sound quality of rme adi 2 dac and ifi idsd nano BL

[marantzaux1212]

I recently bought rem adi 2 dac and ifi idsd nano Bl for portable use. i compared sounds with two dacs with my HD650 and in my ears it sounds almost the same. I barely hear the difference in sound quality. Is there something wrong with my ears? i feel like some of the sounds are very loud and some others are very quiet. In order me to hear all the little details at the same time i need to increase the volume so high it damages my ears canal. Im not sure what the problem is and mabye i need to get a extra head amp for rme adi 2 dac? Thank you

 

[NA Blur]

I think your gear is fine. It's not surprising that both of your setups sound almost identical as most competently designed gear should sound very if not exactly identical. As for your problem...hearing the details only by turning the volume way up...that is an issue with your headphones. The HD650 is tricky to get the right sound out of and, like you, I could only enjoy them at higher listening levels. Which in turn ruins the listening experience because my ears would fatigue after 10-15 minutes.

My suggestions is go with with a new headphone that has both better bass and treble retrieval. I went with the HE-400i and MrSpeakers AFO. Love the detail on both and the HE-400i is my highest recommendation. You can find the HE-400i 2020 version on Amazon for under $200. I'll be shocked, if after a week of getting used to the new sound signature, that you don't truly enjoy your setup!

The benefit with the 400i is it is a planar so it's not amp picky. It also has linear bass so you get some thump without having to turn up the volume to crazy levels. The treble is nicely balanced and due to the very thin drivers you get excellent detail retrieval.

You can head over to Innerfidelity and compare the 400i to other headphones well above its class such as the HE-1000 or even LCD-3. The charts are remarkedly similar. The sound is also remarkedly similar having heard these headphone side-by-side.

 

[iFi audio]

I recently bought rem adi 2 dac and ifi idsd nano Bl for portable use. i compared sounds with two dacs with my HD650 and in my ears it sounds almost the same. I barely hear the difference in sound quality. Is there something wrong with my ears? i feel like some of the sounds are very loud and some others are very quiet. In order me to hear all the little details at the same time i need to increase the volume so high it damages my ears canal. Im not sure what the problem is and mabye i need to get a extra head amp for rme adi 2 dac? Thank you

I would adjust to both products well first. Give yourself some time, it's a process to differentiate two products, and a learning curve

And certainly don't push too high with volume

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I recently bought rem adi 2 dac and ifi idsd nano Bl for portable use. i compared sounds with two dacs with my HD650 and in my ears it sounds almost the same. I barely hear the difference in sound quality. Is there something wrong with my ears? i feel like some of the sounds are very loud and some others are very quiet. In order me to hear all the little details at the same time i need to increase the volume so high it damages my ears canal. Im not sure what the problem is and mabye i need to get a extra head amp for rme adi 2 dac? Thank you

The RME simply does not drive the HD 600/650/6XX well. It's a great DAC but the amp can't power 300 ohm Sennheisers correctly. I don't use the RME with my Sennheisers at all (although it drives the HD 25 to unprecedented heights of glory). I run them out of a V280 from another DAC.

It drives my LCD-2C beautifully so I think @NA Blur makes a good point. The RME also works great with Fostex cans.

I would say if you're a diehard Sennheiser fan like I am then consider a tube OTL amp or a honkin' solid state amp that can supply enough voltage. From what I can tell, 15V is the magic number, more is certainly better. Otherwise, look into headphones which might pair better with the RME.

 

[iFi audio]

I would say if you're a diehard Sennheiser fan like I am

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