If you've got the cash, this is the "finest music server money can buy"

If you're looking for the ultimate audio server but don't want to pay a lot of money for it, the G4 edition of the Antipodes Oladra music server isn't for you: it's just arrived in the UK with a price tag of £28,888. However, if you're an affluent audiophile its UK distributor promises a spine-tingling audio experience. 

That's the verdict of Ricardo Franassovici, founder and MD of high-end audio distributor Absolute Sounds. "Hearing the Oladra for the first time was one of the most revelatory experiences I've had in years," he says. As for Antipodes Audio, they say that the Oladra G4 represents the very pinnacle of music playback.

So what do you get for the price of a fairly fancy car?

Antipodes Oladra G4: key features

The Oladra is designed to have a four-step approach, with four customised processing engines. The first takes care of the media server functionality, and the second handles the player. Processors three and four take care of isolating, regenerating, reclocking and sending the output signal to the DAC. The promise is of perfect data synchronisation and the elimination of audible distortion.

As this is a server storage matters, and you can configure the Oladra with up to 24TB of internal storage via its three SSD slots. It supports native DSD512 and 32-bit/768kHz PCM hi-res audio and can be upgraded even higher with some DACs, and it has 2.5Gb ethernet connectivity. It supports all the key playback solutions including Roon, Squeeze, Plex, MPD, HQPlayer and UPnP/DLNA.

If you like the cut of the Oladra's jib but can't quite justify the expense, the firm's Kala server/streamers are also available to deliver some of the same technology for a considerably lower price: the range starts at £6,998 for the Kala 21, rising to £18,888 for the Kala 50.

Both the Oladra and the Kalas will be available for you to hear at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live, which takes place next week at Ascot. You can find out more about the show on the Hi-Fi Show Live website.