MikeW
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2005
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Its not clear whether the xmos is needed, or just desired since its the latest tech of the week. There are instances of people getting rid of their yggys for the modi multibit and eitr combo, so they must be pretty close for people to choose that path. The adi 2 has nice customization and is an all in one unit, but the dac tech is certainly not 'end game' as far as d/s goes. Its only got about $600 in the dac section if RME is making a good profit on it.
RME's got a custom DSP, alot of R&D go's into a product like this. You think a DAVE has 6000$ in parts? hah hell no, your paying for decade of R&D. DS is complicated because implementation matters very much. Same DAC chip in 50$ or 1500$ dac, implementation varies wildly. ADI-2 has an exceptional power circuit and usb input as well, far above average. That stuff's not free man, they arnt using bog standard off the shelf XMOS parts, custom solution. The OP is looking for XMOS because he has a device that requires that chip to interface properly, probably a DAP or some other specific piece of gear.
With regards to the ADI being an "all in one unit".. uhh almost all 1000$+ DS designs are by that definition. Comes with the territory of high end DS. There are far more 1k+ DS dac's that have a headphone amp thrown in then not. So if you somehow believe that because it's got a great headphone amp thrown in that it's somehow lacking as a dac, you are mistaken. Most high end DS products are often times used in studio and the headphone amp is an expectation.
"Sharp zing of DS"... your confusing what a terrible input circuit does to DS.. your also assuming that all DS dac's sound like Sabre..
Edit: and before you say "ADi2 just has a walwart switcher, there's nothing special about it" dig a bit deeper. It's excellent measured performance, and the fact that it gains nothing by hooking a 1000$ LPS to it says otherwise. Same go's for it's USB input.. world class. Performance is outstanding, measured and subjective. No difference in feeding it with a end game transport via optical/coax or hooking it up to a noisy laptop usb. All three perform exceptional. Compare this to pedestrian crap like Schiit GEN2 or xmos gen1... no freaking comparison, those devices can't reach this level of performance with ridiculously expensive USB decrapifier's and a 15 foot rope of every ifi purifier made.
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