Lucky you! Shenzhen audio hasn't even recalled old units and they are not willing to send flashing tools to affected customers.
I'm wondering... do you think your new DAC sounds any different from your old SU-9? Obviously without all the fancy features (EQ and other stuff). I mean, vanilla vs. vanilla, do you think there's any perceptible difference?
Certainly - up front disclaimer, this will be my personal subjective view of course, with my particular set-up, and I'm mindful that such views are sometimes frowned upon within this forum because it's not 'scientific' enough! This may be a little long-winded, so don't shout at me, please!
As mentioned by '304290' in his post (#839) reply to mine, he felt the bass of the SU-9 was 'bloated and loose', whereas I considered it to be fuller but not boomy, both our views compared to the Khadas Tone Board. I personally thought the SU-9 was overall cleaner and fuller sounding than the KTB, with my set-up, and had this 'issue' not been brought to my attention I probably would have stuck with it and I was happy with it.
Now listening to the ADI-2 DAC, however, I find the difference in overall sound quite remarkable and I now realise what I've been missing! I had expected (hoped for?) it to be better, being double the cost of the SU-9, but now straight out of the box (no changes to factory settings or anything else) I find the overall sound to be very noticeably crisper, fuller and richer than the SU-9 was, right across all frequencies; music just sounds 'alive', if you see what I mean. When I say 'very noticeable' I mean just that - the overall increase in quality of sound is far from subtle, it's immediately apparent and evident which is why I said 'WOW' in my earlier post.
The bass is absolutely wonderful, controlled & deep, (304290 - you were obviously right about the SU-9's boomy bass, then - only now can I tell what real bass reproduction should sound like!). Soundstage is good, I can't compare it to anything other than the KTB of course, but I'd say it was about the same.
I've still yet to get my head around the convoluted menu structure of knobs and buttons, and all the options available, but at the moment I'm loath to play around with it too much because it just sounds terrific as it is, straight out of the box.
So my personal opinion is that the ADI-2 sounds
much better than the SU-9 (there, I've said it!) but, as we know it is twice the cost so I would have hoped for some improvement.
FYI, my set-up is all digital: Macbook Air playing Audirvana (FLAC files, some hi-res) >> ADI-2 DAC >> My-Ref Fremen FE dual-mono amps (built my me to highest spec) >> IPL Acoustics M1TLM transmission line speakers (also built by me to highest spec).
Off topic so excuse me, but by way of a further comparison, way back in the early '80's I was in the fortunate position to purchase a full top-of-the-range Marantz separates setup. It was the best sounding combination of kit in the shop at the time, I was able to afford it, so I went for it. It was my pride and joy and stayed with me until around 4/5 years or so ago when living room reconfiguring meant it was just too big to sensibly keep (the speakers dominated the room!). I almost wept when I sold it on, it was without doubt the best sounding set-up I'd ever heard (in my opinion!).
I then pursued several iterations of subsequent kit to progress along my digital route (Audioengine, Quad, Dragonfly, etc.), until deciding to build my own amps & speakers (as above), finally ending up with my set-up as described.
Why am I boring you with all of this (apologies!)? Because although I hate to actually admit it, and very much to my surprise, I genuinely feel that my current set-up with the ADI-2 sounds better than my Marantz kit did. I never thought I'd ever say that, but there you go.
So - do I think the ADI-2 sounds 'different' to the SU-9? Oh, YES, definitely - to me it sounds much better!!
Happy listening