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

onchuner

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No, if you want to get that super chocolatey sound, with 3D/holographic sound stage, you need to buy a nice Woo Audio preamplifier and also a Rebel amp to complete the chain of synergy.

If you need more information head on over to SBAF, they'll teach you all about getting the full potential out of your headphones via non-scientific jargon. You'll spend thousands and gain immaculate happiness.
hehe thank you
yeah ok i know my question is kinda dumb

i was just thinking to try and buy new headphone
and doubt is should i try planars like LCD-5 or better to stick to dynamics like Utopia
or better to go for something else (or cheaper)

in other words how to reduce the list of phones/devices i should try before buying
 

archerious

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hehe thank you
yeah ok i know my question is kinda dumb

i was just thinking to try and buy new headphone
and doubt is should i try planars like LCD-5 or better to stick to dynamics like Utopia
or better to go for something else (or cheaper)

in other words how to reduce the list of phones/devices i should try before buying
If you can buy them from a store with free returns then why not try them? Personally I purchased my HE1000v2 on Amazon precisely for this reason.
 

Kevbaz

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Has the price of the RME ADI 2 DAC FS gone up substantially recently. I just checked and it’s now £1149 I’m sure it was around 7-800 a year ago.
Kev
 

txbdan

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^No, they're currently on sale $300 off. I got a Sweetwater demo for $899 and as far as I can tell its brand new. Remote and accessories were in sealed bags, stickers on the unit.

I just got one of these bad boys and am digging it. I really like both the crossfade function for headphones and the loudness feature on my speakers. I found setting the loudness to +4dB seems about right as I think at lower volumes I do like the music to retreat a little. I do think this makes playing at lower volumes a lot more appealing.

For crossfade, I have it at the 1 setting for just a bit of it. I need to spend more time with the other settings.
 

storing

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All I can say people experimenting with other DACs are wasting their time and money.
Well, if people need DAC or DAC+HP AMP only, people can get that for like 1/4 of the price with equal or better sound and performance (i.e. measured), and offload DSP needs to a PC. How is that a waste, if those people don't need any of the ADI functionality anyway? In fact that would be an actual waste of money if those people would by an ADI and not use its features. (disclaimer: I do have an ADI Pro myself so it's not like I don;t know what it does :))
 

TK750

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Has the price of the RME ADI 2 DAC FS gone up substantially recently. I just checked and it’s now £1149 I’m sure it was around 7-800 a year ago.
Kev

In the UK yes I have also noticed this unfortunately
 

Acerun

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Sorry for the ignorant question, but I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for in the manual. I have a RME ADI-2 DAC FS on my desktop and I'm powering Genelec speakers via XLR. I'd like to use the RCA output to feed a Topping L30II amplifier for headphones. Can anyone help me understand what settings I need to adjust? Do I really need to disconnect the XLR cable to use the RCA output? I'm guessing not but I'm not sure and can't seem to find the documentation/settings. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:

bbforce

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RCA and XLR outputs can be used simultaneousely without any issues - See also sections 19.1 to 19.6 of the manual
 

Acerun

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RCA and XLR outputs can be used simultaneousely without any issues - See also sections 19.1 to 19.6 of the manual
But do they have to be? Can I designate RCA out instead of XLR? Otherwise I'll just have to turn off the Genelecs to use the headphone amp I suppose.
 

Acerun

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But do they have to be? Can I designate RCA out instead of XLR? Otherwise I'll just have to turn off the Genelecs to use the headphone amp I suppose.
Looks like I will also need to toggle between the PEQ profile for the genelec and the headphone each time.
 

Geomancer1115

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I will try to purchase this DAC and maybe my end game component to my otherwise growing audio midfi system i currently have ;)
 

Jimbob54

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But do they have to be? Can I designate RCA out instead of XLR? Otherwise I'll just have to turn off the Genelecs to use the headphone amp I suppose.
I think so, yes. You can select headphone out or rear outputs or both but not which rear outputs.
 

Jimbob54

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Daft question time.

I find for all my headphones I have to adjust the balance towards the right. On the RME somewhere between R4 and R8 gets my stereo image centred. I note the full range is L100-R100 but I have no idea how "big" an adjustment 8 units in either direction is. Anyone know what kind of scale the balance adjustment works on ?

Oh, and this is definitely a "user" problem, not equipment or source related as I have to adjust on any source/ dac/ headphone.

I suppose I should get an ear/ hearing test as I have never knowingly suffered blockages or wax issues but just wondering how "bad" an offset of 8/100 actually is?

@MC_RME - apologies but I couldnt see anything in the manual but its possible I missed it.
 

staticV3

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@Jimbob54 Why not measure it yourself? :D
All you need is a cheapo $10 multimeter and an empty headphone plug
 

danadam

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Beyond my pay grade ;-)
On ADI-2 Pro, with no EQ, with Hi-Power on, a 50 Hz sine played it at 0.0 volume:
Code:
       V       dB
 0   9.1     0.00
 4   8.8    -0.29
 8   8.4    -0.70
10   8.2    -0.90
20   7.2    -2.03
30   6.3    -3.19
40   5.3    -4.70
50   4.4    -6.31
60   3.4    -8.55
70   2.5   -11.22
80   1.5   -15.66
90   0.6   -23.62
97   0.1   -39.18
 

Jimbob54

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On ADI-2 Pro, with no EQ, with Hi-Power on, a 50 Hz sine played it at 0.0 volume:
Code:
       V       dB
 0   9.1     0.00
 4   8.8    -0.29
 8   8.4    -0.70
10   8.2    -0.90
20   7.2    -2.03
30   6.3    -3.19
40   5.3    -4.70
50   4.4    -6.31
60   3.4    -8.55
70   2.5   -11.22
80   1.5   -15.66
90   0.6   -23.62
97   0.1   -39.18
Oh cool, so at full tilt a balance bias of 8 is a 0.7v offset. If I'm already listening at say - 20db the offset will be a fair bit less.

Still not great news for my hearing but not horrific. Thanks!
 

Booker

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Did anyone try by uploading bit test wav files by iTunes (Windows), to check if the Apple Music is playing bit-perfect via iPhone with CCK connected to ADI-2 FS? I failed the test.
 

sonitus mirus

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Did anyone try by uploading bit test wav files by iTunes (Windows), to check if the Apple Music is playing bit-perfect via iPhone with CCK connected to ADI-2 FS? I failed the test.

It seems that Apple Music might be doing something to alter the data in some manner with iOS devices.

This thread over at RME's official support forum goes over it and is the best resource I have been able to find.

 
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