Antipodes DS GT versus Bryston BDP2

I'm not a dealer and have no association with Antipodes. After 4 days with the DS GT music server, I just can't believe what I'm hearing. I know it's easy to exaggerate and I'll be the first to say, there are no absolutes with Audio. In addition, I know that others may hear it on their system and prefer something else.
The most noticeable differences are with bass, soundstage, and voices. The bass is more pronounced in every way. The soundstage has opened up a little more and there appears to be more space between instruments. I hate to say it's more 3-dimensional, but that's the truth. Voices are so real, I can hear the artist breathing and subtle information is more fleshed out. My wife and I were listening to the best of David Sanborn and she agreed that there is more detail. My friend kept telling me that the Antipodes was a serious step up from the Bryston BDP2, but I didn't want to hear it. I'm really just tired of spending money. I always say, "you don't know what you don't know!" I thought my system was great, but I swear the innocent looking Antipodes DS GT has taken it to another level. If your looking to spend 3-5K you owe it to yourself to at least try the Antipodes DS GT or if you want to spend more, their top of the line DX. 

I like the Antipodes DS GT, I'm thinking about getting the Antipodes DX. Has anyone compared the DS GT to the DX?

The DX is very nice with excellent tone and body.  IMO it displays good balance and leans a touch more toward musicality than resolution, which suits my tastes perfectly.  I have the Gen 2 and am completely happy with it.

The DS GT improves on the DS REF power supply with an outboard supply that is not quite as good as what is in the DX.  How much all that matters is anybody's guess but the Antipodes people seem to think it sounds pretty good.

I have not read about any head-to-head comparisons.

mitch2, 
To be honest I'm sort of shocked by how good the DS GT is compared to the Bryston BDP2. I prefer the Antipodes DS GT by a wide margin. Unfortunately, "my sickness ":), now thinks, well if the DS GT is that good, how does the DX sound. Any dealers that have made a direct comparison? 

FWIW….
The biggest problem I face is not so much not knowing, it is knowing something that just ain’t so. Comtempt prior to investigation. Stubbornness. Sloth.

For simplicity sake, I should think if another item were to be added into the mix to stream net stuff, and file playback, possibly ripping and grabbing meta data as well, then I’m at a loss for any recs. I’ve been only recently thinking of looking into these all in one wonders. Maybe.

For me, the interface will be the key. Till then, I’ll keep using this scenario….

Sinology Disc Station NAS for storage > Win 7 PC with Linx AES 16x sound card > Bel canto DAC 3.0 > pre > amp > spkrs, interfaced using an iPhone, or iPad..

I use whatever PC with the “DB Power amp” program to rip to any lossless format with 16/44.1Hz. it grabs track info off several online resources and I can pick which I prefer to tag the trak. It provides error correction and is not hard to use.

Another program I can’t recall now will rip HD off of Blue Rays and DVD Audio, or just DVDs, so you wind up with 16/48; 24/96; or 24/192, respectively. It is a fairly intuitive app for PC. Runs $30. It allows or did allow for upsampling and various file formatting.

Playback interface options abound. Synology offers IOS apps w`hich show your entire stored musical library, video too for that matter. So you can arrange playlists, hunt and peck with your cell phone, pad, or personal confuser.

The Disc Station apps also have an itunes server interface. If all is ripped to ALAC (apple lossless) or AIFF, you can just use itunes for nearly all playback, except of course FLAC.
Playback can arrive on your phone, Apple TV, Android, or via the confuser.

The sinology IOS or Droid app ‘DS Audio’ allows you to choose which appliance develops the sound and or into which room.

If the files are small, compressed, or your choice is to convert on the fly to a smaller easier to stream file format, you can play your files almost anywhere you are on the planet. Connectivity will be key in avoiding dropouts at distance. Compressed file playback off site appear to work very well indeed around my town at least..

Sinology DS Video app works similarly.

A two bay Sunology NAS presently the DS 216, DS 216 plus, or DS 716 only differ in how much CPU is available. They will operate (see) up to 16TB of total disc geography. Use a Raid option for duplicating the primary drive and you’re at 8TB or less total space, depending.

These NAS boxes range in price from $150 (DS 216) to almost $500 for the DS 716. Sweet spot is the ‘plus’ ver. At $299. Then its what kind of drive and how big that adds to the expense.

The new Helium drives in the 8TB range at last check were about $450 each. Decent Enterprise 6TB SATA drives were about $200 ea. 8TBs were another fiddy bucks each I think.

Almost all the apps are free. Ripping is done manually free with itunes, J River, or via buying the DB Power amp prog for $30. The gear is at whatever level you are at otherwise.

A $6 third party app called “File Browser’’ works with android and IOS and if allowed by you self, will find all of your files, music or videos and stream them onto any DLNA – PNP or ?? device. Even when that device does not support the native format bit rate or word length, like a Roku or Apple TV.

Tidal’s HD or non compressed streaming in this case would be via your personal confuser which by the way you already own. The interface you use is up to you to get to your DAC. Buy a bridge, sound card as I did, or go all in on a new wiz bang gizmo which will impact the signal as it will be in the chain.

Folks have said for years PCs are noisey and not a good idea for on board storage, or sound card usage. Well, everyone has an opinion. Just as people have found out USB ain’t all that and a bag of chips either given nearly every USB cable has its own ‘flavor’ or influence on the audio, and costs run over $500 in some cases.

Fine.

What is the difference between using a pc to store the files on and feed playback, or using a ‘all in one’ device which is doing the exact same thing a pc does?

Exactly how did or do these new AIO streamer/server boxes eradicate the identical issues people holler about on PCs about on board storage and audio output?

Plug your pc & NAS or server thingy into a passive power line conditioner. I did. Violin!

The one thing I’ve seen which does interst me is the Sony thingy. I’ve no idea on how to interface with it. It is a $2K bump in the road though. It is said to upsample all of your file content and handles every popular format. It streams too.

As for upsampling? Well, that’s another topic entirely. I don’t think I’d care to have my mp3s sampled up to 384Hz. Why?most of the music was already cut out when it got compressed!!

The Sony has on board storage, but then we’re back to the ‘don’t use the pc’ as storage or to generate a signal out bia sound card sort of affair, aren’t we?

Maybe there’s some new kind of magic going around lately.

If it in fact supports HUB use, then it could be something worth looking into as several Home environmental items like Google and Amazon’s thingys will see it, once you download the app and configure it all. After of course you buy the Dit, or Dot, or Goog, or ?? as well.

Very very, good luck.

I have owned the Antipodes DX for approximately 2 years and all I can say is I am done. It is a remarkable performer. My associated gear includes the following:

Bakoon AMR 12
Lampizator Amber 2 DAC 
Scansonic MB-2 
Klee interconnects and speaker cables
Audio Vault Equipment Stand Level 3
BPT CPC 
Combak Harmonix Power Cord
Nanotec Power Cords
Curious Cable USB 
Audioquest Ethernet Cable 

As a life long tweaker, the only thing I want to try is Gutwire's Ultimate Ground. I will auditioning that shortly and if anyone is interested I will report its affect on my system. 

I compared the DS GT directly to the DX in my system. I prefer the DS GT. I wouldn't be surprised if Antipodes came out with a new DX with an external power supply soon.

Nice setup you have there stoney.

I have a Bakoon headphone amp and DAC-21.

If you add an audiophile switch like a waversa hub and grounding, those will yield massive improvements.

I would like to try the Antipodes GT, but unfortunately their prices are so high now, I would not buy it without an audition.

Thanks macdude! 

I just purchased the Bakoon DAC 21 and can't stop smiling at how this DAC sounds. I loved my LampizatOr Amber II and I not saying that the Bakoon is better. But now I am not inclined to climb the LampizatOr ladder as the Bakoon is a search ender for me. 

I will research the waversa hub and still wait on the gutwire ground.

Sounds like you have quite the system, as well. 

Regarding the Antipodes, I purchased the DXe initially and then had it upgraded to a DX. In both cases, I was well pleased with the Antipodes and obviously much more so with the DX. 

If you are into computer audio, I consider Antipodes products very good and the DX top shelf material. 

Macdude! 

I also just replaced my LampizatOr Amber II with the Bakoon DAC 21. I'd be interested in your thoughts on that DAC. I am very pleased with what I am hearing. 

After comparing the Antipodes DS GT to the second Gen DX, I knew they would come out with a new DX. Although the Gen 3 DX doesn't have an external power supply, it's my understanding it's a serious step up from the Gen 2.

Mark with Antipodes has graciously emailed us DX owners with updates about their plans and about how we can schedule upgrades to the new Gen 3 if we so choose, for the difference in price between our current unit and the Gen 3.  They still plan to offer the Gen 2 in their lineup since you can have it constructed with two outputs, USB and either bnc or AES/EBU.  The Gen 3 will be offered with only USB.  I will likely have my Gen 2 with bnc upgraded.  I thought the comparison between using the bnc and USB outputs was interesting but in the end I chose the USB output as the better sounding of the two.

My friend keeps insisting I listen to the Gen 3 DX, but I’m happy with my Antipodes DS GT. It’s my understanding that Antipodes is offering an upgrade to the Gen 3 DX for a relatively modest cost. If so, that’s great for current Gen 2 DX owners.

I haven't seen the upgrade prices, and it does depend on the generation of your existing DX, so whether the pricing is "modest" remains to be seen.  What I like is that this would be the second chance I have had to fully upgrade my unit to their latest generation/version.  The communication from Antipodes and the ability to remain current and not own a boat anchor show very good customer service indeed.  Many manufacturers have paid lip service to "the ability to upgrade in the future" but fewer actually follow through on it.