Recording - June 2018 - 54

RME

ADI-2 DAC
Reviews By Mike Metlay
From the Hammerfall PCI cards and Fireface FireWire interfaces that blazed new trails in digital interfacing, to modern
designs using USB 2, MADI, and more, RME continues to
provide audio solutions for whom "compromise" is a curse
word. The ADI-2 Pro of 2016 set a high bar for a 2-in/4-out
interface, and the Babyface Pro (reviewed February 2018)
brought the fantastically flexible TotalMix FX mix/monitor
environment to the desktop studio.
Released in December 2017, the ADI-2 DAC leverages the
power of RME's high-precision conversion in a half-rack D/A
converter with a ton of extras. I used it as my main monitoring
interface at Recording's studio for several weeks, and came
away very impressed indeed.
Ostensibly the ADI-2 DAC is a "home and hi-fi" version of
the ADI-2 Pro, swapping its A/D recording and certain pro
functions for more listener-friendly options. That said, the D/A
in this box is a massive step up from almost anything in this
price range, and the included functions are amazing.
The box features digital inputs on coaxial RCA and optical
ADAT/Toslink, accepting S/PDIF and AES/EBU with subnanosecond jitter on external sync. On the output side, it offers unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR outputs with frequency response that's so wide and flat it's almost science fiction.
Running at 96 kHz, it's only 0.5 dB down at 45 kHz, and not
only will it lock to external clocks out to 200 kHz, its internal
sample rate can be set from 44.1 all the way up to an
unbelievable 768 kHz. I hope folks will forgive me for only
testing it out to 192! It also serves as a DSD playback system,
and sounds amazing doing it.

The front panel is simple in design and easy to work with
once you master a few basic controls. There's a large volume
knob and two smaller parameter knobs, all push-click encoders.
RME believes that with modern technology, digital control
achieves higher precision and cleaner sound than analog
control, so there are no potentiometers in the audio path.
A large full-color backlit LCD display shows a realtime
frequency analysis of the playback signal with level meters and parameter displays like sample rate and volume
setting. A set of four menu buttons-Volume, I/O, EQ, and
Setup-offer access to everything from a finely adjustable
EQ with a color frequency curve display to clock settings
and setting the four programmable buttons on the included
wireless remote control.
Given the home/hi-fi slant of the ADI-2 DAC, there are some
settings that a pro user will rarely if ever touch: a Dark display
theme, the EQ, basic Bass/Treble tone controls, and Loudness
mode, which compensates for the Equal Loudness Contours
when listening back at lower levels. However, it's possible to
defeat or even lock out those features, and the remote is easily
programmed with functions that any engineer will value, like
Dim, Polarity flip, toggling between the Phones and Line outputs, Mono mode, and-for folks who want to really do mono
right-Mono to only the Left speaker.
The two front-panel Phones outputs are actually two
completely different circuits, designed for different types of
headphones. The 1/4" TRS Phones output can be operated
in a Hi-Power mode that drives even the highest-impedance
headphones with ease (although it warns you before you try
to use it, because it will shred low-impedance phones), and
the minijack IEM output is designed to drive low-impedance
in-ear monitors with vanishingly low noise. These two Phones
outputs were worth the price of admission for me-my 600Ω
AKD K240M phones have never sounded so good, and it was
a revelation to hear my Ultimate Ears Pro Reference Remastered
in-ears (reviewed December 2016) the way they were meant
to be heard. Just... wow.
That impeccable sound quality held for the three sets of
monitors and six sets of headphones and in-ears I tested with
the ADI-2 DAC. This is just a crushingly good reference listening
system; stereo separation and overall clarity, which can be
negatively impacted by lower-quality converters and clocking,
were astounding, making even cheap phones and entry-level
speakers sound way better than they had any right to be.
And when I plugged in top-level phones like the AKG K872
and my UE Pro in-ears, I was hearing microscopic details that
usually go missing on other systems.
If you're ready to install a really good monitor and headphone listening system for digital audio, the ADI-2 DAC should
be on your short list. I wrote this review before pricing the unit,
and was stunned to learn that it sells for half what I thought it
would... it's that good.

$999; www.rme-audio.com

RECORDING June 2018

http://www.rme-audio.com

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