[elmoe]

@elmoe Fair enough, good find. Sounds like particular issues in the setups of the people experiencing the problem. On the one side the manufacturer is saying thousands have no issues, on the other side the users are fairly saying why is it only this DAC that has an issue in my system. Based on this, it looks like you really should change from the ADI-2. It doesn't like your system unfortunately.

I don't believe that is the issue. It's not like the DAC works on other computers, it used to work just fine and is now not detected by 3 different PCs, using different USB cables. Not a compatibility issue, the USB interface died on me.

It's also interesting that the warranty on these units is only 6 months. Good thing I have roughly 4 months left on it.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

But it sounds like it died because of what happened on the first PC, correct? So there is no chance of it coming back to life on the 2nd and 3rd, even if there the issue does not exist?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

From what Matthias said in the thread you linked to:

"
While mostly known from FireWire, static electricity and very different ground levels between two USB devices can also damage the USB receiver chip. Every USB unit (should) has a protective circuit to prevent that - these are standard components build for exactly that application.

In case a dangerous voltage occurs the protective component can short that voltage and thus protect the USB receiver. It now depends on the amount of voltage and the power (time) of higher voltage if a) the dangerous voltage is just collapsing and that's it, b) the protective component is destroyed, c) protective component and USB receiver are destroyed.

In your case it seems that you have a very high floating voltage on your notebook, which is shorted to ground over the ADI and the units connected to its analog outputs. You should make sure the laptop is properly grounded, same with your monitors/amps. And maybe get someone with a voltage meter to check the current situation.

It also seems when you don't change the setup the next ADI will die soon..."

So it is the particular first PC set up that killed the USB?

 

[elmoe]

From what Matthias said in the thread you linked to:

"
While mostly known from FireWire, static electricity and very different ground levels between two USB devices can also damage the USB receiver chip. Every USB unit (should) has a protective circuit to prevent that - these are standard components build for exactly that application.

In case a dangerous voltage occurs the protective component can short that voltage and thus protect the USB receiver. It now depends on the amount of voltage and the power (time) of higher voltage if a) the dangerous voltage is just collapsing and that's it, b) the protective component is destroyed, c) protective component and USB receiver are destroyed.

In your case it seems that you have a very high floating voltage on your notebook, which is shorted to ground over the ADI and the units connected to its analog outputs. You should make sure the laptop is properly grounded, same with your monitors/amps. And maybe get someone with a voltage meter to check the current situation.

It also seems when you don't change the setup the next ADI will die soon..."

So it is the particular first PC set up that killed the USB?

The unit worked fine on PC #1(desktop) and PC #2 (NUC, the one I mainly used in the last 2 months) originally.

It died after being hooked up to PC #3, also a desktop build. Interestingly, I figured it may have been the USB port and hooked up a few different devices to that same port (USB to SPDiF interface, smartphone, PS4 controller) all of which worked just fine and still work.

 

[kundica]

Looks like I'm not the only one:

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=28321

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=27786

Didn't look through every thread but that's at least 2 other units displaying the same symptoms as mine.

If you read through the first thread, you'll find that the user was at fault due to some grounding shenanigans in his setup. It's not clear in the second post.

I work in a professional film and video production environment. RME is known as one of the most reliable manufacturers in the industry in terms of their hardware and drivers, earning that reputation for providing equipment that's used daily in demanding environments over many years of service. They're also known for outstanding customer service. You're making some huge generalizations that it's a QC issue of the device when there's a chance you shorted it yourself through other faulty or misconfigured hardware.

 

[elmoe]

If you read through the first thread, you'll find that the user was at fault due to some grounding shenanigans in his setup. It's not clear in the second post.

I work in a professional film and video production environment. RME is known as one of the most reliable manufacturers in the industry in terms of their hardware and drivers, earning that reputation for providing equipment that's used daily in demanding environments over many years of service. They're also known for outstanding customer service. You're making some huge generalizations that it's a QC issue of the device when there's a chance you shorted it yourself through other faulty or misconfigured hardware.

If you read through the thread the person also says he has never had any issues with any other USB device, only the RME is failing, nothing else. Moreover, it failed twice for him, even after the board was replaced.

Do you work for RME or something?

 

[kundica]

Do you work for RME or something?

Nope. Just reliably used their hardware in demanding situations on productions with budgets reaching into the low millions.

 

[elmoe]

Well I am glad that you've had nothing but good experience with them. That is not the case for me and apparently a few others. Considering nothing else is failing by being plugged into the same USB port and the other people with issues have the same experience, my conclusion is that whatever surge protection is implemented on the USB interface is sub standard and considering the price of the unit, that is a concern.

Hopefully as pointed out in this thread their customer service is excellent and I will get a replacement without any hassle, or better yet a full refund so I can move on to a unit made by a company that does a better job at protecting their circuitry and offers more than a 6 months warranty on devices in that price range.

 

[Slaphead]

Well I am glad that you've had nothing but good experience with them. That is not the case for me and apparently a few others. Considering nothing else is failing by being plugged into the same USB port and the other people with issues have the same experience, my conclusion is that whatever surge protection is implemented on the USB interface is sub standard and considering the price of the unit, that is a concern.

Hopefully as pointed out in this thread their customer service is excellent and I will get a replacement without any hassle, or better yet a full refund so I can move on to a unit made by a company that does a better job at protecting their circuitry and offers more than a 6 months warranty on devices in that price range.

No, it's 2 years. It's a legal requirement in Europe.

 

[elmoe]

No, it's 2 years. It's a legal requirement in Europe.

It might be 2 years in Europe but in my manual it specifically says 6 months:

 

[butch111]

Senseseless to talk to someone like you - in germany where rme come from, there are 2 different kind of warranty. (garantie and gewährleistung)

the first 6 month are
unconditionally...the next 18 month of warranty you have to prove that rme build an faulty dac/amp...but no manufacturer do it like this. (only a very few do it - sony for example)

With the rme you have a great product - unbeatable by far in its pricerange.
And for me the quality is stunning.
1 or 2 defects from many thousands is very good. Everything else is bull for me.


(sorry 4 my english)

 

[CaptainFantastic]

@elmoe I think you should buy that other DAC for $3k. Honestly. You will never be happy or at ease with the RME ADI-2. The other 99% can continue enjoying it however, if you don't mind.

 

[elmoe]

Yep, that's the plan. I should've known better than to give my opinion and share my experience here. As usual the FOTM 50 post HFiers will defend their choice of spending money to the death.

Hopefully someone on the fence reading this will spend their money more wisely. Should've bought American-made

 

[Overclocked11]

Yep, that's the plan. I should've known better than to give my opinion and share my experience here. As usual the FOTM 50 post HFiers will defend their choice of spending money to the death.

Of course you are free to share your opinions, but it seems to me like you've spent several pages looking for people to agree with you that RME has a QC issue with this unit because you had a bad experience. Not sure if you own a lot of hardware, but this applies to literally every type of electronic out there.. Audio gear, Computer hardware, appliances, televisions.. why for some reason you feel your bad experience makes a model defective in its entirety I'm not sure, but you definitely are barking up the wrong tree if you're trying to convince many happy customers that an item is potentially faulty from your experience alone.

I bought the Acer Predator x34 ultrawide monitor, first batch, that many people had glaring issues with. At release it was a $2k display.. mine has been perfect and continues to be so. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you dont.

Hopefully someone on the fence reading this will spend their money more wisely. Should've bought American-made

Then you say nonsense like this and wonder why people have no patience for you *palmface*

 

[elmoe]

Of course you are free to share your opinions, but it seems to me like you've spent several pages looking for people to agree with you that RME has a QC issue with this unit because you had a bad experience. Not sure if you own a lot of hardware, but this applies to literally every type of electronic out there.. Audio gear, Computer hardware, appliances, televisions.. why for some reason you feel your bad experience makes a model defective in its entirety I'm not sure, but you definitely are barking up the wrong tree if you're trying to convince many happy customers that an item is potentially faulty from your experience alone.

I bought the Acer Predator x34 ultrawide monitor, first batch, that many people had glaring issues with. At release it was a $2k display.. mine has been perfect and continues to be so. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you dont.

Then you say nonsense like this and wonder why people have no patience for you *palmface*

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, but when I talk about my unit failing, the first thing I hear back is how reliable and dependable RME is. Clearly, that is not the case for me and a few others. I won't be surprised if I come back to this thread in 5 years and hear about USB interfaces failing past the warranty mark. Time will tell.

I own and have owned my fair share of gear. I don't think I've ever had anything over $50 fail on me within two months, ever. Maybe I'm lucky? Who knows. Apparently you expect a thousand dollar piece of equipment to fail on you because sh!t happens. I don't feel the same way.

Now, as to this particular unit yes, from my experience and that of others who've had the same issue, it seems like a bad design problem. You are free to disagree with this assessment, but that's certainly how it looks. I hope you have better "luck" than me and yours keeps working for many years. Mine died within 2 months and another person had his die twice in a row. That's more than I'm willing to put up with when spending a thousand bucks.

As for buying American-made, that was only half-serious, people on HF are easily unhinged when you are the slightest bit critical of any piece of gear they own. That said, my Benchmark DAC is still going strong after 15 years. Call it nonsense if you will, American audio engineering is where it's at. I've been putting that DAC through its paces on two continents for over a decade, still works just as well as it did the day I bought it. It is what it is.