A couple years ago US and EU DACs like the Benchmark DAC3 and the RME ADI-2 FS seemed to be close enough to the best measuring, perhaps less reliable Topping, Gustard, Eversolo … offerings that it made most sense to me to purchase the RME. However today the performance gap seems much wider, and maybe the manufacturing/reliability gap has also narrowed in favor of the non US and EU products. In this context, has the time arrived when I should replace my RME and with what? There are many new products with oven controlled clocks, R2R DACs, single bit DACs, multiple newer generation chips, R2R volume control that look extremely tempting.
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High end DAC current state of the art
- Thread starter PGAMiami
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JeremyFife
Major Contributor
^^Agree.
You might find a better measuring DAC (not by much) but the difference won't be audible.
Change if you need a new feature, or if you want a new toy.
You might find a better measuring DAC (not by much) but the difference won't be audible.
Change if you need a new feature, or if you want a new toy.
johny_2000
Senior Member
RME's DSP functions are among the best. I don't see any reason to replace it with something better at the moment.
What would be the point of a "you there" with a "maybe"? Besides, the safeguarding of our jobs and the power to say no and the freedom of choice.
unpluggged
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It's the other way around. Look at the price of, say, Topping DX9, read some reports here about flawed optical inputs, non-existent aftersales support, and you'll see that RME products offer even better value today. These products from Shenzhen and Guangdong factories are not competitive at these price levels.
There is a proverb about a cat that is bored.
Until you realize that the sole purpose of these esoteric measures is to make an excuse to raise prices, with no benefit to performance.
Which RME specifically do you have?
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The RME ADI 2 FS series perform considerably better than your hearing. There is no audible benefit to be had by changing them.
RME's professional audio approach means that you will probably still get support after a decade!
dshreter
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From that perspective, sure, buy one. I’ll take the RME off your hands
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
I'll trade you a DX5 lite for your RME so you can check it out, no foolin'.
I think there has been some innovation and improvement in engineering such that we can easily get 100dB+ SINAD.
The problem is that you can't really hear a difference after 80 or so.
Just like more megapixels (after a certain point) doesn't make a better camera, better specs don't make a better DAC. Decent DACs have been fit for purpose for decades now. If you hear something wrong with your RME by all means replace it...
I'll just repeat the same mantra that always comes up in these threads, which is you are much better off experimenting with / spending on speakers or headphones than electronics.
- Thread Starter
- #11
Fully agree, speakers and headphones make a much bigger difference. I’ve been a fan of my TAD R1 and their predecessor M1 for 20 years now, having owned Wilsons, Magico, Cello, Quad, Rogers…. I find that the R1s with some proper DSP are the best of the bunch. They are expensive but I haven’t found anything that sounds better. Amplifiers are less important. That said, I really enjoy the Benchmark AHB2, and they sound cleaner and equally powerful vs amplifiers 10x the price.
The RME DACs sound great. But I’m not a fan aesthetically of the little power supply. And the RME almost has too many features. Every now and then I do a factory reset just to make sure I haven’t messed something up. But I’m a big fan of the high output voltage and hybrid volume control. Truly brilliant solution that works extremely well with AHB2s at the lowest gain setting. Now with the RooExtend and RooADI allowing my iPad Roon app full control of volume on the RME, the convenience is hard to beat.
I may upgrade the power supply, understanding this change is more aesthetic than functional. The new RME power supply makes no sense to me. It’s 2-3x more expensive than it should be and is totally inconsistent with what they said for years. A nice little box with a ground lift switch seems to me all that was needed.
The RME DACs sound great. But I’m not a fan aesthetically of the little power supply. And the RME almost has too many features. Every now and then I do a factory reset just to make sure I haven’t messed something up. But I’m a big fan of the high output voltage and hybrid volume control. Truly brilliant solution that works extremely well with AHB2s at the lowest gain setting. Now with the RooExtend and RooADI allowing my iPad Roon app full control of volume on the RME, the convenience is hard to beat.
I may upgrade the power supply, understanding this change is more aesthetic than functional. The new RME power supply makes no sense to me. It’s 2-3x more expensive than it should be and is totally inconsistent with what they said for years. A nice little box with a ground lift switch seems to me all that was needed.
The most fun is taking the opportunity to explore different speakers. When was the last time you tried a flagship Magnepan in your room?
Have you tried Meyer Sound? The TAD R1TX puts you in the class of Meyer Sound Bluehorn.
Home
Best known for big PA systems and pro studio set-ups, Meyer Sound's new Bluehorn speaker system aims to deliver the ultimate in clarity and transparency. So we went for a listen.
And you can certainly get a sampling of it with the Ultra X20.
Think about how popular custom studio monitors using TAD drivers were in the past? Today, the highest end of the high end studios are using Meyer Sound:
The Bluehorn, Ultra X20, etc. are one generation newer than the Meyer Sound Amie.
- Thread Starter
- #13
My room is on the small side for big speakers, 12x18x8.5. The R1s are already a bit too big. I use the room also for HT, and I found the KEF Reference center and R3 Meta work extremely well with the TADs. All use metal coax drivers. Similar dispersion pattern. A Bobwire XLR1 AB switch selects between the RME for music and a Denon 4800h for tv. The RME is fed from Roon with an Audiolense convolution filter. The Denon uses Dirac. No subs. The TADs are flat to about 17hz in room. They are tucked into the corners so DSP eq is attenuating the bass quite a lot, which allows for extra headroom in the deep bass. I had Magnepan speakers way back, but they were a cheaper model.
