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Help Setting Ref Levels for RME-ADI2

deltanine

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Greetings! I'm going to admit that the RME-ADI2 DAC has opened a whole new world of terminology and
subject matter that I'm ignorant of. Which is great! Because I'm learning. But I could use some help
understanding what the best settings for Ref Level would be in my particular setup.

Node (v3) -> Coax -> RME-ADI2 DAC -> RCA -> Musical Fidelity M1PWR -> Paradigm 40b + RCA
from loop outs to JBL D110

I can't seem to find the input sensitivity for the power amp... MF M1PWR. Is this what we would use
to determine the best ref level for what is essentially an IcePower amp?

When I select auto ref, it ends up at -5, and most of my listening occurs in the -50 to -40 dBr range...
and when I turn it off, and run it +7 most of my listening occurs in the -40 to -30 dB range.

I have a small room, listening distance is usually only 7', and the speakers are sensitive (Room / Anechoic 92 dB / 89 dB).

What REF level will make this little power amp most happy? Thank you for your assistance!
 

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KSTR

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Just set the Ref.Level to Auto and you always have the best performance regardless how loud/soft you listen.
Do not pay too much attention to the dB display. With Ref.Level set to auto, it displays the output level (that will be reached with a full scale input signal) relative to the highest voltage it can put out which is very high.
 
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deltanine

deltanine

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Just set the Ref.Level to Auto and you always have the best performance regardless how loud/soft you listen.
Do not pay too much attention to the dB display. With Ref.Level set to auto, it displays the output level (that will be reached with a full scale input signal) relative to the highest voltage it can put out which is very high.
Got it - thanks for the reply! Despite the awesome and very thorough manual... I still don't fully understand what
is going on here.

In 31.12 Operation in the Hi-Fi Environment the manual states:

"With Hi-Fi, the setting +7 dBu (equals +4.78 dBV or 1.73 V RMS) is recommended. This setting causes an ADI2-DAC to ouput level similar to that of many CD-players."

Is this assuming that when "Operating in a Hi-Fi Environment" and outputting at a level similar to CD Players, it would NOT be acting as a pre-amp... that this 1.73 V signal would be used as an INPUT to a pre-amp?

Therefore, since I AM using the ADI2 as a pre-amp... and I AM using its volume control... I'm better off allowing it to auto-adjust?

19.3 Line out XLR (seems to be the ONLY explanation of Auto-Ref I can find in the manual)

"The analog outputs also feature a mechanism to set the ref level automatically. Auto Ref Level maximizes the S/N ratio when using the volume knob."

OK... so I AM using the volume knob. Therefore again, I should use Auto-Ref .... correct?

So really the ref level is set according to whether the ADI2 is performing volume control or not, and has nothing to do with what the amp attached to it "wants"

I thought the "wants" of the power amp would play a factor in how "hot" you'd run the output from the ADI acting as a "pre". I have no idea what the IcePower in the M1PWR really "wants" from a preamp anyway lol.

Thank you for helping me wrap my brain around this... like I said I have a lot to learn!
 

Zensō

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There might be some useful information in this thread:


or this one:

 
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deltanine

deltanine

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There might be some useful information in this thread:


or this one:

Thanks for sharing! Quick read through and ugh it gets confusing. There is so much information and different use cases for the RME. In my situation, its feeding a lowish powered class D amp (65w/chan) over RCA cables into sensitive bookshelves. I'm just curious which REF level, or auto, would be the ideal match for the M1PWR amp.
 

chris256

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Short question regarding auto ref: If auto ref is enabled, the ref level is always set back to -5 dBu here - regardless of the value set before.
Is this a dummy value or is it changed according to following changes later on?
 

chris256

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I can answer myself: it is updated:

VolumeRef Level
>= -6 dBr13 dBu
>= -12 dBr7 dBu
>= -18 dBr1 dBu
< -18 dBr-5 dBu
 
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