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Measurements of RME ADI-2 DAC and Headphone Amp

Wyllio

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Hi together, I hope I'm not wrong posting in this thread but I have a quick question:

I've got the new ADI-2 DAC and it is connected via optical to a computer and via cinch to a sub7 from Adam Audio and from there to two Adam A3X. When I'm using a USB connection from my pc there is a considerable amount of noise (but only since I've integrated the sub7) so I'm using the optical connection. Unfortunately the bit perfect test fails via optical or USB connection. Does anyone have any pointers in which direction I should look into?

Thanks a lot in advance.
I used to have the same issue with the static noise floor. Basically, I pinpointed the issue to the dirty electrical noise of my PC components leaking through the USB power. Whenever my GPU or hard drive was used intensively I could hear the electrical whining and clicking noises those parts produced.

Only 2 solutions worked for me, the first is to eliminate the USB power from passing through and only allowing data transmission by using a USB isolator dongle/adpater. The other option is using balanced XLR cables so the noise that is traveling along the output cable is canceled out with the opposite phase.
 

greyscale

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After lusting after one of these for a while now I put in a preorder on sweetwater for a the FS version. I hope they arrive soon!

Will be using it with a HD650 and possibly a Stellia.
UPS has Sennheiser HD650 with my name on the carton. Will be delivered Monday.
 

paradoxical3

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I used to have the same issue with the static noise floor. Basically, I pinpointed the issue to the dirty electrical noise of my PC components leaking through the USB power. Whenever my GPU or hard drive was used intensively I could hear the electrical whining and clicking noises those parts produced.

Only 2 solutions worked for me, the first is to eliminate the USB power from passing through and only allowing data transmission by using a USB isolator dongle/adpater. The other option is using balanced XLR cables so the noise that is traveling along the output cable is canceled out with the opposite phase.

That is surprising to me on a device of the quality of RME. It reminds me of when I had that same issue on my Schiit Bifrost and they had to make a new "gen 5" usb module upgrade. The USB upgrade fixed the problem, but it really turned me off the brand and it was my start towards a more objectivist viewpoint. I can get a $99 Focusrite that doesn't have USB noise on it, why did my $600 DAC?
 

Karu

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DACs like this don’t translate MIDI into actual sound, right? I don’t really know much about MIDI, I understand it’s the note without an instrument?, just looking for best way to get a Yamaha 515 connected to HD650.
 

Wyllio

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That is surprising to me on a device of the quality of RME. It reminds me of when I had that same issue on my Schiit Bifrost and they had to make a new "gen 5" usb module upgrade. The USB upgrade fixed the problem, but it really turned me off the brand and it was my start towards a more objectivist viewpoint. I can get a $99 Focusrite that doesn't have USB noise on it, why did my $600 DAC?
It's a two-part issue. One being motherboard manufacturers are not isolating the USB controller on the PCB so it picks up the noise and it gets mixed in the power output. Similar to how when motherboard vendors first started including onboard audio and the DAC was not isolated from all electrical noise inside the PC. The other part possibly could be the DAC is not properly filtering/ignoring the USB power output when they use their own power supply.

Generally speaking, this issue does not apply to headphone amplifiers because the noise is so low that it is inaudible. It is only when you need to amplify the signal significantly to the extent of powering speakers then you can hear the noise if you have them setup nearfield.

DACs like this don’t translate MIDI into actual sound, right? I don’t really know much about MIDI, I understand it’s the note without an instrument?, just looking for best way to get a Yamaha 515 connected to HD650.
MIDI is a digital cable, not an analog. Therefore, you would be using the DAC inside your Yamaha 515 if you were to plug your headphones into the synthesizer.
 

Dialectic

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A few months ago, I purchased the RME ADI-2 DAC because I expected it to be a highly accurate headphone amplifier that lasts longer than, for example, a Topping DX3. Suddenly today, while the unit was still fairly cold, I got an "Overload / Short Detected" error message after listening through the 1/4" headphone jack in high-power mode for perhaps five minutes after powering up. Now the 1/4" headphone jack is inoperative: if anything, including a bare adapter, touches the 1/4" jack, the error message shows up and the sound cuts out.

The IEM jack is unaffected. I haven't tested the analog outputs on the back, but I suspect that they are unaffected.

Kudos to the dealer that sold me the unit, @suttondesign, which has been extraordinarily responsive in addressing the issue.
 

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ManglerFi

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Not sure if this has been answered in here before but I didn't want to read through the whole thread trying to find out. Can one select whether both analogue outs are active at once or select from either XLR/RCA?
 

JIW

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Not sure if this has been answered in here before but I didn't want to read through the whole thread trying to find out. Can one select whether both analogue outs are active at once or select from either XLR/RCA?

No, they're both active or inactive at the same time.
 

ManglerFi

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I got that. But again, why would you need RCA to be active and XLR to be muted, or the opposite?

What I had in mind was having powered speakers hooked on XLRs and an external HP amp on RCAs. With this unit the external hp amp isn't really neccessary but it would be a big problem if the speakers weren't easily muted while using the external amp. Again as I said, it's only kind of a bummer and not really a big deal. This use case isn't really likely but it would be nice to have this functionality.
 

ShiZo

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Whoa, i didnt know they can't be muted. The unit has so many features i wouldn't assume that. I always thought about getting a tube for the rca, this will save me some money :p.
 

paradoxical3

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I actually think it's impressive that it has sufficient protection built in not to fry your phones, and also that it tells you on the screen what is wrong. Subjectively speaking, I'd guess 95% of amps on the market can not fulfill both of those criteria.
 

Dialectic

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I actually think it's impressive that it has sufficient protection built in not to fry your phones, and also that it tells you on the screen what is wrong. Subjectively speaking, I'd guess 95% of amps on the market can not fulfill both of those criteria.
Except that there is no short or overload with any of my phones, and the DAC is now stuck in this state and will not play music through the 1/4" phones jack. A number of ADI-2 Pro users have experienced this defect, but I seem to be the first to have reported it with the ADI-2 DAC.
 

MC_RME

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Except that there is no short or overload with any of my phones, and the DAC is now stuck in this state and will not play music through the 1/4" phones jack.

Here the short/overload is in the unit itself. Most probably the phones output stage, precisely one of the many opamps in it, malfunctions. For technical reasons this issue does NOT cause DC at the output (the other, still working opamps prevent this), but causes current overload within the unit. The IEM output stil works because it is a separated output circuitry (obviously).

Unfortunately sometimes electronic parts just die, for no obvious reason. And the more units are sold the more often you can read about it in forums. Still our return and repair rate is very low, otherwise we could not keep the price at where it is right now.
 
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