RME ADI-2 DAC

For the sake of completeness and context can you also mention the rest of your favorite dacs and how this one compares to the rest of the line up? I understand this is a SoC thread and things could change, but still it will be useful.

 

Oh man... Let's see.

My favorite sounding DAC: Sonic Frontiers SFD-1 MKII SE+. The RME is less smeared, less organic, and has less slam. But it's far more versatile.

MHDT Labs Orchid: ADI-2 DAC is more resolving, faster, less organic, far more versatile.

Schiit Gungnir Multibit: RME has shallower soundstage, worse timbre, and is far more versatile with a much blacker background.

That should be enough to give you an idea.

It is missing Multibit Magic, but it is unbelievably versatile. A good R-2R DAC is going to have better timbre and is more organic and natural sounding. I find the value, flexibility, and cleanness of the RME to be worth the sacrifice.

 

Maybe a bit rushed, but here are my early impressions about adi2's sq as a dac.

DACs compared: Gungnir Multibit (usb gen 2, coaxial spdif via raspberry), Jotenheim (late 2016 revision) with dac module, Fulla 2

To compare fairly, Jot was used as a fixed amplifier in the rig (c.f. adi2+jot vs Gungnir Multibit+jot vs full2+jot vs jot). Fulla 2 was connected with jot via unbalanced, but I don't think balanced connections differ a lot in this case.

Headphones used: modded 6xx

• Mainly because I don't have a balanced cable for lcd2c.
• Also lcd2c, to my ears, sounded too synergistic with adi2-dac, and was way less dac picky.

​

1. ADI-2 DAC shared a little sonic similarities with 4490 entry dacs (jot, fulla2), gussing kinda "dna" from the dac chip. Timbre reproductions were somewhat similar. However, adi2 easily beats the other two in terms of technicalities by a big margin - micro-details, micro-dynamics, bass slam, separation, and placements. ADI2 is just in the different tier.

• This impression, along with my previous experience with other DS dacs (Benchmark, Musical fidelity, Emotiva), led me to one conclusion: ADI-2 DAC is one of the best sounding DS dacs under $1,000 retail price.

2. Gungnir Multibit does not lose in most criteria, but does not win significantly, either. Adi2 is generally cleaner and clearer, and sounds much blacker in the background, slightly more resolving. Gungnir Multibit, on the other hand, portrays much better sound stages (more 3d, more depth). Also I feel adi's bass lacks slams and weights by comparison. Micro-dynamics is almost on par.

• Guess 1. Cold Gungnir Multibit will be mostly beaten by adi2 in more criteria (didn't actually compare though)
• Guess 2. Gungnir Multibit usb ver 5 or Gungnir Multibit+Eitr may win adi2 more easily
• Guess 3. Gungnir Multibit with improved analog stages (hopefully may come later this year?) will be virtually unbeatable..

3. Theoretically ADI-2's sound must be time-invariant (it's not r2r), but I found a couple of hours of warm up gave adi-2 more refinement. I don't know why. Maybe placebo..​

Indeed Gungnir Multibit will be sold to my friend sometime next week. I still think Gungnir Multibit is overall a better dac, but that upgrade-nervosa ... Maybe I can buy fully upgraded Yggdrasil next year or later? (I know I am very likely to do so). Anyway adi-2 can serve as a substitute for my needs and tastes, without losing too much.

 

Regarding warm-up on the ADI-2 DAC, I also feel like it sounds better after being powered up for a bit. It still has components in there that need to be warm. Maybe the clock benefits from heat stability as well. In any case, I leave it on pretty much all the time that I'm not transporting it to or from work.

 

I remember that my ADI-2 Pro sounded strange when it was just unpacked and therefore at outside temperature. Otherwise I can't isolate device warmup effects from my own auditory engine warming up.

But yeah, with low ohm loads, the headphone output does run really warm.

 

How is the headphone output qaulity for the HD650? @Luckbad mentions it as " adequate" to drive them. Comparably to Magin/Jotenheim, ect?
I have been looking at this as an upgrade to my RME9632 card and the headphone out on that was was a bit brighter sounding compared to my DIY Butte, whch seems more effortless. Totally different product with probably almost 15 years between them, but still, maybe someone else can give some impressions too.

 

I don't know how magni 3 sounds, but Jotenheim is better in clarity, and has more authority/control. ADI2 could do almost 95% of Jot for these aspects. On the other hand, adi2 hp out had slightly more micro-details by only small margin.

From tonality perspective, I found Jot was a bit brighter, and had more its own character. ADI2 is more neutral-ish.

Tbh, I prefer decware taboo 4 to either jot or adi2 in driving hd6xx. Good tubes are ways to go ultimately.

 

Fantastic (little) device. Build quality, versatility, all top notch for the price. Have been playing around a few hours. Love the loudness feature as well as the eq. Together with a measuring rig this opens up quite some possibilities. Also, I was using it in combination with Sonarworks Systemwide. That way you can set to work on things that the ADI or Sonarworks could not accomplish if used alone.

This is very preliminary, but my SDR'ed HD800 measure like this now when using ADI-2 EQ together with Sonarworks. You could reach a lot flatter FR, but this one sounded better to my ears. It's just so much fun trying different configurations.

 

Firmware update: https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=26630

Windows Flash Update Tool for MADIface XT / USB / Pro, OctaMic XTC, ADI-2 Pro / AE / DAC, Digiface USB, UFX II. Update to firmware revision XT: 183/56/42, USB: 22, Pro: 69. XTC: 47/26. ADI-2 Pro/AE: 159/85, ADI-2 DAC: 10/19, Digiface USB: 12, UFX II 15/10/6.

 

Played round a bit more with the EQ feature, which is really easy to use, especially with the visualisation of the changes.
Here are some eq measurements. All eq'ed responses in white.

 

That manual is indeed quite something to browse through... Exemplary stuff.

+ Thomann.de is starting to sell this soon with their usual 3 year warranty.

 

I've found this to be true with a lot of solid state amps actually. From room temperature... not so much. But coming in off a delivery truck in the middle of a Canadian winter? Yeah, definitely noticeable.

 

New drivers: https://www.rme-audio.de/en/downloads/driver/uc.php

Windows 7 to 10 PnP driver for MADIface XT / USB / Pro, Fireface UFX+ / UFX II, OctaMic XTC, ADI-2 Pro / AE / DAC, Digiface USB. Version 0.9634

Mislabeled as 02/01/2017 as of this post, but the drivers were released 2 days ago. Biggest improvement thus far is a measurably higher version number (+0.0018).

 

Are the ADI-2 Pro and ADI-2 drivers the same?

 

Yes

 

This seems like an ultimate headphone reviewers dac/amp. Especially since Tyll now tries to apply EQ to everything now. Custom filters for each jack and independent volume control is great to A/B anything.

 

It seems that the newer driver has nothing to do with sonic improvement, according to their update log:

Haha I am very reluctant to update windows drivers when they are working well, because I had tons of bad experience with windows drivers. Oh well..

 

Only thing is you will #SufferInSilence not knowing whether the new drivers will improve your sound quality

 

Originally posted in the Pro thread, but wanted to ask here too. Anyone tried hooking their ADI-2 DAC up with anything other than straight USB? If so, any improvements?

 

I'll let you know this coming week when I get mine. I'll be able to compare USB, Eitr>coax, and my personal favorite; Steinberg MR816x coax.