RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE - my workflow

[windycitycy]

Background:
I haven't touched my desktop setup in awhile and this RME DAC might be the solution to improve my workflow and somewhat future-proof equipment changes. My current setup is a W4S balanced DAC (with volume control) connected to a balanced switchbox that allows selecting either a Woo Audio WA22 balanced tube headphone amp or Klein & Hummel O300 Monitors and Sub. The switchbox has always been an annoyance and something I'd like to take out of the workflow.

It seems, I might be able to replace both my DAC and the Switchbox with the RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE. Is this correct? It looks like I could have balanced outs running to the WA22 headphone amp and another set running to the studio monitors, and that it would be straightforward to switch between them. An added benefit is being able to drive headphones from the Tube amp or from the RME headphone Jacks. I'm not sure how that selection would be made. Any guidance would be a big help here. I would love to make this upgrade if this miracle box provides such functionality. The graphic equalizer might be very beneficial for my original Sennheiser HD800s as well!

I think the connections would be:
- K&H monitors connected to XLR Line Outputs 1/2 on back panel (XLR to XLR cable)
- WA22 hp amp connected to TRS Line Outputs 3/4 on back panel (TRS to XLR cable) - would this be balanced, the hp amp is expecting balanced XLR in

Things I would need:
- pentacon to dual XLR adapter -- to use my current XLR terminated headphones with pentacon balanced jack
- appropriate TRS to XLR adapters -- to run headphones balanced from L/R jacks

Question:
Do I have the equipment connections correct to provide a balanced chain to everything? If not what should be changed? I'm not really familiar with the TRS connection.

Monitors (XLR 1/2) <--> RME DAC <--> WA22 (TRS 3/4)

 

[NTTY]

Hi,

It sounds ok. There should be an RME app that allows muting 1/2 and 3/4 independently, but I’m not familiar with RME software. Else your app to play music should see the outputs and you should be able to route independently to 1/2 or 3/4.

TRS to XLR cables are both balanced and are the same, only the connector differs.

 

[tgray]

This is kind of late, but yes, the RME ADI-2/4 will let you drive your HP amp and monitors from different outputs. All balanced. I'm running it this way right now. Outputs 1/2 go to my speakers, 3/4 go to my headphone amp. You can also use the builtin HP amp. Volume for the two sets of outputs are independent - you toggle output control by pushing the volume knob. There's also some settings you can change to mute/toggle various outputs on and off depending on use case (ex. mute the rear outputs but keep the front HP output on for channels 1/2). Lastly, and it sounds like you are aware, you can also run the 1/4" phone outputs 1/2 and 3/4 as a balanced pair if you need to.

It's a very capable unit which is really top notch.

 

[windycitycy]

Thanks @tgray. I ended up purchasing this unit and am using it for the 3 use cases I was hoping for.

1. control source and volume for my Monitors
2. control source for my balanced Tube HP amp
3. as a balanced solid state HP amp

It took me quite awhile to figure out how to get everything setup properly to support all of the above and to make switching easier I setup 3 presets that include all of the proper settings for each use case and can easily select the preset I want from the windows app. Even with these presets I still need to manually select the source I want (USB, Coax, Optical). I don't know if it's possible to save a preset that also selects the source, if it is I couldn't figure it out. Also, I think I found a bug in mapping things to the Remote. I was only able to get my first 2 presets to correctly map to buttons on the remote. I tried recreating and mapping the 3rd multiple times and it just wouldn't save to a remote button properly. It appeared to save however when selecting the remote button the mapping would revert back to the out-of-the box behaviour. Finally, I gave up and at this point started to learn how to use the windows app. The 3rd preset I had created actually worked from the app, so now I mostly use that for interacting with the unit. I really love the RME now that I've got a handle on the basics. Without the remote and the app I think most casual users would have a very hard time using the RME. Maybe that's a great FEATURE though as other people will just leave it alone and not mess with it!

Like I said, I really like this thing now that I've got it working. My next task is to use the EQ with some of my headphones. I've created some saved EQ presets specific to a couple of headphones but haven't tried to use any of the EQs yet. I want to make sure I have a few hours of free time before really digging in to that.

 

[tgray]

That's great! Glad to hear you got an RME. It really is a fabulous device, though as you point out, a little complex. The app definitely helps to set it up.

 

[rcstevensonaz]

I don't know if it's possible to save a preset that also selects the source, if it is I couldn't figure it out.

One option is to use your PC to mix all input sources into a common output that is then sent to all output channels concurrently.

Approach:

• Install VB Audio Matrix on your PC
• Set the RME ADI Pro to USB Multichannel mode
• Configure VB Audio Matrix to route ("mix") the each input channel to each of the output channels

With this approach, you now control what audio is being played simply by starting / stopping / pausing / muting the various input devices.