DSPeaker X4 finally out

[adamdea]

The DSpeaker x4 is finally out. Its arrival  has been announced as imminent for 2 years or so. 

https://webstore.vlsi.fi/epages/vlsi.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/2015020901/Products/"Anti-Mode X4%2C Audio Processor%2C Country of Origin%3A FI%2C Taric%3A 85437006"

 

I'm a big fan of the antimode which is a perfectly decent dac and adc with room correction and all sorts of bells and whistles for a very modest price. The X4 is about 4 times the price. It has more inputs (good) and a headphone out with some fancy dsp to (probably good) but its not clear what extra it brings to the party. One would like to think that the room correction algorythm was much better but the manual does not give much away. If it were comparable in price to the antimode I would be all over it like a rash but I see this as a competent dac/adc* plus about £2k or software, which had better be good.

 

If anything my gripe with the antimode was that its drc is a bit too automated. You can tweak other bits of the dsp but there's not a whole lots you can do to analyse the antimode's room sweep (cf what you can see in REW)

 

Anyway if anyone has seen this product or knows anyone who has heard or reviewed it do let me know.  

 

* this is not me damning it with faint praise that's about as far as my interest goes. 

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Thanks adamdea

Im quite interested in DRC as I have a problem with room mode. No doubt, The product like DSpeaker x4 is very interesting and useful, however, I dont want to sell my existing DAC, or to be more precise, I want to use seperate DAC, as my concern is DSpeaker x4 DAC quality. For the last 2 years, I have been using Bricasti M1 DAC which is quite great for 5k-league (Im gonna buy DAVE to upgrade)

 

It could be great is there is a DRC device with usb INPUT and OUTPUT (DSD-enable), so tha I can use that to feed my DAC

 

Thanks

[adamdea]

Don’t know. Should be possible with an ordinary pc in line. Perhaps the x4 can do. The dspeaker antimode can do with optical. 

[Kal Rubinson]

On 2/5/2018 at 12:15 PM, adamdea said:

Anyway if anyone has seen this product or knows anyone who has heard or reviewed it do let me know.  

I've been promised one for review but, to date, I have not received it.  Looks like a useful device, especially for those that do not use a PC in their system.

[adamdea]

9 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

I've been promised one for review but, to date, I have not received it.  Looks like a useful device, especially for those that do not use a PC in their system.

Absolutely. What I'm really interested in is whether the software has been advanced over that in the antimode. The price hike is very considerable (about 4-500%), taking one into trinnov/DEQX territory. For that I would want a lot more than one gets with the antimode.

[Kal Rubinson]

2 hours ago, adamdea said:

Absolutely. What I'm really interested in is whether the software has been advanced over that in the antimode. The price hike is very considerable (about 4-500%), taking one into trinnov/DEQX territory. For that I would want a lot more than one gets with the antimode.

I agree.  My original attraction was its support for multiple subs but whatever it is, we will not know until somebody one actually has one.

[RZangpo2]

For me, the x4 has at least three advantages over the Anti-Mode 2.0:

 

1. Digital output sample rate same as input rate, not reduced to 48k.

2. Coaxial digital input; no more fussing with toslink cables (and in my case, elimination of AES/EBU -> toslink converter box).

3. Active crossover between sub and main speakers (the Anti-Mode 2.0 doesn't have this).

[Kal Rubinson]

4 hours ago, RZangpo2 said:

Digital output sample rate same as input rate, not reduced to 48k.

Up to 192kHz or DSD128 over DoP.

[RZangpo2]

And also ...

 

4. Better specifications as a DAC/preamp, meaning possibly better sound.

[navrsale]

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify the msrp of $4000

[thyname]

Can you still use your existing DAC with the X4, while at the same time avoiding double D/A/D/A convertion?

[adamdea]

On 8/10/2018 at 10:59 AM, thyname said:

Can you still use your existing DAC with the X4, while at the same time avoiding double D/A/D/A convertion?

Presumably - it has coax and optical s/pdif out. But if you aren't using it as a dac then it seems worse as a value for money proposition.

[pre]

My X4 use case would be following - is this supported?

 

- use predefined sound profile B  in X4

- X4 in power up/ switch on to have  profile B always  as default profile (safe way ht-by pass)

- have always a fixed volume level connected to that profile B ( ht-bypas mode)

- use coaxial digital input for L + R  as  24bit  192k  or use the  usb digi input as  source  b

- have  2  active subs or 2 passive diy  subs coneected into sub XLRs using the fixed volume level

- have main L + R  speakers connected via coax digi out using the fixed volume level

- operate x4  sub dsp  filtering / active cross over to subs and  main L + R   up to 270Hz

- peq set up as where necessa  for small  fixes

 

Someone having experiences of above use case with X4  ?

 

This X4   set-up should be the 2ch stereo system connected and used as part of   7.2.2   HT - system .

 

[pre]

Maybe to add, that are 4 separately located  subs supported anyhow in connectivity to x4?

This might help to make bigger sweet spot for bass.

[pre]

 X4  supports digital HT bypass (switch off/on keeps the desired volume level - not exactly like the original wish but  good enough), It also feeds  the main speaker signal through the digital out   and at the same time via the xlr analog main out.   Support for multiple subs (0.4)  is coming and remote configuration management also. And like always it takes some time.

[pre]

 March 19th 2019:  an interview  from X4  lead designer  - with English subtitles:

Honest revealing story  why it took so long to have X4 ready and pass the quality requirements.

 

 

And the quick review of the  X4

 

 

[pre]

Stereophile music round 97: X4

https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-97-hegel-c53-dspeaker-anti-mode-x4-page-2

 

The 0.4  version alpha firmware is available  to adjust 4x subs .

http://www.dspeaker.com/fileadmin/software/dspeaker/20190308Alpha.zip