That seems good enough to me.
What do you think about measuring the RME with volume at 0 dB rather than -4.5 dB corresponding to 2V/4V as was also discussed above?
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Measurements of RME ADI-2 DAC and Headphone Amp
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
That seems good enough to me.
What do you think about measuring the RME with volume at 0 dB rather than -4.5 dB corresponding to 2V/4V as was also discussed above?
HI all,
I am really confused & just looking for some advice thank you. I can buy this unit (RME ADI-2 dac) for AUD $1599 - that's a $400 saving of standard retail (early black Friday deal).
I would like a headphone amp that connects to my Cambridge Audio CXn v2 streamer, but had also been looking at some standalone dacs (such as Chord Qutest $2400 & Matrix Audio Sabre Pro MQA $3000 I would safely be able to take off %10 of those products perhaps more if there is some special at the stores here next week on those lines.
The RME as both headphone amp and dac, reviewed/measured up here well, seems to tick all my boxes and would be a no brainer given its current price here. Am I missing something here or should I pull the trigger?
I think I would need to connect this via coax to the streamer and could use the balanced outputs on the RME, instead of Cambridge to go to my powered Elac's. By doing this do I then bypass the Cambridge dac duties or will both be doing so. I don't quite understand. Naturally, I want the RME to be doing those duties.
Thank you for any input. Sorry if my questions seem rather noob, the extended reading here on a variety of products has given me information overload.
Cheers!!!
***Edit - I should also add that the above products mentioned are available from local dealers, where some of the other products I've read about here e.g Topping would only be available from China (e.g. Shenzenaudio). So buying locally has some obvious advantages, esp if the warranty etc was required.
I am really confused & just looking for some advice thank you. I can buy this unit (RME ADI-2 dac) for AUD $1599 - that's a $400 saving of standard retail (early black Friday deal).
I would like a headphone amp that connects to my Cambridge Audio CXn v2 streamer, but had also been looking at some standalone dacs (such as Chord Qutest $2400 & Matrix Audio Sabre Pro MQA $3000 I would safely be able to take off %10 of those products perhaps more if there is some special at the stores here next week on those lines.
The RME as both headphone amp and dac, reviewed/measured up here well, seems to tick all my boxes and would be a no brainer given its current price here. Am I missing something here or should I pull the trigger?
I think I would need to connect this via coax to the streamer and could use the balanced outputs on the RME, instead of Cambridge to go to my powered Elac's. By doing this do I then bypass the Cambridge dac duties or will both be doing so. I don't quite understand. Naturally, I want the RME to be doing those duties.
Thank you for any input. Sorry if my questions seem rather noob, the extended reading here on a variety of products has given me information overload.
Cheers!!!
***Edit - I should also add that the above products mentioned are available from local dealers, where some of the other products I've read about here e.g Topping would only be available from China (e.g. Shenzenaudio). So buying locally has some obvious advantages, esp if the warranty etc was required.
Last edited:
HI all,
I am really confused & just looking for some advice thank you. I can buy this unit (RME ADI-2 dac) for AUD $1599 - that's a $400 saving of standard retail (early black Friday deal).
I would like a headphone amp that connects to my Cambridge Audio CXn v2 streamer, but had also been looking at some standalone dacs (such as Chord Qutest $2400 & Matrix Audio Sabre Pro MQA $3000 I would safely be able to take off %10 of those products perhaps more if there is some special at the stores here next week on those lines.
The RME as both headphone amp and dac, reviewed/measured up here well, seems to tick all my boxes and would be a no brainer given its current price here. Am I missing something here or should I pull the trigger?
I think I would need to connect this via coax to the streamer and could use the balanced outputs on the RME, instead of Cambridge to go to my powered Elac's. By doing this do I then bypass the Cambridge dac duties or will both be doing so. I don't quite understand. Naturally, I want the RME to be doing those duties.
Thank you for any input. Sorry if my questions seem rather noob, the extended reading here on a variety of products has given me information overload.
Cheers!!!
If I understand you correctly, you want to use the RME as DAC, headphone amp and preamp for your active speakers. If this is the case, the RME indeed fits the bill. It uses separate profiles for the headphone amps and and the line out (if they're not active at the same time) and lets you quickly toggle between them, so you don't need to remove the headphones in order to listen to the speakers.
In terms of connection, coax from the Cambridge Audio to the RME is enough. The rest is handled by the RME internally.
Thank you JIW - yup that's what I'd like to do, which essentially leaves the Cambridge as a fancy streaming box. But, now I get a good headphone amp & superior dac. Oh, I assume then I'd use the rca interconnects for my sub. So both balanced and rca from the Cambridge now gets handed over to the RME.
Yes, that would work.
Excellent - thank you JIW. Achieving all that I wanted with this solution - dac upgrade and headphone amp all wrapped into an attractive package. Plus the ability to use the onboard RME tweaks.
Any other suggestions as to my choice most welcome. I'd like to buy by Monday whilst this is on special and there is stock. Thanks!
I think this is a great idea. I am very happy with mine as a superior dac and preamp with all the traditional features like tone and balance control plus modern ones like dynamic loudness and some filters.
You could even decide to sell the Cambridge Audio streamer and use a Chromecast Audio instead. Conversely, could you not use the CA streamer as a preamp?
You could even decide to sell the Cambridge Audio streamer and use a Chromecast Audio instead. Conversely, could you not use the CA streamer as a preamp?
Hey Willem,
What started as looking for a headphone amp (primarily) has turned into highly likely buying this & using this as dac/headphone amp & perhaps pre. I'm not exactly certain by connecting via coax will it then hand all duties over to the RME, on the basis I will connect the powered Elac's (balanced) and sub (single ended) using its output? Those types of finer technical details is where I get confused.
I also read here there's a new version just out. I can't work out if that is worth the wait to arrive here or not? They seem very close other than a better remote & a few, (what appear to be) minor tweaks. Remote apparently can be bought as an add on regardless.
Thanks
The new RME adi-2 dac is out, and I received mine 2-3 days ago in the very first batch for UK/EU. US delivery should be before xmas. You can connect directly to the power amp to listen on speakers from phones connection on RME but I connect it to the new SMSL SP200 thx amp and use SE phones to connect to my power amp. Both have plenty of power but THX has more power and the sound is amazing, makes the most of the new dac circuitry. It's not to say that the RME output doesn't sound good, it does. It's just that the THX sounds so much better, it's that good.
Why do you connect your power amp through the Phones output
? That's exactly what the line out is for and you can use symmetrical connection. The maximum output voltage (before clipping) of the SMSL's single ended output seems to be around 11.5 V RMS or 23.4 dBu while the RME's maximum output voltage from the Phones output is 22 dBu which is 9.75 V RMS.
Using the line out of the RME at full output gives a maximum output voltage level of 19 dBu. Given that the SMSL's low gain is 5.7 dB this would imply an output level of 22.7 dBu at full volume while high gain of 11.1 dB would imply an output level of 30.1 dBu at full volume (and severe distortion at a lower level in practice). Thus for a high impedance load such as power amps, the difference in level at full volume is only 0.7 dB using low gain and 1.4 dB using high gain.
Also, SNR is higher on the RME (120 dB) compared to the RME(120 dB)+SMSL(122 dB) which has SNR of ~118 dB while the RME also manages to keep residual noise (which is more important if you're not close to full volume) as low as -116 dBu/-119 dBu (A-weighted) while the SMSL only manages -107 dBu/-108 dBu A-weighted while.
Lastly, the distortion of the RME alone is lower than that of the RME+SMSL in combination.
So, as mentioned above, using the RME as a preamp directly connected to the power amp (using the line out) is superior to using the SMSL between the RME and the power amp unless you need uncommonly high voltage levels (more than the 13 dBu (3.46 V RMS) the RME can output through the RCA).
Tks
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*Starts hypnotism*
You are getting sleepy
You are getting ready
You are shipping the new remote to me
You are getting sleepy
Never knew there was such a forum - thank you Willem.
I heard the new RME dac today and there is a big difference between my Grace Design M902 and the RME. I didn't do a blind test but that wasn't necessary. The RME retrieves better details. But sound much harder and harsher. I put 10000 days of Tool on and I couldn't listen to it because it was so harsh and hard through my Dynaudio's 52 SE and subwoofer. I put the bass up by 6 dB and treble down by 6 dB. But that didn't do anything. Maybe I did something wrong there.
There are so many features. Hopefully, I can work it out. Because that was disappointing a bit.
There are so many features. Hopefully, I can work it out. Because that was disappointing a bit.
Well....I just went to user forum, tried to register & I received this message:
"
Warning! The following errors must be corrected before you can register:
- The email address you entered is banned in this forum. Please choose another email address."
I can't think of any reason why that would be so....not only have I never registered there beforehand, I'd never even heard of such a forum until Willem kindly suggested going there to ask about the remote.
I've used this email as my personal for a 'scary' long time, never had any kind of problem with it & can't fathom why it would receive that message. Does that indicate somebody has tried to use it to login previously? That's just totally weird.
If you have a Logitech Harmony remote I believe you get lots of options so no need for the stock remote.
May I suggest to measure at least at the rated output level so we can safely compare THD with specs?
Disappointing indeed. You've got me thinking twice about this purchase now 'harsh & hard' are words that are extremely offputting. I'm very interested to hear how you progress given the many onboard settings available.
1000 days can be a 'harsh' sounding album, but assume not so with your old rig. Wings for Mary pt 1. is brutal....I think the recording was very mediocre, not that I've listened to it in years!
Good luck.
Uh huh.
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