diff --git a/vall_e/emb/similar.py b/vall_e/emb/similar.py
index 2b44156..32fb3a2 100644
--- a/vall_e/emb/similar.py
+++ b/vall_e/emb/similar.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 """
 
 import os
-import json
+import orjson as json
 import argparse
 import torch
 import torchaudio
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ def process(
 
 	verbose=False,
 	metadata_path=None,
+	top_k=8,
 
 	trim_duration=0,
 	min_duration=0,
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ def process(
 		# to-do: support just querying for list of similar to cram into JSON metadata
 		if verbose:
 			for filename, embedding in features.items():
-				D, I = index.search(embedding.unsqueeze(0).cpu(), k=2)
+				D, I = index.search(embedding.unsqueeze(0).cpu(), k=top_k+1)
 				sim = list(I[0][1:])
 				print(f'{filename}: {sim}')
 		"""
@@ -180,10 +181,18 @@ def process(
 	embeddings = torch.stack( list( features.values() ) )
 	sorted_similarities = {}
 
-	for filename in tqdm(keys, desc=f"Computing similarities: {speaker_path.name}"):
+	for index, filename in tqdm(enumerate(keys), total=len(keys), desc=f"Computing similarities: {speaker_path.name}"):
 		embedding = features[filename].unsqueeze(0)
-		similarities = torch.nn.functional.cosine_similarity(embedding, embeddings, dim=1).cpu().tolist()
+
+		similarities = torch.nn.functional.cosine_similarity(embedding, embeddings, dim=1)
+		# set current index to -inf
+		similarities[index] = float("-inf")
+		similarities = torch.topk(similarities, k=top_k, largest=True, sorted=True).indices.tolist()
+		# similarities = torch.nn.functional.cosine_similarity(embedding, embeddings, dim=1).cpu().tolist()
+
 		sorted_similarities[filename] = similarities
+
+		# sorting is slow, don't bother
 		#sorted_similarities[filename] = sorted([ ( i if simplified_metadata else keys[i], similarity ) for i, similarity in enumerate( similarities ) if index != i ], key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)
 
 	return sorted_similarities
@@ -196,17 +205,19 @@ def main():
 
 	parser.add_argument("--yaml", type=Path)
 	parser.add_argument("--text", action="store_true")
+	# dropped, because this might mess with the indices to map to
 	"""
 	parser.add_argument("--trim-duration", type=float, default=3.0)
 	parser.add_argument("--min-duration", type=float, default=0)
 	parser.add_argument("--max-duration", type=float, default=0)
 	"""
 	parser.add_argument("--storage-backend", type=str, default="slop")
+	parser.add_argument("--top-k", type=int, default=8)
 
 	parser.add_argument("--audio-backend", type=str, default="encodec")
-	parser.add_argument("--dtype", type=str, default="float32")
+	parser.add_argument("--dtype", type=str, default="float16")
 	parser.add_argument("--amp", action="store_true")
-	parser.add_argument("--device", type=str, default="cpu") # unironically faster
+	parser.add_argument("--device", type=str, default="cuda")
 	
 	args = parser.parse_args()
 
@@ -226,6 +237,7 @@ def main():
 				speaker_path=cfg.data_dir / speaker_name,
 				yaml=args.yaml,
 				text=args.text,
+				top_k=args.top_k,
 				#trim_duration=args.trim_duration,
 				#min_duration=args.min_duration,
 				#max_duration=args.max_duration,
@@ -252,7 +264,7 @@ def main():
 				
 				metadata[filename]["similar"] = sim
 
-			with open(str(metadata_path), "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+			with open(str(metadata_path), "wb") as f:
 				f.write( json.dumps( metadata ) )
 				#f.write( truncate_json( json.dumps( metadata ) ) )
 
@@ -273,6 +285,7 @@ def main():
 			speaker_path=args.input_speaker,
 			yaml=args.yaml,
 			text=args.text,
+			top_k=args.top_k,
 			
 			#trim_duration=args.trim_duration,
 			#min_duration=args.min_duration,