RME ADI-2 DAC

[Purité Audio]

We will be the first UK retailer to have the new RME ADI-2 dac £895 inc vat.
http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-dac.php

Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

Just arrived!



Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

‘High end’,


Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

What’s in the box,



Keih

 

[Purité Audio]

In action! It is a sturdy little unit ,the remote is super neat, and the device is incredibly versatile.
https://www.puriteaudio.co.uk/forum/electronics/rme-adi-2-dac-arrives

Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

Linear power supplies are not required!



Keith

 

[fitero]

Very interesting. They've added a number of useful DSP functions allowing more flexibility when used as a preamp as well.

I'm curious to read impressions with regard to sound quality and ease of use.

 

[Purité Audio]

It is incredibly easy to use, the unit senses what is connected operation is very similar to the ADI-PRO 2 , it sounds great, I think Amir might have ordered a unit for testing?
Keith

 

[amirm]

I ordered the ADI-2 Pro (DAC and ADC) and it arrived yesterday. Putting it through its paces as we speak....

 

[amirm]

Keith, is it plug-and-play in Windows? On mine, it got recognized by Windows but it did not instantiate any audio devices. I had to install their drivers. Once I did, it only advertised 44.1 kHz and no other sampling rate! Never seen that before.

 

[Purité Audio]

Ohhhh!
Let’s hope it lives up to expectations !
A almost totally Apple here, I will try it on one of my sons’ PCs.

Keith

 

[svart-hvitt]

I ordered the ADI-2 Pro (DAC and ADC) and it arrived yesterday. Putting it through its paces as we speak....

Will you do a loopback test?

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gea...ps-means-audio-diffmaker-50.html#post12888380

 

[amirm]

Audiodiffmaker crashes on my 9 out of 10 times and I have given up on it. So I don't think I will be running that test. I will be evaluating it like any other DAC first.

Then I will go after the ADC.

 

[Occamsrazor]

Looking forward to your impressions! I couldn't wait any longer so just ordered the DAC version, but it will be a week or two until it arrives to me.
Therefore please ensure your reviews are suitably glowing even if it's crap

 

[zenmastering]

I noted something similar when installing the ADI-2 Pro drivers and had to re-start the computer. Now it recognizes all rates up to 768KHz.

Keith, is it plug-and-play in Windows? On mine, it got recognized by Windows but it did not instantiate any audio devices. I had to install their drivers. Once I did, it only advertised 44.1 kHz and no other sampling rate! Never seen that before.

 

[Sal1950]

Keith, is it plug-and-play in Windows? On mine, it got recognized by Windows but it did not instantiate any audio devices. I had to install their drivers. Once I did, it only advertised 44.1 kHz and no other sampling rate! Never seen that before.

A almost totally Apple here, I will try it on one of my sons PCs.

Seems like those USB drivers that Micro$oft added to Win 10 a bit back are still sketchy. Units that are recognized without issue on Apple and Linux still hit and miss on Windoz.

 

[amirm]

I noted something similar when installing the ADI-2 Pro drivers and had to re-start the computer. Now it recognizes all rates up to 768KHz.

Thanks. Good to know. I will start and see what happens. I also read the manual and it says it is USB class 2 compliant so there should have been no need for drivers.

 

[amirm]

Seems like those USB drivers that Micro$oft added to Win 10 a bit back are still sketchy. Units that are recognized without issue on Apple and Linux still hit and miss on Windoz.

These intermittent problems could be anywhere from hardware implementation in my laptop to said drivers and the device. Good or bad or indifferent though, manufacturers need to work around any bugs they find and make their devices solidly reliable. Or document that they are not and why not.

When I worked for hardware companies that produced PC peripherals we always hired a testing lab for $20K or so to test compatibility. The shops we used had 70+ PCs to test against. We would give them device and a verification suite which they would run against them. Invariably we would find 20% of them not working and we would have to work around their bugs or ours. I suspect many of these companies don't do this.

If they used already tested hardware this would be less of an issue but I don't think RME uses an off-the-shelf solution.

 

[svart-hvitt]

These intermittent problems could be anywhere from hardware implementation in my laptop to said drivers and the device. Good or bad or indifferent though, manufacturers need to work around any bugs they find and make their devices solidly reliable. Or document that they are not and why not.

When I worked for hardware companies that produced PC peripherals we always hired a testing lab for $20K or so to test compatibility. The shops we used had 70+ PCs to test against. We would give them device and a verification suite which they would run against them. Invariably we would find 20% of them not working and we would have to work around their bugs or ours. I suspect many of these companies don't do this.

If they used already tested hardware this would be less of an issue but I don't think RME uses an off-the-shelf solution.

For a good report on faulty products, take a look at this thread on Antelope Goliath HD. At $7000 it’s an unfinished product.

It has issues with different chip sets!

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/1165852-antelope-audio-goliath-hd-issues.html

Again, it works fine with Mac (there is only one Mac but thousands of PCs, which makes PC issues complicated if not complex). And this shows again that aMac is cheap if time is money (which it is if you’re an audio professional).

 

[stunta]

Good or bad or indifferent though, manufacturers need to work around any bugs they find and make their devices solidly reliable. Or document that they are not and why not.

+1. I guess its easy for people to just blame Windows. If $100 USB DACs are plug-and-play, there is no excuse for more expensive units to be at the same level.