RME ADI-2 DAC FS

Excellent features make this a versatile DAC

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.

A neat way to integrate Qobuz into my old but wonderful hifi using my computer … transformed my enjoyment of music when I replaced a Cambridge Audio netstreamer with it.

Best in the market.

Best in the market, no question asked. Will do it all!

The perfect solution

This is an extremely well made and simple to use DAC, The sound quality is exactly what you are expecting, perfect with no colouration or detraction from the source signal, highly recommended! Despite there being many options it is remarkably simple to use, set and forget, my kind of gear!

Great DAC with strong feature that cannot be seen on other products

The functionality and tunability of ADI-2 DAC is just too tempting. Higher-end DACs may have better sound, but the tunability is just too great to give up.

A Great Centerpiece Of My New Desktop System

I connected this DAC to a pair of A3X monitors and a Sub7 subwoofer from Adam Audio. Just four XLR cables from Cable Matters and it was all done. No RCA interconnects. No speaker cables. No preamp or amps. Money was saved but reinvested in purification of the AC line power. Which allowed me to spend as much as what this DAC cost. Enough to supply each of the devices in the chain with a quieter power. The chain included the DAC, powered speakers, computers, router and modem. The result was excellent. The irritation from persistent noise was gone and came the meditation from deep darkness. When the noise floor was lowered to a certain degree, you subconsciously wanted to go back to continue the immersive experience for either work or rest. And this DAC was at the core in creating the enjoyment.

Great product

It solved my problem very well.

NICE DAC

If you don't have much space,ADI-2 is very suitable.

If you just use the IEM,you don't need to buy another headphone amp.

If you use the on-ear headphone like HD800s ,ADI-2 isn't good enough.

very good quality

robustly made with so many features and high quality sound

Amazing

I use it as a headphone amp and a dac/preamp for my hifi. It is very punchual sound, without any emotion and hifi voodoo - that what i expect. The remote could be more sensitive.