RME ADI-2 Pro Discussion Thread

I am not one to jump for "bling" but damn, that is a handsome look.

 

If they left out the words it'd be handsomer

 

Btw, did you feel any difference going balanced @k.e. ? I did consider it for my PM-3's, but in the end I figured that I'd be losing SNR due to high gain.

 

I agree.

Sure, the glass-top thingie looks lovely in pictures, but what else? And I'm not a great fan of internal lighting for cabinets. Further more, I'm surprised that audiophiles don't complain about them making noise!

Well... I'm just old and boring (apparently this started when I was a child ) but one of the things that I like about pro gear is pro looks. So, if I was in the lucky position to buy one of these, I'd admire the "Anniversary edition," but buy the plain box.

But, Whatever, @GoodEnoughGear ... Just buy it!

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So riddle me this... I've got my Callia and ADI-2Pro level matched (measured and by ear), both feeding out into my Bryston amp, music sounds the same, but when I switch to pink noise there's a difference. Neither sounds "wrong" per se, but the Callia is brighter in comparison. What gives? I'm pretty sure I've got all the filters set at the most linear options, etc etc. Hmm gotta dig deeper.

 

@Armaegis like other AK4490 units, all filters other than "Linear Phase, Sharp roll-off" have 20hz to 20khz roll off which is a what the f**k decision on AKM's part. That filter should've been stock and the warm I can't say this word on SBAF now told to go f**k themselves. The Steve Jobs my way or the highway approach is the right one for stuff like this. The filter FR settings are in the manual on page 72 or so.

What's with the second sets of outputs on the back being unbalanced? That's a kinda gimped for audiophools decision unlike the Hilo. which is just gimped a tiny bit doesn't have 2 dacs per channel on the "cheesy mp3 monitor out" and the headphone out for error correction due to the pot for those probably negating that.

 

@Psalmanazar Yeah I checked those and switched to the sharp filters last night which brought them closer but still not quite. At this point I figure it's just a difference in filter math and weird pink noise interaction rather than FR variances.

 

Capture Callia output by ADI-2 Pro at 2x Fs or more. Maybe you're getting some strange HF stuff from aliasing or oscillation. Also - THD ridden noise always sounds louder. More energy, for less signal.

None of the filters give you free lunch. Either clean(er) impulse or roll-off. I like that RME lets me pick my poison, even if I don't feel any meaningful difference.

As for the unbalanced outputs, that's the same 1/2 output, only unbalanced, so people don't have to dick around with XLR to RCA adapters and end up shorting one phase to the ground. I'd actually rather have them put TS to RCA jacks there, so audiophiles don't get confused.

 

That was my thought too. I've got some kludged optical daisy-chaining happening right now which might be the cause, as well as a rat's next of power bricks and interconnects and stacking which might be contributing to who knows what. Later this week I'll have to clean up/reconfigure. I don't have a fancy Rednet or Singxer unit, but I've got a Peachtree X1 that I'll bring out to pump coax/optical output and hook up with my Genelecs for a monitoring setup too.

I used a multimeter to adjust until I get the same output as the Callia, then feed both into my Bryston integrated and control volume from there. Though actually the headphone volume on all three devices is matched as well so I can swap freely between them all.

 

Subjectively so far, I'm preferring the slow filters... at least on the dac outputs. With the headphone outputs I'm leaning towards the sharp filters.

 

Cheapo multimeter, measured at 100Hz and 1000Hz and checked at ear. I won't do 10kHz because that hurts the ears.

Currently on SD sharp filter which I believe is the factory default and sounds closest.

 

Use automatic gain. Turn as far as you can before it clips the inputs on your Vali.

 

What kind of cables are you using? Maybe XLR's have one phase tied to ground?

 

Does something change when disabling EQ? If so, set reference level higher or to Auto.

 

It definitely sounds great and the volume reaches levels high enough to blast off my head. Twice. I will need some more time to confidently say going balanced is worth it or not.