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

[Matias]

Nowhere does it says so. You need to learn to read these marketing department driven and extremely carefully worded press releases correctly.

The 'new' chip is 100% identical to the 'old' one. Absolutely nothing has changed, except for three letters in the end.

And so far we only received samples. We'll see when we receive more what we'll do with them.

Website says one thing, datasheet says another and is identical to AK4493. So I am not sure!

Edit: also from their News section.

 

[Mehdiem]

The difficulty with EQ for loudspeakers as opposed to headphones is that the room itself also needs to be considered, as it will have a large impact on the frequency response heard. You may need to investigate room correction to determine the best values for your eq, or just have a go by ear.

There's a couple of good guides to room correction on this forum which were written by Amir. Room EQ Wizard (REW) is the (free!) software that most people use.

Hey, thank you for your reply. It makes perfect sense. I'm planning to pursue a room correction path. In the meantime, I'm wondering if there are any basic tweaks to Frequency and Q-factors etc of the 5 Band (+ Base and Treble) so that I start my trial and error? For example, right now I am using the same Frequency & Q-factors as those for HD800s (ROTARY) and just tweaking the gain to suit my stereo system. The result of this is much better than tweaking the gain of default RME Frequency and Q-Factors.
Is there any base Frequency and Q-Factor for the stereo systems as opposed to headphones?

Another Question: what is the BW on the ROTARY filter chart and how can I change it?

 

[Jimbob54]

Hey, thank you for your reply. It makes perfect sense. I'm planning to pursue a room correction path. In the meantime, I'm wondering if there are any basic tweaks to Frequency and Q-factors etc of the 5 Band (+ Base and Treble) so that I start my trial and error? For example, right now I am using the same Frequency & Q-factors as those for HD800s (ROTARY) and just tweaking the gain to suit my stereo system. The result of this is much better than tweaking the gain of default RME Frequency and Q-Factors.
Is there any base Frequency and Q-Factor for the stereo systems as opposed to headphones?

Another Question: what is the BW on the ROTARY filter chart and how can I change it?

Start with the easy one . Ignore BW on the (oratory1990?) charts if you can model using the Q value- its a different way of expressing the same thing that some software/ HW uses instead.

Secondly- all you are doing by using the HD800 EQ filters on your speakers is changing the sound - not necessarily overall to the better, What I think you are liking is the bass shelf that you get with most headphone EQ settings. I would start with a blank sheet and experiment with the bass and treble filters more than individual peaks until you get into actually measuring your room response.

 

[Willem]

Almost invariably the imperfections induced by the room are far larger than those from the speaker response.

 

[Mehdiem]

Start with the easy one . Ignore BW on the (oratory1990?) charts if you can model using the Q value- its a different way of expressing the same thing that some software/ HW uses instead.

Secondly- all you are doing by using the HD800 EQ filters on your speakers is changing the sound - not necessarily overall to the better, What I think you are liking is the bass shelf that you get with most headphone EQ settings. I would start with a blank sheet and experiment with the bass and treble filters more than individual peaks until you get into actually measuring your room response.

You are right. As a matter of fact, the reason I tried to replicate the left side of the EQ according to HD800s is that LS50 lacks bass very similarly to HD800. Also, my amp is very natural and flat by itself so I needed a better soundstage and more “air”, as a result of which I kept the middle just as HD800 and added highs +2.

 

[radix]

Just got my ADI-2 DAC today, updated the firmware, and programmed a few headphone EQs. Overall, I'm very happy with it. I wish it had a GUI to configure it over USB; the menu system is tedious and I lost several EQs before I mostly figured out how to save them. But it's worth it. EQ on the DAC makes it much easier to use multiple streamers (mostly spotify and roon) to my ropieee to the dac and have consistent headphone EQ. And being able to re-program the remote lets me put those EQs on the 1-4 buttons.

I also was able to use VituixCAD to come up with RME 5+2 EQ profiles for my DT770s (in this thread), as Oratory doesn't have one for the RME.

Maybe I can uninstall SoundSource now (not that it's that bad).

 

[amper42]

If the ADI-2 had a USB interface to program the unit via Mac/PC it would be very convenient. Especially, if you could save different presets and load them from the computer as needed. RME has said the ADI-2 doesn't have the processing power to do this - but I think RME is probably the only one not realizing this option would be a total game changer. If it had this feature it would be absolutely fantastic.

As it is now, it's totally usable but it takes users awhile to understand and perhaps remember when changes are desired. It's almost as if they don't want anyone to use the unit if they are not an engineer or below a certain IQ. It takes awhile to fully understand each feature and if you don't make changes regularly be prepared to have a video or the manual handy. It can be overwhelming when you first get the unit but as time goes by you become a member of the secret hand shake society of the ADI-2.

We can be thankful the ADI-2 has a wonderful remote and you don't have to hold down special keys while restarting the unit to get into programing mode.

 

[MC_RME]

Website says one thing, datasheet says another and is identical to AK4493. So I am not sure!

I am aware of the two changed values in the data sheet. But that is just a correction, not something new. The mono SNR has always been 128 dBA, 126 did make no sense (125 dB +3 dB). And the THD+N - well, you have seen measurements with RME - you could get that value before. But look closely again: the min value is still a disappointing -105 dB. So what will you get when you order?

 

[Bernard23]

If I could figure out a way of attaching my ancient technics SL2000 I'd have one, my current dac-amp the Element II has a phone input as well as out so it's covered.

 

[Count Arthur]

If I could figure out a way of attaching my ancient technics SL2000 I'd have one, my current dac-amp the Element II has a phone input as well as out so it's covered.

How about a phono amp with with SPDIF or Toslink out: http://parksaudiollc.com/

Parks Audio Puffin Review (Phono Stage)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Parks Audio Puffin Phono Pre-amplifier. This is a special device in that it digitizes the cartridge output and then is able to perform a wealth of signal processing on the signal from pop and tick removal to RIAA equalization. The standard one...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Alternatively, you could add an ADC to an existing phono preamp: https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Lin...verter-RCA-SPDIF-opt-coax-/art-REC0008904-000

 

[Bernard23]

How about a phono amp with with SPDIF or Toslink out: http://parksaudiollc.com/

Parks Audio Puffin Review (Phono Stage)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Parks Audio Puffin Phono Pre-amplifier. This is a special device in that it digitizes the cartridge output and then is able to perform a wealth of signal processing on the signal from pop and tick removal to RIAA equalization. The standard one...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Alternatively, you could add an ADC to an existing phono preamp: https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Lin...verter-RCA-SPDIF-opt-coax-/art-REC0008904-000

As nice as the puffin looks, that's adding a huge on cost to what is a very cheap and occasional use source! Adding an ADC is a great option, though my wallet was hoping to find reasons not to change my dac/amp!

 

[Count Arthur]

though my wallet was hoping to find reasons not to change my dac/amp!

Sorry about that.

 

[TunaBug]

If the ADI-2 had a USB interface to program the unit via Mac/PC it would be very convenient. Especially, if you could save different presets and load them from the computer as needed. RME has said the ADI-2 doesn't have the processing power to do this - but I think RME is probably the only one not realizing this option would be a total game changer. If it had this feature it would be absolutely fantastic.

I would like that too. A full REST API that worked while the unit was live would be great, but I think they could get 80% of the functionality for 20% of the work: I would be happy if all they implemented was backup & restore over USB, with a PC-side file format that is easy to figure out and edit (XML, for example). At that point I could edit in emacs, or somebody could build a GUI. And, nerd that I am, I could keep my history in git

 

[weme]

AK4493S <-> AK4493SEQ: don't go crazy - stay realistic

Old AK4493 <-> AK4493EQ (marking code on the chip: AK4493EQ) are EOL (End Of Live).

[EOL] AK4493EQ | Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM)

You will find information except design support.

www.akm.com

ADI-2 PRO is only produced with the AK4493 by AKM. So at some future date there will be an ADI-2 PRO only with the AK4493S. AK4493S is compatible to the AK4493:
Already because of the same No. 4493, compare the block schematics
Only a few software changes would be necessary to offer "possible new functions"

Current ADI-2 DAC is only produced with the ES9028Q2M from ESS. I don't believe a change from ESS back to AKM - unless AKM's product costs less money.


The AK4493S <-> AK4493SEQ (marking code on the chip: AK4493SEQ) you can classify like this (Status Feb. 2022):

Technical development: I don't think so, and if would be insignificant
Marketing: Oh yes! VELVETSOUND is not new

AK4493S: Table from Feb. 2022:

Audio D/A Converters | Audio Components | Products | Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM)

AKM’s audio D/A converters (DACs) provide solutions for high quality audio system with the original digital-analog mixing technology.

www.akm.com

AK4493: Table from Sept. 2021:
The AK4493 already had VELVETSOUND too!

Audio D/A Converters | Audio | PRODUCTS | Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM)

AKM’s audio D/A converters (DACs) provide solutions for high quality audio system with the original digital-analog mixing technology.

web.archive.org

Also note: The measured values published in the press are only typical values - these values are not guaranteed.


Further arguments: @MC_RME writes in his current ADI-2 DAC manual:

https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/adi2profsr_e.pdf

"ADI-2 DACs with AK4493 and ES9028Q2M are neither sonically nor visually easily distinguisha-
ble. However, the ESS version is recognized by a small C at the end of the serial number sticker
(B stood for AKM 4493)...

14.1.5 Expert Settings - THD Comp K2L (K2R, K3L, K3R)
"This can be quite instructive - when one notices that no difference between 0.1% and 0.0001% distortion is audible."

(@MC_RME For two reasons: I would have addressed only the owners of tube amplifiers! So clarified if the people who always listen to their audio sources with a lot of harmonic distortion could experiment with this mode. ...)

And, for those who still don't believe it:
0.1% distortion means: the distortion is -60 dB
0.0001% distortion means: the distortion is -120 dB
Listen at the volume you can hear all the time. Reduce this volume on the ADI-2 by - ~ 70 dB ...
Would an appointment with an ear specialist be necessary now?

 

[Kristonio]

Does anybody here use Audeze LCD-2 Fazer bamboo version with the RME ADI-2 and want to share their eq setup? I can't find any eq setting online to use with the ADI-2.

 

[G.R.Waters]

If they are level matched you almost certainly will hear no difference between them with DSP disabled.

I choose the RME ADI-2 DAC for it’s outstanding features, including a powerful headphone amplifier.

Mea maxima culpa! Only after having updated the ADI-2 firmware I realized that since the first days I set it up I run it with "LOUDNESS" mode ON (so DSP) . I have to conclude that according to your correct statement my subjective perception of "deeper" soundstage than D90se is probably due to such function activated.

 

[MC_RME]

It seems you also missed the useful Dark Volume Details 'top screen', where all currently active DSP FX are listed.

 

[G.R.Waters]

It seems you also missed the useful Dark Volume Details 'top screen', where all currently active DSP FX are listed.

View attachment 186726

Agreed, useful... but you made an already addictive real-time frequency graph and level meters even more beautiful with the new firmware optional colours. It's my permanent screen settings and I can hardly depart from it.

 

[The French]

Does anybody here use Audeze LCD-2 Fazer bamboo version with the RME ADI-2 and want to share their eq setup? I can't find any eq setting online to use with the ADI-2.

Have you tried the genric one here ?

index/list_of_presets - oratory1990

r/oratory1990: Mostly covering topics like headphones, in-ear headphones, acoustics, electroacoustics, acoustic tuning, headphone design …

www.reddit.com

I'm not sure Bamboo, or any external material, has such an importance. For Closed Back HP, it should, but for Open Back...I'm not that sure.

 

[ishmeister]

I've got a Singxer SA-1 and Topping D50S dac. I'm going to sell the D50S and ultimately I'd like the ADI-2 to be my "endgame" DAC. Really it's the PEQ that I'm mainly interested in. Is there any advantage to using ADI-2 with the SA-1 or should I sell that too to reduce my outlay on the RME? I'm using headphones only at the moment (HD800 with balanced cable).