Any users of the RME ADI-2 DAC?

[audiobomber]

On 2/8/2019 at 2:37 PM, Alan B said:

Thanks @firedogI should have been more detailed in what I was looking for.  From what I have been told there are many options to chose from, filters etc.  I just need a good baseline to start with.  In fact some say not to even go down the road as it is quite confusing.  It really did not matter to me so much as my Ayre QB-9 (96/24) was not capable anyway.  Now that I have the RME ADI-2 coming, I would like to try some DSD.

Could you please provide a listening comparison of the RME with the Ayre?

[greyscale]

Am wondering about the USA warrenty period. The distributor claims 2years. Anyone in the US have warranty information. Would be much appreciated.

[asdf1000]

Hi @Miska

 

Are you planning to get the newer ADI-2 DAC FS ?

 

”The device is now available in a slightly revised version. The use of an AK4493 (previously 4490) improves the signal-to-noise ratio from 117 dB to 120 db (123 dBA). At the same time the distortion decreases by about 10 dB, to a fantastic -120 dB at full digital level. 

The sensational -118 dBu, which resulted in complete freedom from noise at the IEM output, is now even better at -120 dBu. On top there is now an additional headroom of 2.5 dB for the analog outputs XLR, RCA and IEM, which also raises the undistorted intersample peak limit to a generous +4 dBFS. While the basic features and functions of the ADI-2 DAC remain unchanged, the device comes with an extended infrared remote control, the MRC (Multi-Remote-Control) which can remote control up to 4 different future RME devices. Currently only the ADI-2 DAC is supported.

The remote control is an extended version of the previous one, with additional buttons designed for the most commonly used functions, namely switching loudness, parametric EQ, and bass/treble on and off. In addition, there are keys for direct control of bass, treble and balance. With these additional keys, all typically used functions of the device are now directly accessible. The four programmable buttons 1 through 4, a unique feature already of the original remote, can still be programmed with a personal selection of 32 commands/actions.“

[Miska]

4 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

Hi @Miska

 

Are you planning to get the newer ADI-2 DAC FS ?

 

Maybe yes, but no budget for such at the moment, so have to see at some later time.

 

[asdf1000]

On 2/8/2019 at 4:28 PM, Miska said:

The DAC performs especially nice when running at 705.6/768k rates, because then it runs twice higher than what the DAC chip's internal digital filters can do (352.8/384k).

 

Hi Miska

 

I know this DAC performs best when fed DSD256 but I’m not ready to add HPA4 for headphones just yet ($$). This is really the only headamp I would want to add (no channel imbalance issue).

 

So if I feed ADI-2 with PCM768 kHz via HQPe , do you know how this incoming PCM768KHZ will be affected  by ADI-2 DAC’s digital volume control with it’s headphone amp output?

 

If you measure ADI-2 DAC’s headamp output with PCM768KHZ with DAC’s digital volume control  does the output look like your PCM768KHZ measurement or output looks more like your PCM384KHZ measurement?

[Miska]

57 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

I know this DAC performs best when fed DSD256 but I’m not ready to add HPA4 for headphones just yet ($$). This is really the only headamp I would want to add (no channel imbalance issue).

 

At the moment I have Schiit Jotunheim with the ADI-2 Pro and Holo Spring on my office desk. Works pretty nice with the balanced volume control of Jotunheim although it is potentiometer based. I haven't noticed channel balance issues since I'm running Jotunheim in low gain mode to HD800. Of course it is not HPA4, but I'm pretty happy with the current setup.

 

1 hour ago, asdf1000 said:

So if I feed ADI-2 with PCM768 kHz via HQPe , do you know how this incoming PCM768KHZ will be affected  by ADI-2 DAC’s digital volume control with it’s headphone amp output?

 

If you measure ADI-2 DAC’s headamp output with PCM768KHZ with DAC’s digital volume control  does the output look like your PCM768KHZ measurement or output looks more like your PCM384KHZ measurement?

 

The measurement results don't really change. The sample rate is untouched, digital volume control is always in the path for PCM inputs anyway.

 

[asdf1000]

19 minutes ago, Miska said:

balanced volume control of Jotunheim

 

Thanks Jussi!

 

I need read up on what this balanced volume control is.

 

Maybe I will copy you and pair it with ADI-2 DAC

[Miska]

54 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

I need read up on what this balanced volume control is.

 

It's a big four gang Alps pot:

 

So the input signal is not converted to unbalanced form for volume control or such, but stays differential instead.

 

The device also works as a balanced pre-amp for something like active monitors if needed. So a bit like HPA4, but the HPA4 is even better in that respect by having two pairs of balanced inputs.

 

[DeathFugue]

I just bought one and love it! Compared to the DAC in my McIntosh MA9000, it's more transparent, detailed, spacious, and dynamic. Plus, it handles PCM 756K for certain software programs that convert DSD to DSD over PoP

[DeathFugue]

Well now, here's an interesting development. I started to get a bunch of dropouts when playing DSD files on my MacBook, but when I plugged my HP laptop into my MA9000's DAC, they went away and it sounded better...all of the initial improvements plus a bit richer overall. I guess I got a bad one, so I'm returning it and will stick with the MA9000's DAC.

[alpha67]

Hello to all fine audiophile people!

 

I just wanted to say Hi. I am soon to be owner of the RME-ADi2 FS DAC and wanted to ask if there is any advice any of you can offer on setup, configuration and general operation of this fine piece of equipment. I know the learning curve will be a bit steep, but I expected that.

 

I will be using Windows 10 with ASIO driver straight to DAC via USB and than XLR to Active Speakers. More interested in some of your experiences\pitfalls if any...during initial setup and usage.

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

[Bob Stern]

On 5/30/2019 at 4:56 PM, greyscale said:

The distributor claims 2years. Anyone in the US have warranty information.

 

I emailed Synthax, the US importer, and they confirmed 2 years.

[Matias]

It's been almost 2 months with my RME ADI-2 DAC fs v2 and I absolutely love it. Below with his new friends, the Focusrite Scarlet 6i6 2nd gen for home studio connected by digital coax to the RME, and the Apollon nCore NC502MP based power amp.

 

[asdf1000]

Hi @Archimago

 

I see you contributed your measurement here:

 

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=15204112&postcount=2125

 

What do you think of this test? Any flaws or accurate?

 

@Miska you have this RME too.

 

Are these results meaningful?

 

[asdf1000]

On 10/2/2020 at 1:45 AM, Matias said:

It's been almost 2 months with my RME ADI-2 DAC fs v2 and I absolutely love it. Below with his new friends, the Focusrite Scarlet 6i6 2nd gen for home studio connected by digital coax to the RME, and the Apollon nCore NC502MP based power amp.

 

 

I have Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen3 , for 8 channel DSP crossover with HQPlayer.

 

Really love it's performance and Focusrite's Windows and macOS drivers are just as reliable as RME (in my experience).

[Miska]

56 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

What do you think of this test? Any flaws or accurate?

 

@Miska you have this RME too.

 

Are these results meaningful?

 

 

To me, set of numbers that don't make much sense...

 

[asdf1000]

47 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

To me, set of numbers that don't make much sense...

 

 

RME commented on that thread too with similar comment.

[asdf1000]

3 hours ago, Miska said:

 

To me, set of numbers that don't make much sense...

 

 

At least this loopback measurement makes more sense:

 

https://www.audio “science” review/forum/index.php?threads/loopback-measurement-of-rme-adi-2-pro-fs-black-edition.10834/

 

[Miska]

3 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

At least this loopback measurement makes more sense:

 

At least it tells something useful. Of course just one of many aspects.

[pkane2001]

4 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

Hi @Archimago

 

I see you contributed your measurement here:

 

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=15204112&postcount=2125

 

What do you think of this test? Any flaws or accurate?

 

@Miska you have this RME too.

 

Are these results meaningful?

 

These numbers are the RMS of the difference waveform of the original and loopback recordings. These are somewhat useful, but they don’t account for the effect of filters and phase differences. DeltaWave starts with this metric but adds a large number of others to help identify the cause of differences and even their audibility.

[asdf1000]

9 hours ago, pkane2001 said:

These numbers are the RMS of the difference waveform of the original and loopback recordings. These are somewhat useful, but they don’t account for the effect of filters and phase differences.

 

But even the "best" measure around -50dBFS to -60dBFS , in difference between input and measured loopback?

 

If an interface has SINAD of 105dB (1kHz at 0dBFS) for both it's ADC and DAC, how useful is this measurement of -50 dBFS of difference ?

 

[pkane2001]

28 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

But even the "best" measure around -50dBFS to -60dBFS , in difference between input and measured loopback?

 

If an interface has SINAD of 105dB (1kHz at 0dBFS) for both it's ADC and DAC, how useful is this measurement of -50 dBFS of difference ?

 

The best measurements are around -80dBFS (at least on Gearslutz site). The null RMS metric is useful for engineering comparisons between two devices. It tells you how well the original digital track is reproduced by the loopback device using only a few linear operations to match them up (level, offset, and clock drift). It doesn't account for everything, and neither does SINAD. But people like  a single, easy to quote and compare number, and so both metrics persist.

 

A year or so ago, I wanted to run the loopback results from Gearslutz thread through DeltaWave and publish the results with more details than just the null metric. Unfortunately, most of that work was lost in a disk crash.  I'm working on redoing this, and am getting close. Until then, anyone can just download the available loopback files and use DeltaWave to generate other metrics and graphical representations of the error(s).

 

I recently added a new, perceptual error metric that should be a bit more descriptive than RMS null as far as audibility is concerned.

 

[asdf1000]

1 hour ago, pkane2001 said:

The best measurements are around -80dBFS (at least on Gearslutz site). 

 

Ah yes I missed the Eventide at the top of the list. There's quite the gap between that and the rest.

 

Lynx and Merging HAPI were top of the list for quite a while

 

[pkane2001]

1 hour ago, asdf1000 said:

 

Ah yes I missed the Eventide at the top of the list. There's quite the gap between that and the rest.

 

Lynx and Merging HAPI were top of the list for quite a while

 

 

Here's an example of ADI-2 Pro loopback. As reported on Gearslutz thread (and when using DeltaWave with simple linear corrections) the result is -53.9dBFS for the left channel:

 

Sharp DA - Sharp AD : -53.9 dBFS (L)

 

If I ask DeltaWave to correct for non-linear phase and frequency differences, I get this RMS null: (-92dBFS!)

 

 

You can see that while the phase isn't hugely different, yet it's enough to cause the simpler RMS null calculation to produce an apparently unexciting, average-looking result of -54dB. When phase is adjusted for (the result is the horizontal straight line) then the RMS null becomes a much more impressive -92dBFS.

 

[Andy-HandyHifi]

Thank you Paul, sir.  Most enlightening on this subject.  

 

I orginally owned the RME DAC only FS version with the older version of the AK chip.  I bought another DAC that was considerably more expensive (but still under $3000) that rendered the need for the RME moot.  I had read articles calling the RME the best DAC under 5k, the giant killer etc.  Not exactly.  It is a DAMN fine DAC, and even though my new reference DAC does not leave me with regrets, I did regret selling the RME especially after the AKM factory fire.  

 

So I found the ADI-2 PRO FS-R brand new for LESS than retail and had to have it.  So now I am in DAC heaven haha.  Two great DACs and I will listen to whichever depending on the mood and the headphone of choice.  

 

But another reason I bought the RMA AD/DA is to take advantage of the new Analog Precision software ASIO package. 

 

It won't be the same as the 'real deal' but along with the RME should still make for a damn fine measurement system this side of the real deal.  

 

Intention is to measure the plethora of inexpensive yet powerful DACs flying out of Asia like SMSL Topping, etc.  on my review blog.  The RME is more that good enough I think to capture the differences and of course the measurements will be internally consistent.