There is a cold powdery sugar feel to this dac. I don´t believe it reproduce very good. I have worked with RME products before. I know what they are known for, sound flat and stable drivers. But since they moved into the HIFI and have alot of settings, it still manages sound flat and borring.
I honestly don't think so. I think your ears are just used to the iFi sound (your signature). Which is def more colored (especially with tube modes and such). Nothing wrong with that. The cleaner, some might say 'flat', some might say 'sterile' or un colored sound may not be for you. Me I want all of the flavor or color to come from the headphones, not the amp/dac. Just preference. Myself for example: I used to listen to some tube amps but I grew tires of the extreme coloration and steered more towards a purer sound.
If it is supposed to be a mirror of a production. It should give me the studio vibes.
I have been in a few studios/recording rooms. It does not usually sound like peope think it will. I have a CD that I use for reference. I was in the room when it was recorded as well as probably a hundred hours of practices before hand. When I listen to that CD through my RME ADI-2 Pro and my LCD-XC it gets me all tingly, not because it sounds amazing (it does) but because it brings me back to the moment. Anything extra or missing would ruin the experience for me. Nothing is there that does not belong, nothing is missing. If I listened to it through a very good tube amp like my previous Ampsandsound Leeloo/Pendant, it would sound very good, but nowhere near accurate.
Not gonna lie, if I bought anything, regardless of reputation, and it arrived defective, I would send it back and look elsewhere. Having said all that, I have now owned four different versions of the RME ADI-2 line and all have been reliable.
I would like to believe it but i have read many issues with defective units, and also after my experience with the weird cable patch (at a brand new sealed rme adi 2) i doubt about the reliability. Worst of all is that there was not any comment form MC, the guy that usually responce about adi2 fs. Also very suspicious that EVERY thread commenting on this issue was closed. I will let you make the conclusions about reliability and trustiness...
I have never exprerienced soundwise no separation or whatever wrong with rmw adi2 fs (ess version). In contrary everything is crystal clear, with wide stage ( without much depth, but of course it is not missing at all...) , and i could also in contrary say that vocals are not too much in the background. Either it is something with your unit, or there is a setting that you miss. Rme as a whole is the best unit i know, that does everything in a very high level, even the headphone outputs are capable as a good as a "dedicated" amp would be.
I will try it. Thanks!
Are you using the stock charger og a LPS?
If you haven't already you should go over your settings. Out of the box a few things have to be tweaked.
I have looked long and hard, starting four years ago, at every potential option at ANY price point. There are zero dac only options with even a similar feature set. Even if you broaden your search to dac/amps there is nothing. The only thing that has a VERY few of the key features of the RME is the now discontinued Monoprice desktop dac/amp(also owned it). Nowhere near as functional though. The other options are Schiit- Loki, Lokius, Loki max (I very much want one of these, just don't need it). The Qudelix 5k is available too but again very restricted functionality (I have two of them).
Perhaps I may be of help. I have 2 Jotunheims (1 for the office and the other at home). The setup at home is OG BF2 > Jot 2, while the office is EITR > ADI-2 > Jot 2.
