[sabloke]

Totally agree, don't listen to anyone when it comes to sound, trust only your ears. Any proclamation for or against using an amp with ADI-2 is useless IMO.

ADI-2 sounds darn good by itself but for me, paired with Burson's new headamp, it sounds even better. I quickly got to this conclusion after doing some A/B listening, nothing scientific. This might not be the case for others using different headphones, a different amp or even having a different musical taste. My advice is borrow a headamp or go to your local audio gear supplier with the DAC and have a listen or two, then decide if you're happy with what you've got or it would worth spending for more power.

 

[skhan007]

That's only if you have a basis for comparison. To say the RME drives headphones X well, when both the RME is new to the person saying that, and the headphones are new to the person saying that, is not worth very much. That person can say he likes it and they sound great and nobody can argue with that at all.

But to make an absolute statement like "the ADI-2 has no problem at all driving these 300 Ohm headphones. In high power mode, it does very well with these headphones." in a vacuum without having listened to those headphones out of the amps people claim you must use is just misleading to people who read that. First we read that guy had one pair of audiophile headphones and not much experience. Then a couple days later we read a broad proclamation about what does or doesn't work well. What's wrong with this picture?

I'm not attributing these quotes to you but I am responding to your implication that those opinions you did quote that you can make an informed decision in the absence of experience. This kind of assertion does not help people reading the thread.

Wow, I'm at a loss. Yes, we all know who you're attributing these quotes to. I guess this is the kind of thing the new guy must endure and get used to. Moving forward, I'll make sure to not make absolute statements based on my experience, as clearly, that's not helping people reading this thread.

I'll venture a guess that it was not your intention to be completing deflating and discouraging, but mission accomplished, good sir. I will move along.

 

[skhan007]

Totally agree, don't listen to anyone when it comes to sound, trust only your ears. Any proclamation for or against using an amp with ADI-2 is useless IMO.

ADI-2 sounds darn good by itself but for me, paired with Burson's new headamp, it sounds even better. I quickly got to this conclusion after doing some A/B listening, nothing scientific. This might not be the case for others using different headphones, a different amp or even having a different musical taste. My advice is borrow a headamp or go to your local audio gear supplier with the DAC and have a listen or two, then decide if you're happy with what you've got or it would worth spending for more power.

Thank you for your kindly worded and constructive response. I appreciate your feedback and find this helpful.

I was able to take my RME To a local hi-fi shop and listen to two different headphone amps. While I was able to note a larger bass response with both, I did not find it dramatically different from the headphone output of my DAC. In addition, I have been corresponding with one of the kind members here about his Burnson soloist. These are all things I have on my list to explore.

 

[Wladimir]

Now something useful, shall we?

There's a new firmware for our beloved ADI-2's. Changelog says: "ADI-2 DAC FGA 35, ADI-2 Pro FPGA 249: Improved SteadyClock, filter and phase control. SteadyClock’s jitter filter now operates down to 1 Hz instead of about 200 Hz, thus reduces even very low frequency input jitter efficiently."

RME's link to downloads: https://rme-audio.de/downloads.html
Direct link to firmware: https://rme-audio.de/downloads/fut_madiface_win.zip
Happy flashing

 

[betula]

Now something useful, shall we?

There's a new firmware for our beloved ADI-2's. Changelog says: "ADI-2 DAC FGA 35, ADI-2 Pro FPGA 249: Improved SteadyClock, filter and phase control. SteadyClock’s jitter filter now operates down to 1 Hz instead of about 200 Hz, thus reduces even very low frequency input jitter efficiently."

RME's link to downloads: https://rme-audio.de/downloads.html
Direct link to firmware: https://rme-audio.de/downloads/fut_madiface_win.zip
Happy flashing

Never flashed quicker. Is this placebo or I can really hear a little improvement in clarity?

 

[Dogmatrix]

Wow, I'm at a loss. Yes, we all know who you're attributing these quotes to. I guess this is the kind of thing the new guy must endure and get used to. Moving forward, I'll make sure to not make absolute statements based on my experience, as clearly, that's not helping people reading this thread.

I'll venture a guess that it was not your intention to be completing deflating and discouraging, but mission accomplished, good sir. I will move along.

I value all contributions to this thread and forum generally . Since we have no way of verifying anyone's qualification I regard all statements as a matter of opinion .
I find the notion some have that all statements should be deliberately ambiguous or prefaced with "in my humble opinion" quite absurd .

 

[Noobzilla]

Checked the manual but can't find info. Does anyone know if 5v on the USB cable is needed or can I use just signal/data? I am shopping for USB cables for my final testing (by that I mean I can't think of anything else I can A/B test in my system and I am most skeptical about USB cables making difference in audio quality). I will try USB Disruptor too.

 

[Noobzilla]

Never flashed quicker. Is this placebo or I can really hear a little improvement in clarity?

Just flashed mine from v .27 to .34. I'm also questioning if I'm hearing improvement or just placebo

 

[sabloke]

Checked the manual but can't find info. Does anyone know if 5v on the USB cable is needed or can I use just signal/data? I am shopping for USB cables for my final testing (by that I mean I can't think of anything else I can A/B test in my system and I am most skeptical about USB cables making difference in audio quality). I will try USB Disruptor too.

I am also skeptical about USB cables, however spent a small fortune on a Tschernov usb cable for my ADI-2 a while back. Then there's this video that got me thinking...

 

[Noobzilla]

I am also skeptical about USB cables, however spent a small fortune on a Tschernov usb cable for my ADI-2 a while back. Then there's this video that got me thinking...

Interesting video. I've seen several people liking the Supra. I'm about to order some Oyaide before you linked that video. Oyaide can arrive sooner and it has free returns so I think I will go ahead with the Class A Oyaide.

 

[John Q Lin]

I have the grace design m903, would the RME ADI 2 be a good upgrade?

 

[Matias]

Latest firmware version 249/98 for the Pro and 35/34 for the DAC below:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?pid=167427#p167427

MC:
"if one measures jitter attenuation over frequency the attenuation will be quite high at higher frequencies, and quite low at lower ones. The simple reason is that one needs to follow the incoming clock, and if that one varies slowly or a bit quicker (intentional detuning, varipitch) you don't want to loose sync. But that would usually happen when the jitter filter does not let through such slow changes.

In version 249 and 35 we finished what we had begun in version 238 and 34. In those versions the jitter attenuation was 4 x times higher than before, but a bit unstable in the low frequency area (which caused these low level nearby sidebands reported above). This is now resolved. The new SteadyClock works flawlessly with no difference to before, but jitter attenuation now has a corner frequency no longer around 200 Hz, but at around 1 Hz. That means more than 50 dB jitter reduction also at 50 Hz and similar real-world jitter frequencies. Absolutely top-notch for any kind of incoming clock signal.

Later on I will show the difference in behaviour with measurements on my APx555B."

 

[Cevisi]

after installing the update und drivers my rme doesnt change sample rates again on its own.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Lucky for me I bought the MC-3+ smartclock or I would have lived with intolerable extra jitter

 

[gimmeheadroom]

after installing the update und drivers my rme doesnt change sample rates again on its own.

Wait, is this good or bad?