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

Trell

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Well I finally did it. I bought an RME off Amazon should be here Monday it says. I was thinking of the Topping D90 but eh I want all the crazy features of the RME. Wonder how different it will be from my current Topping D30 -> SMSL SP200 stack?

Congratulations! The DSP that the RME ADI-2 DAC has will make an audible difference if you enable that. The day-to-day operations might be easier as well with a DAC/HP Amp combo.

While you wait for your RME ADI-2 DAC you can start reading the excellent manual:

 

sonitus mirus

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Well I finally did it. I bought an RME off Amazon should be here Monday it says. I was thinking of the Topping D90 but eh I want all the crazy features of the RME. Wonder how different it will be from my current Topping D30 -> SMSL SP200 stack?
Congrats! Got mine back in September 2018 from AVLGear through Amazon. I would happily purchase it again. I use it every day, and oftentimes all day long. Once you get it all dialed-in, it is the coolest thing ever. I really love the low volume reference loudness setting that allows for me to listen quietly in the background while keeping the details of the music. And when I crank up the volume, it just gets louder, but does not have elevated bass and treble typically present from my optimal low volume settings. It is genius idea and works so well.

I did get the updated remote control when it was available, but you should be getting the new one as the original remote is no longer sold. The support forum is great if you have any questions or concerns.
 

Rednaxela

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If only it had five more PEQ bands and(/or) no center frequency limitations.
 

Svperstar

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Svperstar

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Does anyone have a good list of EQ settings to dial in for the EQ on the RME ADI-2? Seeing if there is a concise list
 

Svperstar

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Oratory1990 publishes a list on Reddit. It has EQs for various headphones tuned for ADI-2 DAC.

That is exactly what I was looking for, gonna be a pain to dial all that in on the knobs lol. Wish the ADI-2 had an sdcard slot to transfer EQ.
 

Rednaxela

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Actually some months ago they added the bass and treble control to the EQ GUI, so you essentially have a 7 band parametric EQ.
Nice! Out of interest what does that do to the bass and treble knobs?
 

xaviescacs

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Nice! Out of interest what does that do to the bass and treble knobs?
They do the same, but the effects are visible on the EQ graph. There is no change in the way bass and treble settings work, just that their effect is now included on the EQ curve and that they can be loaded alongside with each EQ preset. It was kind of necessary because it was a bit strange to adjust bass and don't see any change on the EQ curve.
 

Svperstar

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For using the Line Out what is the best volume? I have it at -17 +1 dBu right now.
 

staticV3

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For using the Line Out what is the best volume?
Depends on your gear downstream. Amir's measurements show best performance at full output:
RME ADI-2 DAC FS Version 2 USB SINAD vs Level Audio Measurements.png
But not all Amps etc. can take 7Vrms.
 

Svperstar

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Answered countless times. As it is in the manual.;)

To get "regular" 4V balanced / 2V unbalanced : +13dBu Ref Level, volume -4.5dB, then fix the volume.

I just tried that on my SP200 and even on Low Power the SP200 has almost no wiggle room on my HD580s, waaaaaay too loud.
 

VintageFlanker

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I just tried that on my SP200 and even on Low Power the SP200 has almost no wiggle room on my HD580s, waaaaaay too loud.
Something is wrong with your setup, if your headamp overload with only a common 2V/4V input signal.

Try +7dBu at 0dBr volume. -17dBr @+1 dBu is not the way to go as a fixed line out, you're killing SNR & Dynamic Range that way.;)
 
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Svperstar

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Something is wrong with your setup, if your headamp overload with only a common 2V/4V input signal.

Try +7dBu at 0dBr volume. -17dBr @+1 dBu is not the way to go as a fixed line out, you're killing SNR & Dynamic Range that way.;)

I figured it out. Auto Ref Level was on and changing when I changed volume. I just manually dialed in the settings you recommended sounds great. My Koss electrostats are at Koss being fixed can't wait to spend more time playing around with that when it gets back.
 

Svperstar

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HarmonicTHD

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I was going to spend some time this weekend dialing in all of my headphones on the RME EQ,

Is there any reason I can't just use software like AutoEQ to do this the fast way?

Anyone else tried both methods?
Sure. Many use an EQ with the filters provided on this GitHub.

I found it easiest to use a software EQ eg APOEQ for PC or Moode/Camilla on RPi and feed the DAC from the PC or Pi (Streamer).
 
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staticV3

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Is there any reason I can't just use software like AutoEQ to do this the fast way?
The precomputed results on the GitHub repo aren't fully compatible with the RME as they use ten filter bands.
Not fully because they're designed so that you can use the first five PEQ filters or all then. But using the first five will be a bit coarse.

You can use the AutoEQ python script to recompute the presets for the RME for best results (there's a config file for that).

Or you can use oratory's list of presets for the RME: https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets_rme_adi-2/
 
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