 Het is een netwerkplayer, een netwerkbritje en een run-endpoort die een built-in DAC, maar ook AISQS, AES-EBU en speed of digital outputs geeft. De prijs is €999. Silent Angel kwam hier over door de audiophile netwerk switch. Zie mijn review, links naar de normale plekken. Vandaag zullen ze muziekservice, linear power supply's en netwerkplayer's. The Munich M2 reviewed here is a network player with built-in DAC and a headphone amp. For €300 less there also is a digital out only version called the Munich transport M2T. The Munich M2 is to be connected to the analog inputs like CD or aux on an amplifier that is connected to a pair of loudspeakers. Or if you prefer, you can connect a pair of headphones directly to the front. On the other side it needs to be connected over a network cable to your router for internet access, to your smartphone or tablet for remote control and if your music is stored on a share on your computer or NAS, to that too. To improve the quality further you can connect a DAC in between the Munich M2 and the amplifier. And to make it even sound better, the Silent Angel Forester F1 power supply kan replace de supplied switch mode power break. De kleine metalhousing is black en has a curved front. It measures only 155 x 110 x 55 mm and weighs almost a kilo. On the front there are four tiny LEDs that indicate mute, power, GSD playback and PCM playback. On the right there is a 6.3 mm headphone socket. When we look at the back we see the power switch, the network connector, two USB 3 connectors, two USB 2 connectors, the analog outputs, two accessory connectors with unclear function, the spitive output, the I2S output and the ASEBU output. One of the USB 2 connectors is designated as USB audio output, which puzzles me, since it's obviously one of the Raspberry Pi 4B's USB outputs. Perhaps they modify the Pi slightly. The cabinet is literally packed with electronics. I remove the top board which is there to hold the emmling connectors in place. When removed we find on the right side a large cooling block that covers the entire Raspberry Pi 4B. I didn't feel comfortable to dig deeper, so that's that. Since there are no controls on the Munich, it's rather simple to use. Hook up the supplied power brick and connect the analog outputs to your amp. Then it's down to choosing how to control the Munich. The free option is to download Silent Angel's FitOS Orbiter app for smartphone or tablet. It supports Amazon Music HD, Tidal, Cobus, Internet Radio, Spotify Connect and Airplay 2. Furthermore, the Munich can function as a Roon Endpoint and as a DNLA Renderer. And you can browse AUSB drive or music shares on your computer or NAS and play from there. The app works fine for music on streaming services, but the Internet Radio function is limited. Not too many radio stations are listed and they are poorly categorized. There is a group of stations called international, next to genres like alternative classic. In international, you find groups like African, Bollywood, Celtic and European, but also German and French, where I would have expected that to be in European. There is no Dutch or local group nor is there a search function and I was not able to find any popular Dutch radio station. If you want to use DNLA, you need a separate DNLA controller, like Glider on iPhone. Of, beter, use an app like Audivana or J-River Media Center on a computer, have that send music to the Munich and control it with the Audivana or J-River app on your smartphone or tablet. Or use Roon on a computer and control it using the Roon app. That solves the internet radio station problem too. To operate the Munich, you download FitOS on your tablet or smartphone. I used my iPad Pro for I like the large screen of a tablet. When you start up the app, it searches for Munich streamers and when found, you can select it. The next screen lets you select a source and settings. Let's select title. Search for think and look for the fantastic live album Reels Turn Beneath My Feet. Then you adjust the tap away from the great track Perfect Darkness. Tap along the bottom of the screen to see the now playing screen. I presume this works the same for all other streaming services. I only have subscriptions for Tidal and Cobus. As said, the internet radio function isn't great. These are the German stations. And here the French ones. Clearly room for improvement. Brouting your music on your computer or NAS can take some time if you own quite some music. As said, a far better way is to play music from your NAS or PC and use programs like Audivana, Jbriever, Media Center or other DNA-compatible programs. I'll show you Audivana. Here you can simply select the M1 to play music bit perfect over the Munich. Or use Roon, which is my favorite but also the costly solution. Again here you can select the M1 that I renamed in Roon as Silent Angel M1. Switching to Roon or D&L is automatic. I started testing the Munich in my reference setup 2 where the Marantz K-Out Pearl Light drives the acoustic energy radians 1 loudspeakers. They are supported by the RELT-5 subwoofer that is connected to the loudspeaker terminals on the Marantz. The Munich is connected to the AcuSwitch audiophile switch over KET6 patch cable and to the amp over the no longer available Siltek London RCA's. Muziek komt van Tidal en Cobus, met de VitoS app op een iPad Pro of Roon Server die op de Grim Audio M1 stijgt. In dat geval alleen de Intel knockpart van de Grim Audio is gebruikt. De iPad Pro weer is gebruikt als een Roon remote control. De Munich klinkt surprisingly plezend, gegeven de prijs van €999, including VAT. Er is een wide en reasonably diep stereo image met voor het klas Goode Resolution. More importantly, Artiflex is aan een, voor dit prijs, remarkably low level. Specially Sibilance is very well controlled. This all adds up to a friendly and musically sounding swimmer that I rank close to the top of my setup 2. Time to upgrade the power supply. In order to offer an upgrade path, Silent Angel introduces the first F1 linear power supply that comes at €469 including VAT. It has the same dimensions as the Munich so you can place them next to each other or on top of each other. It outputs 2x 5 volts DC2 amps to power the Munich and, for instance, the Bonn N8 audiophile network switch that is of the same width and depth so it can be stacked too. As can be seen on this picture where optional anti resonance damping feet are mounted. The front of the forester has four LEDs that indicate overheating for output 1, the status for output 1, the status for output 2 and overheating for output 2. On the rear the IEC mains input, the fuse holder, the power switch, the two outputs on 5.5x 2.1mm DC plugs en in-between them the same DC outputs on USB connectors. By the way, there also is a first 2 that has two 12 volt DC outputs, one output capable of delivering 3 amps, the other one amp. The first power supply adds resolution to the Munich and a somewhat deeper stereo image. Lowes are delivered with more power. Optionally, four different types of DC cables are offered. The first has copper poles, the second copper on the positive pole and silver on the negative, the third has silver on the positive pole and copper on the negative and the fourth has silver on both poles. Prices range from 69 to 139 euros for the 20 cm version. Longer versions are also available. It might sound absurd but they all influence the sound. I like the white one the best, which of course is the 139 all-silver version. It opens up the sound further, improving resolution the most. Although silver is often associated with sharpness, this isn't the case here, meaning proper quality silver. The quality of the analog outputs often gives a good indication on how good the digital outputs are. For if the internal digital to analog converter is plagued by jitter, so will be the digital outputs. You might choose the I2S output for the web has taught you that is the best. But the clock that feeds the word clock line of the I2S output is the same that feeds the internal DAC and if that is jittery, the I2S output will be jittery. As will be the AES-EBU and SPDIF outputs. If there is a clock present that is low on jitter and if both standing and receiving digital interfaces are well designed, there will be no difference in sound quality. I don't own a DAC that has an I2S input, but I have reviewed several and had the opportunity to compare that most extensively. But I digress. Given the results using the analog out, I wanted to test the digital outputs in my reference setup 1b that is placed in the living room on the grand floor. Here the AX520 amplifier drives the audiophysics Scorpio loudspeakers. The Mitek Brooklyn MQA-enabled DAC powered by the Fermin Hipsus Power Supply is on duty here. It is connected to the Munich and Forrester combination over a no longer available Van der Hul video 75 ohm cable and over Grimm Audio SQM cables to the Amp. A normal CAT6 network cable connects the Munich to the SOtMS and H10 switch. The Roon server runs on the Grimm Audio Mu1. Only the Intel Nuk part of the Grimm Audio is in use, so it's factually the same as running Roon on an Intel Nuk i3 computer. The iPad Pro again is used as a Roon remote control. Of course the amplification and speakers are from a different class. But I don't have the space to place a fourth reference setup. The Mitek Brooklyn is more realistic, even with the Fermin Power Supply. I must say that the Munich with Forrester does perform rather well. Not to the level of the SOtMS-200 Ultra Neo, but surely above the standard SMS-200. See the link to the reviews of those two. So I rate the Munich and Forrester combination in between setup 2 and setup 1 when used as a digital source. The Munich has surprised me. It is based on the Raspberry Pi but has a lot more electronics on board than the average headboard. That evidently leads to a rather good sound quality when used with the supplied power supply. The sound quality can be further upgraded with the Forrester power supply with the supplied DC cable and then further tweaking can be done by selecting one of the Bastay DC cables and the BUN switch. So you can save up for high quality interfaces. It of course leaves you with two or three boxes, although being small and cabling. My guess is that there will be many that like this approach. And for the real hobbyist, I don't think you can change the OS into another OS without running into all kinds of problems, like inserting another SD card and finding correct drivers. And that brings us to the end of this video. As usually there will be a new video next Friday at 5 p.m. Central European Time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up or a link to this video on the social media. It is much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video in YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen. Thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHPProduct.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.