This is a review and detailed measurements of the DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core Room Equalizer. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,200. This review is only focused on electronic performance of the device. If I have time, I may test its correction ability later.
There is not a whole lot to look at as far as the design of the Anti-Mode:
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The display is quite tiny but usable if you sit close to it. The back panel shows the good connectivity:
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For this testing, I focused on both analog XLR input and Toslink S/PDIF digital input. There are some lofty statements the company makes about the performance of this unit:
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Well, I qualify as most demanding audiophile
so let's see how the Anti-Mode performs with basic tests.
DSP Audio Measurements
I started my testing by feeding the unit via its XLR input. To my surprise, it complained about 4 volts input causing clipping. That is the nominal level from any desktop DAC so it should have handled it. Anyway, I dialed that down a bit and the warning went away, giving me this outcome:
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As you see, the output level is even lower than input. That is not a huge deal but the problem is the high distortion and noise which combine to give us a poor SINAD of just 83 dB. We are missing CD/streaming 16 bit content's noise floor of 96 dB by a good mile. There is really no excuse for any digital audio product to degrade performance this much.
Hoping this was an ADC problem and not DAC (the input has to be digitized to perform signal processing), I fed the Anti-Mode via its Toslink input:
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We still have a pile of noise and distortion so the DAC is subpar for sure.
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At this point there was no reason to keep going so I stopped.
Conclusions
I have been waiting to test a device from DSPeaker for some 10 years since I saw one functioning at an audio show. I had come close a few times but never succeeded in getting my hands on one. Sadly, the long wait was not worth it. The non-DSP performance of the Anti-Mode 2.0 is unacceptable and anything but "highest performance" as claimed by the company. The company needs to go back and refresh the basics of this device.
Fortunately there is a digital output and assuming the resampling is clean, maybe there is a good use scenario for that.
As is,
I can't recommend the DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 on the basis of its basic performance.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Well, while I did not get to throw a party while my wife was out last night, the panthers did! They trashed the whole house with food scraps everywhere and scratch marks all over the floor. Need to get a professional crew here to clean or hide what they can before my wife comes back. Please
donate what you can
quickly before I get in trouble using
: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/