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Review and Measurements of RME ADI-2 DAC

Purité Audio

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The RME is much cheaper and far more versatile, but both are excellent designs.
Keith
 

Jimster480

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The RME ADI2 dac wins in unbalanced linearity, usb jitter, and headphone power. The dac 3 wins in 24dbu thd+n, -90db sine wave, smpte imd curve, headphone noise, and I suspect toslink jitter. Depending on how you use the dac, the RME advantages might not apply (if you use xlr out, or less than a certain headphone voltage), leaving the dac 3 with a bunch of uncontested wins.

So I'd still put the dac 3 above the adi 2 dac, with some caveats.
The wins are marginal though at best for almost twice the cost... Honestly at that point might as well get the D50 unless you really "need" balanced outputs.
 

jonathane40

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Amir, thanks for the great measurements and review! I'm seriously considering getting this for my Andromedas as well as my HD650. Have you ever measured or used the Hafler HA75? It's around the same price as the RME ADI-2 and am having a difficult time deciding which one to go for. They are very different though!
 

andreasmaaan

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Amir, thanks for the great measurements and review! I'm seriously considering getting this for my Andromedas as well as my HD650. Have you ever measured or used the Hafler HA75? It's around the same price as the RME ADI-2 and am having a difficult time deciding which one to go for. They are very different though!

You're aware though that the RME is a DAC+headphone amp while the Hafler is a headphone amp only?
 

jonathane40

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You're aware though that the RME is a DAC+headphone amp while the Hafler is a headphone amp only?
Yes, In that case I would only start out with an amp and later down the line i would get a dac. I'm planning on outputting the digital signal from the Sony nw-zx300 into an amp like the Hafler or a dac/amp like the RME. What I like about the Hafler is that it proves several tweaks to the sound as well as having tubes. I like about the RME that it has tons of DSP functions. Thanks for your help!
 
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Amir, thanks for the great measurements and review! I'm seriously considering getting this for my Andromedas as well as my HD650. Have you ever measured or used the Hafler HA75? It's around the same price as the RME ADI-2 and am having a difficult time deciding which one to go for. They are very different though!
Hi there. Welcome aboard. Thanks for the kind words. And no, I have not gotten any requests for the Hafler. I know the company from making home amplifiers. Did not know they were into headphone amps. If someone has one, I would be happy to measure it. Otherwise at $999, it is way above my budget.
 

andreasmaaan

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Yes, In that case I would only start out with an amp and later down the line i would get a dac. I'm planning on outputting the digital signal from the Sony nw-zx300 into an amp like the Hafler or a dac/amp like the RME. What I like about the Hafler is that it proves several tweaks to the sound as well as having tubes. I like about the RME that it has tons of DSP functions. Thanks for your help!

Are you sure you can output a digital signal from that Sony? AFAIK it only has analogue out.

But yeh, if you're looking for user-controllable tube distortion, the Hafler looks like an interesting buy. Would be interested to hear your impressions if you've heard it?

Assuming that the Sony can do digital out, and if you do really want to have the Hafler in the system, you might be best off going for something like a very cheap but almost certainly transparent Topping DAC (e.g. D10 or D50) and running the digital signal from the Sony into that and then the analogue out from the Topping to the Hafler.
 

jonathane40

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Are you sure you can output a digital signal from that Sony? AFAIK it only has analogue out.

But yeh, if you're looking for user-controllable tube distortion, the Hafler looks like an interesting buy. Would be interested to hear your impressions if you've heard it?

Assuming that the Sony can do digital out, and if you do really want to have the Hafler in the system, you might be best off going for something like a very cheap but almost certainly transparent Topping DAC (e.g. D10 or D50) and running the digital signal from the Sony into that and then the analogue out from the Topping to the Hafler.

Yes, there is a Sony cable for outputting digital signal only, not analog.

Would you recommend the the Topping D50 over a JDS OL Dac?

The one thing that I'm unsure about the Hafler is that it has a high out put impedance. There is a knob to change the headphone load from 20 Ohms to 400 Ohms. This probably won't play well with sensitive IEMs like Andromeda which as an Impedance of around 12 Ohms at 1kHz but because it has 5 balanced armatures the impedance swings goes from as low as 8 Ohms all the way up to around 18 Ohms I think.
 

andreasmaaan

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Yes, there is a Sony cable for outputting digital signal only, not analog.

Would you recommend the the Topping D50 over a JDS OL Dac?

The one thing that I'm unsure about the Hafler is that it has a high out put impedance. There is a knob to change the headphone load from 20 Ohms to 400 Ohms. This probably won't play well with sensitive IEMs like Andromeda which as an Impedance of around 12 Ohms at 1kHz but because it has 5 balanced armatures the impedance swings goes from as low as 8 Ohms all the way up to around 18 Ohms I think.

It’s a difficult one as it’s not clear from the specs what the Hafler’s headphone output impedance actually is. Maybe best to contact them to find out?

I know the ADI-2 has a very low output impedance so should be fine with your IEMs but yeh, it’s not clear with the Hafler..
 

dc655321

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This probably won't play well with sensitive IEMs like Andromeda which as an Impedance of around 12 Ohms at 1kHz but because it has 5 balanced armatures the impedance swings goes from as low as 8 Ohms all the way up to around 18 Ohms I think.

The Andromeda's impedance varies from ~4Ohms in the bass to ~25Ohms in the treble. Plot is here.
Given that it has a low nominal impedance to begin with, it does not take much impedance in front of it to noticeably alter the bass characteristics towards the "lean" side.

IMO, this a bad electrical design. But, I'm sure others think that being able to change the sonic characteristics is a feature.
 

andreasmaaan

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The Andromeda's impedance varies from ~4Ohms in the bass to ~25Ohms in the treble. Plot is here.
Given that it has a low nominal impedance to begin with, it does not take much impedance in front of it to noticeably alter the bass characteristics towards the "lean" side.

IMO, this a bad electrical design. But, I'm sure others think that being able to change the sonic characteristics is a feature.

Yeh, that’s a difficult load impedance. Wouldn’t recommend an amp with an output impedance of more than 0.5 ohm. ADI-2 will be ok at ~0.4 ohm IIRC, but you’d def have to check about the Hafler.
 

Dro

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Most people, including myself, think the Andromeda actually sounds best around 2 to 3 ohm output impdance. Of course, with the ADI-2 it does not matter, as you can just EQ it.
 

derp1n

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IMO, this a bad electrical design. But, I'm sure others think that being able to change the sonic characteristics is a feature.

It is bad design. A better solution is to build a voltage splitter into the cable like Eytmotic do, making the IEMs behave more consistently across different sources. Campfire aren't doing a lot of real engineering to produce their products, but the marketing and markup are on point.

But somehow in the world of hi-fi, poorly engineered designs that result in usability quirks (like being encouraged to leave your DAC on 24/7 for "optimal performance", or muck about with USB converters, improved power supplies to correct deficient filtering, etc.) is somehow seen as a sign that the hardware is more magical and musical than the equivalent well-engineered item would be.
 

jsmiller58

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Sorry if this has previously been commented on, but between the RME ADI-2 DAC and either the Questyle 400i or 600i, whisky would measure better? Which would be recommended due to features, performance, and (subjective to whoever answers!) sound?

If previously commented on just point me to the message... Thanks!
 
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amirm

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The lesson we have learned here after testing so many products is that until it sits on my bench and I measure it, there is no way to predict how well something does. Since I have not measured the Questyle yet, the only sure answer then is the RME ADI-2 DAC. I

I am getting a lot of requests for Questyle though. If they have money back guarantee, you could get one from them for me to test.
 

jonathane40

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Most people, including myself, think the Andromeda actually sounds best around 2 to 3 ohm output impdance. Of course, with the ADI-2 it does not matter, as you can just EQ it.

Yes, that's what I thought. The ADI-2 should be able to compensate for the sound difference with the EQ. I am not sure at what output impedance I prefer Andromeda. I have only used it with the sony nw-zx300 (I haven't been able to find a reliable source for the output impedance of the DAP), the iMac, Spectra NextDrive, and iPhone X with the Apple dongle. I have liked it with all the sources overall and haven't gotten any hiss with neither of these. The only source I got tons of hiss was with the iPod Video 5th generation.

I wonder if it would be possible for a cable manufacturer to add some sort of knob where you can vary the resistance of the cable in order to test and see which amount would a person prefer on a sensitive IEM like Andromeda.

So far I'm pretty set on the ADI-2 and have stopped looking at the Hafler as I don't think it would be a great match with sensitive IEM's. I'm also curiously looking at the ifi Micro BL given that it tested so well on Amir's tests.
 

jonathane40

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The Andromeda's impedance varies from ~4Ohms in the bass to ~25Ohms in the treble. Plot is here.
Given that it has a low nominal impedance to begin with, it does not take much impedance in front of it to noticeably alter the bass characteristics towards the "lean" side.

IMO, this a bad electrical design. But, I'm sure others think that being able to change the sonic characteristics is a feature.

Do you think it was designed that way because it was easier than to fix the impedance swings or do you think it was designed like that on purpose.

Thanks!
 

dc655321

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Do you think it was designed that way because it was easier than to fix the impedance swings or do you think it was designed like that on purpose.

IMO the impedance aspect was not designed at all.
Don't get me wrong, I think the Andromeda sound really good.
But it is fussy with sources and even fussier with the ears they're shoved into.
Out of a ~zero Ohm output impedance source they can sound a bit muddy, and out of a source with just a few ohm OI they can sound thin.
Mine were returned before the two week trial was over...
 

jonathane40

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I was reading the manual of the Hafler HA75 and kept noticing similarities with guitar effects. It uses a 12Ax7 and allows kind of a mix of wet/dry signal. When I got down to the warranty info I noticed that Hafler is made bun Radial. Radial is well know for making tube powered effects for guitar and bass as well as other equipment for the studio.

I did write an email to them asking about the output impedance so we’ll see what they say. So far the ADI-2 seems wonderful and it has so many features but every now and then I get pulled into the idea of the Hafler becaus of the wet/dry mixing of the tubes.
 

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Sorry if this is the wrong thread to ask in but can someone explain how the auto reference level feature on the ADI-2 DAC works? The reason i ask is because if i turn up the volume enough so that it decides to increase the reference level, for example from -5 dBu to +1 dBu (which happens when i go from -26,5 dBr to -26 dBr), the sound actually gets quieter by a considerable amount. But as i understood it from the manual it should actually get louder when the reference level gets increased? Because it says that -20 dBr with +13 dBu reference level is as loud as -2 dBr with -5 dBu reference level. I find it quite annoying because if i want to listen to something loudly (louder than -26,5 dBr @ +5 dBu) i have to turn the volume up by a lot to compensate for the reduction in volume everytime it increases the reference level and likewise, if i want to turn the volume down it gets louder everytime it decides to reduce the reference level. And if it matters i am using the "Phones" output to drive my HD800.

It should be noted that my knowledge about everything audio related is basically what i've learned from reading the measurements and discussions on this site so it's likely that i understood the manual wrong.
 
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