RME LNI-2 DC Filter and DPS-2 Power Supply

[The Computer Audiophile]

Anyone seen these yet or used one?

 

LNI-S  - manual (PDF)

DPS-2  - manual (PDF)

 

 

[Aspirant Audiophile]

This is not a criticism of RME (I love my RME ADI-2 FS), but has Matthias found a way to reconcile the existence of these products with his repeated remarks over several years that external power supplies and the like do not offer any appreciable difference in sound quality? It is Matthias I believe who has used the term 'audiofools' to describe people who buy these products...of course, that was before the products were sold and marketed by RME.

 

I have no intention of selling my ADI DAC, so I'm keen to learn more :)

[semente]

10 hours ago, Aspirant Audiophile said:

This is not a criticism of RME (I love my RME ADI-2 FS), but has Matthias found a way to reconcile the existence of these products with his repeated remarks over several years that external power supplies and the like do not offer any appreciable difference in sound quality? It is Matthias I believe who has used the term 'audiofools' to describe people who buy these products...of course, that was before the products were sold and marketed by RME.

 

I have no intention of selling my ADI DAC, so I'm keen to learn more :)

 

From what I understand these have been designed to address noise issues.

Matthias Carstens has posted the following on A S R:

 

"The leakage current of the ADI's external power supply runs to ground, whereever it finds one. With nothing connected you (your body) is the ground. The phones are in the way and therefore emit audible hum. Touching the chassis short-circuits the path of the leakage current, so it won't flow over the headphones anymore. Solution is the same as always: either connect a grounded device to the ADI, or directly connect it to ground.

Because of cases like yours we changed the power supplies to grounded ones. But as we have a lot of stock currently only the 2/4 Pro comes with it. And even that one will fail in case your power outlets don't have PE/ground (like many in Japan, Thailand...).

The last resort (if someone is unwilling or unable to connect it to a solid ground) is the use of a linear power supply. Their leakage current is basically free of harmonics and therefore typically inaudible."

 

"Ground issues, a ground loop, or no ground aka leakage current issues, or leakage with wrong grounding - all this could be cured by a linear power supply. But this is noise that shouldn't be there and is clearly audible as such. It's not some mysterious bass, mid, treble, soundstage, veiled issue. A different ps will not change the basic sound of an ADI-2 unit at all."

[Aspirant Audiophile]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:15 PM, semente said:

 

From what I understand these have been designed to address noise issues.

Matthias Carstens has posted the following on A S R:

 

"The leakage current of the ADI's external power supply runs to ground, whereever it finds one. With nothing connected you (your body) is the ground. The phones are in the way and therefore emit audible hum. Touching the chassis short-circuits the path of the leakage current, so it won't flow over the headphones anymore. Solution is the same as always: either connect a grounded device to the ADI, or directly connect it to ground.

Because of cases like yours we changed the power supplies to grounded ones. But as we have a lot of stock currently only the 2/4 Pro comes with it. And even that one will fail in case your power outlets don't have PE/ground (like many in Japan, Thailand...).

The last resort (if someone is unwilling or unable to connect it to a solid ground) is the use of a linear power supply. Their leakage current is basically free of harmonics and therefore typically inaudible."

 

"Ground issues, a ground loop, or no ground aka leakage current issues, or leakage with wrong grounding - all this could be cured by a linear power supply. But this is noise that shouldn't be there and is clearly audible as such. It's not some mysterious bass, mid, treble, soundstage, veiled issue. A different ps will not change the basic sound of an ADI-2 unit at all."

What's interesting about these quotes is that the head of RME continually talks "around" his earlier repeated claims that none of these products demonstrate any improved listener sound quality. 

 

I've read the "news" about these products. All of the reviews are press releases, nothing more. None of them explicitly state anything about improvements in SQ; rather, they all imply that the products were created to fill a consumer interest gap for something that isn't actually needed by anyone with human ears.

 

Happy to be proven wrong, but RME isn't messaging the product consistently. 

[semente]

13 hours ago, Aspirant Audiophile said:

What's interesting about these quotes is that the head of RME continually talks "around" his earlier repeated claims that none of these products demonstrate any improved listener sound quality. 

 

I've read the "news" about these products. All of the reviews are press releases, nothing more. None of them explicitly state anything about improvements in SQ; rather, they all imply that the products were created to fill a consumer interest gap for something that isn't actually needed by anyone with human ears.

 

Happy to be proven wrong, but RME isn't messaging the product consistently. 

 

My understanding is that these products do not, in RME's view, improve sound quality.

They are useful to address noise issues, particularly in measurement applications.

[yamamoto2002]

If you have the hum noise issue with existing ADI-2 audio measurement setup caused by AC power line problems, DPS-2 is one of the solution. ADI-2 accepts 9 to 15V DC power, there are other methods something like using generic V-mount battery, generic 12V litium battery or car battery.

[Superdad]

On 4/25/2024 at 12:03 AM, Aspirant Audiophile said:

This is not a criticism of RME (I love my RME ADI-2 FS), but has Matthias found a way to reconcile the existence of these products with his repeated remarks over several years that external power supplies and the like do not offer any appreciable difference in sound quality? It is Matthias I believe who has used the term 'audiofools' to describe people who buy these products...of course, that was before the products were sold and marketed by RME.

 

Well we have been selling our JS-2 LPS to RME users for many years. And those folks have not been shy about reporting audible improvements. Chord is another manufacturer who scoffs at the benefits of a fine linear supply--yet there are people modifying their $14K DAVE to run from an external PS. 

 

It's funny, I just read the rather roundabout technical description in the User Guide of the DPS-2 and see they have adopted the DC-choke filter technique (as used in JS-2 since 2014).

Still, $1,300 for a single output (has 2 outputs but only one usable at a time), fixed 12V, 2.5A max supply seems a bit rich. But the market does seem to be creeping and leaping upwards a lot these days...

[Archimago]

On 4/27/2024 at 3:35 PM, yamamoto2002 said:

If you have the hum noise issue with existing ADI-2 audio measurement setup caused by AC power line problems, DPS-2 is one of the solution. ADI-2 accepts 9 to 15V DC power, there are other methods something like using generic V-mount battery, generic 12V litium battery or car battery.

 

Yup. As discussed about 5 years ago, sometimes one can run into issues with the power supply when running measurements and can use a battery. Presumably the new linear PS can help.