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RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE - RIAA mode measurements

dlaloum

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Thanks Matthias, that was quick...I agree with 45 to 47K and EMI precautions, but 150pF input capacitance are too high for many japanese carts.

...I had to tune my T+A preamp plus phono module by removing all RFI caps resulting in 45pF plus cable 50pF (mech. modified RG180 > lowest cap. shielded avail.) plus tonearm 15pF for a Nagaoka MP500, requiring as low as possible capacitance to cater for ~800mH of inductance to preserve high frequency response...

That´s why I wrote <100pF above...a valid question from my perspective would be to include a (removable) phono cable on a dedicated phono input to meet the EMI measurements at RME, 50p are easy to achieve and more can be added externally!?

Anyway, my main point was to show that all the benefits from high quality digital sound processing could become available for digital AND ANALOG sources in one unit when listening to a live (local) source. Which is of course a personal preference, i.e. operating a turntable for listening.
This would be the highlight for me...(btw. me being a grateful RME ADI-2 fs customer)

In this case - given we have a good EQ system in the setup.... - getting the C loading just right will be far less critical - you can adjust for it in the EQ.

In a perfect world, get the loading right and THEN EQ - but this setup makes life a lot easier!
 
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don'ttrustauthority

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It'd be nice to get some good digital processing for our lps. Monophonic bass more widely used in the mastering process would also improve fidelity and run times on lps.
 

DrCWO

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Any audible difference between the ADI-2 Pro and ADI-2/4?
My first comment was "it is the same".
Listening for some days now I believe it is a bit more open and crisp. Think I like it more...

But this is absolutely subjective, did not do ABX.

Best DrCWO
 
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Rja4000

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The ADI-2/4 has a new IEM power setting for the headphone amplifier so that could give less noise when listening with IEM.
I didn't measure the ADI-2 Pro at 50mV (may do later), but here is the ADI-2/4in IEM mode, 50mV output 300 Ohm
(I don't have a 600 Ohm load, but that won't change anything)

93.5dB SNR

(That's Left channel. The right channel is at 93.4dB SNR)

RME ADI-2-4 - Phones Out 3-4 L - IEM 50mV - 300 Ohm - APU +34dB - ADI-2-4 +13dBu Mono_crop..png



That would land somewhere in Amir's Top 12

1671806332275.png


NB: That was a "quick and dirty" measurement.
At that level, one need to check all details.
As can be seen, there is a noise raise in low frequencies, which is limiting SNR.
This is probably more linked to my test setup (as an example, to the E1DA APU +34dB preamp I'm using to amplify output signal before measurement) than to the device itself.
I'll re-test it more carefully.

But, anyway, it's excellent.
 
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Trell

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I didn't measure the ADI-2 Pro at 50mV (may do later), but here is the ADI-2/4in IEM mode, 50mV output 300 Ohm
(I don't have a 600 Ohm load, but that won't change anything)

That would be great! I've not seen any measurements of that for the ADI-2 Pro but some posters (various forums) have written that the DAC is better in this regard, but no measurements have been supplied.
 

Sonic-Wall

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Unfortunately RME ADI-2/4 does not support MC cartridges which you usually find in high-end tt-systems.
Hence I will continue to use my RME ADI-2 Pro FSR BE with my external phono-pre which really sounds amazing.
Actually as an existing ADI user I’m kind of disappointed about the RME ADI-2/4 as it does not provide new features that would justify to spend another 1000-1500€!
In the automotive industry you would call the ADI-2/4 rather a facelift but it would be definitely not released as a new model…
 

morillon

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in many hdg approaches we use phono solutions separating mm and mc stage which have best adapted to the load of the cardtriges.. whether it is transformer or active prepre..
many enthusiasts just prefer to avoid mm+mc phono

so for once .. the rme becomes can be even more interesting with little ambitious mc ..
;-)
 
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DrCWO

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Unfortunately RME ADI-2/4 does not support MC cartridges which you usually find in high-end tt-systems.
Hence I will continue to use my RME ADI-2 Pro FSR BE with my external phono-pre which really sounds amazing.
Actually as an existing ADI user I’m kind of disappointed about the RME ADI-2/4 as it does not provide new features that would justify to spend another 1000-1500€!
In the automotive industry you would call the ADI-2/4 rather a facelift but it would be definitely not released as a new model…
For me the second pair of balanced outputs at the back, the MM input plus the trigger output were arguments enough to get an ADI-2/4 as soon as I could.
This saved me two additional boxes (phono pre and symmetrizer) in my chain. Less units less noise less distortion less power consumtion. Thank you RME :)
Sure costs some $$ but with the replaced ADI-2 Pro FS I now have an additional excellent headphone amp I don‘t want to miss any more.
 

Sonic-Wall

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For your special use case I can see the advantage to consolidate some of your HiFi gear.
However for a regular 2-Channel HiFi system I don‘t need the separate 3/4 output and I’m more than happy with the headphone amp of my ADI-2 Pro FSR BE.
RME should have better added an I2S input as the best digital interface to connect a highend CD Transport with DSD upsampling.
Because of the missing I2S I’ve decided to add another DAC to my system and hope that the next ADI-2 will create that ”must have” reflex that this ADI-2 Pro facelift couldn’t trigger at all…
 

Sonic-Wall

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Even with new chips the ADI-2/4 did not improve in SQ as already reported by several guys.
BTW: RME did also replace in the ADI-2 DAC the AKM with the ESS chip and they didn’t call it ADI-3 DAC ;-)
 

DrCWO

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Okay, so what’s then the purpose of I2S?
S/PDIF, AES, Toslink, all of them mix the clock and the digital data into one line. This means it has to be separated by the DAC to get back clock and the data. I2S has different lines for clock and data by design.

Ten years ago, as the PLLs were not as advanced as they are today, this led to increased jitter compared to I2S. If you take a look at the jitter measurements of ADI-2 and also of most other state of the art DACs jitter with S/PDIF input signal is no issue any more.

So these days I2S has no advantage any more compared to transmission via one line. Amirm often compares USB and S/PDIF. USB is mostly asynchronous and therefor has no issues with jitter by design. Comparing USB with S/PDIF is like comparing I2S with S/PDIF and the difference is negligible with most DACs.
 

Trell

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For your special use case I can see the advantage to consolidate some of your HiFi gear.
However for a regular 2-Channel HiFi system I don‘t need the separate 3/4 output and I’m more than happy with the headphone amp of my ADI-2 Pro FSR BE.
RME should have better added an I2S input as the best digital interface to connect a highend CD Transport with DSD upsampling.
Because of the missing I2S I’ve decided to add another DAC to my system and hope that the next ADI-2 will create that ”must have” reflex that this ADI-2 Pro facelift couldn’t trigger at all…
Enjoy your ADI-2 Pro. The ADI-2/4 is not for you.
 

Sonic-Wall

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@DrCWO
My CD transport does not provide an USB output. The AES/EBU, S/PDIF and Toslink outputs are limited to 192kHz.
Only the I2S output of my CDT carries DSD64 and DSD128 or PCM at 352kHz and 384kHz.
If you want to play the hi-rez layer of an SACD, upsample/resample a SACD (DSD64) up to DSD 256 or PCM 24/384, you must use the transport's HDMI output.
 
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