Recent content by Mark Dirac

Few people listen with a DAC's volume at 0dB. I seem to use a 30dB range, from 0dB on quiet classical to -30dB on compressed pop late at night. I feel greedy saying so, but, if we accept 100dB as a nice round number (happy to) then I would really like my DAC's range to be say 130dB! Or, have I...

Yes, not only fine, but that's the way to do it. Your amp's performance may be degraded slightly, depending upon the quality of the amp, at 8 o'clock-ish, or 4 o'clock-ish, but will be good at 1 o'clock-ish. (And may be perfect also at 8 o'clock-ish, or 4 o'clock-ish.) With the S2D set to...

Yes, the measurements are good for your application. The DAC is very good. It's not as good as some contemporary DACs, but it's more than good enough for the hearing of a human. The knob feel is dreadful, but the volume control is perfect with no distortion. The internal power regulation is...

I bought a Neutrik adapter (Neutrik NA2 MPMF) which does this - would the Neutrik include such a resistor? There is no suggestion on their website that it does?

Except you can cast pretty much any app to Chromecast Audio and pretty much no app to RPi.

I see that Amir has reviewed this product, here, a second time. This newer review has been added to others, including Amir's first review, on the Google Doc called "Pre Box S2 Digital additional info", which was largely created by people over at Audiophile Style.

Before you start, I suggest that you save your existing factory-default EQ setting, so that you can very easily undo anything you change. In that way, you will be free to experiment. Yes, five parameters is "enough". It is obviously not as good as ten, but is absolutely a pragmatic "good...

An RME fan has produced this spectacularly helpful spreadsheet in an attempt to mitigate confusion with RME's naming of their "ADI-2" range: RME forum

Plenty of quirks reported on their forum. Nothing serious. Same with other DACs, phones, PCs ... Don't deny it. Buy a mature version.

I would suggest to dash out and buy the ADI-2 DAC FS Version 2 now, whilst it is still available and before it is replaced by a v3. Because ... if/when a v3 is introduced, there are bound to be some bugs or teething problems. I am finding that hardware is becoming just a little like software -...

I guess most folks are aware of the workaround to be able to save an effective 7 EQ settings if adding the balance filters - and that is to save the entire DAC's settings, rather than merely the PEQ's settings. Clunky but practical. (Manual section 14.2 for the balance presets, and manual...

I've noticed some ADI-2 DAC FS version 1 on eBay for good prices (£600 to £700), and version 1 is hardly any different really from version 2. Except for the remote control - and you could buy a cheap programmable remote control to make up for that. Which leads me to ask a question I have been...

I have an ATC amp (SIA-2) which is really a little too sensitive. So I am grateful that I can use the ADI-2 DAC's inbuilt pad, and I have the "reference" level set to -5dBu and "auto ref level" disabled. Domie - it sounds as though your situation is similar to mine. If you do this (level set to...

Me too. I listen to my HD800S headphones at -30dB to -20dB on the volume control. The headphone gain is so high that I plug my Audeze LCD-3 headphone through a 3.5mm adapter into the (low power/low gain) "IEM" socket, and still have to turn down the volume control to -20dB to -10dB. These are...

More generally, why is it that so few (none?) of today's DACs show bit depth alongside sample rate? It is shown on my 10 year old Audiolab MDAC, and there have been several occasions when it has been useful to see that the DAC is not receiving the bit depth that it is meant to be seeing.