This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below

Listening. The business end of any review. All the explanatory preamble would be for naught if the Antipodes didn’t measure up sonically. But boy oh boy does it deliver. Prior to inserting the DS Reference at the very front of my system, I’d been using a MacMini (US$599) tricked out with the following:
  • Audirvana+ US$74
  • MacPlatform US$350
  • iFi iUSBPower US$199
  • Resonessence Concero HD as USB-S/PDIF converter US$850
  • Zu Audio S/PDIF cable US$150
  • Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB cable US$999

Even with the LightSpeed USB cable omitted (which made the leap to the new server), this Macintosh transport total still tips $2'200. The jump from souped-up MacMini to Antipodes DS Reference was reminiscent of two previous revelatory listening experiences:

1) leading a DAC with the Audiophilleo2
2) switching over from Apple iPhone to Astell&Kern AK120.  

I’ll say it loud 'n' plain. The Antipodes DS Reference sounds better than the Apple box by a significant margin. Looking down the hill, the Kiwi contrasts the MacMini+iFi iUSBPower+USB converter+Audirvana+ as grayed out and emotionally neutered; something you wouldn't necessarily pick hearing in isolation.

Even at first blush with the DS Reference, the richer bass lines that bounced forth from the title track of Paul Simon’s most successful album Graceland and into the listening space had me immediately doubting my return to the MacMini as digital transport…

…and I haven’t except to double- and triple-check that I wasn’t imagining things that first week. Nope, none of the DS’s avidity or superabundance with aural nourishment was wishful thinking. Its advantages are all very real. It’s emphatically more lit up, more dynamic and smoother. It serves up deeper saturated tonal colour that's more vivid, more alive and less washed out than our suited-and-booted friend from Cupertino.

Most tellingly, the Resonessence Labs Concero HD makes not one iota of difference when interceding between DS server and DAC. Presumably the Antipodes box keeps the noise-inducing jitter sufficiently low prior to vacating the SoTM card’s USB port that the Concero HD has nothing to correct.

Wordy wrappinghood. In the space of three months, Antipodes’ entry-level music server turned everything I’ve hitherto experienced with digital transports upside down in a good way. Would I recommend existing MacMini transporters sell it all and start clean with the DS Reference? Yes I would! I’ll also take it further. Digital audio newcomers with $4K to drop on a digital front end should opt for the Antipodes server over a MacMini or iMac and lasso it to an entry-level DAC. Think Schiit Bifrost Uber w/ Gen 2 USB (US$519), my current pick in budget converters. The Antipodes/Schiit team will likely provide more long-term satisfaction than pimping out a MacMini/iMac/Dell/whatever and partnering it with a more expen$ive DAC.

Fence sitters who complain of paucity of emotional involvement with digital when crossing over from vinyl might find the DS Reference a solid baseline from which to fork their journey into digital. The significant sonic delta between ameliorated consumer-grade computer and DS Reference makes intuitive sense. The former can be tricked out with external bits and bobs in a bid to correct jitter after the digital audio horse has already bolted – but it won’t match Antipodes performance. The latter runs a custom power supply, firmware-tweaked hard drive and heavily customized operating system to ensure after-market correction isn’t as necessary. Its physicality might not be as slick as offerings from Aurender or Lumin but the Antipodes has CD ripping and wired control on its side. Moreover the DS Reference sets a new standard in digital audio transports by which all others will be judged. Game on!
For more of John's writing, visit his own website DigitalAudioReview.net.
Antipodes Audio website