the Antipodes servers. The bug means that the USB input chip in your DAC can crash when there is a transition between a 44.1kHz 16 bit track and a 44.1kHz 24 bit track, in your playlist. To recover from the crash you need to restart your DAC.

The rmware bug has been identied and the bug x has been published but some DAC manufacturers may not have a means to update the rmware, or even know about the bug.

A workaround is to use Squeezelite or HQPlayer instead of Roon Ready and these methods are outlined next. Another workaround is the use Roon DSP to resample all 44.1kHz les.

66 / 140 HQPlayer Local

SETUP HQPLAYER LOCAL: HQPlayer Server (embedded) is a version of HQPlayer that runs on Linux servers. The application is pre-loaded on Antipodes servers and can be installed from Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps.

HQPlayer Server can play directly through ALSA ( the Linux Audio software on the Antipodes) to a DAC connected to the same Antipodes server, or through the HQPlayer NAA (Network Audio Adapter) to a DAC on the same server or to a DAC on a different server; the NAA runs on the Antipodes to which the DAC is connected.

HQPlayer Server on Antipodes servers is a demo installation. It will therefore shut down after 30 minutes and will have to be restarted. You can licence HQPlayer on the Antipodes on which it runs by purchasing a licence key from Signalyst.

This document describes how to set up and use HQPlayer Server on a single Antipodes server.

HQPlayer Conguration Options HQPlayer Server (server app) and HQPlayer NAA (renderer app) are pre-loaded on Antipodes servers and can be optionally installed by the user. If you have a single Antipodes server you can run HQPlayer Server using the ALSA Backend option, which does not require the NAA to be installed, or you can use the NAA Backend option which does require the NAA to be installed. If you use the ALSA option you cannot readily switch to a different server/player using the Audio App Switcher.

How to Install HQPlayer Server Go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps and click the HQPlayer Server icon

Then click ‘Install’:

Note that the install may take quite a long time (>15 minutes +). Let the installation complete and wait until you see the ‘Return to Package Manager’ message.

How to Install HQPlayer NAA Go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps and click the HQPlayer Server icon

67 / 140 Then click ‘Install’:

How to set up HQPlayer Server on an Antipodes to play via ALSA If your DAC is connected to the Antipodes where HQPlayer Server is running you can use ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) to play directly to the DAC.

With this mode you do not need to install the NAA and you do not use the Audio App Switcher.

Go to Settings / HQPlayer Server and click ‘HQPlayer Cong’:

On the next screen enter ‘admin/admin’ and click ‘OK:

The HQPlayer conguration screen will be displayed:

68 / 140 Connect a USB DAC to the Antipodes and power it on. Go to Settings/System Settings/Custom DAC, and look for the device line item ‘USB Audio Class Digital’; note the Device Name:

69 / 140 On the HQPlayer conguration screen in the rst line, under the Generic heading, enter the hostname of your Antipodes in the Title box. In the Backend box click the selection arrow and select ‘ALSA’. Then click ‘Apply’.

Under the ALSA Backend heading in the Device box click the selection arrow. You should see a line that represents the DAC (see 3. above):

Select that option and also select the DOP option if appropriate for your DAC:

70 / 140 Finally, go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Apply’. This completes the basic HQPlayer Server conguration for using the ALSA option.

How to set up HQPlayer Server on an Antipodes to play via NAA You can use the NAA option when the DAC is connected to the same Antipodes where HQPlayer Server is running. Under this mode you can use Audio App Switcher to switch to MPD, Squeezebox Server or Roon for different server/player options.

Go to Apps/Audio App Switcher and click HQPlayer NAA so that is shows as ‘Active’:

Open the HQPlayer conguration screen (as shown in 4c above):

In the Backend box click the selection arrow and select ‘Network Audio’. Then click ‘Apply’.

71 / 140 Under the Network Audio Backend heading in the Device box click the selection arrow. You should see a line that represents the DAC that is connected to the Antipodes,in this example an iFi DAC:

Select that option and also select the DOP option if appropriate for your DAC.

Finally, go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Apply’. This completes the basic conguration for using the NAA option.

How to play music through HQPlayer using the ALSA option You can open the Library function at the bottom of the HQPlayer Server conguration screen. This will allow you to view the music library on screen, select and play albums:

However we recommend that you use a graphical control app such as HQPDControl (Android). There is currently (early 2019) no equivalent iOS app.

How to set up Roon to work with HQPlayer Server You can set up Roon to play through HQPlayer Server rather than through Roon Ready.

72 / 140 You can use either the HQPlayer ALSA or NAA options for playback. You should understand that under the ALSA option HQPlayer ‘owns’ the USB output on the Antipodes and you cannot use the Audio App Switcher to switch to Roon Ready. However if you use the NAA option you can switch between NAA and Roon Ready.

If you have selected the NAA Backend option in HQPlayer Server go to Apps/AudioApp Switcher on the Antipodes to which the DAC is connected and click the HQPlayer NAA option so it shows as ‘Active’:

In Roon Remote go to Settings/Setup/HQPlayer and click ‘Add HQPlayer’:

73 / 140 Leave ‘localhost’ unchanged; this is because HQPlayer Server is running on the same Antipodes as this Roon Core:

74 / 140 Go to Roon Remote Settings/Audio. Under Networked you will see an HQPlayer zone. Enter a name of your own choice for this zone.

You will now be able to select the HQPlayer zone for playback:

75 / 140 Playback will be streamed through HQPlayer Server:

76 / 140 The conguration screen is also used to fully congure the HQPlayer parameters. You should visit the Signalyst website at https://www.signalyst.com for detailed information about how to fully utilise the facilities of HQPlayer.

77 / 140 HQPlayer With NAA

SETUP HQPLAYER WITH HQPLAYER NAA: HQPlayer Server (embedded) is a version of HQPlayer that runs on Linux servers. The application is pre-loaded on Antipodes servers and can be installed from Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps.

This document describes how to set up and use HQPlayer Server when you have multiple Antipodes servers, for example a CX/EX or CX/DX3 combo.

HQPlayer Conguration Options

HQPlayer Server (server app) and HQPlayer NAA (renderer app) are pre-loaded on Antipodes servers and can be optionally installed by the user.

If you have two Antipodes servers you will generally use one for server applications such as Roon Serverr Squeezebox Server and the other for renderer (player) apps. With a CX/EX combo you can set up HQPlayer in two different congurations:

1. HQPlayer Server on the CX, HQPlayer NAA on the EX 2. HQPlayer Server on the EX , using either ALSA or NAA playback modes.

Both allow you to use Roon to manage playback.

If you are making extensive use of HQPlayer resampling/upsampling which require extended processing power the rst option may be preferable. However the EX does have substantial processing power and some users prefer the sinic results when HQPlayer Server is located on the same server as its renderer.

We recommend you experiment with the different setup modes to nd out which suits you best.

How to Install HQPlayer Server On the Antipodes where HQPlayer Server will run go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps and click the HQPlayer Server icon

Then click ‘Install’:

78 / 140 Note that the install may take quite a long time (>15 minutes +). Let the installation complete and wait until you see the ‘Return to Package Manager’ message.

How to Install HQPlayer NAA If you are going to use the NAA playback option, on the Antipodes to which your DAC is connected, i.e. EX or DX3, go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps and click the HQPlayer Server icon

Then click ‘Install’:

How to set up HQPlayer Server on an Antipodes to play via ALSA If your DAC is connected to the Antipodes where HQPlayer Server is running (see 1.2 above) you can use ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) to play directly to the DAC.

With this mode you do not need to install the NAA and you do not use the Audio App Switcher.

Go to Settings / HQPlayer Server and click ‘HQPlayer Cong’:

On the next screen enter ‘admin/admin’ and click ‘OK:

The HQPlayer conguration screen will be displayed:

79 / 140 Connect a USB DAC to the Antipodes and power it on. Go to Settings/System Settings/Custom DAC, and look for the device line item ‘USB Audio Class Digital’; note the Device Name:

80 / 140 On the HQPlayer conguration screen in the rst line, under the Generic heading, enter the hostname of your Antipodes in the Title box. In the Backend box click the selection arrow and select ‘ALSA’. Then click ‘Apply’.

Under the ALSA Backend heading in the Device box click the selection arrow. You should see a line that represents the DAC (see 3. above):

Select that option and also select the DOP option if appropriate for your DAC:

Finally, go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Apply’. This completes the basic HQPlayer Server conguration for using the ALSA option.

How to set up HQPlayer Server on an Antipodes to play via NAA You will use the NAA option when HQPlayer Server is running on a different Antipodes from the one to which the DAC is connected, for example HQPlayer Server running on a CX and HQPlayer NAA running on an EX or DX3.

Go to Apps/Audio App Switcher and click HQPlayer NAA so that is shows as ‘Active’:

81 / 140 Open the HQPlayer conguration screen (as shown in 4c above):

In the Backend box click the selection arrow and select ‘Network Audio’. Then click ‘Apply’.

Under the Network Audio Backend heading in the Device box click the selection arrow. You should see a line that represents the DAC that is connected to the Antipodes,in this example an iFi DAC:

Select that option and also select the DOP option if appropriate for your DAC.

Finally, go to the bottom of the page and click ‘Apply’. This completes the basic conguration for using the NAA option.

How to set up Roon to work with HQPlayer Server You can set up Roon to play through HQPlayer Server rather than through Roon Ready.

You can use either the HQPlayer ALSA or NAA options for playback. You should understand that under the ALSA option HQPlayer ‘owns’ the USB output on the Antipodes and you cannot use the Audio App Switcher to switch to Roon Ready. However if you use the NAA option you can switch between NAA and Roon Ready.

82 / 140 In Roon Remote go to Settings/Setup/HQPlayer and click ‘Add HQPlayer’:

83 / 140 If HQPlayer Server is running on the same Antipodes as Roon Server, for example on a CX, leave ‘localhost’ unchanged:

If you have decided to run HQPlayer Server on the ‘renderer’ Antipodes, for example on EX or DX3, enter the IP Address of that Antipodes server:

Note: if the IP Address of this Antipodes changes following a reboot you will need to remove this instance and setup a new HQPlayer zone with the updated IP Address.

Go to Roon Remote Settings/Audio. Under Networked you will see an HQPlayer zone. Enter a name of your own choice for this zone.

84 / 140 You will now be able to select the HQPlayer zone for playback:

Playback will be streamed through HQPlayer Server to the DAC that was selected earlier in the HQPlayer Server conguration screen (4e or 5c above):

85 / 140 The conguration screen is also used to fully congure the HQPlayer parameters. You should visit the Signalyst website at https://www.signalyst.com for detailed information about how to fully utilise the facilities of HQPlayer.

86 / 140 Roon With HQPlayer

SETUP ROON SERVER WITH HQPLAYER: You can use Roon to play to HQPlayer Server. You will get a different audio performance than Roon Ready and opinions are likely to differ on what is preferred. You can use this playback solution on a single Antipodes, or with a CX+EX you can use Roon Server on the CX and HQPlayer Server on the EX.

While installing Roon on your remote device, you can select the Antipodes that you intend to use for Roon Server. We recommend that you then make the following 3 setup alterations to Roon Server.

– Library Settings There are two Library settings we recommend you make. Open Settings and click on Library.

Antipodes servers run fanless for silent operation and for optimum sound quality. We highly recommend that the Background Audio Analysis function be set as shown below.

87 / 140 If you have Background Audio Analysis on, then it will diminish sound quality while it is analysing your whole library. If you like the feature, then set On-Demand Audio Analysis to ‘Fast’ and the analysis will happen almost instantaneously and only the rst time you play the track. This makes it unnecessary to have the analysis running in the background.

But most importantly, you should never set the Background analysis to run any of the cores of a CX at 100%. The passive cooling of the CX is not designed to support such a heavy sustained load.

The second setting is optional, and at Library Settings click on ‘Import Settings’.

Setting Up HQPlayer Server HQPlayer Server requires a license and the license is keyed permanently to the server you install the license key on. You cannot move it to a different server.

The way you are likely to want to use it is as a renderer app on the same Antipodes device as you run Roon Server on, or on the EX in a CX+EX system. Even though it is called HQPlayer Server, you are using it as a renderer.

To install it on your Antipodes, open the Antipodes Control Panel for the Antipodes that connects to your DAC, go to Apps/Available Apps and click the HQPlayer Server icon, and then on ‘Install’ (takes a long time >15mins).

Then go to Settings/HQPlayer Server and click on the HQPlayerCong button.

88 / 140 Login to the trial version with username ‘admin’ and password ‘admin’, or use your login credentials if you have purchased a license.

The HQPlayer conguration screen will be displayed.

Under ‘Generic’ enter a name for the player in the ‘Title’ box, and select ‘ALSA’ in the ‘Backend’ box.

Under ALSA Backend, select your device (DAC). Select DoP if that is how your DAC handles DSD les.

Then click on the ‘Apply’ button and you have setup your Antipodes.

Connect Roon to HQPlayer Now, in Roon Remote, go to Settings/Setup/HQPlayer and click ‘Add HQPlayer’. Input the IP address of the Antipodes that connects to your DAC (eg in a CX+EX solution, input the IP address of the EX).

89 / 140 You can now use Roon Server to play music through HQPlayer Server.

Disconnecting Roon From HQPlayer To switch to using a different playback option, you will need to turn off the option in the screenshot above. However, we recommend you go further and uninstall HQPlayer in order to use another playback option. HQPlayer takes over a lot of functions when activated, and also consumes signicant resources. Therefore you will get better sound and a more stable solution if you uninstall HQPlayer before using an alternative solution.

90 / 140 MPD Renderer

SETUP MPD DLNA RENDERER: If you wish to use a DLNA/UPnP solution and want an Antipodes to perform the DLNA renderer function then you can use MPD.

Setup the renderer in the Antipodes Control Panel of an Antipodes that is connected via USB to your DAC:

Select the menu item ‘Settings’ Click on the ‘MPD’ icon This will open the screen shown below.

Now:

Give the player a name Select the audio device Select how your DAC should receive DSD les. Set streaming quality levels consistent with your streaming service license. Click on ‘Save Changes’.

REMOTE CONTROL When used in a DLNA/UPnP solution, you need to use a DLNA/UPnP remote control app on your remote device. Visit the app store for your device and search on DLNA or UPnP and you will discover an ever-evolving range of possible applications. Within the remote app you need to

91 / 140 select the server and the renderer to control, and then you can start playing music.

92 / 140 Squeezebox DLNA Server

SETUP SQUEEZEBOX DLNA SERVER: You can setup an Antipodes music server as a DLNA Server a number of ways:

Use Minimserver Use MiniDLNA Use PLEX

But in many cases we nd the simplest solution and with the widest compatibility is achieved by installing one plug-in to Squeezebox server to enable it to be a DLNA Server.

In the Antipodes Control Panel, navigate to Apps/Squeezebox Server, to open Squeezebox Server. Then click on ‘Settings’ at the bottom right of the screen.

The Settings screen opens on the ‘Basic Settings’ tab. Here, you can scan your library to make all your media les available via Squeezebox Server.

If you need more details on the steps above, see the article on the Squeezebox and Squeezelite solution.

Now select the ‘Plugins’ tab and scroll down to nd the DLNA server plugin under ‘Inactive Plugins’.

Click to place a tick in the box on the left of the plugin and then click on the ‘Apply’ button at the bottom right of the screen.

You will then see this screen.

93 / 140 Wait for two minutes to let the plugin nish installing, and then click on ‘Restart now’ to restart Squeezebox Server.

You will now nd that your DLNA/UPnP remote control will see it as ‘Logitech Media Server’ and ready to be set as a DLNA server to play from.

94 / 140 Minimserver

SETUP MINIMSERVER:

MinimServer is a UPnP/DLNA AV server that enables the music library on an Antipodes server to be accessed by DLNA-capable devices. MinimServer is not installed on Antipodes servers by default. Therefore you need to install it before you can use it.

At the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Apps’ menu item, click on the ‘Software Manager’ icon, and then select the ‘Available Apps’ tab.

Click on the ‘MinimServer’ icon and click ‘Install’ to open the installation process.

Select the ‘Apps’ menu item in the Antipodes Control Panel and click on the ‘MinimServer’ icon.

Click on ‘MinimServer Admin’ to see the license terms, and accept them if you wish to proceed.

95 / 140 Set the Content Directory to ‘/storage/music’, as shown above, and select ‘Update’.

How to Run MinimServer After MinimServer has been installed on the Antipodes server it will start automatically and run continuously. There are no ‘Start’ or ‘Stop’ commands for MinimServer.

How to Use MinimServer With DLNA solutions, you control the renderer device and it pulls music from DLNA servers. So running MinimServer on your Antipodes makes your Antipodes server appear as a UPnP/DLNA server on UPnP/DLNA renderer devices on your network. These could be networked music players, computers, televisions, tablets, smartphones etc.

You can also use UPnP/DLNA apps on a tablet or smartphone as a remote control device to manage such playback solutions, selecting the DLNA servers to play from and the DLNA renderers to play to.

There are also two UPnP/DLNA renderer applications on Antipodes music servers; MPD and the UPnP/DLNA Interface plugin that is included in the Squeezebox Server, which is pre-enabled:

96 / 140 97 / 140 BubbleUPnP

SETUP BUBBLEUPnP:

BubbleUPnP Server is a UPnP server application enabling you to:

Have secure Internet access to your UPnP/DLNA server content, with BubbleUPnP on a tablet and foobar2000 on a Windows device. Create OpenHome media renderers from any UPnP AV renderer (provides on-device playlist, and multiple Control Point access to the same renderer) Address some common issues with UPnP/DLNA servers (discovery issues, broken data, add some audio DLNA compliance) by creating a proxy Media Server Access your UPnP/DLNA servers across different networks

Set up BubbleUPnP Server by selecting the ’Apps’ menu item in the Antipodes Control Panel, and then click on the BubbleUPnP icon.

Click ‘OK’ at the welcome screen.

You will be prompted to supply login details for remote access.

Leave the following screen that displays unchanged.

98 / 140 Click the ‘Status’ tab and check that the ‘Internet Connectivity Test’ has worked successfully, as shown below.

Leave the other settings unchanged.

If the ‘Internet Connectivity Test’ was unsuccessful, click the ‘Restart Server’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Click the ‘Media Servers’ tab to display the UPnP/DLNA servers that have been located on your network by BubbleUPnP.

99 / 140 Finally, click the ‘Media Renderers’ tab. This window shows the DLNA renderers that have been located on the network, in this example ‘antipodes_USB’, a player on the Antipodes server, and BubbleUnP SM-G3600 (the local player on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone).

Check the ‘Create an OpenHome renderer’ box to enable OpenHome capability for the renderer.

How to Run BubbleUPnP Server. After it has been successfully installed BubbleUPnP Server will be started automatically and then runs continuously. It is automatically started when the Antipodes server is powered on. It can be restarted by pressing the ‘Restart Server’ button on the ‘Status’ screen.

BubbleUPnP Server Support Usage and support information for BubbleUPnP Server is available at www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver/.

100 / 140 Shairport

SETUP SHAIRPORT:

Shairport is an Apple Airport Emulator. This makes the Antipodes work as if it was an Apple Airport device. So you can play music that is on your Apple Airplay device across your network to the Antipodes.

Note: because Apple may change the Airplay specication Antipodes Audio cannot guarantee continued reliability of the Shairport app on Antipodes servers.

How to Install Shairport Go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps and click the Shairport icon. Then click ‘Install’:

Shairport will now show under Apps/Software Manager/Installed Apps.

Note: if the Shairport app does not show under ‘Available Apps’ contact [email protected].

How to start Shairport on the Antipodes

Go to Settings/Shairport and set Audio Device to the correct output, e.g. ‘USB DAC’:

101 / 140 Then click ‘Save Changes’ and check under Apps/Audio App Switcher that Shairport shows as ‘Active’:

How to use Shairport from an Airplay-capable device

On your Apple device go to the Sound control on the device. You will see the Antipodes Shairport player in the menu and can select it for playing music tracks,podcasts etc. iPad

102 / 140 MacBook

103 / 140 104 / 140 Spotify

SETUP SPOTIFY CONNECT:

With Spotify Connect, you can use your Spotify app on PC, smart phone or table to play Spotify music through your Antipodes. You must have a Spotify Premium subscription.

How to set up Spotify Connect on the Antipodes

In the Antipodes GUI go to Settings/Spotify Connect, enter a Player Name and then ‘click ‘Save Changes’:

Then go to Apps/Audio App Switcher and check that ‘Spotify Connect shows as ‘Active’. If it doesn’t click the Spotify Connect icon bar to activate it.

105 / 140 How to connect to the Antipodes from the Spotify app

Open Spotify on your PC, smartphone or tablet. Click the speaker icon at the bottom right of the screen:

You will see the Antipodes listed as an optional device:

106 / 140 Click the Antipodes icon to play the music selection through the Antipodes:

‘Listening On’ will now show the Antipodes as the playback device

107 / 140 108 / 140 SONOS

SETUP SONOS INTEGRATION:

Install and setup this application and your Antipodes Music Server will appear within your SONOS application as a music source.

This means you can use your Antipodes music server to rip and store music, play to a high quality DAC in your stereo system, and have the same music available for playback using SONOS hardware, throughout your home.

SONOS Integration is not installed on your Antipodes server by default, so you will need to install it at the Antipodes Control Panel rst. Go to Section 7 for a guide to installing and uninstalling apps in the Antipodes Control Panel.

Then select the ‘Settings’ menu item at the Antipodes Control Panel, click on the ‘SONOS Integration’ icon, tick the option to integrate with your SONOS system and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

109 / 140 PLEX

SETUP PLEX MEDIA SERVER:

Plex is a media server application that organises video, music and photos from personal media libraries and streams them to media servers, smart TVs, streaming boxes and mobile devices that have compliant player apps.

Plex can also be setup as a DLNA server.

You can control Plex on a Windows PC, an Apple Mac or a tablet or smartphone using one of the DLNA remote controller apps such as BubbleUPnP, UPnP, Foobar 2000 etc.

To use Plex with the Antipodes you need to install the optional Plex application.

After installing it on your Antipodes, the rst step is to use a browser to go to https://plex.tv/, click on ‘Create Plex Account’ and proceed to create your account.

Then, back in the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Apps’ menu item, and click on the ‘Plex’ icon. A new browser window will open where you can review and agree to the Plex Terms of Service. You will then be taken to the Plex interface to complete the setup. The setup is well- designed and intuitive.

The key part of the setup with respect to the Antipodes server, is to setup the library location on the Antipodes (which is ‘/storage’) as a library within Plex.

For example, in the ‘Add Library’ window select ‘Music’, give your library a name, and then click ‘NEXT’.

110 / 140 In the following screens you will select the folders to include in your music library. Click the ‘storage’ entry on the left hand side, then ‘music’, and nally ‘ac’; this points to where album folders are stored on the Antipodes (/storage/music/ac).

111 / 140 Then click ‘ADD’ to add the folder to your music library. You can add additional folders to your library now or later on; here ‘/storage/nas’ has also been added.

When you have nished adding folders click ‘NEXT’, select ‘Create a basic music library’ on the following screen followed by ‘NEXT’, and then ‘ADD LIBRARY’ on the last screen.

112 / 140 Plex Media Server will then create the library on your Antipodes.

Support

113 / 140 Plex website: https://plex.tv/

Plex apps for Android, iOS, Windows: https://plex.tv/downloads

114 / 140 Remote Control

REMOTE CONTROL OF MUSIC PLAYBACK: You don’t need to connect a screen, mouse or keyboard to your Antipodes music server. You run the Antipodes ‘headless’ in your music system, like any other stereo component, not in a back room.

To tell the server what to play, you can use any desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Each playback solution has a corresponding remote control application on tablets and smartphones, and often on desktops and laptops too.

Most users employ a tablet or maybe their smartphone for remote control, and this is why we don’t add noisy (electronically) screens on our servers. Apart from the sound quality benets of leaving the screen out, no screen on the server front panel can be as convenient as using your tablet or smartphone.

Whether you are using Roon, Squeezebox, MPD, or some avour of DLNA, you just need to search the app store for an app corresponding to the playback app you are using. For example, search on Roon to nd the Roon Remote app; or search Squeezebox to nd a range of different apps to control Squeezebox Server; or search MPD to nd a range of MPD remote apps; or search DLNA or UPnP to nd a huge range of remote apps you can use to setup and control a DLNA/UPnP playback system. These apps are either free or inexpensive so you can afford to try a few out to see what you prefer.

Check the articles for each solution as they generally recommend a suitable remote control application.

115 / 140 Internal Playback

PLAY FROM THE MUSIC LIBRARY:

Historically, the primary purpose of each of the playback applications available for you to use on an Antipodes music server, is to play music in the Antipodes music library

You can assemble a single seamless library, incorporating les you have ripped, copied or downloaded to the Antipodes, les on external devices on your network like desktops, laptops or a NAS, and les located on an attached USB disk.

Note that with Antipodes music servers the best sound quality is achieved:

playing les stored on an internal SSD, followed by les stored on your network (softer, less immediate, less image specicity), followed by les stored on an internal spinning disk (HDD) (introduces some harshness, grain and reduced dynamics and tonal colour – this is NOT ameliorated by staging music through a small SSD buffer as is sometimes claimed), followed by les stored on a USB drive (more harshness and grain).

With more noisy servers than the Antipodes, this hierarchy may be different.

See the next section concerning internet streaming services, which are growing in popularity.

116 / 140 Manage Applications

MANAGE APPLICATIONS: The Antipodes Control Panel offers a wide range of best-of-breed applications for playing music. You can choose to install or uninstall any of them with a couple of clicks. It is a good idea, from a sound quality point of view, to only install the playback applications that you intend to use regularly, because installed applications will load services at start-up that will consume resources and raise the noise oor of the system.

You should also regularly update your Antipodes software. Therefore this section covers how to update the software suite, how to install applications and how to uninstall applications.

At the Antipodes Control Panel, select the ‘Apps’ menu item and click on the ‘Software Manager’ icon.

Updating The Software Suite Click on the ‘Update’ button, conrm by clicking on ‘Update’ and let the process run to completion.

117 / 140 When the update has nished click on ‘Back to main menu’, and reboot to complete the update process.

Installing Applications On the Software Update screen (see above) select the ‘Available Apps’ tab.

Click the icon of the app you wish to install and then on ‘Install’ and ‘Install’ to conrm.

118 / 140 Click on ‘Back to Package Manager’. The application has now been installed and can be seen in ‘Installed Apps’.

Uninstalling Applications On the Software Update screen (see above) select the ‘Installed Apps’ tab and click the icon of the application you wish to uninstall.

119 / 140 Click on ‘Delete’ and ‘Delete’ to conrm, and the application will be removed from the ‘Installed Apps’ list and appear on the ‘Available Apps’ list.

120 / 140 Optimise Optimising Sound Quality

Some key points about getting the best sound quality:

Don’t locate your Antipodes away from your main stereo. It is silent running and is very low-noise electronically. Locating your server a long way from your stereo will work, but the transmission will pick up noise and the digital signal will degrade. Use audiophile quality power cords and USB cables with your server. The impact on sound quality is signicant. Ask your dealer for a recommendation. If streaming music over Ethernet, then use audiophile quality Ethernet cables. For example, you can improve the sound quality of streaming services by using high quality cable from your router to your server and eliminating switches between them. If you have a CX+EX Solution then the Ethernet cable between the CX and the EX will have a very signicant impact on sound quality. Ask your dealer for a recommendation. Once you have decided on the playback applications you wish to use, uninstall all the other applications. Most applications use some degree of resource and your server has to juggle them all, so removing them improves the performance of the server running the applications you do use. You can re-install them at any time. Just as with any other high end audio equipment, vibration isolation is important. Servers tend to work best on a rigid and damped support. Check that your server is keeping acceptably cool. If it is getting hot to the touch then that will affect sound quality. Consider using less DSP and giving the server more breathing space. Don’t stack your server on top of or under another component that gets hot. Don’t assume that upsampling/transcoding improves sound quality. Upsampling can result in a smoother top end, but worse mid- range and bass. As with everything else, listen carefully for yourself. Extra processing during playback will interfere with playback. In most cases, playing your les at their native resolution will give you the best balance of sound quality attributes.

121 / 140 HQPlayer NAA HQPlayer NAA

Signalyst HQPlayer is an upsampling multichannel audio player for Windows, Linux and OS X. A light version can be optionally installed on the Antipodes server and then controlled by a copy of HQPlayer Desktop running on a PC or Max. HQPlayer provides high levels of digital manipulation on the les, including room correction, digital volume, different digital lters, up-sampling, trans-coding etc.

HQPlayer NAA is not installed on your Antipodes server by default, so you will need to install it at the Antipodes Control Panel rst.

HQPlayer NAA is only a renderer application so you need to also install the HQPlayer main application on a desktop computer. Go to: http://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html and download and install the appropriate version of HQPlayer Desktop. HQPLayer Desktop requires a licence to be purchased. You can use the product for 30 days at no charge for evaluation.

To get the best performance from HQPlayer we recommend that your Antipodes server and PC or Mac are both Ethernet cable-connected to your network router. This however is not mandatory and you may nd it works satisfactorily with wireless PC connection.

Once HQPlayer NAA is installed on your Antipodes there is no more to do in the Antipodes Control Panel than select HQPlayer NAA at the ‘Audio App Switcher’ (select ‘Apps’ in the Control Panel).

The next step is to congure HQPlayer on your desktop or laptop. Because it is a third-party application that is not included with your Antipodes server, we cannot maintain an up-to-date guide here. For detailed and up to date information, you should visit:

Website: http://www.signalyst.com/

The HQPlayer Desktop User Guide can be found at: i-cat.biz/pdf/HQPlayer-manual.pdf

There is a very active HQPlayer community forum at: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/hq-player-20293/.

122 / 140 123 / 140 Start & Shutdown

START & SHUTDOWN: Start Connect your Antipodes music server in your preferred conguration. Or just connect it to mains power and to your network. Turn on the power at the rear panel of the Antipodes. This should cause the front panel switch to glow amber. This is standby mode. Now click the front panel switch and it will ash green and then glow solid green when the Antipodes has booted up fully.

Shutdown When the Antipodes music server is booted up (the front panel button glows solid green), click the front panel button and it will ash and then glow solid amber when the system has shut down. If this does not shutdown the server, hold the front panel button in until it does shut down and change to solid amber. Once the front panel buttpn is amber (in standby mode), you can turn the power off at the rear panel of the Antipodes music server. Never turn the power off at the rear of the Antipodes music server while the front panel power switch is green.

Sequence When Using Direct Ethernet Antipodes Music Servers allow you to connect your server (eg. a CX) to the network, and connect your renderer (eg. an EX) direct to the server with a short, high quality Ethernet cable. This lifts audio performance compared to connecting both the server and renderer to the network.

Because the renderer connects through the server, and because they need to be connected to the internet during startup and shutdown, it is advisable to follow this start and shutdown procedure:

Start the CX (server) on one minute before the EX (renderer) Shutdown the EX one minute before the CX.

124 / 140 Automate Backup

Automate Backup:

You can manage your library on your Antipodes, and use Resilio to have any updates that you make automatically copied to a PC, Mac or NAS.

This provides an automated backup, but you need to be aware that if you make a mistake on your Antipodes, it will be automatically copied to your backup. So if you use this method you should also keep an archived backup.

To use Resilio Sync you must set up and congure the Resilio Sync app on your Antipodes, and you must also download/install/set up and congure the Resilio Sync app on the PC , Mac or NAS where you will store the backup (the home version is free but there are some limitations in its functionality) that you will be syncing with.

The Resilio Sync software is pre-loaded on the Antipodes but must be installed as an active application.

How to set up Resilio Sync on the Antipodes a. Go to Apps/Software Manager/Available Apps , click on the Resllio Sync icon and click ‘Install:

Go to Apps and click ‘Resilio Sync’. On the rst screen enter a User Name and Password (e.g. admin/admin) that you will use to manage the application on the Antipodes and click ‘Continue’.

125 / 140 On the next screen enter a name for this Resilio Sync device (suggestion: use the host name, e.g. AntipodesCX). Also check the two boxes at the bottom:

126 / 140 Then log in to the Resilio Sync app on the Antipodes using the Id and Password you have just created:

You will get this screen. Now you must dene the music library folder to be backed up:

127 / 140 Installing and Using Resilio Sync on PC or Mac Go to the Resilio Sync Downloads page at the Resilio Sync website ((https://www.resilio.com/platforms/desktop/) )and download, install and setup the app for the device(s) that will be used to store the Antipodes music library copy :

Installing and Using Resilio Sync on NAS devices The Resilio Sync app runs on selected NAS devices. A NAS is an ideal location to hold a synchronised backup of the Antipodes music library.

Go to the Resilio Sync Downloads page (https://www.resilio.com/platforms/desktop/) and download the app for the NAS that you will be using with the Antipodes

How to setup a Folder to be synchronised In this example Resilio Sync on the Antipodes is going to send a copy of the music library to other devices and update the remote copies with changes as they occur (synchronise). Here you will congure the music library folder to copy/sync.

Click the + at the top left of the blank screen. On the new screen choose the ‘Standard folder’ option:

128 / 140 Select the folder to be backed up. (suggestion: select the /storage/music folder):

129 / 140 A settings window will open. Uncheck the ‘Link will expire’ option (these settings can be changed at any time):

Click the ‘Link’ option and then ‘Copy’ (bottom right) . An http link will now be displayed. You can use this link to activate the sync action from the Internet browser on PC or Mac.

130 / 140 Alternatively, click the ‘Key’ option and then Copy’. A key will be displayed that you can use in the Resilio Sync app on PC, Mac or NAS to activate the sync action.

How to use the http link or key is described later in this guide.

The music library folder has now been set up on the Antipodes for backup. At this point the destination locations (peers) have not yet been set up.

How to setup a Folder to receive the Backup copy Here Resilio Sync on a Windows PC is going to receive a copy of the music library on the Antipodes. Here you will congure a folder to store the copy.

Create a folder to store the music library copy, for example ‘\Backups\AntipodesCX’:

Click the + symbol and select the ‘Enter a key or link’ option:

131 / 140 Go to the Resilio Sync app on the Antipodes and click ‘Share’ at the right-hand end of the line that identies the music library folder you previously set up:

132 / 140 On the following screen click ‘Copy’ next to the ‘Read Only’ key:

Go back to the Resilio Sync screen on the Windows PC, right click the keyboard or mouse button:

Paste the key from the Antipodes into the blank eld and click ‘Next’:

133 / 140 You will then be prompted to enter a destination folder. Select the folder you set up in i. above:

You should see the copy process start immediately:

You can view the progress by clicking the clock icon:

Restoring the Music Library from the Resilio Sync Backup Antipodes:

134 / 140 PC:

If the ac folder on the Antipodes has to be restored the entire /ac folder can be copied to the Antipodes /music folder using Copy/Paste in File Explorer or Finder

135 / 140 136 / 140 Install A P1

INSTALL A P1: Set the P1 underneath or on top of your Antipodes server. If using more than one Antipodes (eg. CX+EX or CORE+EDGE, etc), set the P1 underneath or on top of the Antipodes that stores your music les.

Connect the ying lead USB cable to one of the blue ports of a CX or EX. For earlier models connect to any USB port but not to the USB Audio ports.

In the picture above, you will see that the USB cable is captive in the P1 and is a short length to tidily connect to a CX or EX. If you need a longer length you should advise your dealer prior to purchase. Because the purpose of the connection is just a le transfer there is no need to use a high quality USB cable – the bits will be transferred accurately.

The P1 has a button on the front bezel of the ripper that will open the tray so that you can insert the CD. Then slide the tray in till it clicks, and ripping will start automatically. When the ripping is complete the tray will slide open.

137 / 140 138 / 140 Install A P2

INSTALL A P2:

Set the P2 underneath or on top of your Antipodes server, or in close proximity to the Antipodes server used for rendering, so that a short high quality USB cable can be used to connect between them.

The P2 is designed to provide vibration isolation for your CX or EX, and so the recommended placement is under your music server.

139 / 140 The P2 has dip-switches available on its under-side to allow it to work with any DAC’s I2S HDMI input. Setting the dip switches for your DAC is only required for playback of DSD les. If playing PCM les there is no need to make any changes to the dip-switch settings.

The P2 is shipped with settings consistent with PS Audio i2s inputs, and that scheme is suitable for a number of other brands that have adopted the PS Audio pin-out arrangement. The table printed on the under-side tells you which dip-switches to turn on for different brands of DAC.

Contact Antipodes Support if your DAC is not listed.

Turn your DAC off before installing the P2.

Attach the high quality digital cable you wish to use between the P2 and your DAC.

Note that you can attach multiple cables from the P2 to your DAC, but we recommend that you should only attach one digital cable at a time. This is because all digital cables introduce stray ground currents and act as both an antenna and a transmitter of high frequency noise. If you attach a number of cables it will make all of them sound poor. Auditioning different types of cables, to determine your preference, should be done one at a time, or you will not be hearing what each cable is really capable of.

Attach a high quality USB cable from the black ‘5v On’ USB Audio 2.0 port on your Antipodes Server to the USB input of the P2.

Use the Antipodes Control Panel to set the P2 as the ‘USB DAC’.

Turn on your DAC and select the appropriate digital input.

You are now ready to play music through the P2.

WORLD CLASS AUDIO PRODUCTS FROM NEW ZEALAND

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