OK everyone. I’m about to get kicked dissed on this tread.
I spent at least 8 hours trying to get this set up off of my laptop. The computer and the unit recognized each other but I couldn’t get the USB to send data to the unit. User error for sure.
Then, with some frustration I used my HiBy R6 as a dac to my Liquid Platinum. I simply couldn’t believe what great SQ I was hearing. And I wasn’t even using the R6 balanced output.
My decision is to let the “desktop” system idea go and just use the (incoming) R6 2020 as my dac. This simplifies life immensely, in that I have only one source. I don’t have to screw around with essentially duplicating my portable experience to my laptop.
Now, no A/B’ing has been done HiBy R6/ADI-2, so I can’t speak to sound differences. I’m sure the ADI-2 is a wonderful dac but I’m (perhaps) leaving some SQ on the table for sake of convenience.
Just purchased the ADI-2 B-stock from a place near me and I’m loving the sound into my Liquid Platinum so far, but I wanted to leave a few thoughts and see what you guys think.
Before the RME came I was using my LCD-X with the LP through an old audio interface. The LCD-X sounds best with EQ. I was applying this through APO as a system wide adjustment using these settings from an episode of the headphone show How to EQ Headphones - Featuring Audeze LCD-X - YouTube. Seems to be the best I’ve found.
Now with the RME I noticed that the bitrate from different flac files is only used when I use certain audio software. VLC doesn’t make the RME dothat so I tired Audirvana (30 day trial) which works and sounds great but using ASIO bipasses my EQ setting in APO! Well, the RME has its own EQ, but…it only has 5 bands and I’m using 10 in APO.
I attempted to translate the EQ I use from 10 to 5 and it ended up looking like this.
RME LCD-X EQ
Band 1: G +3 F120 Q1.4
Band 2: G-2 F470 Q1.4
Band 3: G+7 F3.2k Q1.1
Band 4: G-3.5 F5.5K Q3
Band 5: G+5 F9.5K Q5
This sounds good but compared to the 10 band EQ the highs feel less balanced and can become boxy on certain tracks.
So, with all that said I’m wondering is there a free audio player that people like for the RME that can send the sampling rate to the DAC correctly? Is there a way to do that and use APO (I’m guessing no).
Does anyone have EQ settings for their RME they really like for LCD-X or HD6xx?
My only complaint so far is that the headphone out on the ADI-2 sounds pretty mediocre (especially with the HD6xx). If that was better this unit would be really outstanding.
I don’t have the RME but I use oratory1990’s EQ settings with my HD6xx and happy with them. He also has the settings for RME, you might also try them and see how it works for you.
Hello ADI-2 DAC owners, I have scanned the thread here (long) but have not looked at the even longer manual yet. Can anyone confirm that the balanced and SE outputs are both always live? I may be interested in this for the EQ amongst other things, but would use the SE for a sub-woofer and want to be sure it works like the Schiit DACs where both are live. Thanks for the info!
Hi folks, just bought this DAC. I want to get a tube amp which is balanced since this DAC provides balanced output. Any suggestions what is out there? So far I have seen only the WA22 and WA33 which is balanced. I would like the amp to be able to drive something like a Focal Utopia and an LCD-4. Most of the tube amps I have seen have only an RCA input and output to them.
Fully balanced tube headphone amplifier’s aren’t that common, since most of the reason people want tubes has to do with coloration/distortion characteristics. A truly balanced circuit using tubes will either a) cancel out most of those artifacts or b) make a mess of things if the tubes on the differential sides of an individual channel aren’t matched closely enough.
Beyond the WA22 and WA33, the DecWare Taboo MKIV is available with fully balanced input/output, as is the EC Studio (though it’s discontinued).
Schiit’s Mjolnir is fully balanced, but is a hybrid design.
Otherwise, most of what you’re going to find is going to have balanced inputs and outputs, but still be single ended internally … which is really the best way to run the better tubes.
Thanks @Torq, not sure if this is the right thread for this, but can you recommend some tube amps which will work well with this DAC and a wide variety of dynamic and planer headphones? My budget is around 4k.
If you need to drive both dynamic and planar cans, then you’re going to be limited to transformer-coupled tube amplifiers (or hybrids, but that’s a different discussion). OTL amplifiers tend to be current-limited and need higher impedance than most modern planar cans exhibit.
Off the top of my head …
WA22 - not my personal favorite, but certainly competent as far as things of its ilk go. Don’t get too funky with tube choices.
DecWare Taboo MKIV - the Taboo was built to drive the original LCD-2, and handles more modern planar cans even better. Very fast. Very detailed. Rich, sonorous, though colored (part of it’s charm for me). One of my favorite amps. Odd aesthetics (I like, but still a bit steam-punk). Relatively long lead-time. Separate L/R level controls can be a pain.
ZMF Pendant - revised since I last heard it, but thoroughly competent and at home with both dynamic and demanding planars. Stock tube complement is less “tubey” than most; recommend that you either take Zach’s tube upgrade option or read the Pendant thread for alternatives.
DNA Stratus - exceptional, though not the best match for really demanding planars. I like it best with dynamic cans. Good 2A3 tubes get spendy, though it sounds very good with basic tubes.
Woo WA5-LE - for $4K you’re either going without the “parts upgrades” or buying used. Mine had the parts upgrade (makes it closer to $5,000). VERY tube dependent. @andris has the standard WA5-LE and some good input on tubes for it. I wound up putting tubes that cost more than the amplifier in mine while I had it.
The EC stuff is excellent, though discontinued, but I didn’t spend much time with planars with those amplifiers (the Studio excepted), so you’ll want to solicit other opinions on those.
Feliks will come up, but I’m not a big fan … not because I think they’re bad - it’s a value thing. I liked them better before prices jumped. Power is limited for current-hungry planars.
amps&sound have some interesting options. I like the overall designs and sound. Build is excellent. Support is first-rate. I’ve had noise-floor issues with them in the past, with higher-impedance outputs, however. This could be down to tubes, as the units I’ve heard had stock tubes and these amps generally use tubes I do not have lots of options on hand for (I tend to stick to “big SET” stuff). Talk to Justin if you have concerns before buying, he’s a great guy.
Nothing else comes to mind at this point, but I am sure others will point out options I missed.
They offer selectable output impedance on their amps, which allows you to pick a low impedance on one tap for planars, and a high impedance for 300 ohm dynamics.
I have one of those A&S Black Boxes. If you don’t need the input transformers, just run standard RCA cables between your amp and DAC. The earlier Kenzies / Encores did always include them. It was an option. Some of those models didn’t have the input transformers built in.
Thanks so much for all the details @Torq, @mfadio and @rrwwss52. Wow the Decware looks really great, couldn’t find a thread about it on this forum so probably dig into it a little bit more. With the Taboo, I would imagine it would be two 3 pin xlr cables from the RME’s output into the audio input of the taboo. And a 4 pin xlr output from the amp into the headphone?
