[Andrewteee]

I wouldn't call the RME ADI-2 DAC under the radar these days. The ADI-2 Pro was pretty under the radar, but this is a pretty active thread.

As far as other stuff that seems to be under the radar:

• SPL Phonitor X, XE, and E: Absolutely stellar solid state headphone amplifiers. I'll be publishing a review of the XE soon but need to get a version with the DAC to finish it up. This is another German pro audio company (Sound Performance Lab) that shares some of the same circles as RME. They're due to cross over into our territory here with their current Pro-Fi lineup.
• Cayin N8: I haven't heard this, but trusted sources would indicate that it's the best DAP out there right now. It doesn't get a lot of attention, perhaps because most people know of Cayin for their lower end stuff.
• Future Sonics: Underappreciated IEM company. They're pretty popular among professional musicians, but under the radar for audiophiles. My guess is that it's because their really great stuff is custom only. I love the Spectrum G10, but it's really not for most people. Their MG5HX, though, is my favorite IEM of all time. But you have to spend over $800 on a custom IEM without hearing it first.

True. No longer hidden, since I obviously found it.

 

[Andrewteee]

I posted on the RME forum and they're also saying that some of the Mac-based products like iTunes and Tidal don't automatically change the sample rate on the DAC. No one who replaced to my question was familiar with Roon. Sadly, I've not had time for music lately so I haven't continued to experiment with the RME.

 

[TylersEclectic]

I wouldn't call the RME ADI-2 DAC under the radar these days. The ADI-2 Pro was pretty under the radar, but this is a pretty active thread.

As far as other stuff that seems to be under the radar:

• SPL Phonitor X, XE, and E: Absolutely stellar solid state headphone amplifiers. I'll be publishing a review of the XE soon but need to get a version with the DAC to finish it up. This is another German pro audio company (Sound Performance Lab) that shares some of the same circles as RME. They're due to cross over into our territory here with their current Pro-Fi lineup.
• Cayin N8: I haven't heard this, but trusted sources would indicate that it's the best DAP out there right now. It doesn't get a lot of attention, perhaps because most people know of Cayin for their lower end stuff.
• Future Sonics: Underappreciated IEM company. They're pretty popular among professional musicians, but under the radar for audiophiles. My guess is that it's because their really great stuff is custom only. I love the Spectrum G10, but it's really not for most people. Their MG5HX, though, is my favorite IEM of all time. But you have to spend over $800 on a custom IEM without hearing it first.

The SPL Phonitor is in my opinion the big brother to the THX789 that is all the rage these days (I have the 789 and he Phonitor XE), I have seen the Cayin N8 black copper model....and it is a looker, and I trust the owners opinion that it rivals a lot of desktop setups. A lot of under the radar gear gets missed it seems....but I guess it makes it easier to obtain

 

[bflat]

I find the comments bit opposite to my experience regarding fixed sample rates:
Tidal on my Macbook Pro changes sample rate freely over USB (44.1 Hifi / 96 for MQA). For PC I use optical to have Tidal determine the sample rate (optical = external clock, usb = rme clock); only on PC+USB I'm tied down to the set sample rate.

Yes, if the music app supports auto switching then it will work. I assume you are using the Tidal desktop app.

I posted on the RME forum and they're also saying that some of the Mac-based products like iTunes and Tidal don't automatically change the sample rate on the DAC. No one who replaced to my question was familiar with Roon. Sadly, I've not had time for music lately so I haven't continued to experiment with the RME.

@Mr B1 seems to have figured out how to set Tidal to auto switch sampling rate.

 

[Andrewteee]

So using Tidal (and Qobuz possibly) directly does it, eh. Not through Roon then. I'll try that.

 

[occamsrazor]

So using Tidal (and Qobuz possibly) directly does it, eh. Not through Roon then. I'll try that.

Roon works totally fine on Mac with auto-switching the sample rate, as does Audirvana. Pretty much the only app I've used that doesn't is iTunes. I still use iTunes to manage my music library in terms of adding, editing metadata etc, then Roon syncs with it and I play with Roon.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I use Audirvana personally, works fine (though the UI is a bit retro) and fixes the sample rate. Costs way less than Roon which is nice.

 

[Andrewteee]

Roon works totally fine on Mac with auto-switching the sample rate, as does Audirvana. Pretty much the only app I've used that doesn't is iTunes. I still use iTunes to manage my music library in terms of adding, editing metadata etc, then Roon syncs with it and I play with Roon.

Huh. I'll look into it again, but so far the DAC is not switching sample rates based on USB input from Roon. I might try a hard reset too.

 

[bflat]

Huh. I'll look into it again, but so far the DAC is not switching sample rates based on USB input from Roon. I might try a hard reset too.

Just to be clear, the DAC is not deciding what sample rate to play. Your USB source is sending the specific sampling rate to the DAC so the issue is with your media player application.

 

[Andrewteee]

Just to be clear, the DAC is not deciding what sample rate to play. Your USB source is sending the specific sampling rate to the DAC so the issue is with your media player application.

Right. But it seems the source - Roon so far - is not sending the same rate data to the RME DAC and I'm having to manually adjust it in the OSX Midi settings.

 

[bflat]

Right. But it seems the source - Roon so far - is not sending the same rate data to the RME DAC and I'm having to manually adjust it in the OSX Midi settings.

Definitely get some support from Roon. Even when you manually change the Mac OS system to a higher sampling rate, all that does is upscale the Roon lower sample rate using a very simple algorithm so you get zero audio benefit.

 

[Andrewteee]

Qobuz is automatically updating the sampling rates on the RME DAC.

 

[occamsrazor]

Right. But it seems the source - Roon so far - is not sending the same rate data to the RME DAC and I'm having to manually adjust it in the OSX Midi settings.

Just be sure that you haven't got Roon set to upsample everything to a certain sample rate, eg in DSP settings? To be honest while Roon auto-sample-rate switching does work fine for me.... what I do instead in Roon DSP settings is have Roon upsample everything to 32bit/384khz anyway.... You can even go up to 768khz upsampling, but then you lose a little functionality.

 

[Luckbad]

I first got the RME ADI-2 DAC back in January of 2018 (right as it came out!). Lately, I've been doing some shenanigans using its coax input from a guitar/mic preamp to take advantage of the stellar USB drivers and low latency of the unit.

I've finally decided I could use the ADC and USB->S/PDIF capabilities of the RME ADI-2 Pro FS, so I'm planning to do the upgrade shortly (basically as soon as I have a buyer for the ADI-2 DAC).

I did my research and there's really just not anything better out there for anywhere close to the money.

 

[captblaze]

new firmware is available.. lots of changes and bug fixes

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=28859

as always if yours isn't causing issues, don't make any with a new firmware.