[PointyFox]

It's not about impedance. It's about impedance and efficiency and whether the headphone needs voltage or current.

The RME cannot drive 300 ohm Sennheisers well. I suspect it cannot drive 250 ohm Beyers well either. And if somebody tells you it can then we need to know what other amps he heard those with, because a lot of people have no ideas what the cans are capable of since they never heard them out of an appropriate amp,

These cans were not made for portable devices or low voltage amps. They were made in the days before headamps were available. People used integrated amps and receivers that had enough voltage. From what little I can tell, 300 ohm Sennheisers need a voltage swing of around 15V to start sounding really good.

Some headphones the RME can drive well are Fostex and Audeze LCD-2C.

I also heard my Sennheisers on my Violectric V281 and Bottlehead Mainline and didn't hear any difference, well besides the tube sound on the Mainline.

 

[Cevisi]

I think the 10v swing and 1.5w on high gain are enough for the 1990

On auto ref or low gain its really underpowered. Even when i match the volume i can here the difference in dynamics impact and resolution

 

[technobear]

Edit: realistically what is the highest impedance the rme can drive from the main headphone output?

There is no limit.

The beyerdynamic T1 sounds amazing with the RME and the latter has a lot of headroom above what the T1 will ever need.

High impedance isn't a problem when the headphone also has high sensitivity.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I think the 10v swing and 1.5w on high gain are enough for the 1990

On auto ref or low gain its really underpowered. Even when i match the volume i can here the difference in dynamics impact and resolution

You may well be right. I know the Beyer is not as power hungry as the Sennheisers but I know there is a similar effect since I got a pair of DT1770s.

 

[FullBlownEargasam]

I also heard my Sennheisers on my Violectric V281 and Bottlehead Mainline and didn't hear any difference, well besides the tube sound on the Mainline.

I have heard that the Sennheisers sound good on the v281. I have only heard them on my dark voice, RME, and a audio gd amp and the worst sound was on the RME.

 

[linearly]

After a few more weeks with the ADI 2 I'm happy to say that the DAC scales exceptionally well with high end gear like my new headphones the HD820. In the past I had the HD800S with the Chord DAVE and for the first time I don't miss that pair anymore. I actually like what I have more, and believe me thats hard to do, I tried for more then a year to reach this point.

Regarding the amp in the RME, after testing the HD820 with the A90 sometimes its hard to tell the difference, the A90 has more grip, more bass,a little warmer, but the amp in the ADI-2 is much much cleaner, that with some songs I prefer that over the A90. I wonder if the 'lack' of power is just the sound as its supposed to be, and by adding the A90 or another amp we create more coloration via power cables or XLR's. But thats fine, I plan myself to add a tube amp to my collection.

While I really love my new HD820's this is my 5th day in a row, that when I sit down and listen to music I reach to my HD25's direct out of the ADI-2, really this pair is just incredible, whoever suggested it in this thread, thank you again. Sure the HD820 are much more, but if I focus on tonality and pure enjoyment of music the 25's out the RME are just amazing.

 

[sabloke]

Did anyone notice any difference after installing the driver_madiface_win_09722 dated 18 August 2020?

http://rme-audio.de/downloads/driver_madiface_win_09722.zip

 

[betula]

After a few more weeks with the ADI 2 I'm happy to say that the DAC scales exceptionally well with high end gear like my new headphones the HD820. In the past I had the HD800S with the Chord DAVE and for the first time I don't miss that pair anymore. I actually like what I have more, and believe me thats hard to do, I tried for more then a year to reach this point.

Regarding the amp in the RME, after testing the HD820 with the A90 sometimes its hard to tell the difference, the A90 has more grip, more bass,a little warmer, but the amp in the ADI-2 is much much cleaner, that with some songs I prefer that over the A90. I wonder if the 'lack' of power is just the sound as its supposed to be, and by adding the A90 or another amp we create more coloration via power cables or XLR's. But thats fine, I plan myself to add a tube amp to my collection.

While I really love my new HD820's this is my 5th day in a row, that when I sit down and listen to music I reach to my HD25's direct out of the ADI-2, really this pair is just incredible, whoever suggested it in this thread, thank you again. Sure the HD820 are much more, but if I focus on tonality and pure enjoyment of music the 25's out the RME are just amazing.

I agree. The ADI2 is fantastic value for money and drives most headphones well without needing an amp. Lower impedance Audeze headphones seem to pair really well. (2C, LCD-X.) I tried adding a cheap amp like the THX-789 to this combo but there was no real benefit to it. Higher quality amps like BHA1, HPA4, V281 might add something to this but it is definitely not worth the cost unless 2K is pocket money for you.
I am really curious to try the RME with high impedance Sennheisers, as that topic seems to be a bit more controversial.

 

[dtaylor3911]

OK thanks, looking forward to reviewing and comparing the options!
Edit: realistically what is the highest impedance the rme can drive from the main headphone output?

OK so had the rme adi-2 for a day and have to say it's awesome. To begin with was a little disappointed as it sounded pretty much the same as my fx6 dac which cost £68! However I have spent some more time with it and there is a clear sonic clarity that I haven't heard before. The eq section is very detailed and will have lots of fun spending time setting eq for each of my current phones/iem. Definitely looking for a top end headphone at some point but have lots to learn and experience before jumping in. My presonus temblor t10 and eris e5s studio monitors sound fabulous with some much tweak ability to play with.

 

[betula]

OK so had the rme adi-2 for a day and have to say it's awesome. To begin with was a little disappointed as it sounded pretty much the same as my fx6 dac which cost £68! However I have spent some more time with it and there is a clear sonic clarity that I haven't heard before. The eq section is very detailed and will have lots of fun spending time setting eq for each of my current phones/iem. Definitely looking for a top end headphone at some point but have lots to learn and experience before jumping in. My presonus temblor t10 and eris e5s studio monitors sound fabulous with some much tweak ability to play with.

I agree, the RME can sound a bit unimpressive at first with default settings. Try to play with the plethora of possible adjustments. A bit of extra bass, a tad less treble. High or low power, crossfeed, soundstage width, loudness function... The sound is highly adjustable to your personal taste and need. A high quality and detailed sound which is adjustable to personal taste. Dream DAC with hp out under 1K?

 

[Matias]

As an owner of the ADI-2 DAC, I don't understand how people find its EQ so important. Unless using a CD player or other digital sources, anyone could use EQ in the computer with far more adjustments than the 5 the ADI-2 has. I am happy people are happy, but I just wonder why they never used PEQ in the computer to begin with?

 

[Cevisi]

As an owner of the ADI-2 DAC, I don't understand how people find its EQ so important. Unless using a CD player or other digital sources, anyone could use EQ in the computer with far more adjustments than the 5 the ADI-2 has. I am happy people are happy, but I just wonder why they never used PEQ in the computer to begin with?

Because we want spend money

 

[technobear]

As an owner of the ADI-2 DAC, I don't understand how people find its EQ so important. Unless using a CD player or other digital sources,

You answered your own question there.

 

[dtaylor3911]

As an owner of the ADI-2 DAC, I don't understand how people find its EQ so important. Unless using a CD player or other digital sources, anyone could use EQ in the computer with far more adjustments than the 5 the ADI-2 has. I am happy people are happy, but I just wonder why they never used PEQ in the computer to begin with?

It wasn't my top feature, just wanted a top notch dac and headphone amp to complement my mainly studio type set up, great base from which to upgrade headphones in time, the EQ is just a nice extra and would work just as well with a living room hifi setup so very versatile and a long term keeper for me.

 

[Tuneslover]

As an owner of the ADI-2 DAC, I don't understand how people find its EQ so important. Unless using a CD player or other digital sources, anyone could use EQ in the computer with far more adjustments than the 5 the ADI-2 has. I am happy people are happy, but I just wonder why they never used PEQ in the computer to begin with?

I absolutely love the PEQ on my RME ADI-2.