RME ADI-2 DAC

I remember seeing pictures of a guy who had a pelican case containing his dap, and an Energizer laptop battery pack to supply 15V (stepped down with a regulator) to his Meier Stepdance, powering an LCD2.

 

Wait, you are saying that some of the people that attend audio show have some portable equipment that makes them nuts? Wow! All them folks with $3800 DAPs and $2000 custom IEMs just seems so normal to me

That said, I imagine RME never intended the DAC to be a wearable!

 

That's a great idea. Attach a couple of shoulder straps to the pelican case and turn it into a backpack.

 

I have a mental picture of certain tribal(?) people (can't remember where) who carry stuff on their backs with a strap around their foreheads. Surely the headphones could be adapted to be a part of that setup?

 

Guys guys guys, have we already forgotten about Tyll's infamous picture? He's rocking the bag and the heels...

(no I'm not going to link it, you can google that yourself)

 

This is where I start making a profit on brain bleach. If memory serves he uploaded two versions of that photo somewhere on here. I ain't lookin.

 

Would this be better than a schitt stack of the eitr, Modi Multibit, and jot? I'd primarily use it with ciems so it seems like it might be just the perfect dac/amp for my needs.

 

The IEM port on the ADI-2 is really quite ingenious.

 

Yeah that's one of the reasons why I'm considering it. That and it would be easier to just have one box instead of 3 boxes on my desk. It will also be easier to lie to the significant other about price as she would think that multiple boxes would have cost more than 1.

 

Did anyone tried to measure it with harmonised signal? Like feed it 200 Hz sinwave with high level of 2nd, 3rd and 4rd order harmonics, like 50% THD ? I can`t hear any timbre out of this little box and i don`t belive its not measurable.

 

I don't even know how one would compare those two options, as I have a hard time thinking of two options that have less in common. Kinda like "Corolla or Miata, hmm?" At least those two come from the same country (well, kind of).

 

The ADI-2 DAC works great with IEMs. I use it with my HS1650 every day since my ADX5000 is on loan, but I haven’t tried those other options to say for sure that it works better. You will get a dead silent DAC/amp section with very low output impedance, more than enough power, and a ton of features.

In addition to the HS1650 I’ve used the ADI-2 DAC with the ER4XR, HS1551, Andromeda, Vega, Xelento, SE215, and SE535. Works great with all of the above and certainly more.

 

I see a few Gungnir Multibit and RME ADI-2 DAC comparisons here. Has anyone tried against Soekris 1541 as well? Trying to pick 1 of the 3 above. Leaning towards RME mostly for versatility and features. Or even better - is there (somehow) a place where I may be able to try 2 of the above or all 3?

Have only tried the Yggdrasil and Bifrost Multibit before, both were fine. By extension (similar tech inside) I assume the Gungnir Multibit would be too. Soekris 1541 seems to pop up enough in this approximate price range on various parts of audio internet as well.

 

Comparisons between Schiit's multibit dacs and d/s dacs at comparable price points are very difficult because of how different the presentation is. To me, they sound considerably more different than any two d/s dacs will sound from one another, and either one prefers them or one does not. If you heard Yggdrasil, and only thought it was"fine," rather than being pretty gobsmacked (which seems to be the reaction of most who love it the first time they hear it) by it, you may very well be one of the many who doesn't prefer the multi-bit presentation. You already know that feature-wise the RME has a clear advantage. Being in SoCal, I would think you could make it to the Schiitr to hear the Gungnir Multibit, and there must be an RME dealer around you somewhere.

 

Well, the Gungnir Multibit and Yggdrasil are different, and many prefer the Gungnir Multibit. Just sayin'

 

there's another member in the family and a new firmware too...
http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-pro_be.php
https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=27672

I am very interested for those DACs but didn't have the chance to listen one yet!

 

@Senorx12562 A trip to Schiitr is in the works. Was hoping someone would know a place to A/B the two as I (unsurprisingly) don't see any RME dealers that carry Schiit and Schiit only carries their own. I will definitely keep in mind that they may all individually sound very different when I visit.

As for not being wowed, I would say they had their own + and - compared to various DS DACs I've tried or heard. If I had to paint with a very broad + brief brush, I'd say similarly priced DS DACs were generally slightly more resolving (both Schiit were still good though) and had a slightly "cleaner" sound but ultimately and more importantly the Schiits were much more "fun" and "enjoyable" after 30 min. That and they didn't have the slight glare and/or edginess that many Sabre DAC implementations have to my ears. Don't want to comment more w/o listening to Bifrost Multibit, Gungnir Multibit, and Yggdrasil back to back though.

 

I have a 1541 and an ADI-2 DAC. Deciding between them is... tricky. If DSP and the built-in (very good but not excellent) equalizer are important, the RME wins hands-down. When set to flat and DSP is turned off, it’s less clear. I _think_ the 1541 is a little more natural-sounding and less fatiguing. It also has a much simpler UX if you just want to flip on the crossfeed briefly, or change the filter. But it’s a really close call between them to my ears.

I also had an original Gungnir Multibit for a long time, and sold it after acquiring the 1541.

 

@gepardcv - Could/would you be happy only having one of the two? Or do you use one for setup A and the other for setup B? Similarly, knowing that we all have our own preferences, what made you keep ADI-2 and 1541 over Gungnir Multibit?