[NickedWicked]

Review by Earphiles!

http://earphiles.org/2018/03/rme-adi-2-dac-review/

Just what I expected, however I don't get his hum con, mine is dead silent. As for the slam, he might want to give the ADI-2 Pro a try because the balanced connections helps out a lot with hungry planars and lowers the noise even further which is already far in the inaudible range.(!).

 

[lowvolume]

I wonder about such reviews all the time. Reading between the lines you have to wonder what the reviewer missed. Did he miss that you can switch the phones output into High Power mode? He wouldn't be the first...

Asking for a more black background - he did not set the reference levels correctly, or tested a different unit? More black than this - well, I've not seen one so far.

And yes, the hum is a riddle as well as this box is 100% hum free by design. Makes you wonder how he managed to achieve this.

But the biggest bummer for me is this one: 'remote control needs smaller increments of volume increase'. The remote control has the same steps as the big wheel at the unit - 0.5 dB. That is if you click the button. If you hold it then it accelerates, like the big wheel at the unit. Wrong operation by reviewer or just a nonsense statement?

Edit: 'Well implemented impedance selector'. There goes all his credibility - as there is no such thing at all.

 

[NickedWicked]

I wonder about such reviews all the time. Reading between the lines you have to wonder what the reviewer missed. Did he miss that you can switch the phones output into High Power mode? He wouldn't be the first...

Asking for a more black background - he did not set the reference levels correctly, or tested a different unit? More black than this - well, I've not seen one so far.

And yes, the hum is a riddle as well as this box is 100% hum free by design. Makes you wonder how he managed to achieve this.

But the biggest bummer for me is this one: 'remote control needs smaller increments of volume increase'. The remote control has the same steps as the big wheel at the unit - 0.5 dB. That is if you click the button. If you hold it then it accelerates, like the big wheel at the unit. Wrong operation by reviewer or just a nonsense statement?

Edit: 'Well implemented impedance selector'. There goes all his credibility - as there is no such thing at all.

But auto ref is somewhat of a simple impedance detector isn't it? Even the manual says it can be seen that way.

 

[lowvolume]

AutoRef is an 'automatic reference level' control steered by the Volume knob - nothing to do with 'impedance'. Where does the manual say so? I might have overlooked that statement in the many pages that it has...

 

[NickedWicked]

AutoRef is an 'automatic reference level' control steered by the Volume knob - nothing to do with 'impedance'. Where does the manual say so? I might have overlooked that statement in the many pages that it has...

Page 58 for the DAC manual, or 82 in the Pro manual.

 

[givemetacos]

I wonder about such reviews all the time. Reading between the lines you have to wonder what the reviewer missed. Did he miss that you can switch the phones output into High Power mode? He wouldn't be the first...

Asking for a more black background - he did not set the reference levels correctly, or tested a different unit? More black than this - well, I've not seen one so far.

And yes, the hum is a riddle as well as this box is 100% hum free by design. Makes you wonder how he managed to achieve this.

But the biggest bummer for me is this one: 'remote control needs smaller increments of volume increase'. The remote control has the same steps as the big wheel at the unit - 0.5 dB. That is if you click the button. If you hold it then it accelerates, like the big wheel at the unit. Wrong operation by reviewer or just a nonsense statement?

Edit: 'Well implemented impedance selector'. There goes all his credibility - as there is no such thing at all.

Perhaps @grizzlybeast can answer these questions himself

 

[AudioQuality777]

Strange and suspicious review.From a man who likes lamp-colored sound.No question this is just his opinion nothing more.And 90% choose in ADI2 DAC filter NOS.
And here why the man chose the most not the optimal filter-acute(Studio).On the basis of which put up their opinion.But in the end it turns out a great result in his application for 900 dollarov.RME ADI-2 DAC - OVERVIEW MSRP: $ 999 USD the TONAL BALANCE / NEITRALITET 95% characteristics of the PRICES 99%

Excellent balance
Excellent dynamics
Beautiful design
Well-implemented impedance selector
versatile
You can use a DAC with high transmission and not to worry too much about what you are short changing their amplifiers. I used it with my Mogwai SE (next to the review) and it worked very well. Super low distortion and the inky black background sets this DAC separately. The amplifier section is better, not to mention all the useful features.And most importantly what is ideal for anyone who needs Сlean,Natural,Neutral sound ADI2 DAC .That's all she wrote!

 

[grizzlybeast]

Oh shoot!!!!!

I have no hum. That was from a template...I need to fix that asap

 

[grizzlybeast]

Wow


I need to get my head in the game. There is no hum. And it has the blackest background of anything in its price

 

[lowvolume]

Page 58 for the DAC manual, or 82 in the Pro manual.

Nope. That is about 'Impedance based level meters'. Not related to 'impedance selection' or 'AutoRef' at all.

 

[givemetacos]

Nope. That is about 'Impedance based level meters'. Not related to 'impedance selection' or 'AutoRef' at all.

He corrected that mistake in the review.

 

[Dogmatrix]

I have the pro and the amp shortcomings listed in the review is mostly how I would describe the difference between se and balanced output .

 

[lowvolume]

He corrected that mistake in the review.

I know. He fixed a lot, which is quite positive. What remains is his personal sound preference, and there is nothing wrong with that. The quoted reply was only for NickedWicked.

 

[givemetacos]

I know. He fixed a lot, which is quite positive. What remains is his personal sound preference, and there is nothing wrong with that. The quoted reply was only for NickedWicked.

Yeah for sure, and I mean overall he said the dac/amp was exceptional and gave it a stellar rating. When it is being compared in the same league as gumby/yggy given its price and included feature set, it doesn't seem like anyone can fault it for what it is.

 

[trybeingarun]

I tried a friend's RME adi-2 dac yesterday. Between the gumby (gen2 + eitr) and rme (usb) I will definitely pick the rme for its tightness in sound. I din't have a proper a/b setup. I tried rme + a few amps vs gumby + same amps. Both were very good and gumby was wide sounding and was a little bit unnatural for me. I liked RME's tighter bass too.