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RME ADI-2 FS Version 2 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

Egbert said:
Choose Mojo 2 as:
You mainly listen with headphones
You want a compact, musical DAC
You care less about features
You don’t need XLR

Choose RME ADI-2 DAC FS as:
You control a hi-fi set and headphones
You want neutrality Banchmark and control
You want to correct your acoustics
You are looking for an all-in-one solution
Click to expand...
My use case is solely headphones as I can’t really use speakers due to my family being asleep most of the time when I actually have time to game or listen to music.

I plan on connecting the DAC to my gaming PC and Mac mini but I can use a USB switch to do that. I have a few different headphones that I want to EQ and the EQ should be on the device itself so I don’t have to install software and EQ profiles on both PC and Mac. Does the Mojo 2 sound different compared to ADI-2-DAC? Mojo is about 360€ vs RME 700€. Although the Mojo 2 is not the 4.4 version. Not that it matters since it’s not balanced. In desktop use I would need to use both micro usb and usb-c from what I understand.
 
Luvchampagne said:
The "Made in Germany" Justification: RME bases this label on the fact that the "essential character"and most complex part of the device (the populated PCB) were created and verified in Germany. Under international trade rules, they consider this the "substantial transformation" required to use the label, even if the final "box-up" and last check happen in China/Hong Kong.

I could be wrong but I remember reading this on the RME forums.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are wrong. What you seem to remember is a discussion more than ten years ago, when a customer was complaining about RME not revealing where its product Babyface was made. RME merely said that it was "Engineered and Designed in Germany" while leaving open where the manufacturing process took place.

That discussion was where Matthias Carstens argued that RME was not evasive but instead that ...

Matthias Carstens said:
It's not that easy. The PCB with all components on it, means the [Babyface] in itself, is manufactured in Germany, tested here, and then shipped to RME Hong Kong. There it is assembled with the China-made housing, packed and sent out to the world. Now does that make it 'Made in Germany'? Not really. And does it make it 'made in China'? Not really either.
Click to expand...

Very obviously RME does not justify the label "Made in Germany" the way you claim it does, simply because they never asserted that the product in question was "Made in Germany". The discussion was only about the Babyface, whose housing milled from a solid block of aluminum is most certainly much cheaper to make in China than in Germany.

I would think it's quite simple: Believe what they write. If they print "Made in Germany" on the product, then the product is indeed made in Germany, and it they don't, it's not.
 
Adi 2 FS is already quite long on market, almost not available to buy as new recently. Any replacement planned by some new model?
 
g_t_r said:
Adi 2 FS is already quite long on market, almost not available to buy as new recently.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what makes you say that. The ADI-2 FS is the single one ADI-2 converter that is still readily available new and with warranty. Any other ADI-2 though ...

g_t_r said:
Any replacement planned by some new model?
Click to expand...

Yes, but no ETA last time I asked about a successor for the ADI-2/4 Pro SE. Probably the whole series will get a do-over.
 
The catch: ADI-2 FS and ADI-2 DAC FS are very different devices:

ADI-2 FS - RME Audio Interfaces | Format Converters | Preamps | Network Audio & MADI Solutions

RME Audio Professional Live, Studio, Recording and Broadcast Solutions. Unrivalled Quality, Performance & Stability MADI Interfaces, Converters & Preamps.
rme-audio.de

ADI-2-DAC FS - RME Audio Interfaces | Format Converters | Preamps | Network Audio & MADI Solutions

RME Audio Professional Live, Studio, Recording and Broadcast Solutions. Unrivalled Quality, Performance & Stability MADI Interfaces, Converters & Preamps.
rme-audio.de
 
Don't fight. The main confusion is in the title of this thread. ADI-2 FS: AD-DA converter, no DSP (readily available). ADI-2 DAC FS: the device reviewed in this thread, only DA, with DSP.
 
MC_RME said:
Don't fight. The main confusion is in the title of this thread. ADI-2 FS: AD-DA converter, no DSP (readily available). ADI-2 DAC FS: the device reviewed in this thread, only DA, with DSP.
Click to expand...
Maybe @amirm or a moderator could rearrange the post heading to "ADI-2 DAC FS Version 2 ..." so that the title matches the product being reviewed?
 
Been happy with my recent purchase so far. One thing I have tried to find an answer to without availing is the “ESS hump”. Was/is this an issue on the ADI-2-DAC? From my understanding the hump was caused by deviating from ESS’s documentation (ie. implementation issue) in output stage and is not an issue in newer products.
 
Syvere said:
Been happy with my recent purchase so far. One thing I have tried to find an answer to without availing is the “ESS hump”. Was/is this an issue on the ADI-2-DAC? From my understanding the hump was caused by deviating from ESS’s documentation (ie. implementation issue) in output stage and is not an issue in newer products.
Click to expand...
No
 
Syvere said:
Can you point me to your source on this? Was ES9028Q2M not affected or did RME implementation take this into account? I haven’t been able to find facts on this issue (regarding ES9028Q2M or ADI-2-DAC specifically).
Click to expand...
The IMD sweep not showing the issue is part of the OP in this thread. I do not know if the chip itself isn't affected, but the implementation by RME clearly isn't.
 
Egbert said:

ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series (Page 1) — RME User Forum

ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series (Page 1) — RME User Forum —
forum.rme-audio.de
Click to expand...
Yes, I know RME has their own forums. You're just linking to the forums instead of specific thread. Was this by accident?
RandomEar said:
The IMD sweep not showing the issue is part of the OP in this thread. I do not know if the chip itself isn't affected, but the implementation by RME clearly isn't.
Click to expand...
OP in this thread is AK4493 based ADI-2-DAC so not valid to the current unit and what I'm trying to find. Haven't been able to find measurements for the most recent ADI-2-DAC yet.
 
Syvere said:
Been happy with my recent purchase so far. One thing I have tried to find an answer to without availing is the “ESS hump”. Was/is this an issue on the ADI-2-DAC? From my understanding the hump was caused by deviating from ESS’s documentation (ie. implementation issue) in output stage and is not an issue in newer products.
Click to expand...
@VintageFlanker did a phenomenal job here https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...us-ess-measurements-dac-preamp-headamp.35377/
Whatever hump that has is only at instrument level and not at human perceptive level
 
delta76 said:
@VintageFlanker did a phenomenal job here https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...us-ess-measurements-dac-preamp-headamp.35377/
Whatever hump that has is only at instrument level and not at human perceptive level
Click to expand...
He really did, but the IMD hump is the one thing he couldn't measure. As a pure objectivist I'd really want to see those measurements as it's a known fact that some implementations do have a hump (not just ESS though). I did find one review linked by MC himself a few years ago that would indicate (if I'm reading the charts correctly) that there's no meaningful hump (they all have some degree of variation): https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...g-converter-measurements&catid=434&Itemid=577 at the very bottom of the page.
 
Syvere said:
He really did, but the IMD hump is the one thing he couldn't measure. As a pure objectivist I'd really want to see those measurements as it's a known fact that some implementations do have a hump (not just ESS though). I did find one review linked by MC himself a few years ago that would indicate (if I'm reading the charts correctly) that there's no meaningful hump (they all have some degree of variation): https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...g-converter-measurements&catid=434&Itemid=577 at the very bottom of the page.
Click to expand...
He did measure intermodulation distortion and both are essentially the same?
 
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