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Article: RME ADI-2 DAC FS Review


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3 hours ago, feelingears said:

Nice quick review, thank you. Since DACs aren’t just their chip choice, I wonder why you chose not to throw in another well-known DAC in the $1000 price range as another point of common comparison?

 

Also, I’m curious about how you find tweaking the sound via EQ to help—I know the answer seems to be “yes!” and I wonder if this is practical for song to song adjustments, or if it’s really more for “album listening?”

 

Thanks again.

 

I agree that DACs aren't all about chip choice, though I do tend to think chips influence, if not wholly determine, a DAC's general sound. I didn't pick another well-known $1k DAC simply because I didn't have one on hand. (I love DACs, but there are limits to my collection! Haha.) But I tend to think that comparing a DAC (or amp, pair headphones, etc.) to ones that are positioned similarly but at price points above and below can be instructive. Often, it's the case that price doesn't map onto sound. It happened to roughly be the case in this review, but I hope readers can compare each DAC's combination of price/sound/features in evaluating whether the RME (or one of the others) is right for them. As I hope is clear, I don't think any is a "bad" choice (and I hope to have a full review of the Solaris up at some point).

 

In terms of the EQ, I don't know that I'd want to adjust it song-to-song by manipulating the parametric EQ. (It's easy to get the hang of, but the navigation and adjustment would take a little time between songs.) However, the RME allows for 20 EQ presets, so you could easily cycle through your pre-created EQ options -- one for songs with too little sub-bass, ones for too little mid-bass, etc. -- to find one right for that particular song's flaws.

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8 hours ago, Bill_G said:

"If someone claims that he or she can hear differences between “properly designed” DACs, two questions inevitably, and quickly, follow: Was the listening level matched? Was the listening blind? If the answers to both questions are “yes,”..."

Of course they would have heard a difference in the devices. The reason? 
Massdrop Airist R2R DAC is spraying harmonic distortion all over the place. As a matter of fact, you could have hardly picked a poorer example to make your point! 

 

There actually are multiple blind DAC tests in that thread that don’t include the Airist (which I’ll be reviewing here soon). Plus, as many “objectivist” over at ASR have noted, even the “poor” measuring Airist’s flaws are below the threshold of audibility for nearly all reasonable use cases. 

 

As I said in the beginning of my review, if one doesn’t think it’s possible for DACs above a certain theshold to sound different, I’d suggest buying the Modi 3 and not reading my reviews. 

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2 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

 

 

were those 2 things done for this RME review?

 

BTW, Rajiv laid out a nice list of why different DACs might sound different - if you search under his username, or for "sticky" and mine you'll find it

 

My vote goes for analog stages in the DAC...

 

I'll look for that list (or, if you're able, please post a link here!).

 

As I mention in a footnote, I matched the DACs' levels to within .2 dB, but I didn't do any blind testing. In that past, I've done blind testing of DACs before and heard differences beyond chance. (I've also done things like get my hearing professional tested, completed hearing training courses, etc. that most people who claim to care about "audio science" don't bother with.) But, as the reaction over at ASR to SBAF's extensive blind testing shows, it doesn't matter if the testing is blind, people who don't believe "properly designed" DACs can sound different will still reject the results. It's ultimately not worth the trouble, IMO. That's why I suggested (very seriously and non-snarkily) at the top of the review that people who don't think "properly designed" DACs can sound different stop reading and instead by a Modi 3 or similarly cheap "perfect" measuring DAC.

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2 hours ago, Bill_G said:


Ahh, no! The flaws present in the DAC are well within the audible range of human hearing. Now they may not sound particularly harsh due to masking, but they'll definitely influence what one hears. Everyone over at ASR isn't an experienced audio scientist or engineer. 

What's up with the quotes around certain words? If you're trying to make some sort of point with them, I fail to see what it is, and it comes across as a bit juvenile quite frankly. If you're trying to inform us that you're a "subjectivist", I already figured that one out for myself. The lack of understanding in regards engineering of a DAC was readily apparent from the very beginning of the review. However, you're not alone in that, as the vast majority of"audiophile" reviewers are technologically illiterate as well.  

 

Note I said “all reasonable use case” (meaning: listening to music in a normal setting). While everyone at ASR isn’t an engineer, many claim to be, and even more claim that they understand engineering in a way that mere foolish “audiophiles” do not. Moreover, even Amir has said that the flaws in DACs that measure as “poorly” (or worse) than the Airist produce “audible effects [that] are subtle to non-existent.”

 

I put terms that aren’t my own (and that I’d prefer we didn’t use) in quotes. I don’t believe in the oppositional dichotomy of “subjectivist” and “objectivist.” I’d prefer a synthesis between the two. I value measurements immensely. But I also don’t think six or seven graphs can tell us all we need to know about how a piece of equipment will sound. 

 

I’d also be fascinated to know what in my first paragraphs demonstrated to you that I’m “technologically illiterate.” I’m guessing it’s that I indicated that I don’t agree that all “properly designed” DACs sound alike. In that case, I’ve already given you my polite suggestion of what to do: stop reading, go buy a Modi 3, and stop worrying about DACs forever. 

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46 minutes ago, dmac6419 said:

You know this DAC  measure really high,I've been an Audiophile since the 5th grade,but lets be honest this dac is better than anything your sponsors have to offer.

 

I know it measures well (said so in my review). Unfortunately, however, I don’t have any sponsors. I’m accepting offers, though!

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44 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Unfortunately, "no one has ever heard a difference” is just as valid a comment as "DACs do sound different" since there has been no valid testing done.

 

I know you are certain of your listening results (just as I know that you re an excellent listener, and excellent at verbalizing the differences you perceive).   But at least single blind testing is critical to establish the proposition.

 

Until BAS or someone does this, consumers are left to do their own testing (which they'd have to do anyway for a specific make/model).

 

OTOH, you might also give listening impressions on whether the differences you perceive among DACs are generally greater or less than among various different masterings...

 

I am using terms like heard & perceived; listening comparison vs. listening tests carefully in the above...

 

Well, as I said, my experience certainly has been that even when people (such as Marv, in the SBAF links) go to great lengths to conduct proper blind tests, they’re dismissed as “invalid.” 

 

IMO, it would be wonderful to not hear differences. I’d love to believe that a sub-$100 DAC or headphone amp is the absolute best there is. If anything, my inherent cheapness and class warrior politics biases me to always give inexpensive products every benefit of the doubt in listening. (Indeed, way back when I got into the hobby, I was convinced that many differences I now hear didn’t exist. Then I experienced better gear, improved my listening skills...)

 

As I said in the review, I think people who don’t believe there are (and/or can’t hear) differences between DACs should simply buy one of the good cheap DACs out there and be happy, without also calling everyone who disagrees morons and harassing them. Whatever time they’re saving by not having to look further for DACs, they’re wasting by yelling at people online who disagree.  

 

In terms of masterings versus DACs, by and large masterings make much bigger differences. The difference between a poorly transfered, poorly EQ’d, or squashed mastering and one that does all three well is drastic. That said, there are certain masterings that are so close in quality where a change in DAC might be more audible (two really good flat transfers of a great master tape, etc.). But in the average mix of masterings I look at for my column, the difference between the best and worse mastering is much bigger than the difference between the Modi 3 and Solaris, in terms of immediate, unsubtle audibility. (OTOH, picking a better mastering improves one album, where picking a better DAC improves your whole collection.)

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9 hours ago, wgscott said:

This would have been a much better review if paragraphs 2 and 3 and the first sentence of paragraph 4 were omitted.  As it stands, they detract and distract from the review.

 

That's a fair point. I considered not even addressing the so-called "subjectivist" versus "objectivist" divide at all, but considering that this is my first DAC review, I thought it was worth saying something about it, rather than just ignoring it. The fact that this is the DAC for the ASR crowd seemed to increase the necessity of addressing it, too, at least in my mind. But now that that's out of the way, my future DAC reviews won't bother with that preamble.

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9 hours ago, wgscott said:

I have the same DAC as one of the most unapologetically subjectivist people that posts here.

 

Out of curiosity, what DAC and what member? 

 

As I said above, I don't think of myself as solely "subjectivist" or "objectivist," and I certainly think that people are allowed to believe what they want. My preamble was an attempt to flag for self-identified objectivists that my review would involve my subjective impressions (like @austinpop's reviews and others') and to politely suggest not to read on if that's not their cup of tea. Unfortunately, judging by the reaction to this review by the ASR crowd, that didn't matter.

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8 hours ago, andrewinukm said:

I don't know why people who dismisses observational reviews (reviews based on individual listening), and insists on measurements plus bias-controlled-test come here and demands for all kinds of nonsense. They have their playground at ASR, go have fun there.

 

 

Please share a little more about the hearing training courses.

 

Harman How to Listen is the classic. The Sound Gym site is also great. I've used both. The only downside is that the Harman is a desktop app and the Sound Gym tends to work best on desktop. But there are also some good, if less full-featured, apps to use on smartphones and tablets. HearEQ, Quiztones, and StudioEars are my favorites. 

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1 hour ago, plissken said:

 

What is 'a certain threshold'?

 

I'd suggest purchasing a DAC that gets as close as it gets to reconstructing the source material.

 

You’d have to ask the ASR crowd what that threshold is for them. According to Amir’s reviews, DACs that measure much “worse” than any mentioned in this review are audible identical to “perfect” DACs in his blind listening.

 

Personally, I think Marv’s SBAF post (linked as “realist” in my review) comes closer to the truth. 

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  • 5 months later...
1 hour ago, ArthurOtt said:

You lost me when you said you're using a crApple Mac Mini as a source. I you don't have a proper, purpose-built network bridge/streamer you shouldn't be reviewing DACs or file-based audio at all. 


I didn’t specify this in my review, but all of my DACs are plugged into a CalDigit TS3+ thunderbolt interface, which is in turn hooked up to my Mac Mini. However, I don’t think it impacts sound so much as stability, and I’m puzzled as to what you think is necessary for a DAC to work properly. I can assure you than many albums today are recorded with modest audio interfaces plugged directly into a Mac, many of the DAC measurements one finds online are done via analyzers attached directly to a Mac or PC, and many of the DAC reviews in places like Stereophile are carried out with the DAC hooked up to a Mac or PC via USB. Most DACs today should have sufficient jitter rejection that a dedicated source isn’t necessary, since that’s not most people’s use case. Moreover, I have several well-measuring USB to SPDIF converters on hand, including a Schiit Eitr and Matrix X-SPDIF2, which I try to see if the sound through them into the DAC is superior to the sound through the DAC’s own USB input. 

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  • 1 month later...
3 hours ago, ArthurOtt said:

PCs and crApple Mac Minis are not audio devices and they were not designed to be audio components. Buy a purpose-built streamer/bridge and get all of that noise and jitter out of your system. If you use a good streamer/bridge you don't need other devises and additional cables in your signal path that are trying to clean up the garbage you're dumping into your digital signal path from your PC/MAC. What's the point of upgrading your DAC if you're using a shit source?


I’d recommend checking this post out:

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/12/measurements-intel-i7-pc-and-raspberry.html

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  • 2 years later...

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