Partner Guidance

1. Design Rationale

An Introduction

The debate between practitioners and theoreticians in high-end audio will never be resolved. Scientific theories necessarily abstract themselves from many physical realities in order to simplify causality. They are an essential starting point for design — but they are not a complete prescription. Some people need total certainty before they can accept any claim and they will always be detractors of the high-end, because measurement can only be applied to a subset of the experience we seek to deliver - the sense of presence, ease, and emotional engagement with recorded music.

Deducing a design solely from the accepted science will make products that work, but rarely ones that are musically compelling. Going 'Beyond Fidelity' takes the experimentation beyond what is easily measurable, even beyond what can be subjectively analysed, to optimise what can be felt emotionally when listening to recorded music. High-end audio design begins where accepted science ends — not by rejecting it, but by recognising its limits. We do not seek to advance accepted science, nor do we reject it, and cannot be constrained by the limits of its measurements. We simply seek to improve the experience of recorded music and listening over time remains the final arbiter.

This document will equip you with the key reasons our DAS products make a difference, and also provides some clear, marketing-free explanation of our models and some simple FAQs. It is a lengthy read to get your head around the issues. In simple terms Oladra believes the answer is obvious - focus on what we call the Core - where the signal is first generated - because this step creates the noisy electrical environment that inevitably pollutes the DAC, affecting musical engagement. This contrasts with the common approach that focuses on downstream treatment of the problem, which can only address the signal, and cannot matterially reduce the noisy electrical environment caused by conventional computers. This is why all Oladra models use in-house designed computer Core/Motherboards, developed for high-end audio.

Focus on the signal's genesis has always been Antipodes strategy and the source of its advantage. Oladra marks a step-change, by addressing the hard problem - fundamental design of the computer Core.

Digital Audio’s Remaining Limitation

Digital audio has long surpassed analogue in clarity, detail resolution, and dynamic range. Yet it has often struggled to equal analogue’s capacity for musical engagement.

This gap is not explained by bit depth, sample rate, file formats, or quantisation accuracy. It is explained by timing behaviour — and more by the structure of the timing disturbances than by a single measure of their magnitude. Conventional engineering practice has treated timing error as a single scalar quantity, typically expressed as a jitter number. While useful for identifying gross deficiencies, this approach fails to describe why some forms of timing disturbance are perceptually far more damaging than others.

We easily listen past random jitter, but we are especially sensitive to structured, correlated timing disturbances — those that interact with musical dynamics, transients, and phrasing in a non-random way.

Analogue's Musical Authority

Analogue replay contains far more measurable distortion than digital. Yet those distortions arise primarily from mechanical processes — inertia, elasticity, friction — whose effects are continuous and familiar.

Human hearing has evolved to resolve sound in the presence of such distortions. They are recognised as familiar and are largely perceptually discounted.

Digital timing disturbances, by contrast, are often:

• electrically generated
• patterned by processing activity
• unrelated to physical sound production.

When such disturbances are correlated with the signal's structure, the brain works harder to decode the sound, shifting attention away from the music itself.

This is perceived not as obvious distortion, but as reduced flow, subtle strain, and diminished emotional engagement.

Why the Core of the Digital Source Is Fundamental

A digital audio source is not merely a provider of correct data values.

It is an active, dynamic electrical system.

At (what we call) the Core of that system — CPU, chipset, memory subsystem, operating system behaviour, and primary interfaces — audio data is:

• calculated
• buffered
• moved across busses
• scheduled in time.

Each of these operations creates electrical disturbance:

• transient current draw on power rails
• ground return modulation
• RF emission and coupling
• deterministic switching noise related to processing activity.

It reaches the DAC through multiple physical pathways, including:

• power and ground connections
• common-mode noise on cables
• RF coupling into sensitive circuitry
• modulation of reference supplies and oscillators
• interaction with analogue output stages.

Crucially, these disturbances are often correlated with the audio signal itself, because they arise from the very processes that generated that signal, resulting in structured timing behaviour — precisely the form of disturbance most damaging to musical engagement.

The Fallacy of Downstream “Fixes”

In early digital audio, the idea of fixing the signal after the event was often a necessity, but this approach has remained conventional despite clear internal inconsistencies. It has become the “elephant in the room” that is never challenged. Challenging it is precisely what Oladra has done.

The idea that digital audio can be fully ‘fixed’ downstream is an abstraction from physical reality, and it does not convincingly hold up, either logically or in practice. For example, if the signal and electrical environment need to be cleaned up to enable the DAC chip to perform its role accurately, any downstream stage performing that correction operates within the same physical constraints — and is therefore subject to the same influences.

The clue lies in decades of claims that DACs eliminate jitter, followed by successive generations of increasingly elaborate reclocking techniques. Some customers will push back that an optical stage or a special clock will eliminate these problems. In practice, these approaches can deliver incremental improvements — and sometimes regressions — but they do not reset the system. It is symptom management rather than cause removal.

The trust in “silver bullet” fixes persists because it avoids confronting the hard problem — achieving accuracy and coherence at the point where the signal is generated. That is the only point at which disturbance of the electrical environment can be prevented — by not creating it in the first place. But it is indeed a hard problem. You must address fundamental computer design complexities and realities, not once but at every subsequent generational step in the technology. This is far more challenging than designing downstream remediation.

Turning Digital Audio Design On Its Head

Oladra’s approach of focusing on the Core turns conventional digital audio design on its head. Instead of layering remediation on top of a compromised start, it addresses the root cause directly — and confronts the long-standing problem that others have worked around with increasingly elaborate downstream fixes. Downstream techniques can refine digital audio, but they cannot reset it. Once system behaviour at the Core has shaped timing and electrical conditions, no single step can reconstruct a neutral baseline.

By successfully addressing behaviour at the Core, and employing isolation as a supportive rather than curative measure, the signal path to the DAC is reduced to what it should always have been — a simple transmission role. The DAC no longer has to compensate for upstream disorder, and receives a signal that allows any DAC to perform closer to its own intrinsic potential.

This is why the quality of the start — at the Core — is so important, and why Oladra’s control of Core and motherboard design is pivotal.

2. From Two-Box to One-Box

In previous generations, our reference approach used two devices:

• a more powerful unit optimised for server duties
• a quieter unit optimised for player duties.

This separation reduced internal interaction and, at sufficiently high budgets, remains capable of exceptional performance.

However, this is not a philosophical position — it is a cost/performance trade-off.

Two-box systems are inherently expensive. Below a certain price point, dividing resources across two enclosures results in less capable Cores overall.

The development of the Oladra platform, plus advances in:

• processor efficiency
• power management
• motherboard design
• system integration

have shifted where the optimum lies.

With current technology, we can deliver higher musical performance in a single, fully integrated Oladra at $30k - $60k than we can by splitting resources across two less capable devices. Oladra shifts the place for a two-box solution higher in cost. The place will continue to be shifted higher as single-box solutions improve.

The Oladra architecture reflects what is optimal now, given today’s technology and costs.

3. Platform & Model Briefing

The Oladra Platform Architecture

All Oladra models share the same in-house-designed motherboard.

This motherboard defines:

• signal routing and topology
• power management
• power distribution behaviour
• grounding strategy
• timing relationships between subsystems.

By holding this constant across the range, every Oladra begins from the same fundamental timing architecture.

Musical and functional differentiation between the models occurs through the Core.

The Core — Where Models Differ

The Core governs:

• CPU and chipset behaviour
• memory architecture
• OS execution behaviour
• interface scheduling and resource allocation.

In practical terms, it determines how consistently timing behaviour is maintained under load.

Scaling the Core does not change tonal character. It changes ease, density, stability, and emotional immediacy.

Oladra Models

FLOW
The Flow is optimised exclusively for playback from streaming services.
Its Core is provisioned for that single role and does not include the resources required to manage local music libraries.
Musically, the Flow performs at the same level as the Sentia.

SENTIA
The Sentia establishes the full-function reference for the Oladra Platform.
Its Core supports both streaming services and stored music libraries while maintaining timing coherence across more complex workloads.

PRESENCE
The Presence represents a clear step upward in Core capability.
It allows greater control of timing behaviour under complex processing conditions and is experienced musically as greater ease, continuity, and emotional authority.

All Oladras share the same motherboard, power supply and output sets; performance differentials are achieved entirely through the Core.

The Antipodes KALA Range

The upcoming 5th Generation Antipodes KALA range remains an important part of the portfolio but by adopting a modular design it is consolidated into two models.

KALA differs from Oladra by using a customised, high-quality general-purpose computing platform, rather than an Oladra-designed Core and motherboard.

This is a cost/performance trade-off, not a philosophical difference.

KALA applies the same system-level principles, but within the constraints of a general-purpose computing motherboard/core.

Oladra advances further by removing those constraints.

4. Customer FAQ

“Why does the source still matter if I have a great DAC?”
Because the source defines the electrical and timing conditions the DAC operates within. A DAC can refine timing locally, but it cannot undo disturbances created upstream. When the signal arrives embedded in a modulated electrical environment, the DAC must convert within those conditions. Improving the point at wich the signal is first generated improves the conditions under which any DAC performs. This is why the Oladra Platform is focussed on the Core, instead of downstream treatments after the fact.

“Is this about adding warmth or colour?”
No. The goal is coherence and ease, not euphonic distortion. Oladra does not add character; it removes distraction. What listeners hear as naturalness comes from reduced interference with timing and conversion, not from tonal coloration.

“Why does it sound more analog?”
Because the timing behaviour is less confusing to the auditory system — not because distortion is added. Analogue’s appeal is not its distortions, but the fact that the brain can easily hear past them. Oladra is designed to achieve the same perceptual clarity by reducing structured timing disturbance, not by emulating analogue artefacts.

“Why one box instead of two?”
The new Oladra Platform changes a lot of things. We no longer need to balance strengths and weaknesses of different computer designs. Our in-house design of Core and motherboard simultaneously optimises for both Server and Player roles, without compromise. There is an argument for a two-Presence system worth exploring, but this is a USD six-figure investment. Below that price a single computer Oladra is preferable.

“Why does Oladra use SATA SSDs, isn't PCIe better?”
There are two competing approaches to prevent intermodulation problems. The common approach is to use very fast data interfaces, such as PCIe, combined with slower power supplies. Oladra takes the opposite approach: very fast, actively filtered power supplies paired with slower, more controlled data interfaces.

Fast power supplies allow signal transitions to be defined more precisely, while slower interfaces reduce burst-related noise. In listening terms, this sounds more lively, more stable, and more natural than prioritising data bandwidth, particularly when that is unnecessary for audio.

“Can I upgrade my original Oladra to a new Oladra?”
Original Oladra units can be upgraded to use the same generation of technology as the new range, delivering a substantial performance improvement. However, they cannot physically adopt the new Oladra-designed Core and motherboard. The upgrade is highly beneficial, but it does not make the unit directly equivalent to the current models.

“Where can I get details of available upgrades?”
The 2026 upgrade programme is still being worked on and will be announced in the coming months. It represents a step-change in design and performance and introduces a more modular approach. These upgrades will apply to models going back nearly a decade, involving one major upgrade first and enabling simpler, faster upgrades in the future.

“Can I update my Antipodes to use the new Oladra Play software?”
The initial release of Oladra Play was designed specifically for the new Oladra Platform. Optimised versions for earlier platforms are in development and will be released in the coming months.

5. Partner FAQ

“How does this affect servicing and upgrades?”
Oladra systems are modular by design. This allows servicing and meaningful upgrades to be carried out without complex re-building.

“Will service be regionalised?”
Yes. The modular architecture allows us to appoint service centres closer to key markets, with appropriate parts held locally.

“How will this be implemented?”
Through direct discussions with existing partners to ensure that service capability, parts stocking, and training align with local market realities and commercial viability.

“How does Oladra coexist with KALA?”
KALA remains a highly capable, evolving range. Oladra represents a higher design class enabled by full Core and motherboard control.

Closing Perspective

Oladra is not defined by a specification advantage or a feature checklist.

It is defined by where responsibility for timing behaviour begins.

By taking responsibility at the Core — rather than compensating with output cards — the Oladra Platform establishes musical coherence at its origin.

Everything else follows from that decision.