RME ADI-2 DAC FS

I got my Genelec 8020D first and started order this gem, then the long journey started - God that felt like life-time, but when I got the box and launched it with the new speaker and my favorite Partita No.3 by Milstein, everything worthy I told myself.

The sound through 8020 is clear, stable, balanced and rational.
- I compare both CD &SACD ver of the violin solos and can easily specify the different remasters even they came from same recording on 1973.
- That's the first time I feel such a clear but not sharp treble when listerning to violin solos, everything runs smoothly and stayed where're, the songs of strings are so beautiful I can't stop the playing.
- I don't need a bold bass, for me that's clear, solid and restrained. I like it.
- People may say this pairing is a bit too pure or bland, but that's my cup of tea - there's an EQ so I can blend something later right? :)
- If people want to pair this gem for a sweet sound with devices like Genelec speakers, HD800s, A2000z, DT1990Pro, etc, they may need an separate amp with warmer tuning - uhm but why you choose them if you need a sweet/warm sound?

I paired my IEM with ADI-2, that's a deep deep abyss I felt then.
- The unit is capable to drive IEMs.
- Headphones, the sound is excellent too, but if your device desire massive flooding power or you need more characterized output from the system, yes you may need a separate amp
- If you want the original sound of the records, you should try to plug your spekaer ot headphones direct to the unit.

It's shipped with good build quality and nice looking - Yes I love the white rings Yes!!!
- The unit is easy to install, oh you may need turn the vol to -40 or lower if combined to a powerful active speaker.
- Outstanding functionality and excellent ergonomics, the remote controller, display, and tuner are nice to use.
- You may need some time to study the use of the tuners with the logfic RME set for the massive settings you can adjust for either pro or consumer purpose. That's amazing you can adjust so many settings for various purpose.

I would recomment this unit for people need clear/original sound and various functionality for pro/entertainment uses. The unit is great fine-tuned and well fabricated, definitely worthy the coins.

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 use this as headphone amp streaming from my Microsoft Surface and connecting using USB. The driver for Microsoft was installed easily and instantly shows up on the bottom bar. The sound is wonderful and much better than just plugging headphones into the computer. The device is small too so it comfortably sits on my desk. Has a remote too, but i dont use that.

Since the first time I saw ADI-2 DAC I was always convinced that one day I will be owning this Swiss army knife of audio gear, use it with great passion and put its features that I fell in love with to use.
Boy, I couldn't have been closer to the truth.

I am using it with Dynaudio 18s and BM5 MKIII as a consumer. Now, putting its amazing performance at the test bench aside, this thing is an evolution of a term DAC when it comes to practical use and feature set.

Good build quality, good looks, outstanding functionality, very good ergonomics - both dealing with ADI-2 DACs hardware and software side (I read most often complaints by other people about getting around the unit itself, mostly about confusing menu structure). But honestly, the whole package that you are getting is plentiful and it took me a day or two to get used to it. If you find ADI-2 DAC too much, it may not be the DAC you are looking for. You also get a caring team behind the device you got, constantly polishing the product in terms of firmware updates, which was unprecedented and unthinkable for a manufacturer to provide two-three years ago in consumer/'hi-fi' market.
That is, 'till RME came.

I will leave subjective opinions to others.

There is one tiny con, but still a con, It would be terrific if in one of the future updates guys at RME would allow another PEQ band bellow 200 Hz. I know it's getting crowded down there and there is a higher chance of bands overlapping, but at least leave it as a possibility for end-users.

Initially I intended to purchase a 2nd interface for my secondary location, where I mostly just relax and do a little bit of work on the side. However, upon finding out that my favorite audio interface brand released something in between a pro and consumer DAC product it immediately caught my attention.

Having owned the RME UFX interface for a while now, I knew what I was getting - a very well made, very high quality and easy to use product. And I wasn't disappointed. I only had to wait a while for delivery as it's constantly getting sold out of stock - something of a testiment to the product's value.

For the pros:
- sound (obviously) is absolutely high-end and crystal clear (monitors)
- heapdhone amp, which after having owned multiple REALLY high end amplifiers I can honestly say I'm surprised by.... it gave a "new life" to my DT 770's PRO which I thought I knew in and out
- something as silly as a full "dark out" function for a total lack of emitted light (for those late night listens) but very important to quite a few people
- classic RME menu's and no-nonsense unit design, so RME users will feel right at home
- the ability to interface with other RME products through the support of ADAT protocol over it's TOSLINK input (unlike other DACs with SPDIF only)
- user manual is detailed, with reference photos to help
- PRICE (no, seriously) - having the technical specs and features typically associated with products at twice the price point

For the cons:
- not necessarily a con, however I don't imagine many people using IEMs for stationary listening, so I'd rather have another one of those incredible headphone amps instead of the IEM one to share my sound experience with another person at the same time
- digital encoders - some people may think they are low quality, because they are stepped ("clicky"), and would rather have smooth, stepless ones, but RME provides a very valid technical reason for the use of those going into their decision making and technical arguments extensively in the user manual
- technically, visually and otherwise operationally - I can't think of any (apart from the ones I had to come up with above to fill the con section with something)

I would whole-heartedly recommend this product to any consumer or professional in the world. RME outdid themselves again.

Not much more to be said than all of the other positive feedbacks. I've used this product for a few months now and not a single problem. Excellent DSP functions that are genuinely useful. Simple stuff like being able to keep the headphone plugged in then simply switching between HP and AMP output using the remote are god sends. Sound quality is excellent. All in a compact and well built case. SUPERB!

I use this as a USB DAC from my computer, powering my headphones. It is a great piece of high-quality kit. Initially it is quite daunting to wrestle with the feature-set, but once it is setup you are pretty much set. There are tons of useful features to tweak the sound to your preferences, including: 5-band parametric EQ, bass/treble, Loudness and Dim modes. The RME ADI-2 is so good, that there is nothing on the market quite like it. If RME were to develop a new version I would love to have a 10-band parametric EQ, and a balanced headphone input, but this is nitpicking on my part!

The build quality is first class, and with all you need. The first choice is this price range

Very robust machine built in a sleek compact body with neutral tuning. Powerful amp as well. Also comes with a whole bunch of features that could be useful in case if you need them. Very pleased with its clarity and soundstage performance overall.

Impressive DAC which I have paired with a THX AAA 789

I had high expectations with this DAC and suprisingly it exceeded all of them. The setup is a bit finicky and I needed some time to understand the menu/sub-menu aspect and why I did not find some settings initially. The most important feature for me is the independently adjustable EQ. Hello room correction, goodbye CPU hungry apps!

I am extremely pleased with the sound quality, the soundstage improved quite a lot, not to mention the depth and realism I get.. it's like buying a new set of speakers in a much higher category. I enjoy the fact that the power supply and every part of the power stage is done in a way that it does not need fancy stuff before the DAC to "filter" noise out. There is NO noise whatever you put before this. I would expect this in 2019 but still, too many products out there are not on par with the ADI-2 from the engineering aspect. I haven't tested the headphone preamps yet but I will need the IEM part and I suppose those have no problems either. I highly suggest you get this DAC if you don't need it for recording. This is great for extremely high-quality hi-fi listening or mixing/mastering. I am pretty sure I won't upgrade this part of my system for a looooong time.

The newset edition empolying AK4493 and a remote. Sounds great and easy to use. With high clarity and good soundstage performance.

RME combine a high-end DAC and a very stable usb interface into RME ADI-2 DAC.
In most situation of home using,we have no use for analog input,espically in today trends.A lot of device come with adat or spidif port,which can offer high digital signal source.No additional ADDA is needed,ADI-2 DAC can convert your digital signal directly to the Hi-End Analog output.Also,the sound is incredible clearly.I use it to connect my TV spidif optical port,which could combine all of my device's audio output.And I connect the DAC to Genelec 8010 and 7040 system.What's more,the remote control is particularly senstitive.I can control the unit in my whole room!Very useful.Even I mount the remote the control on the wall, it still working.That's amazing.
In a word.RME ADI-2 DAC is the best choice of Hifi use.No useless funtion,just offer clearly?impressive sound you need!

Short and to the point review:

Wonderful All-In-One unit for use on a desk at home or in the office.
Easily transportable.
Works wonderfully with planar headphones, studio monitors and IEMS.
Could be all you need for control and monitoring in a home/project studio.
Incredible array of extremely useful features.
Lacks the AD stage of the pro version so not useful for measurements/recording.
Separate head-amp will add some (needed) musicality if listening for pleasure with headphones - this is an extremely linear and neutral device.

Highly recommended, would buy again.

This is a very high C/P ratio DAC product. It can bring out the characteristic and detail of the music without distortion.

The EQ function is also fantastic and it provides enough room for you to tune the music.

Sound great; features and functions are so plentiful, personal favorite is PEQ for room control;Nice little screen useful to display info like levels, EQ and spectrum; lots of inputs for me to connect to different devices, easy to swap between input and outputs; powerful headphone output; IEM out is nice to have. Only problem is I got tiny tiny noise(only audible when no sound is playing) when my Macbook is plugged into some charger (USB-C charger of my monitor, original Apple one is fine), got a USB filter dongle and it is now perfect

One of the best dac amps regarding features, Sound is really good too, Headphone amp is amazing and it has some graphical displays too should you want to see some action on it, you can also turn the entire face LEDs off too should you wish.

Bought this for use as DAC and headphone amplifier for hi-fi system.
Features are great, EQ is very useful for headphones or for a little room correction (note that there is only 3 bands of eq available under 200 Hz). Very useful remote. Noise floor is very low.