Review and Measurements of RME ADI-2 DAC

[soundwave76]

I am selling my ADI-2 Pro Anniversary Edition (limited edition 500 units, plexiglass top with illuminated interior) if anybody is interested, PM for more details. Will probably post it into sales forum as well later.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I'm having a minor issue with my ADI-2 Dac and wondered if you helpful folks could help?

The issue is this: I've noticed some low-level noise coming through my speakers when the Dac is switched off. (When it's powered on, there is no noise.)

It's quite low level - but is audible at 6 feet away, so annoying. I leave my power amps on all the time since the switches are round the back and powering them off every time is a pain.

If you can plainly hear the difference between open and shorted input, chances are your power amp input levels are way low, i.e. total gain from input to air is excessive. What sensitivity are your speakers, and what is the voltage gain of your power amp (and models of both)? What's a typical volume/level setting you are using on the ADI-2 DAC?

I guess you do not have an input level control on your power amps if you have to ask like that? A line-level attenuator may be needed to address the issue, I'm guessing even 12 dB would be fine (passive attenuators with ratios much lower than that tend to have unfavorable ratios of input and output impedance, and I would advise on closer to 20 dB if you can afford it levels wise).

BTW - anything wrong with a switched outlet strip? There is, in all likelihood, much more to be gained (or rather, saved) from turning off the power amps when not needed than the same for the DAC. Power amps sounds like a pair of monos... some traditional high-powered AB jobs might be drawing something like 150 W in idle. I'm all for avoiding excessive power cycles, but unless you're living somewhere far north, I wouldn't want to have loads like that running 24/7. 150 W 24/7 is 1300 kWh a year, or more than yours truly is using in a single person household. That would cost me about 330€ a year extra.

 

[Chippyboy]

Thanks for your considered response - really appreciate it. What you say would seem to tally.

The pair of mono power amps are Wyred4Sound SX1000 monoblocks, rated 500W/ch into 8 Ohm, which is clearly way more than needed by my Wilson Benesch Arcs. I normally listen at about -30 dBr for fairly loud playback. Or -12 dB on the lowest -5dBu pad.

The amps have 27 dB gain and a claimed sensitivity of 2.1V, but whether that means on XLR or phono, it doesn't say, so not sure what that means exactly.

The rather puzzling thing though is that my amps are dead silent (and I mean totally inaudible with your ear next to the cones) when connected to my Benchmark DAC1-HDR. The RME is picking up (and introducing) way more noise, for some reason.

The power amps are B&O Icepower designs and only draw a few watts on idle, so power usage is not an issue. And the problem with the power strip idea is that I also have a REL sub attached to the speaker level outputs and that makes a horrible thump if the power amps are switched on when it is power on. And the REL is plugged into a different wall outlet so there's no way of coordinating the switching on and off. Other than by walking over and rummaging around the back of the amps and the REL - which is a right pain and what I am having to do at the moment.

 

[wadec22]

Price to performance ratio wise, no doubt. But the higher price of the RME also includes a made in Germany product with 5 years warranty, responsive support and constant firmware updates. With my respect to SMSL, you won't get that from them.

not in the states. We get 6 months warranty per the manual then whatever your distributor warranties for it. I got mine through Sweetwater because of their great service and warranty - which is two years.

I do wish there were more options out there. For me, I have come to the place where I really care about the warranty and service for my setup, as I think we are talking enough money that it really matters.

For me I feel like that leaves about the JDS Labs units and the RME - not much in between.

 

[VintageFlanker]

not in the states. We get 6 months warranty per the manual then whatever your distributor warranties for it. I got mine through Sweetwater because of their great service and warranty - which is two years.

I didn't know that, sorry. Here in France, my unit came with a 5 years EU warranty. Hope to never use this, anyway. But I have to admit SMSL or Topping are considered "unreliable" in general (may be wrong) and mean a long travel back and forth to China which cost us sometime 50% of an initially cheap product.

 

[hrbngr]

wadec22,
thanks for the info regarding the warranty. I was concerned about that if purchasing the ADI directly from RME vs Sweetwater, as the direct "friends" pricing saves about $300 over Sweetwater. At the Massdrop price of $199 for the SU8 w/only DOA protection, if it breaks then you will simply have to buy whatever else is the current "bang for the buck" balanced DAC. I'm sure that there will be some solid options in the next few years. I will most likely join the current massdrop on the SU8 and hope for the best--including getting the correct version. If there was a way to get the RME w/the 5 year warranty, i think I would definitely take the plunge.

 

[wadec22]

wadec22,
thanks for the info regarding the warranty. I was concerned about that if purchasing the ADI directly from RME vs Sweetwater, as the direct "friends" pricing saves about $300 over Sweetwater. At the Massdrop price of $199 for the SU8 w/only DOA protection, if it breaks then you will simply have to buy whatever else is the current "bang for the buck" balanced DAC. I'm sure that there will be some solid options in the next few years. I will most likely join the current massdrop on the SU8 and hope for the best--including getting the correct version. If there was a way to get the RME w/the 5 year warranty, i think I would definitely take the plunge.

glad I could help. FWIW, I returned my RME unit and have settled on the JDS Labs EL DAC & Atom amp. If you must have balanced, it's a tougher decision. But I think you are right, I think we will see a lot more options in the very near future.

to be very clear, I think the RME is an outstanding unit. it just wasn't for me. with no audible differences between it and JDS, it came down to what the features were worth. I have a powerful pc, so using Equalizer APO offsets the need for the EQ on the RME if I need it. RIght now, I don't EQ at all.... I initially didn't like APO because I thought it was too complex, but it's easier than navigating the RME menus.

I'll miss that live spectrum analyzer on my desk though - that just looks badass.

 

[tlr]

Is there any way to get the headphone and line out to output simultaneously? I was hoping to AB test the internal amp and an external amp, both using the internal DAC.

 

[momo7G]

Just bought a adi2 dac in australia for aud1760, and just noticed @BurritoJustice said it is much cheaper in holland... crying in downunder now

 

[BurritoJustice]

Just bought a adi2 dac in australia for aud1760, and just noticed @BurritoJustice said it is much cheaper in holland... crying in downunder now

Was yours the special order for MiniDisc? I remember seeing them post about it when it came in. If it helps you now have the full coverage of the Australian Consumer Law which is a conveniently non-specific on time full refund/replacement policy. You're on a short list of blokes with ADI-2s in Australia, welcome to the club lol.

MiniDisc said they are looking at adding it as a permanent fixture, which would be cool.

From talking to the owner of the RME-Store it should be the full RME warranty no matter where you order from.

Edit: @amirm it might be worth including the RME friends discount in a top level thread or the OP of this one, especially with all the hype lately.

 

[amirm]

Edit: @amirm it might be worth including the RME friends discount in a top level thread or the OP of this one, especially with all the hype lately.

What discount?

 

[BurritoJustice]

What discount?

Go here, then click the "Friends of RME Login" on the left and enter a delivery address outside Europe to remove the VAT (I'm assuming you are American based on currency). Should bring the price down to €800 flat, which is around 900USD.

The same method also gets the ADI-2 Pro Fs Black Edition for €1.265.81 which is a substantially smaller price gap than usual. I bought one of those myself, the service is lovely and the shipping was fast and secure.

 

[amirm]

Got it. Put it in the review.

 

[soundwave76]

^^ I submitted once to this 'Friends of RME' but never heard back from them. I wonder what criteria they have?

 

[momo7G]

@BurritoJustice I got mine from soundeasy, I find it thorough the rme website, call up the aussie dealer and they direct me to them. They stock lynx and benchmark too. Quite rare in aus.

 

[momo7G]

@BurritoJustice oh, forget about the refund thing. they seems really nice, so just let this one go to see any further discounts for loyal customer. finger crossing.

 

[BeepPeep_61]

Greetings to all,
in October 2017, the Italian publication "Audio Review" carried out, in addition to the technical review of the Sonic OPPO, also that of the RME ADI-2 Pro Anniversary Edition.
I scanned the test to make you compare with what Amirm measured.
I hope this is an interesting initiative, unfortunately the article is only in Italian.

 

[hrbngr]

I will check w/the RME-Store folks to try and confirm the 5 year warranty program. Hopefully they will have a US distributor that one could ship the unit to instead of shipping it to Germany.

 

[soundwave76]

Is there any way to get the headphone and line out to output simultaneously? I was hoping to AB test the internal amp and an external amp, both using the internal DAC.

Yes. ADI-2 is highly configurable.

 

[tlr]

Yes. ADI-2 is highly configurable.

Can you tell me how?