 It's been a while since I gave an update on my reference setups. Many changes took place including some reshuffling and price corrections. Economics and Wars still are making things more expensive, so prices had to be corrected. But in all three setups there have been changes. The main structure of the three setups still remain but where I started with one source per setup there now can be several. And some sources are used in two setups. I'll explain further on. By reference setups, I've explained this in earlier videos on my reference setups. If you heard this before, you can easily skip to the next chapter in the timeline. If not, let me explain. A reviewer needs a fixed setup of equipment to anchor his findings. At least I do. It is therefore important to limit changes in these setups to the bare minimum for it can make comparisons to earlier reviews difficult. At the same time, you need references that are relevant and especially digital audio technology still is improving rapidly. To be clear, the gear I use certainly is amongst the best in its price category, but it is picked also to be practical for me to work with. To make comparisons easier. Since I work from home, space is a premium. Money too, by the way. I can't afford to have a series of setups stepping up in, say, ten steps from low end to high end. So I have to go about this cleverly. This is done by using equipment in more than one setup, like the subwoofer in setup 3. That is more expensive than would be reasonable. But it does give a good impression of what adding a cheaper sub would do to this setup. The same goes for the network player I now use in both setup 2a and setup 1b. Still, I am very careful when replacing equipment, not to lose my reference. Time to go to the setup description, starting at a low end. In setup 3, the amplification is done by the still grade NAD C316BE. This class AB amp is at the most powerful, but combined with the right loudspeakers, it surely sounds great. The now as an MK2 edition out, I still use what now could be called the MK1. The loudspeakers are the Dali Oberon ones that are very friendly loudspeakers, placed on 80's target loudspeaker stands with stack audio over 50 isolators. The RLT5 subwoofer can add deep lows to them if the budget is available. It is connected to the loudspeaker terminals of the NAD using the rail supplied cable. The Ergon audio solo streamer is now replaced by the Wim Pro Plus streamer with iFi Power2 power supply. Including the power supply it costs €105 more, but is more versatile, supports more streaming services and sounds somewhat better. I use it mainly as Roon Endpoint, but it can be used with its own app instead. In the description you find links to reviews of the products I mentioned here. Connection to the network is made over Wi-Fi to a nearby TP-Link deco M4 access point that is part of the mesh network. Alternatively I could use a CAT6 patch cable to the necklace switch in the machine room on the third floor, over which later on more. Setup 3 is located in the studio on the third floor and the equipment is housed in a target rack from the 80's. The setup total price is €2,024 without the subwoofer or €2,923 including the sub. The rail is in a higher class but that makes it possible to use it with my setup 2 as well. A more matching Downey sub C8 costs €400 less and that would add up to €2,523. All prices are including 21% VAT, European sales tax. In for instance the US, prices are excluding sales tax, which would mean €2,085, approximately €2,285. Keep that in mind when comparing prices. Don't be mistaken, this is a very musical setup that has impressed many people it was demonstrated to. Setup 2 is split up in 2A, 2B and 2C. They use the same amplifier, loudspeakers, subwoofer, network switch and cabling. Only the digital front end differs. The Marantz PMKI Perl light that has served me for 15 years is now replaced by the Arkham Radia A25. I refueled it last February and was rather impressed by this powerful yet refined sounding Class G amp. It drives the acoustic energy Radiance 1 loudspeakers connected over Kimber 4PI loudspeaker cable. They are supported by the RELT-5 subwoofer that is connected to the loudspeaker terminals on the Arkham using the cable that came with the sub. The three versions of Setup 2 are placed in the studio at the third floor and the loudspeaker switch places with those in Setup 3 using the same 80s target loudspeaker stands on Stack Audio Ava 50 isolators. The network switch is the Opton Audio Ether Region with Opton Audio UltraCaps 1.2 power supply. The equipment is also housed in the 80s target rack. This set was named 2B up till now but I wanted a wider range of references in this class so it became 2C. The digital front end here is the Blue Sun Note 2i powered by the PD Creative Power supply. The Note already had two later iterations but the sound differences are rather small so I kept the 2i. Without the subwoofer but including the switch, rack, stands and isolators it will set you back slightly over 5000 euros including the sub is 5900 euros including VAT. This is a very good sounding Setup and the use of monitor loudspeakers combined with a sub makes it easier to place. If you use my loudspeaker placement system, first place the subwoofer using the subwoofer placement video and then place the main speakers following the advice for mid-range placement. In this Setup the Avisolo DMP A6 Master Edition with Beatnik LPS-A6 linear power supply is a source. It is connected to the amp of a Siltak London RCA cables and to the switch of a CAT6 patch cable. Compared to Setup 2C there is more resolution, the stereo image is a step deeper and wider, focusing is better and microdynamics are clearly better. Like 2C the stereo pair plus subwoofer makes placement easier especially if you use the high level input on this sub to connect to the loudspeaker terminals of the amp. Excluding the sub but including the switch, stands, cabling and isolators it adds up to 7251 euros including the sub is 8150 euros including VAT. Here the digital source is the Magna Mano Ultra MK3 Farad streamer running Rupee XL while the conversion is done by the Holo Audio Science 2 DAC aboard last month. This combo forms a very good source that borders on the quality of the Setup 2 bass. It has very good time resolution, stereo image, cymbal control and spectral balance. Lowes show fine texture and overall the sound is very relaxed. Without the subwoofer, which you don't want, the price is 8,820 euros with the sub it's almost 10,000 euros including VAT. Setup 1A and 1B also share the amp and loudspeakers. They are placed in the living room on the grand floor. The Airax 520 amplifier drives the PMC FAC12 signature loudspeakers on stack audio over 70 isolators and connected over audio Quest Robinhood Zero loudspeaker cable. The network connection comes from a ZIXL GS 1900-10 HP switch. The equipment is placed in a creative trend 3-3 rack. In 1B the same digital front end is used as in 2A. The Holo Audio Science 2 DAC connected to the amp over Grim Audio SQM cable and the Magna Mano Ultra MK3 Farad streamer running Rupee XL. It is connected to the Holo Audio using I2S over a 25 centimeter 10 inch 4K HDMI cable and to the ZIXL switch over the network Agusix Eno system. This setup is, as a setup, out of balance since the amp and the speakers are clearly of higher quality but it is impossible to have a reference setup in about any class and this setup has proven to let me judge any digital source between the Holo Audio Magna combination and the Grim Audio Mu2 I use in setup 1A. Setup 1B adds up to €53.332 but this front end would combine great with a €5000 amp and a set of speakers of around the same price. That would add up to a setup price of a bit over €20.000. In 1A the digital source is the astonishing Grim Audio Mu2 Roon Server amp player. It replaces the already extremely fine sounding Grim Audio Mu1 cordave combination. As I explained in my video why I am selling the Grim Audio Mu1, the Mu1 is an exceptionally good digital out only player, scaler and Roon server that makes any DAC sound better than with any other digital source, for as far as I have seen up till now. But therefore it doesn't bring you as viewer a realistic judgment of a DAC. See the link for more info. The Grim Audio Mu2, like the Mu1, has a Roon server and a scaler but instead of digital output it has an FPGA DAC integrated and thus analogue outputs. It also has a very high quality analogue preamp integrated. And it is now part of my setup 1. Obviously I can't use it to review other DACs. If my fonts would have been unlimited, I would have kept URLIC-HG2 to function here. But I digress. The Network Acoustic Mu1 Pro network filter only has limited effect on the sound quality of the Grim players, since they have extremely good de-jittering circuits. But since it is beneficiary on other streamers, I keep it in the setup 1A for fair comparison. This setup has an extremely high resolution sound, not digital at all or as I described earlier, it sounds like a studio tape recorder at 38 cm per second, 15 IPS for mids and highs. And like a high quality digital recorder for the lows. It's the best of both worlds. And therefore is my absolute reference. I know now that the original release of famous blue raincoat can sound clean without sharp s-sounds, of which several people supposedly in the know say it's in the recording. Not so. The same goes for URIC by the Knits. Maddox and Englishman by Joe Cocker and Adam Hartmutter by Pink Floyd suddenly sound musical and more open. For now every top and digital player will be judged against this formidable setup. I don't use the Roon server in the Grim. It is Intel i3 based, which is sufficient for somewhat around 4,000 to 5,000 albums while I have 2.5 times that amount. That calls for an i7 based server so I use an i7 based Intel Nock as Roon server. It is the power of Roon that the Grim players can facilitate at Roon. It might all be a bit much, so let's make an overview. Setup 3 uses the Veeam Pro Plus streamer with i5 power 2 power supply, the NADC 316 BE amplifier and the Dali Obron 1 loudspeakers. Optionally the Realty 5 subwoofer can be used. Setup 2C uses the BlueSound Node 2i streamer with PD Creative power supply, the Arkam Radia A25 amplifier, the Acoustic Energy Radiance 1 loudspeakers and the Realty 5 subwoofer. Setup 2B uses the Aversolo DMP-A6 with B-Technique LPS-A6 linear power supply in combination with the same Arkam amp, Acoustic Energy loudspeakers and rail sub. In setup 2A the frontend is the combination of the Magnum Mano Ultra MK3 Farad streamer with the Holo Audio Sion 2D DAC. Amp, speakers and sub again are the same. Setup 1B uses the same digital frontend as 2A, the Magnum Mano Ultra MK3 Farad streamer and the Holo Audio Sion 2 DAC. The amp is the Air Acoustics AX520 and the speakers are the PMC V12 signature. Finally, Setup 1A now has the Grim Audio Mewtwo Player Roon Server Scaler and DAC, which is combined with the Air Amp and PMC loudspeakers. Since our work on both the ground floor and the third floor, there is a comprehensive network setup. On the third floor in the machine room we find the NetGib ProSafe GS418 TPP switch that, using fiber optics, is connected to the Optone Ether-region switch with the Ultra Caps Ultimate 1.2 power supply in the studio and provides the network to setup 2 and 3. It is also connected to the Zigsol GS1900-10 HP switch downstairs over fiber optic connection. From the Zigsol there is a CAT6 to the ZIGO second come internet modem and router that is also situated downstairs. It is further connected to a TP-Link deco M4 Wi-Fi mesh network with one access point on each floor. In the machine room the Intel Noc 10i7 FNH runs Roon Rock on a 128GB M.2 SSD and has the music stored on an internal Samsung 870 EVO 8TB SSD drive. By the way, the only reason to use an internal SSD for the music storage instead of an external USB drive, as I did previously, is that it makes it easier to move the Roon server around. The Noc is connected directly to the NetGib switch over CAT6 patch cable. Next to the Noc is the Synology DS1819 NAS with DX517 extender. It mainly functions as a backup and storage for my work, but is also used for testing DLAS streamers. On the other side of the spectrum I use a 100 euro single drive NAS, the Synology DS119J. It holds a 3TB drive filled with music, which will be more than the average user will have and thus is more realistic for domestic use. But I can use the big NAS as well. The advantage of using a simple NAS is that it consumes less power than a computer and can do all kinds of things, like backups and make files available to, for instance, your smartphone on the road. But the cheap NAS is also slower, of course. The Roon Rock server shares its volume holding the music as Samba share so that alternatively can be used for self-indexing streamers like those by Sonos, Blue Sound and Orelik. It often helps to look at somewhat complex matters with graphics. That was the motivation for making and maintaining this series of videos. The complexity, at the same time, is diversitility, although I do understand it can be hard to imagine what setup variant leads to what sound quality. Talking about quality, although it looks very convenient for you to publish absolute quality ratings, things in audio aren't that simple. If you want to know a bit more about this, you could watch my video Q&A which device is better. Please let me know when things are not clear. But also realize that it's not always a matter of better or worse. There has to be a match with your requirements, wishes and other equipment. Please see the description below this video on YouTube for links to the videos and review views on equipment mentioned here. Which brings me to the end of this video. As usual, there will be a new video next Friday at 5 pm Central European time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to my 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 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 description below this video on YouTube. I'm Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.