RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE

[Music1969]

I've been too lazy to use that ridiculous 2x TRS to 4-pin XLR adapter to get the extra power from my ADI-2 Pro, so it's nice to finally see not only a pentaconn jack, but an additional half watt of power.

You need more power for the MrSpeakers AEONs shown in your signature?

What SPLs are you listening at

 

[Music1969]

The reasoning is quite simple - portability and ease of use. I would prefer not to carry a preamp/audio interface wherever I go and get the functionality of my portable babyface pro fs within a unit like this so I can monitor with harder-to-drive headphones on a balanced circuit.

Just get a Merging Anubis

Can connect direct to laptop using USB to gigabit ethernet adapter.

Built-in mic pre and 2x headphone outputs.

Can be powered by 12Vdc powerbank too like ADI-2's

 

[ayane]

You need more power for the MrSpeakers AEONs shown in your signature?

What SPLs are you listening at

I get asked this a lot, but after applying EQ and ReplayGain, the RME just doesn't have enough juice single-ended. There's a way to use both HP outs to push more power, but I feel it's too clunky compared to just having an amp with an XLR jack.

 

[Music1969]

I get asked this a lot, but after applying EQ and ReplayGain, the RME just doesn't have enough juice single-ended

You max out of volume on the RME?

Or you feel that subjectively it is lacking powah to drive the AEONs?

i.e. is it a subjective thing or objective thing?

When you add an amp like SP200 you add more noise and distortion to the system! Even low N+D is still more N+D

And in the case of SP200 you add the feature of channel imbalance

 

[ayane]

You max out of volume on the RME?

Or you feel that subjectively it is lacking powah to drive the AEONs?

i.e. is it a subjective thing or objective thing?

tl;dr - That's a tricky question to answer, because the answer is both. Loudness preferences are subjective, strictly speaking, because my loudness preferences may not match the preferences of someone else. Nonetheless, these preferences are objectively quantifiable (and the unit of measurement is watts).

Long answer - plugging my Aeons directly into the RME, with a little bit of EQ to correct the tonality (bump up the bass and tame the upper mids), I sometimes find myself maxing out the volume knob on some songs. One example would be Dire Straits's "Money for Nothing" from the 1985 album Brothers In Arms - the version in my lossless library is a rip from the original 1985 CD, where the mastering is punchy and not compressed like later remasters. Especially during that intro with Sting's uncredited vocals, I even find myself craving more power.

The SMSL comes in and saves the day. This thing has so much power that I can make myself cringe without even pushing it to its limit, whereas the RME doesn't get that blisteringly loud. Now, my Aeons are pretty inefficient at 93 dB/mW, but there are headphones that are much less sensitive - take the DCA Stealth, for example. Those have a sensitivity rating of 86 dB/mW, and if my RME is struggling to give me as much power as I want sometimes with my Aeons, the Stealth will absolutely present more such circumstances. I bring it up because it's a headphone I'm considering.

Yes, I can disable EQ and the song becomes loud enough, but then I lose tonality. Still other songs which are compressed to oblivion (like the example I posted in this thread) play loudly enough that the RME provides more than enough power for enjoyment, so I can plug directly into the RME. But why bother being so hands-on all the time? The point of the hobby is to just set up and forget about it, and to enjoy the music with a simple interface - one plug, one volume knob. To that effect, even if the RME works 95% of the time, because the SMSL works 100% of the time, I have incentive to keep it. Plus my desk looks neat and clean, without a ridiculous 2xTRS -> 4-pin XLR adapter sticking out of my DAC, lol - aesthetics matter too.

Edit - Was just looking at the manual and it seems that an adapter won't make a difference for the Aeons; the RME simply can't push more current than about 250 mA:

 

[Music1969]

tl;dr - That's a tricky question to answer, because the answer is both. Loudness preferences are subjective, strictly speaking, because my loudness preferences may not match the preferences of someone else. Nonetheless, these preferences are objectively quantifiable (and the unit of measurement is watts).

Long answer - plugging my Aeons directly into the RME, with a little bit of EQ to correct the tonality (bump up the bass and tame the upper mids), I sometimes find myself maxing out the volume knob on some songs. One example would be Dire Straits's "Money for Nothing" from the 1985 album Brothers In Arms - the version in my lossless library is a rip from the original 1985 CD, where the mastering is punchy and not compressed like later remasters. Especially during that intro with Sting's uncredited vocals, I even find myself craving more power.

The SMSL comes in and saves the day. This thing has so much power that I can make myself cringe without even pushing it to its limit, whereas the RME doesn't get that blisteringly loud. Now, my Aeons are pretty inefficient at 83 dB/mW, but there are headphones that are much less sensitive - take the DCA Stealth, for example. Those have a sensitivity rating of 86 dB/mW, and if my RME is struggling to give me as much power as I want sometimes with my Aeons, the Stealth will absolutely present more such circumstances. I bring it up because it's a headphone I'm considering.

Yes, I can disable EQ and the song becomes loud enough, but then I lose tonality. Still other songs which are compressed to oblivion (like the example I posted in this thread) play loudly enough that the RME provides more than enough power for enjoyment, so I can plug directly into the RME. But why bother being so hands-on all the time? The point of the hobby is to just set up and forget about it, and to enjoy the music with a simple interface - one plug, one volume knob. To that effect, even if the RME works 95% of the time, because the SMSL works 100% of the time, I have incentive to keep it. Plus my desk looks neat and clean, without a ridiculous 2xTRS -> 4-pin XLR adapter sticking out of my DAC, lol - aesthetics matter too.

Good answer ! If you max out the volume knob on the RME then that's the end of the discussion - I can see why you need more powah !

 

[Ra1zel]

Eh I hoped they would stick to AKM chips, also please bring back the ability to mount it in a rack.

 

[restorer-john]

One example would be Dire Straits's "Money for Nothing" from the 1985 album Brothers In Arms - the version in my lossless library is a rip from the original 1985 CD, where the mastering is punchy and not compressed like later remasters. Especially during that intro with Sting's uncredited vocals

Uncredited? Hardly. It actually states "credits".

Flatbed scan of my original Vertigo 824-490-1 pressing.

 

[ayane]

Uncredited? Hardly. It actually states "credits".

View attachment 214077

Flatbed scan of my original Vertigo 824-490-1 pressing.

Whoa!! That's incredible!

 

[MCH]

Whoa!! That's incredible!

If you see it, it becomes even more evident

 

[ayane]

If you see it, it becomes even more evident

Well, I'm glad Sting was not only credited but that he even appeared live to perform his part!

It's wild to think that one of my favorite songs predates me by eleven years, and that what I assumed from not seeing Sting mentioned on streaming sites doesn't apply to the original era! I learned about this song from my dad, growing up =)

 

[Gregg Hermetech]

I'm looking forward to getting one of these. It will hopefully be a nice upgrade from my 11 year old Crookwood conversion. Was gonna go for the ADI 2 Pro FS but will wait for this to drop.

 

[spnc]

Damn that's exciting! Will hold until this release.

 

[bbforce]

Will it be possible to feed the two DACs with independent digital sources and yet control the master volume for all of them at the same time? I think of something like connecting a miniDSP SHD studio with all 4 digital output channels to the RME (e.g. Channels 1/2 by SPDIF and Channels 3/4 by AES-EBU to RME) and then use its extended functions like loudness, filters before DA conversion?

 

[spnc]

I get asked this a lot, but after applying EQ and ReplayGain, the RME just doesn't have enough juice single-ended. There's a way to use both HP outs to push more power, but I feel it's too clunky compared to just having an amp with an XLR jack.

Interesting. Sorry total noob here - would I have enough power with the UCX II + new 2/4 ADI Pro to drive 250 ohm headphones?

Also I never understood one thing: some people like you seem to use the ADI Pro as a sound interface, I thought it was an amp at the end of chain?

 

[spnc]

Still no Total Mix integration with the 2/4 ADI Pro?

I think that would be a missed opportunity, even the 300 USD Digiface has it.

 

[Martin]

Uncredited? Hardly. It actually states "credits".

View attachment 214077

Flatbed scan of my original Vertigo 824-490-1 pressing.

If you see it, it becomes even more evident

I have loved Dire Straits (and Mark Knopfler) since I first heard Sultans of Swing. I never knew that was Sting singing on this recording...

Martin

 

[Trell]

Still no Total Mix integration with the 2/4 ADI Pro?

I think that would be a missed opportunity, even the 300 USD Digiface has it.

To RME it's a converter, not an audio interface, thus no TotalMix FX.

 

[spnc]

To RME it's a converter, not an audio interface, thus no TotalMix FX.

Okay duly noted - I guess you answered my previous question in the process, this is not an audio interface

Interestingly, Digicheck NG newest version now works with the ADIs for record and playback data:

 

[Trell]

Okay duly noted - I guess you answered my previous question in the process, this is not an audio interface

Interestingly, Digicheck NG newest version now works with the ADIs for record and playback data:

Windows has always supported it (as far as I know) but was added not so long ago to Mac as well. This is the reason RME added loopback recording to the ADI-2 DAC/Pro to support to enable Digicheck on Mac, as I recall.