[skeeb23]

Perhaps I may be of help. I have 2 Jotunheims (1 for the office and the other at home). The setup at home is OG BF2 > Jot 2, while the office is EITR > ADI-2 > Jot 2.
The reason I became interested with the RME is because my work computer does not give me the option to EQ via 3rd party software, like EqualizerAPO. I enjoy Schiit gear as well but I picked one up from the classified section for a decent price and thought the worst is that I can sell it back out.

Long story short, I have zero regrets and it is 100% a keeper for me. Like many have said before me, there is no other product in the current market today that comes with the amount of features and ability to tweak sound like the RME ADI-2 at this price point. This thing is an absolute gem. The AKM version I have is basically a Modius supercharged with features. I've got multiple EQ profiles saved for my headphones and it simply takes a push of a knob. You can change everything from advanced cross-feed settings to the colour of the digital meters (also a plus!).

RME is also a solid company that continues to provide driver / firmware updates. As I type this post, I found out that RME even provides the ability to purchase replacement digital displays should the original crap out - which seems amazing considering most companies would just rather you buy a new one from them.

Happy to answer more questions if you'd like. As you can see, I've complete bought into RME's philosophy now.

Thank you for that.

Really my questions come down to a few:
1. Do you find the Jot2 to be a better amp option then the built in amp of the RME, or at least worth the stack? Does it stack ok?
2. I too am interested in the EQ options as I just do not like software eq. I don't really eq much, but it would be nice to have that handy. Do you find the EQ adjustments here to be more accurate then say something like the Loki/Lokius options from Schiit?
3. Have you compared this to something like...the TT2 (yes I know we are talking quite a bit more in price) just to see how it punches up in value?

Thank you!

 

[eswng679]

Thank you for that.

Really my questions come down to a few:
1. Do you find the Jot2 to be a better amp option then the built in amp of the RME, or at least worth the stack? Does it stack ok?
2. I too am interested in the EQ options as I just do not like software eq. I don't really eq much, but it would be nice to have that handy. Do you find the EQ adjustments here to be more accurate then say something like the Loki/Lokius options from Schiit?
3. Have you compared this to something like...the TT2 (yes I know we are talking quite a bit more in price) just to see how it punches up in value?

Thank you!

1. I prefer the Jot 2 over the built in amp of the RME for headphones. Nothing beats the punch that the Jot 2 has for the price. Having said that, the RME is excellent for my IEMs (another +1 for flexibility). I've tried running IEMs through the Jot 2 and had a lot of noise via SE. With balanced, the noise goes away but there is waaaay too little play on the volume knob. Re: stacking, the Jot 2 is wider and deeper so it will need to be at the base. Having said that, I bought risers for the RME and it actually makes a decent looking stack. I've attached an image for reference. Apologies in advance for the dust.

2. The EQ in the RME is a 5 band parametric EQ. You get 2 extra bands for bass and treble. The EQ is EXTREMELY accurate and best in class for the price. I wouldn't waste my time with Loki / Lokius as they are more tone controls than EQ. You cannot pinpoint specific frequencies or change the Q factor on either of those units.
A bit unrelated but I also like how the RME's dac portion has a volume knob which allows for a better way to control input into the amp section (unlike the Bifrost 2).

3. Unfortunately, I have no experience with anything at that price point. All I can say is the RME has included so many features, some I didn't even know I needed, into a great sounding package, which allows it to punch well above its price point. I am all in - this is coming from someone who has cycled through most of the Schiit lineup.

 

[skeeb23]

1. I prefer the Jot 2 over the built in amp of the RME for headphones. Nothing beats the punch that the Jot 2 has for the price. Having said that, the RME is excellent for my IEMs (another +1 for flexibility). I've tried running IEMs through the Jot 2 and had a lot of noise via SE. With balanced, the noise goes away but there is waaaay too little play on the volume knob. Re: stacking, the Jot 2 is wider and deeper so it will need to be at the base. Having said that, I bought risers for the RME and it actually makes a decent looking stack. I've attached an image for reference. Apologies in advance for the dust.

2. The EQ in the RME is a 5 band parametric EQ. You get 2 extra bands for bass and treble. The EQ is EXTREMELY accurate and best in class for the price. I wouldn't waste my time with Loki / Lokius as they are more tone controls than EQ. You cannot pinpoint specific frequencies or change the Q factor on either of those units.
A bit unrelated but I also like how the RME's dac portion has a volume knob which allows for a better way to control input into the amp section (unlike the Bifrost 2).

3. Unfortunately, I have no experience with anything at that price point.

Awesome, no worries on dust on gear, no way to ever get rid of that ha!

Alright, so now I have another question for you or really anyone on this subject. When I use my stack I set my windows volume to 100% and then adjust my volume on the Jot2 from there. This has always been my preferred way to get the bitrate out as I should.

Since the RME has its own volume knob, how do you handle that part of it all? That stack doesn't look so bad. Thankfully the heat the Jot2 outputs is minimal so I'm sure no issues there. If I do go that route, I may even make myself some sort of stacking shelf.

 

[Slaphead]

Well. You could easily need more than 5 bands even if you source and headphones are good. It's a matter of tastes. I use 7 bands with my Finals D8000 PRO and I still like them in their stock tuning, but I like fine tuning them.
The thing is that, in my opinion, they need to improve that feature to adjust it to the standar of 10 bands.

I don't think there's a standard for PEQ, most of my production EQs are around 5 band for PEQ. The 10 band that you talk about would however be a consumer standard for GEQ. The RME doesn't use GEQ though, it uses PEQ.

If you have a headphone with a messy frequency response, peaks and valleys close to each other etc you will need more than 5 bands. For some speaker room correction scenarios you will again possibly need more. Though I generally get by with 2-4. I have thousands of hours of PEQ and analog EQ. I also know several professional sound engineers and have sat in on hundreds of hours of recording and mastering sessions. I am no 'expert', but I understand EQ very well. Certainly more than most.

That's way too much correction needed. What the hell for equipment are you buying that requires that much correction? if I had headphones or monitors that required more than a slight correction in the bass or treble, even for room correction, then they're either faulty or they are incredibly bad products.

 

[04gto]

That's way too much correction needed. What the hell for equipment are you buying that requires that much correction? if I had headphones or monitors that required more than a slight correction in the bass or treble, even for room correction, then they're either faulty or they are incredibly bad products.

That is your opinion. Nothing more. This hobby and music are both subjective. Too many on here state things (as you did above) as fact, when they are just your opinion.

 

[skeeb23]

Just got it in today! I plan to read some of the manual tonight and get it setup tomorrow.

 

[captblaze]

Just got it in today! I plan to read some of the manual tonight and get it setup tomorrow.

Congrats and good luck with the manual. It is a small phone book worth of information, but will get you where you need to go

 

[eswng679]

Just got it in today! I plan to read some of the manual tonight and get it setup tomorrow.

What are your impressions vs. Schiit DAC with Jot 2?

 

[David A Silva]

@skeeb23 congrats and enjoy your new RME.

 

[skeeb23]

What are your impressions vs. Schiit DAC with Jot 2?

Alright, so this is immediate impressions and I need to do plenty of more tweaking.

So first listen is with my Atriums. I have the Jot2 hooked up on both SE and Bal.

It took me a bit to get the right volume out of the RME to match what I was getting from the Modius-Jot2. I found, for me, that if I put ref level to 7db and then volume to 0, I was able to get the volume about the same out of the Jot2. I tried a recommended -5 ref level and I had the Jot2 cranked almost all the way to max which is not normal. This was on SE. I haven't tried balanced yet as I'm sure I'll have to further adjust the ref.
Now this is the Atriums of course, so they do require quite a bit more power anyway.

Then I tried the SE out of the RME. Very interesting. Volume level was fine here, no issues driving the Atriums. However, I actually preferred the sound I was getting out of the RME amp. It was more...tight, clean sounding. The best example I can give is how a Planar sounds compared to a DD. This is what I got. I do know the SE out of the Jot2 is said to be warmer as it is, so it could be this. Also it could be that going from the Modius to the RME made things just a bit more crisp and precise sounding to where the colorization of the Jot2 came out. Now, on other headphones, this may be a better combo.

Either way, I love having the option here to give myself the versatility I wanted and why I chose the RME over the BF2. Again, quite a bit more testing to do and fun listening while doing it.

 

[wantan]

Alright, so this is immediate impressions and I need to do plenty of more tweaking.

So first listen is with my Atriums. I have the Jot2 hooked up on both SE and Bal.

It took me a bit to get the right volume out of the RME to match what I was getting from the Modius-Jot2. I found, for me, that if I put ref level to 7db and then volume to 0, I was able to get the volume about the same out of the Jot2. I tried a recommended -5 ref level and I had the Jot2 cranked almost all the way to max which is not normal. This was on SE. I haven't tried balanced yet as I'm sure I'll have to further adjust the ref.
Now this is the Atriums of course, so they do require quite a bit more power anyway.

Then I tried the SE out of the RME. Very interesting. Volume level was fine here, no issues driving the Atriums. However, I actually preferred the sound I was getting out of the RME amp. It was more...tight, clean sounding. The best example I can give is how a Planar sounds compared to a DD. This is what I got. I do know the SE out of the Jot2 is said to be warmer as it is, so it could be this. Also it could be that going from the Modius to the RME made things just a bit more crisp and precise sounding to where the colorization of the Jot2 came out. Now, on other headphones, this may be a better combo.

Either way, I love having the option here to give myself the versatility I wanted and why I chose the RME over the BF2. Again, quite a bit more testing to do and fun listening while doing it.

I had Bifrost 2/Jot 2 and the ADI 2 DAC FS and for me the ADI 2 DAC FS was the winner. The DAC as well the headamp. It has more microdynamics which means better room/space and a more airy presentation. That's basically better transparency.
Once you have EQ in place for your headphones to get slam and good treble the ADI 2 DAC FS as headamp realy shines.

 

[FullBlownEargasam]

Congrats Man. I remember getting that box. After reading the manual a few times and getting her all up and running I knew I didn't care about receiving any other boxes. Enjoy!

Just got it in today! I plan to read some of the manual tonight and get it setup tomorrow.

 

[04gto]

Congrats Man. I remember getting that box. After reading the manual a few times and getting her all up and running I knew I didn't care about receiving any other boxes. Enjoy!

No other boxes necessary!

 

[FullBlownEargasam]

Damn right. Well..... I do have it sitting on top of a A90D and loosing my mind on how good it sounds but I didn't need it.

No other boxes necessary!

 

[wanderingsounds]

Probably silly question: can the EQ from the ADI-2 FS be used to simulate the characteristics of certain amp flavors, e.g., the warmth of a tube amp?