RME ADI-2 FS Version 2 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[Trell]

I have owned every version of the RME ADI-2 (both AKM versions, the latest ESS & the Pro AKM). They all sound exactly the same. Pro has double the power. Buy whichever one you find without hesitation or reservation. All sound amazing.

To make a little fun at your expense: How is that USB connection working out for you with the ADI-2 FS with no USB?

I’ll show myself out the door, thank you!

 

[04gto]

To make a little fun at your expense: How is that USB connection working out for you with the ADI-2 FS with no USB?

I’ll show myself out the door, thank you!

.........

 

[LNeilB]

I have owned every version of the RME ADI-2 (both AKM versions, the latest ESS & the Pro AKM). They all sound exactly the same. Pro has double the power. Buy whichever one you find without hesitation or reservation. All sound amazing.

Thank you for that!

My unit is arriving tomorrow. Digging into the manual ahead of time to try to get a handle on operation and settings.
It's a tad intimidating.

 

[LNeilB]

Mine arrived today. Sounds better out of the box than the NAD M51 and McIntosh D100 that I have been using. Thanks to all who helped push me over the edge to buy this. Only wish I had found it sooner.

 

[DonDish]

Congrats! RME is power to the people!

 

[LNeilB]

Congrats! RME is power to the people!

Thank you sir! Quick question for you - is it just me or are the green and cyan screens pretty close in color? I selected cyan and see little difference from green.

 

[sonitus mirus]

Thank you sir! Quick question for you - is it just me or are the green and cyan screens pretty close in color? I selected cyan and see little difference from green.

They are very similar and many people have difficulty identifying between them, especially men. Try adjusting the LCD Brightness setting, and you might notice more of a difference. I use 20% in a relatively dark room.

I was using amber, because I thought it looked cool and matched my room better; however, it was discovered that with the meter at amber and using the Dual Horizontal meters, I was unable to see any "warning" levels that were approaching clipping, as the meter was already using the color to indicate this as amber. Same issue with the red meter for the clipping level. I changed it back to green due to this behavior.

 

[LNeilB]

They are very similar and many people have difficulty identifying between them, especially men. Try adjusting the LCD Brightness setting, and you might notice more of a difference. I use 20% in a relatively dark room.

I was using amber, because I thought it looked cool and matched my room better; however, it was discovered that with the meter at amber and using the Dual Horizontal meters, I was unable to see any "warning" levels that were approaching clipping, as the meter was already using the color to indicate this as amber. Same issue with the red meter for the clipping level. I changed it back to green due to this behavior.

Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to know I don't have to send this back.
Killed brightness as soon as I hooked it up. Good recommendation, thank you.

 

[Trell]

Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to know I don't have to send this back.
Killed brightness as soon as I hooked it up. Good recommendation, thank you.

If you’ve not done so already you can update the firmware on it as you might not have the latest.

 

[jhaider]

And it's amazing. I have the RCA out going to a little Yamaha amp, and plug my Aeon 2 Noire's into the front of the ADI-2 DAC.
Completely different volume/eq (I've actually got the RCA out volume locked now, so I can just use the amp for volume control). So convenient.
Bravo RME.

I recently picked up one of these for my desk - initially solely because I wanted loudness compensation for headphones. Otherwise I was very happy with my previous setup - Quedlix 5K into Monoprice Monolith THX 887. But loudness compensation was worth the current sale price to me, as a hearing protection measure. I'm quickly realizing that along with a fairly steep initial learning curve, this device has some really incredible functionality.

So if I'm reading the manual and this post right, one can:
1) Set the volume levels for each output independently, and it will remember the previous setting.
2) Set EQ and loudness separately for each output, and it will remember the previous setting.
3) Set it to auto-prioritize inputs, i.e. automatically turn XLR off and switch to the headphone settings when you plug in headphones

To back up a bit, my nearfield setup is a miniDSP Studio with two separate DACs; one for mains and one for subs. If I'm reading this right, ADI-2 DAC FS could not only be my headphone amp, but also replace one of those DACs. I'm not sure I want to, necessarily - the cabling would be more conspicious compared the current setup. But fewer boxes is always nice.

DAC "sound quality" is not the issue here - I highly doubt anyone could pass a blind test between ADI-2 with no processing and the Topping E50 I'm considering taking out of the system. It's more a balance of fewer boxes vs. more conspicuous cabling. And the PITA of rerouting signal cables, etc. if I do change things up.

Also, can you lock volume per output at a given level? For example can I set the volume for XLR at -5 or whatever. If not NBD - I can also set all levels in the SHD Studio. From a practical standpoint that probably makes more sense anyway - Dirac adjusts levels as it is.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Also, can you lock volume per output at a given level? For example can I set the volume for XLR at -5 or whatever.

Sure. Adjust volume, then, settings: Volume: Fixed.

 

[04gto]

I recently picked up one of these for my desk - initially solely because I wanted loudness compensation for headphones. Otherwise I was very happy with my previous setup - Quedlix 5K into Monoprice Monolith THX 887. But loudness compensation was worth the current sale price to me, as a hearing protection measure. I'm quickly realizing that along with a fairly steep initial learning curve, this device has some really incredible functionality.

So if I'm reading the manual and this post right, one can:
1) Set the volume levels for each output independently, and it will remember the previous setting.
2) Set EQ and loudness separately for each output, and it will remember the previous setting.
3) Set it to auto-prioritize inputs, i.e. automatically turn XLR off and switch to the headphone settings when you plug in headphones

To back up a bit, my nearfield setup is a miniDSP Studio with two separate DACs; one for mains and one for subs. If I'm reading this right, ADI-2 DAC FS could not only be my headphone amp, but also replace one of those DACs. I'm not sure I want to, necessarily - the cabling would be more conspicious compared the current setup. But fewer boxes is always nice.

DAC "sound quality" is not the issue here - I highly doubt anyone could pass a blind test between ADI-2 with no processing and the Topping E50 I'm considering taking out of the system. It's more a balance of fewer boxes vs. more conspicuous cabling. And the PITA of rerouting signal cables, etc. if I do change things up.

Also, can you lock volume per output at a given level? For example can I set the volume for XLR at -5 or whatever. If not NBD - I can also set all levels in the SHD Studio. From a practical standpoint that probably makes more sense anyway - Dirac adjusts levels as it is.

In a device with so much capability, the loudness feature is my favorite. Once you use this on a regular basis, it becomes hard to listen without it.

 

[Trell]

In a device with so much capability, the loudness feature is my favorite. Once you use this on a regular basis, it becomes hard to listen without it.

When the SINAD war for desktop DACs (headphone amp combos) tapers out I believe they’ll turn towards DSP for differentiation. Configurable Dynamic Loudness like RME does it is for sure one way.

 

[DonDish]

When the SINAD war for desktop DACs (headphone amp combos) tapers out I believe they’ll turn towards DSP for differentiation. Configurable Dynamic Loudness like RME does it is for sure one way.

The Sinad war. Now thats a storm in a bottle. Never heard that before Ofcourse we want higher SNR and lower distortion, but that scale doesnt reach into the sky. I prefer my BMW to the ricecooker DACs theyre touting here. Im totally with you though, ppl will get tired of listening to something they cant hear like SNR over 100db. Thats then the features kick in. Voila! Dynamic loudness, PEQ and B/T adjustment. If your going to war id say you are better well equiped

 

[Grotti]

Nothing against you liking your BMW, but I think you should avoid something like "ricecooker DAC". It has a touch of racism in my book. We have to acknowledge, that some of the best measuring (and therefor best sounding) DACs are build in the far east nowadays. Nothing personal though, just my 2 cents.

Peace!

 

[archerious]

Nothing against you liking your BMW, but I think you should avoid something like "ricecooker DAC". It has a touch of racism in my book. We have to acknowledge, that some of the best measuring (and therefor best sounding) DACs are build in the far east nowadays. Nothing personal though, just my 2 cents.

Peace!

Agreed, but reliability is a factor leaning me towards buying a RME to replace my Gustard and a Modius to replace my SU9N that started making noise.

My luck with Topping and SMSL hasn't been great long term.

 

[jhaider]

When the SINAD war for desktop DACs (headphone amp combos) tapers out I believe they’ll turn towards DSP for differentiation. Configurable Dynamic Loudness like RME does it is for sure one way.

One would hope! Fidelity isn't improved by lower SINAD scores than the next stupid box with even lower than already inaudible noise/distortion. Fidelity is improved by tools to compensate for actually audible flaws that exist in other elements in the signal chain, i.e. EQ for transducers. So as a threshold matter IMO to be worth a damn a headphone DAC-amp must include EQ.

I wouldn't consider crossfeed and loudness necessarily "fidelity" elements, but I think they improve the listening experience for headphones (and loudspeakers, in the case of loudness compensation).

So far the only "downside" for me besides the learning curve is, the unbalanced Sennheiser HD800 cable looks effing ridiculous jutting out of the front of the unit. The plug body and strain relief together are nearly as deep as the whole DAC! Also for some reason I naturally want to press the button below a label rather than above it. One gets used to those things, though.

Nothing against you liking your BMW, but I think you should avoid something like "ricecooker DAC". It has a touch of racism in my book. We have to acknowledge, that some of the best measuring (and therefor best sounding) DACs are build in the far east nowadays. Nothing personal though, just my 2 cents.

Agree about the "ricecooker" epithet. However, don't fall into the trap of imagining that superior measurements mean better sound. Except for maybe some of the so called high end things that measure truly terribly, a DAC isn't going to be a source of sonic differences.

 

[Grotti]

One would hope! Fidelity isn't improved by lower SINAD scores than the next stupid box with even lower than already inaudible noise/distortion. Fidelity is improved by tools to compensate for actually audible flaws that exist in other elements in the signal chain, i.e. EQ for transducers. So as a threshold matter IMO to be worth a damn a headphone DAC-amp must include EQ.

I wouldn't consider crossfeed and loudness necessarily "fidelity" elements, but I think they improve the listening experience for headphones (and loudspeakers, in the case of loudness compensation).

So far the only "downside" for me besides the learning curve is, the unbalanced Sennheiser HD800 cable looks effing ridiculous jutting out of the front of the unit. The plug body and strain relief together are nearly as deep as the whole DAC! Also for some reason I naturally want to press the button below a label rather than above it. One gets used to those things, though.



Agree about the "ricecooker" epithet. However, don't fall into the trap of imagining that superior measurements mean better sound. Except for maybe some of the so called high end things that measure truly terribly, a DAC isn't going to be a source of sonic differences.

I won't fall into the trap. I am fully aware of the fact, that beyond a certain threshold measured differences are inaudible. I own the Adi-2 pro BE btw ;o)

 

[onchuner]

Can anyone please advise if ADI-2 is able to drive Audeze LCD-5 to full potential?
Or better to get separate amp for my ADI-2 (if i get LCD-5 one day)?

 

[archerious]

Can anyone please advise if ADI-2 is able to drive Audeze LCD-5 to full potential?
Or better to get separate amp for my ADI-2 (if i get LCD-5 one day)?

No, if you want to get that super chocolatey sound, with 3D/holographic sound stage, you need to buy a nice Woo Audio preamplifier and also a Rebel amp to complete the chain of synergy.

If you need more information head on over to SBAF, they'll teach you all about getting the full potential out of your headphones via non-scientific jargon. You'll spend thousands and gain immaculate happiness.