So for Chord and RME comparison, what are the difference in sound quality in your opinion ? Any comparison to that overprice Chord compare to cheaper dac alternative ?
Just jumping in this thread to say how happy I am with the RME ADI-2 (ESS chip version) I got recently! I have a reference setup in another room, but has an itch to get a one box solution for casual listening & gaming on the PC. I got a bit carried away when I setup the reference system which is below on my signature couple months ago, mainly through buying used gear, but coming back to this "simple" setup of direct from PC to DAC to Meze Empyrean is refreshing.
Comparing to the reference setup in my sig, the RME has a "just the facts" attitude to presenting music, yes soundstage is flatter, vocals are more in your face with a digital glare?, but everything sounds super crispy with high amounts of clarity, which is perfect for casual listening. "Mods" I've done to this setup based around RME include adding an Uptone ISO REGEN with curious USB cable all got used, and using HQP for up sampling and playback. These mods all show incremental improvement in SQ.
I plugged the Meze Empyrean direct into RME and just for entertainment and curiosity, and also for head-fi members like
@NickT23 and others
, did a comparison and plug direct to Dave / M scaler (complete with audiophile servers, power and all kinds of snake oil voodoo ethernet), and now understand when I hear people say it's never a night and day difference in HIFI audio, which I was expecting considering the Dave setup cost maybe about 20x more.
The reference setup is probably more analogue sounding, with improvement in all aspects of audiophile terms such as soundstage, timbre, but it would be hard to quantify with % improvement, but if I try to ignore all aspects to do with $, and just try to put a %, I would say maybe around 25 to 30% improvement?
If I were to get a friend / relative with casual interest in music, I doubt they would be able to tell much difference except to say "separation is better". Some might also just prefer the RME for the straightforward just the facts and a more "2d" presentation of music, which most people are more used to.
Oh and the EQ feature is such a great feature on the RME, definitely need more experimenting, but I like how I can easily bass boost for gaming and adjust for a more neutral setup when listening to music.
