2026 Awards: Server over £25k

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by Editor
Jan 20, 2026

Winner: Server Over £25k

Antipodes Audio Oladra

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Winner: Server Over £25k

Antipodes Audio Oladra

Hi-fi products like the Quad Electrostatic, Linn LP12 and Krell KSA-50 became a standard by which musical performance in the home could be measured, and Antipodes Audio’s Oladra server joins that select group. Indeed, audio has taken a big step forward here courtesy of the New Zealand-based high-end audio sensation.

The flagship offering is a server and a player that share a chassis and a power inlet but little else; they run on a Linux computer platform, albeit each with custom code for their specific task. The Oladra features both Server (core) and Player (endpoint) applications for Squeeze (now ‘Lyrion’), Roon and HQPlayer, includes a range of DLNA-type music servers, and is JPlay certified. Any of these server apps can be streamed to compatible third-party endpoints, and this core/endpoint flexibility means Oladra can be perfectly tailored to your system. What’s more, it can hold 24TB of music across three enterprise-grade SSDs.

Taking high-end streaming seriously

But its crowning achievement is delivering the performance that uncompromising high-enders demand of their music formats. “While the Oladra is excellent at all the usual things we come to expect from digital audio (detail, dynamic range, tonal accuracy), it’s the ability to present the music in a temporally-ordered fashion that was something more akin to good analogue than the best in digital… until now,” writes Alan Sircom in his review. In fact, he says he “would rather have Oladra running a more modest system than have the absolute top-end audio driven by a more off-the-shelf server”; yes, it’s that good.

Reviewed in Issue 239

Antipodes Audio • antipodes.audio

Read the full review: Antipodes Audio Oladra review

Welcome to a very special hi-fi+ Awards. Fate (and producing a dozen issues a year) has colluded to make this issue a combination of our 250th edition and our annual Awards special edition. We have scoured the last 12 months of issues to find the best products we’ve seen across a range of categories.

In the past, we had very fixed categories for our annual awards, but that doesn’t fully reflect the current shape of the audio industry. While some categories remain constant, others change and branch out into new avenues. For example, a few years ago, there were so few streaming integrated amplifiers that the category did not need to exist. Now, we have enough to make them distinctly different from integrated amplifiers, without the need for a streamer or DAC. It’s not that one has eclipsed the other; it’s not that one is obsolete and the other state-of-the-art. These are now two divergent lines of ‘integrated amplifier’ that demand their own Awards. To lump them all together as ‘integrated amplifiers’ does the reader no favours, as it adds to confusion rather than pointing out the best we’ve tested.

Similarly, we have sometimes found categories where new products were commonplace a few years ago have reached a zenith. Thus, the category hasn’t received as many new products this year. Portable Audio DACs are a fine example. There are doubtless new models coming soon, but there aren’t enough yet for us to choose an example this year.

Each year we say this, but it’s worth repeating. The best in each category may or may not combine to build the best systems. There have been many cases over the years of people buying an Award-winning source, amplifier, and loudspeakers only to find the pairing a sonic mismatch. Our view of our awards is that they are a finger pointing the way. That finger often points to a good dealer who can assemble a system around that component, blending it with other devices like a master cocktail mixologist.

This is also why we include Highly Commended products. Not everyone likes the same things, and not every component works beautifully with every other. Our Highly Commended products are the result of the audio world being so good at its job, picking the very best from the already excellent is sometimes a very nuanced decision. By including Highly Commended products, we introduce a wider selection of outstanding devices to your next shortlist.

Awards and celebrations

Combining this Awards issue with our 250th also means we get to think about past masters in audio. There’s an interesting question surrounding the best of the past with today’s finest products. How do they compare? I think in many respects, the outstanding products this year are as good as we can get at the moment. They hold no comparison with even the finest past glories of 26 years ago; things have moved so far forward.

Sonically speaking, the very best in digital audio today leaves everything from even five years ago in the dust, so looking back to the last century is almost not worth it. And while things might seem less clear-cut in other aspects of audio design, I still maintain that today’s audio outperforms nearly everything from the 1990s, and today’s best is the best you’ll ever hear. Hopefully, that trend continues, and the sound of good audio in five or ten years keeps getting better.

We’re still a long way from achieving sonic realism in the home, and even the best audio systems cannot fully replicate the whole live experience. But they get ever closer; the top-end has the drama, scale, detail and dynamics to take your breath away, but even the most affordable audio gets closer than ever now!

One thing is sure: your next hi-fi product is on the following pages of this magazine! I hope you enjoy the search for the best as much as we did.

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