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RME ADI-2 DAC Thread

Apr 12, 2018 at 4:25 AM Post #166 of 6,244
Read the instructions.
http://www.rme-audio.de/download/adi2dac_e.pdf
Screenshot_2018-04-12-11-22-21.png
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 9:41 AM Post #170 of 6,244
AudioQuality777 said:
A new excellent overview of ADI2 DAC from 11. 04.2018.
http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/desktop-audio/1480-test-rme-adi-2-dac?showall=&start=1

Click to expand...
It's a good all in one unit and I love this little guy. The review was more like a writeup of the reviewer's experience with the unit. It doesn't compare the unit with anything else to start a dialog.
To me, the amp though definitely serviceable, is not good enough for long term use. When paired with the 560, the 560 sounds thin and sibilant and isn't a nice experience (to me). The 600 does fair better, but there's a little bit of harshness to it. The worst 'sin' the amp commits is, it makes the sound a bit closed, as opposed to Liquid Carbon or the Ember. It's also a wee bit cold sounding, but I'm nit picking at this point.

In terms of usability, it too a while for me to get used to the controls. Esp. pressing buttons instead of rotating volume button, to go up and down the menu was a little weird. I've gotten used to it since, so no issue now. Remote feels pretty nice and is a plus. I would have liked to have a couple of more customizable buttons there. It only makes sense as the USP of this unit is the ability to customize.
If there was a auto turn-off feature, I would have loved it.

To me the positives are. Its size makes it comfortable for both home and office use. The SQ is good with the internal amp and with an external amp it jumps one step further. The DSP features are definitely a plus to those who like to constantly tweak things. On the whole I'm satisfied with the RME
 
Apr 13, 2018 at 1:17 PM Post #172 of 6,244
I used two setups mainly.
Mac (Audirvana) -> (bluejeans) usb -> RME dac -> RME amp | Liquid Carbon | Ember -> HE560 | HD6XX | HD600 | Fostex TX0
Linux (Deadbeef) -> usb | coax -> RME dac -> RME amp | Liquid Carbon | Ember -> HE560 | HD6XX | HD600 | Fostex TX0
USB and spdif both sounded equally good to my ears.
As for filters I see myself gravitating towards the sd-slow or slow filters. Of the 5 filters, NOS is the one that sounds most unlike any other and I wasn't sure I liked the sound as well.
I also have all DSPs turned off most of the time.
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 2:00 PM Post #173 of 6,244
trybeingarun said:
I used two setups mainly.
Mac (Audirvana) -> (bluejeans) usb -> RME dac -> RME amp | Liquid Carbon | Ember -> HE560 | HD6XX | HD600 | Fostex TX0
Linux (Deadbeef) -> usb | coax -> RME dac -> RME amp | Liquid Carbon | Ember -> HE560 | HD6XX | HD600 | Fostex TX0
USB and spdif both sounded equally good to my ears.
As for filters I see myself gravitating towards the sd-slow or slow filters. Of the 5 filters, NOS is the one that sounds most unlike any other and I wasn't sure I liked the sound as well.
I also have all DSPs turned off most of the time.
Click to expand...
I'm just surprised when you wrote that you heard sibilants and a little bass. It happens usually with a silver cable or a computer cable. But you did not notice the silver cables. I use Win10 with the jriver and there is not at all a hint of sibilants and the sound is exactly neutral and not at all light coloured..NOS filter is the darkest and bassiest.
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 2:17 PM Post #174 of 6,244
AudioQuality777 said:
I'm just surprised when you wrote that you heard sibilants and a little bass. It happens usually with a silver cable or a computer cable. But you did not notice the silver cables. I use Win10 with the jriver and there is not at all a hint of sibilants and the sound is exactly neutral and not at all light coloured..NOS filter is the darkest and bassiest.
Click to expand...
It tries to be neutral, I have no doubt about it. To my ears it's just not as smooth sounding as the LC or the ember. Neither LC or the ember are neutral per-se and they add some thickness, which I like.
Also, the amp isn't run of the mill, junk amp that got added just to show it in a feature list. It's good for what it is. It can't compete with decent mid tier SS amps and tube amps, which I guess fine.
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 2:46 PM Post #175 of 6,244
It is completely neutral and clean, it's perfectly audible if the hearing is unspoiled by the wrong tonal balance in previous amplifiers. It's possible to listen honestly as recorded in the studio. In contrast to the greatly spoiling and coloring lamp amplifiers. With this, there's nothing to be done. If you do not like recording like it there is that is neutral and correct. What does PME do. Another question if yt is not a neutral reproduction but colored like in tube amplifiers. It's a matter of taste. PME does not have problems with low bass, because it's possible to adjust the equalizer for what's needed. Or use tone compensation if neochen wants to fiddle with the settings. In the article above, it was actually described how to build under specific headphones. If you do not want to understand this RME here is not guilty.It's also a big difference when you connect a linear power supply to a transformer. The sound is completely analog and the scene is wide.
I also compared Linux and WIN10 with jriver. The second option is much more detailed.On the other DAC type Teac 503 was vice versa. PME has very good win10 drivers.
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 3:03 PM Post #176 of 6,244
Me having different preferences from you makes neither one of us right or wrong. Also when I say I find RME's amp to be a (wee bit) harsh, I mean it. I want it to sound extremely smooth as I own it; but to me it just doesn't and am fine with it. I'm really happy with the dac section and it's overall compactness. I'm happy for anyone who finds RME's amp to be perfect for their use; they don't have to buy an additional amp. $$ saved :ksc75smile:
 
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Apr 13, 2018 at 3:09 PM Post #177 of 6,244
I understand you. But I see that you do not fully use the possibilities of RME dsp.
Therefore I emphasize eto.A that the tastes of all races in this you are right!:beyersmile:
 
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Apr 14, 2018 at 11:25 AM Post #179 of 6,244
Before I bought RME I had a chance to check the Gumby Gen 3 (with Lynx AES connection) and the RME. We were trying to test a RJM Sapphire V4 build one of our friends built. So the focus wan't to compare Gumby and RME specifically. So no A/B testing etc. The 4 people assembled there felt that RME's dac was very capable and it was quite fast and most importantly had a very organic and clean sound. The bass was definitely tighter than the Gumby; neither exhibited any harshness; and mids were sweet in either. The biggest difference was stage width. While Gumby gave a pretty wide presentation RME's was nice and tight. What each one of us liked was down to ones preference.
In fact, it was after that experience I bought the RME myself. It was comparable (to my ears; may be others might find more difference) to Gumby in terms of dac. I loved its compactness and the additional features (amp, ton of dsp etc) were just a bonus, given I was primarily looking for a dac.
 
Apr 15, 2018 at 11:37 AM Post #180 of 6,244
trybeingarun said:
When paired with the 560, the 560 sounds thin and sibilant and isn't a nice experience (to me).
Click to expand...

Hi, the HE-560 is a different animal when EQed. These EQ settings might be a useful starting point if you wanted to try:

B 1, G +4.0, F 120, Q 0.7, SHELF
B 2, G +6.0, F 1.90k, Q 1.2, PEAK
B 3, G -7.0, F 4.0k, Q 3.0, PEAK
B 4, G -6.0, F 10.5k, Q 3.0, PEAK
 
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