RME ADI-2 DAC FS

This came to replace my JDS Atom amp, which is really a great device in it self. But the reason Ive been eyeing the ADI-2 was for its large feature set.

I am a Mac user so I have always struggled to find a good system wide EQ that I liked. I also switch to Linux occasionally so there is that as well.

Seeing that the ADI-2 DAC has parametric EQ (5+2 band), supports crossfeed, loudness, and tons more I could not find any replacement for it.

And now that Ive got the opportunity for a couple of days to try it out, let me tell you it's the best single part of audio equipment I have ever bought. A couple of features I really like:

Loudness: This feature is in itself amazing, and not the typical other amps got. It can actually be customized to a target Db and increasingly lower the bass/treble as you increase the volume. I often listen on low volume and the improvement is amazing.

EQ: One of the top features of this DAC. I was able to test the Harman/Oratory1990 target for my HD6XX directly on the DAC which is pretty amazing. Can save the settings and change depending on the headphones.

Crossfeed: Well implemented and got a nice filter to set the amount of crossfeed needed.

Remote: This is the new remote with additional buttons and they can be programmed to do almost anything. Using it all the time.

LCD: The analyzer is sooooo pretty. Navigating the menus is not as difficult as some people make it seem.

Manual: Weird thing to point out, but the manual is really good. Easy to look up stuff and like how RME explains the reasons for their design choices.

The built quality is also very good, as to be expected from a German company. It is obvious this thing was built and designed by audio engineers with no marketing non-sense.

Can I recommend this device? Absolutely 110%, but it also depends on your needs at the same time. The real power of the ADI-2 DAC comes from its abilities to fine tune sound and do it all in one place without worrying about the source. For people who never EQ or care about any of the above mentioned points it might be better to get something different.

I am overall really happy with this little device and it got my DAC/Amp needs covered for a long time.

I agree with most of what Artemis *Seven* wrote in his review. I have some Sennheiser HD 25s which I leave on my desk because they're tough and cheap and I don't have to baby them. They're a little bright but resolve pretty well so I keep them handy for monitoring recordings on some of my TASCAM gear. Other times I run them out of a Chord Mojo I have connected to a Linux box.

Last night I played some high rate PCM sample files and SACD rips over the RME and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This DAC is beyond superb. It turned the HD 25s into a high end listening experience. The headphones absolutely disappeared and I was there in the concert hall. Just fantastic. I don't remember a wow moment like this. And I could not have expected it from this pair of headphones.

RME has a forum and there is a good chance that bugs in the firmware will be addressed. The device speaks for itself as soon as you listen to it.

The DAC comes with a real dead-tree manual, spiral bound and lay-flat so you can linger over it and you will need to! However the manual comes with a note saying it's somewhat out of date. I think it should have gotten the latest manual.

The RME does not seem to be a good pairing for my Sennheiser HD 600s but I'm not really surprised since the 600s are usually much happier on tubes. This is not a complaint about the RME, just to let anybody know that if Sennheisers are your main phones like they are for me, you might want a separate headamp to drive off the RME. I have several here but have not had the time to experiment.

I have not tried to run the RME into a hifi system but from what I have heard on phones I believe it would be difficult to beat. For now it is used as a DACAMP on my desk. The lights-out mode is neat but that is only an option when the device is on. When it's off there is a bright red ring around the power button. There should be an option to turn that off completely.

There are tons and tons of features and settings and I find navigation a little confusing. Three controls rotate and can also be pushed and their behavior depends somewhat on where you are. UI is hard. This is good but quirky. You won't be bored...

I still can't figure out how to deal with the EQ but to be honest I haven't spent much time with the manual.

The DAC has protective features so it won't burn up a pair of expensive IEMs or blow up your ears. A lot of thought went into the details on this. I'm impressed with that, it is somewhat unique. But I too would have preferred 2 x 1/4 inch headphone jacks rather than one for headphones and one for IEMs.

One ongoing annoyance is that the device is really light and the feet don't grip. It slides all over the place when pushing buttons, plugging and unplugging headphones etc. If it weren't so hugely musical and so hugely customizable it would be easy to think it was junk. I'd still like some real traction on a table top but this piece of gear is definitely staying around and no plans to ever sell it.

I’ve been looking for a DAC to my Stereo system and DAC+AMP for my headphones for quite a while. Finally I picked RME ADI-2 ADC FS due to it’s awesome measured performance, decent power output for headphones and advanced DSP.

I owned a few devices (Marantz HD-DAC 1. Matrix Audio Element M, Burson Conductor, Schiit Audio) before and RME is the first one that after two weeks I have nothing to complain about. It is simply an audio-voodoo nonsense killer.

Firstly it has a brilliant noise floor. My sensitive IEMs are dead silent when nothing is playing. Finally! Secondly it can easily drive my HiFiMAN Arya which is a demanding headphone. No hassle at all. While low power mode is not enough for loud listening, high power mode shows it’s true potential. Even when close to max volume (sorry to my ears for that) there was no distortion at all. My HiFiMAN Arya was shaking on my head due to intense drivers’ movement and in a sub-bass heavy song it sounded no worse than a stereo system with a proper subwoofer. While my previous amp (rated at 1W per channel) was just producing one big distortion, sound from RME was perfectly clean and powerful. In terms of sound quality and performance I simply love it.

Second thing that I love is that it cured me from audio-voodoo. Detailed DACs, Warm sounding AMP, silver cables… come on. RME’s parametric EQ offers way more versatility. It really allows you to fit sound to your personal taste. I would love it to have more than 5 bands, though. Nevertheless, it is still a powerful tool. Another great function is crossfeed. Must have for headphones listening. I hate it when one instrument plays to the left ear and another one to the right ear. It is such an unnatural and tiring feeling. Crossfeed fixes it. While instruments stay in their positions, this unpleasant feeling is gone and instruments are more to the center. Something like listening to the stereo system which is always in front of the listener. Another nice thing is that RME saves settings for each output separately. This way I can have separate volume and EQ settings for stereo and headphones. I need to only switch the output and all settings are loaded automatically. It is simply clever and well thought.

There are some other minor cool things worth mentioning as well. Four programmable buttons in the remote are very handy. Auto input select works great. I connected my PC via optical and my network player via coax. Thanks to it, RME normally works as a DAC for PC but when I start playback via network, it automatically switches to coax input. When I stop playback from the network, it automatically goes back to optical. So convenient! Just perfect.

There are only minor things that I dislike about RME ADI-2 DAC FS. Firstly, It’s weight. It is too light and it must be held when pressing encoder knobs. Fingers easily leave greasy marks on it. Secondly, I use it as a DAC for stereo and DAC+AMP for headphones as mentioned before. I set volume for line out to 0dB as I have volume control in my stereo AMP. When I change Mute line setting from Toggle Ph/Line (it allows me to switch between Headphones and line out with the remote) to Off, RME switches output to headphones and uses volume setting from line out. 0dB in my case. This could be an unfortunate death of many headphones and ears due to misclick when done during playback. Lastly, I would appreciate some protection film for display. Mine was unprotected during shipping.

Last big plus for RME for their guide movies on Youtube. Very detailed and helpful. Despite being loaded with an enormous number of functions, I managed to set everything up without opening the manual.

To sum up - my best audio purchase ever. Price is very competitive when compared to hi-end audiophile companies. I am pretty sure I will be RME fanboy for a long time.

I had very specific needs for a DAC. I essentially needed it to be a replacement for a stereo pre-amp. I needed an EQ, with more than just two or three bands. This one has 7 bands, if you count the bass and treble shelfs. It also has 20 EQ preset slots that you can set for yourself, so you can have one preset for music, another for film, another for sports, and 17 others left over for video games, or whatever else you need that many presets for. I also needed a remote control, and this has one. As for inputs, I needed both optical and USB. It also has coax, but I don't use that one. The only thing it's missing is an HDMI input, but that's a little wishful thinking on my part.

Those features ticked all my boxes for buying the unit. But when I got the DAC, I was blown away by all the additional customization it offers. It has two DAC chips, one for each L/R channel. This is wonderful because it allows you to adjust the volume SEPARATELY for each channel, and you can also feed part of one channel into the other one (I forget the term they used for this, sorry). This is great for someone with hearing problems. Often, hearing loss isn't equal in both ears, so this DAC gives you the ability to adjust levels to fit your hearing profile. The DAC also allows you to set your preferred DA filter. If you don't like the overall sound of the DAC, no problem, just adjust the DA filter to fit your preference. I chose SD Slow, and it makes a subtle, yet noticeable difference when compared to say, SD Fast, or Fast. It gives the overall audio quality a tighter, less ringing type of sound, yet it doesn't have any aliasing artifacts, at least to my ears.

Aside from the features, the overall sound quality is excellent, but I suspect it's not a lot better than other DACs at this price point. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience using dedicated DACs, so this unit was always going to sound great to my ears. But even knowing that, I would still heartily recommend this device for the sound quality alone. It has a very tight, clear, and "correct" or "accurate" sound. In their product manual, the engineers love to talk about one of the best assets of this unit, which is their "Steady Clock", which makes jitter practically a non-issue on this unit. I suspect this has a lot to do with how perfect the sound feels, but again, I don't have a lot of experience with DACs.

The only thing I'm not loving is the menu layout. It will take you a while to figure out how to navigate the various menu pages, and the buttons you have to press are small and aren't immediately obvious for which buttons you have to press. But this is a minor gripe. Once you get used to it, it's not really that bad.

I've had this DAC since 2022, for the past two years, and my love has only grown for this unit. With the excellent overall sound quality, and the plethora of features and engineering design decisions, fantastic job, RME. I would absolutely buy from you again.