KALA K21

$7,000.00

Description

The K21 is an ideal entry point when you wish to use only the USB output and do not wish to use synchronous outputs (S/PDIF, AES3, I2S). The K21 performs identically to the K22 through its USB output, and can be upgraded cost-effectively to K50 level by adding a K41 later. Adding a K41 will allow you to use DSP features, quickly navigate a library larger than 8TB, and it will reveal more layers of musical insight. But used within its limitations, the K21 on its own brings you very close to the performance of the K50 (when using USB). If your priorities are to be immersed in gorgeous sound and feel the emotional pull of your music, then the K21 will delight you.

Because the K21 does not support DSP functions, it cannot use HQPlayer Server App, but it does support HQPlayer NAA. All other apps in our software suite are supported, with the exception of the DSP features within the apps.

TWO PROCESSORS

The K21 uses a single engine for both Server and Player steps and does not offer Direct ethernet streaming. In all other respects the K21 process map is the same as for the K50 USB output, playing through the same USB output engine – USB signals are isolated, and re-generated/clocked. The two cascaded processing stages progressively improve the digital signal before it goes to your DAC.

The medium-power Server/Player engine controls what is played and allows you to play over your network to multiple end-points, and to the DAC in your main system by USB.

Additional information

Weight 13.5 kg
Dimensions 53 × 60 × 24 cm
Finish

Black, Silver

A/C Power

110-120VAC, 220-240VAC

Current Release

Oladra G4 Technology

Network

Gigabit Ethernet

Local Storage

One SATA SSD
User Installable

USB 2.0 Output

– PCM to 32 bit/768kHz
– DoP to DSD256
– Native DSD to DSD512
– On USB A

Warranty

3 Years
5 Years (Registered)

Brand

Antipodes Audio

OUR PURPOSE

Computer audio allows easy access to a world of recorded music, but early-on the sound was unnatural and so failed to express the music. Antipodes Audio was founded in 2009 to solve this problem, by creating musically-expressive music server/streamers for great audio systems.

We are the mavericks of digital audio, doing things differently and challenging mantras, for the love of music. Driven by revealing the subtleties that captivate us, we design music servers that allow music to flow naturally, organically, and with ease, so that we are immersed in music's powerful messages.

REVEALING THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

Music exploits how sound patterns can evoke emotions in us, to lift us out of our daily lives, and music is an essential sensuous pleasure and release of tension for many people. It makes people dance, which is an amazing surrender to euphoria. Unnatural sound distracts the brain from the subtle cues that convey emotion. The first task is to present the sound of real voices and real instruments in real spaces – organic, dynamic, and with fully saturated tonal colour - in perfect time.

But it is not just about the sounds. A great pianist and a student pianist might play the same notes in the same sequence on the same piano. The sounds of individual notes may be the same, and yet the difference in communicating the emotional message of the music is profound. Great artists use rhythm, and variations of inflexion and timing, to dig much further, to weave the magic. This is what counts, and no measurement of a music system can ever be more relevant or important than the emotional pull of the music.

Technology is the tool, and the sound is the enabler. The emotion is the purpose of the sound, and the reason for the technology. When the sound is right, and the music is good, you are immersed in it, making you shiver, smile, cry, dance - whatever the emotion, the purpose of the music is to make you feel it. We can only know that the sound is right when we are enthralled by the music's message, and this is what drives our design decisions.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Antipodes Audio is led by a 7 person leadership team.

  • Mark Jenkins is Chief Executive, sets business direction, and leads product development.
  • Mark Cole is Chief Operating Officer, and leads all business-as-usual functions.
  • Greg Bauer is Chief Technical Officer, and leads all hardware developments.
  • Prince Pablo is Chief Information Officer, and leads all software developments.
  • Oki Latief is Manufacturing Manager, managing our factory staff and resources, component sourcing, and manufacturing processes.
  • Jessica Jenkins leads our Brand Marketing activities.
LOCATION

We are located in Otaki, on the magnificent Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. Our modern 6000 sq ft premises integrate all of our functions in one place, including our warehouse, factory, development, support, and office facilities.

Together with a focus on using recycled materials and minimising emissions, our modern premises are an environmentally optimised building with double glazing, a 5.1kW solar photovoltaic array, a 3.8kW 18m high wind turbine, low energy LED lighting throughout, and a solar thermal hot water panel augmented by heat pump water heating. Excess power creation is transferred to the national grid.

Antipodes Audio Limited Clean Technology Tower Otaki Commercial Park 2 Ake Ake Place Otaki 5512 New Zealand

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