ADI-2 DAC - Digital to Analog Converter Overview by RME Audio

Created on the legacy of the highly regarded ADI-2 Pro, the ADI-2 DAC is a further development of the renowned ADI-2 Pro AD/DA reference converter with a special emphasis on audiophiles who want the best sound possible for their hi-fi system.

To address the home and HiFi users, RME exchanged some of the Pro's studio features with typical home and HiFi ones. With an adapted feature set and much simplified operation RME proudly presents the ADI-2 DAC. Built on the technology, concept and features of the ADI-2 Pro, the DAC concentrates on DA conversion in top high-end quality, along with two exceptional outputs for headphones and IEMs, and - a remote control.

Buy the RME Audio ADI-2 DAC in the Americas from here:

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[areamode]

As a new owner of an ADI-2 DAC I have to say it's a wonderful pice of gear!

[adamarczynski]

Got mine yesterday (Nov 2019 version). It really is a superb product. I had several headphones AMPs (Schiit, Marantz, Burson) and this one is simply the best. Clean sound with no background noise and no distortion at all. It offers enough power to drive power-hungry planars as well. PEQ and crossfeed are brilliant. Simply amazing DAC+headphone AMP. Could a bit heavier. I need to hold it when pushing buttons to prevent it from moving. The only real drawback I found is that when RME ADi 2 DAC saves line out vol at 0dB (I use it as DAC only for stereo as well) and change Mute line setting from Toggle Ph/Line to Off, it outputs full volume to headphones which is far from good. It can lead to easy accidental death of headphones or ears. All in all absolutely love it! My last headphone DAC+AMP (until you release new one lol).

[KRISNAMUSIK]

Amazing interface dsd 11.2 mhz is the best for record, mix n mastering

[eLcHiNoChannel]

Just ordered today... Can't wait to try it out!

[andrescardeli]

Would look amazing on my desk with my Beyerdynamic dt 1990s. A fella can dream.

[freejulianassange]

One thing that confuses me (though I'm happy to be corrected as it may be that I'm easily confused) is RME's warranty. I can't find reference to it on the main website and different countries seem to have different warranty arrangements.. UK seems to be 5 years (which is great and very commendable) but Australia seems to be two years (bummer).. and we additionally get royally screwed with the pricing - with this RRP being $1999! and dealers not willing to go much below $1799 - which is still /several hundred dollars/ more than I can buy one from several places overseas for, including the currency conversion, extra shipping, additional import duties and taxes that would mean paying. How about some love for us down-under? I'm sure Innovative Music Australia would move a considerable number more of these units if the pricing here was less punitive.

Surely, it would be better for us to have local support and not for everyone to be buying their units from overseas? As it stands I can't see how anyone would be buying from the local distribution. On the upside, I guess their support line must be pretty quiet.

Just a tip for RME - Australian consumer law will make /not/ providing warranty on a product like this (meaning a DAC that is reasonably expensive - despite good value proposition) out to five years impossible in any case.. so it will effectively cost them nothing to provide it. They may as well look good and do it of their own accord.

[UntakenNick]

I ordered mine and I can't wait for it to arrive, but it's frustrating that such a curated device has some important design flaws that could have been easily avoided:

1) The remote control is optical, which means one has to point it to the device. The Amazon Fire TV costs €40 and the remote is bluetooth. This is a product meant for recreational use, not professional, so one would thing it should be optimized for a relaxed listening experience, and it would nice to keep the remote in one's hand and press the volume buttons without having to lift the arm to point it in the right direction.

2) The usb port should be of type C to make it easier to use with a phone. On the same line as the previous point, using this device is all about enjoyment and a lot of people's favorite way of listening to music is in a couch, not in front of a pc. Not only it's extremely inconvenient to have to dedicate a PC just for that or, even worse, moving one back and forth, but when you're laid back in a couch it's painfully annoying to have to incorporate and reach for the pc to browse the library and edit the playlist so the simplest and most comfortable way is to simply use it from a phone that you can grab and use without changing position.
Being able to use it on a couch from a phone is the only reason I chose it since it has an EQ. On the desktop I can leave it flat and use the much more capable Equalizer APO so any dac/amp will do for that use, but allowing a source independent EQ is what makes the ADI-2 stand out from the rest so it makes no sense to make the connection to those other sources so difficult. I could buy a much more rare usb type C to type B cable on Amazon, but not all Android phones have USB OTG functionality incorporated, so one would have to add another adapter to make everything more cumbersome. A USB type C port with the OTG circuitry built-in (which is compatible with regular USB connections anyway) would solve all of these problems. Yes, there's a video in this channel explaining why USB 3 is not necessary but I'm not talking about the protocol, use usb 2 speed if that's all it takes to stream music but use a physical port that allows any cellphone to connect to it.

3) Dedicating an output for the small niche of iem's users (who uses iem's on a desktop?) when 99% of the people using a €1.1K dac/amp will most likely have a high-end pair of headphones for listening sessions and another one for regular use. It would me more useful for most people to have a 6.3 mm jack for high-end HP and a 3.5 mm one for a daily driver so one could leave them plugged in all the time and select each output at will without having to plug/unplug each HP from the 6.3 mm jack everytime. Not only for the hassle of it but mainly for not wearing out the jack.

[robkarto]

You need to be a engineer to operate that good looking audio tech ...

[jameswalton]

I want to go from my Mbox pro 3 to Sparrow ADC (spdif) to this ADI-2 and out from the ADI-2 ( using DSD format) to my Tascam DA-3000 DSD. What physical connectors do you suggest I use to go from the ADI-2 to my Tascam DV 3000 via DSD

[MititeluRadu]

Pro hint: if you present an audio interface, make absolute sure the sound is NOT one of the worse on the entire Youtube.

[kalaskrille]

Why doesn't it say on your website (nor stated in this video) what speed of DSD this product supports?

[savanaviolenta]

I'm adding this DAC to my Babyface Pro.One question tough. If I mix and master my music on this DAC, will the final mix will have the same audio quality of the DAC as I hear it?Or this high quality sound can be heard only when I play music trough it.If not, then which device will suit me most if I want my mixes to have the same sound quality as this DAC? Maybe to get me ADI 2 FS? Because of the AD inputs and can be used as an additional 2 ch preamp trough ADAT to the Babyface Pro?

[hensonk]

Is it going to be updated any time soon?

[seanpersaud]

RME I have a question does the DAC lose Dynamics and resolution at higher volume ? I’ve herd in some case that’s possible in some DAC also would they be firmware updates for the dac in the future as DAC’s tend to upgrade every so often thanks in advance.

[Dong]

Where is the 4pin xlr balanced headphones.jack

[sarahmoify]

Can this be used as an audio interface? I use superior drummer, an axe fx, plugins and a modeling Mic. So I was hoping I wpuldnt need the ADI 2 Pro(AD/DA) since their isnt really Analog to digital .

[TexasCorgiGun]

I need help I want to get this unit but I have a question, can I connect 2 monoblock out of the XLR output and a subwoofer out of the RCA ? And control everything with the master volume ? Thanks

[eugnius]

Is the AD/DA section in the ADI2 FS the same as in the ADI2 pro FS (just with fewer features)?

[grios]

Does this use asio driver and can I put the digital Input in a loop back and route to the balanced output? Similar to baby face or UCX?

[JTCPingas]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but can both headphone jacks be used at the same time?