 De € 599 Antimode X2 Room Correction System by DS Speakers was just introduced when I visited de mooie geluidroom at the Dutch Audio Event last September and before I knew it, it was on its way to me for a review. I didn't know the brand but since Room Correction can do great things in affordable stereos and given the price, I was rather interested. De Antimode X2 is a system that promises to reduce acoustic problems when measuring the acoustics using the supplied microphone once and calculating the needed filters. How is it to be used? You need an amplifier, power amplifier or receiver. Connect to it a pair of loudspeakers. The Antimode X2 is to be connected to the line inputs of the amp over RCA cables. It needs a digital or analog source, for instance a CD player with either analog outputs or a digital output on spidive or tostlink. Spidive is the preferred choice here. Alternatively a network player can be the source. Again the connection to the Antimode X2 can be over analog or digital. The network player needs to be connected to your router over the network. The same network can be used for your computer or NAS as a source for the network player. Network players are usually controlled using a tablet or smartphone. If you have a subwoofer, that can be connected to the Antimode X2 and will be part of the Room Correction measurements. This connection is over a single RCA cable. The Antimode X2 has a small metal housing, measuring 126 x 80 x 28 mm and weighs 0.3 kg. On the front left the 3.5 mm input jack for the supplied measurement microphone. Further to the right the matrix display made from 70 LEDs. On the right the power LED. Looking at the rear and left we see the 12 volt DC power input, a wallward power supply that comes with the unit. Then the USB A connector, that is to be used for updating the unit using a USB stick. The USB C connector, next to it, is the input you can connect to your computer. It adheres to the USB audio profile 1 and thus is isogranis a limited to 96 kHz. Then 3 analogue outputs, a subwoofer out and left and right out. Next to it the analogue left and right inputs, of which the right one doubles as a spittive input, so you have to choose between the analogue input and the spittive input. To the right the optical tostlink input. Both spittive and tostlink accept digital signals up to 192 kHz 24 bit. Later on screwing the rear panel, the circuit board easily slides out. On the left here some electronics that cleans up and stabilizes the incoming power to the required voltages. The large VLSI chip here properly does the digital interfacing and display control via the driver here. The matrix display is mounted on a vertical board. It looks like the digital signal processing is done in this VLSI chip. In het begin ik kon niet vinden informatie op deze chip, maar VLSI produceert systemen op de chip-producten en chips voor audio decoding, zodat DSP is niet ver af. De digital to analogue conversion is done met de Burr-Brown PCM1754, een 24 bit 192 kHz DAC chip. De analogue inputs zijn converterd tot digital met de Burr-Brown PCM1808 ADC, dat is capabel of 24 bits at 48 kHz of 96 kHz. Analogue amplification is done met Texas Instruments op Amps. Sinds de anti-mode X2 has no controls, is it fully controlled from the remote control. When it is connected to the mains using the supplied wallboard, the standby button starts it up. After some display messages, the input through a single character and the volume level is displayed. O55 stands for optical at volume level 55 below zero. C34 means coax aka spittif at volume level minus 33. Changing the input is done here and the volume is adjusted with these two functions. In het centrum is a menu button that, like all buttons here, has other functions too. There is a three-band equalizer that can be set by the user after pressing this button. Bass and treble are shelving and the center frequency of the mid-range EQ can be varied. Three sound profiles can be stored and selected using this button. The mute button also doubles as an EQ bypass button. It all sounds more complicated than it is and it is very well described in the English manual. A Dutch manual is supplied in the Dutch-speaking region while English, German, Suomi and Dutch manuals can be downloaded as PDF from the manufacturer's site. See the description below this video in YouTube. Anti-mode is the name of the room correction algorithm and that is very easy to use. After you connected the anti-mode X2 and checked it played music, you adjust the amplifier level to loud. Then plug in the microphone. This stops the music. Now select whether you want 2.0 or 2.1, meaning without or with the subwoofer connected to the sub out. Next you set the loudness level using the remote control and checking the instructions in the display. Make sure that there are no noisy devices audible in the room and then press OK on the remote. Two times a slow gliding tone becomes audible and after that the display instructs you to disconnect the mic. It's all done in a few minutes after which the room correction is set and the music can be played again. Over time I have learned that room correction is balancing between the quality of your stereo, the acoustics of your room, your loudspeaker placement and the quality of the digital signal processing used for room correction. In general in my reference setup 1A, processing often does more harm than a potential acoustic problem does. In my old system 1B, with the Audio Note Soro SE amp, the Mitek Brooklyn DAC and the Audio Physics Scorpio loudspeakers, the Mini DSP SHD Studio did really improve the sound quality. The room was the same and the placing of the speakers was just as optimal. I noticed that when the resolution of the equipment gets better and time spinning gets lower, acoustic problems diminish or even almost disappear while the limitations of the signal processing become more obvious. On the other end of the scale, the less resolution the equipment has, the bigger the acoustic problems become while the limitations of the signal processing are below the resolution of the equipment. It's a bit like stability programs for cars. It was needed to keep the Mercedes A-class from tumbling over, while a Lotus Elise keeps stable without. The Anti-Mode X2 was connected to the Marantz KI Pearl Lite over Siltec London RCA cables. It drives the acoustic energy radians 1 loudspeaker over Kimber 4PI loudspeaker cable. They are supported by the RELT-C5 subwoofer that is connected to the sub-out of the Anti-Mode X2. I also connected the sub to the loudspeaker terminals of the Marantz amp, which gave similar results. The digital source is the LOUS bridge signature with LO shanty power supply. It uses rupee rune endpoint software. It is connected to the Ether regen switch over a CAT6 patch cable. The equipment is housed in a target rack. The Anti-Mode X2 has no digital outputs, so the quality of the internal digital to analog conversion defines the sound quality. That is for an important part defined by jitter. Jitter can be caused by a poor clock oscillator, a poor power supply and a poor input signal. Here the advantage is that the signal passes through a digital signal processor that, depending on the design, can reduce jitter. I think this is the case here since given its price, the sound quality is rather good. There is no digital sharpness and surveillance is very well controlled once the Anti-Mode X2 has been burned in. It gives a fast stereo image with a good focus. When the Anti-Mode is switched on, the sound opens up further. Even while in my studio the placement of my setup to loudspeakers is already good and the empty carton boxes of my equipment placed on the Veeder works like a bass trap. I scale in the Anti-Mode X2 halfway my reference setup to B. Replacing the Woolward power supply with an S-booster, 12 volt version, does give further improvement in sound quality. The speakers manage to make a room correction system that is rather affordable and easy to operate. It can also take away the, for some people, difficult task of adjusting the subwoofer. Of course there are other products around, but check out if the measurement microphone is included. I have seen DRAC systems for about the same price that come without the advised 110 euro measuring microphone. DRAC is more elaborate in setting up, but also offers more fine tuning. The Anti-Mode X2 is a lot easier to setup and might offer enough room correction for a large group of people not interested in the tech side of things. Spending 600 euros on a room correction system, if you own a stereo of the level equal or below that of my setup to B, usually will be a good investment. And with that thought I leave you. I'll be back next Friday at 5pm 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 linked 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 on YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on the hbproject.com. En whatever you do, I enjoy the music.