Topic: RME ADI-2 Pro

Hi,

Interested in purchasing the ADI-2 Pro for my project studio and have a few questions before I proceed. I've read reports on gearslutz of a click/spike when changing sample rate/filter type. Some confirmation from RME that this click does not contain damaging frequencies for the headphone driver?

It doesn't sound right that the adi-2 pro USB and phones must be disconnected in order to change sample rate to avoid max volume spike. Currently my Audient iD22 does this click when turning off, changing sample rate, even from the DAW, and has no off switch....but it is in a different price range entirely. For this seemingly flawless product it would be a shame if they didn't implement some sort of auto mute function in a firmware update to protect ears and headphones from damage when changing sample rates, filters or powering off the unit.

Thanks!

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

the clicks and pops also appear when the unit is turned on/off while the speakers are turned on.
it's basically the only negative thing about this unit

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

That's terrible news!

I'd like to hear from RME whether or not a firmware update could solve this?

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

on my unit the clicks are proportional to the playback volume and they never appeared to me as being dangerous at all for the headphones nor the speakers.. I already pointed out that on Gearslutz, the only click I would be happy if it were not there is the one when auto levels are engaged on the analog inputs. As I said on Gearslutz, it really is a nice option when you plug a preamp into the RME and just wanna forget about it for fast sonic sketches, it works great at regulating between the different gain steps. I'm not sure all these slight clicks can be avoided as it's always about hardware setting changes, no? Maybe I'm wrong..

5

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

The ADI-2 Pro is completely silent on power-up and power-down. I can only imagine that FIXXXER is not using the Standby-button to turn the unit on/off.

Changing sample rate from a 3xx or 7xx range to 44/48 kHz sometimes causes a click on one channel. This phenomenon is known and still investigated (not easy as it does not happen all the time). It can happen with USB plugging too, as the sample rate is changed to 768 kHz for a brief moment when connecting the ADI-2 Pro to a Mac. Etc.

Changing the filter to NOS causes a (harmless) click directly in the DAC chip when music is played back at the same time. This can not be fixed and is no real problem (and how often do you change the filter?).

The click on Auto Level is harmless as well and can not be fixed, as this level change is nothing different than the user manually changing the Ref Level. This involves relays changing gain, which can not be click-free. The change itself is click-free (try it without audio), but an instant level change on audio always generates a sharp edge, which at the wrong position resembles a click sound. Adding soft level changes/mutes to avoid this click would have ruined the tech specs of the whole AD section.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

6 (edited by FIXXXER 2017-02-28 13:27:42)

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

MC wrote:

The ADI-2 Pro is completely silent on power-up and power-down. I can only imagine that FIXXXER is not using the Standby-button to turn the unit on/off.

i usually turn off the unit screaming "UGA-UGA" and then hitting it with a club, but this time i
have actually used the stand by button! big_smile

the pops are still there, turning the unit off gives a very quiet
klicking sound but turning the unit on when the speakers are running results in a fairly loud popp noise!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/257 … %20PRO.MOV

i simply avoid it by turning the ADI-2 PRO on, waiting for the unit to be ready and then turning the speakers on,
but you saying that the unit is supposed to be silent makes e worried againg that my unit might be faulty,
especially as i am experiencing some other problems with pops and clicks, which mostly appear randomly
when i am listening to music.

7

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Now this is embarrasing...I just checked again and first heard (as expected) no noise at all. Then I realized I had the Phones plugged in and the rear output was muted. So I removed Phones and got shock...

It turned out that a line output relais, which connects the electronics with the rear outputs, is turned on a few hundred milliseconds too early. This was adressed and fixed in an earlier firmware, but it seems the change got lost at some point.

We will release a hotfix, most probably next week, that restores this functionality.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

i am glad to hear that you were able to recreate the problem, looking forward to the hotfix! smile

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

woop woop! smile

Confirmation that even if the click occurs with the volume up, that the signal doesn't contain very low frequencies that could damage a headphone's driver?

Also, I'm curious to know whether the headphone amp is powerful enough to power passive monitor like the auratone 5c?

Lastly, how come an optional soft clip of the A/D stages was not included, that would've been icing on the cake for me atleast.

10

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

The noise we are talking about is annoying, but 40 dB below max level...

I don't have those monitors, but you are welcome to try.

A soft clip function is not easy to add without reducing the SNR and THD specs that we currently achieve. And basically nobody needs it. The ADI-2 Pro AD has less noise and greater dynamic range than anything you will connect to it. So if you give your recordings 10 to 20 dB headroom you won't miss anything, are free of clipping/distortion, and don't need to rely on a technique that adds distortion in the higher level range or acts like a limiter - as usual such processing should be done after the recording.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Ah the click is 40dB below, much different than what my iD22 does which sounds like a full scale dirac spike haha. 

The 5c is 8ohms, what specs should I look into in order to determine whether the headphone amp has enough power?

In regards to the soft clipping, don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the design decision. I wouldn't want to compromise the high quality tracking and monitoring for something that can easily be achieved with other tools. As of now I can actually hear the noise floor on my current HP amp, so I welcome the change.

Thank you for the support!

12

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

The power at 8 Ohms is shown in the power chart of the ADI-2 Pro manual. 1 Watt or so...I have no clue if this is loud enough for you with those speakers then...

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

13

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

I saw the video and heard the noise while looking at my photo. Am I now officially allowed to state that I bumped your workplace?

wink

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

MC wrote:

The ADI-2 Pro is completely silent on power-up and power-down. I can only imagine that FIXXXER is not using the Standby-button to turn the unit on/off.

Changing sample rate from a 3xx or 7xx range to 44/48 kHz sometimes causes a click on one channel. This phenomenon is known and still investigated (not easy as it does not happen all the time). It can happen with USB plugging too, as the sample rate is changed to 768 kHz for a brief moment when connecting the ADI-2 Pro to a Mac. Etc.

Changing the filter to NOS causes a (harmless) click directly in the DAC chip when music is played back at the same time. This can not be fixed and is no real problem (and how often do you change the filter?).

The click on Auto Level is harmless as well and can not be fixed, as this level change is nothing different than the user manually changing the Ref Level. This involves relays changing gain, which can not be click-free. The change itself is click-free (try it without audio), but an instant level change on audio always generates a sharp edge, which at the wrong position resembles a click sound. Adding soft level changes/mutes to avoid this click would have ruined the tech specs of the whole AD section.

Thank your for latest fix and new firmware. ADI-2 PRO is most of the time free of clicking noises. Seldom clicks in one channel only (right channel), no problem.
Switching off is 100% silent. Cold boot behaviour is diffent: I hear 2 clicks (not so nasty). First by switching comp, second by win boot manager. (Reboot/warm boot is silent anyway.). Again - nothing terrible. It suffice to start ADI by Standby-button after OS.

Michal

---
Michal Skopik
audioarchivist
Straznice/Czech Republik

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Hi,

My computer went to sleep and when waking up, there was a loud pop coming from ADI-2 Pro.  Anyone else experience this?

thx.

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Changing the different Filters, there is a click when changing to NOS.
Is it normal or is it a bug?

Adi-2 Pro, Adi-2 Dac Fs

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Viennacalling wrote:

Changing the different Filters, there is a click when changing to NOS.
Is it normal or is it a bug?

Normal!
MC wrote:
...
    Changing the filter to NOS causes a (harmless) click directly in the DAC chip when music is played back at the same time. This can not be fixed and is no real problem (and how often do you change the filter?).
...

Michal

---
Michal Skopik
audioarchivist
Straznice/Czech Republik

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Ok, thanks for feedback

Adi-2 Pro, Adi-2 Dac Fs

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

MC wrote:

I saw the video and heard the noise while looking at my photo. Am I now officially allowed to state that I bumped your workplace?

wink

haha, well...:D

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

h4nc0 wrote:

Hi,

My computer went to sleep and when waking up, there was a loud pop coming from ADI-2 Pro.  Anyone else experience this?

thx.

Resolved by setting Basic Mode to USB in Device Mode.

21 (edited by jchan 2017-03-24 20:04:28)

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

I'm getting a pretty loud smack from the right channel of my ADI-2 Pro when the computer resumes. I assume it's fixable since left channel behaves normal.

Another thought.

Feature: Dim / Mute.

Feature: Auto switch off / power save mode for the ADI-2 Pro

Just speculating some options for the dim/mute function:
Make use of push and hold for more functions. It's unused right now.

I'd rather have dim / mute than bass / treble and quickly changing views which I seldom do. Any serious EQ is done with the parametric one, save up to 20 presets, and you have loudness to follow this custom curves on low levels too.
Push hold B & T to cycle through the different display views if needed.

I think dim / mute is and important quick access. Different views could easily be changed by press and hold and instead of instant change, which could then be something like:
Push "B" to mute selected output (fast fade to silence)
Push "T" to dim selected output (slow fade to selected dim-level)

Just my 0.063 cents

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

I can easily see the clear bright power button going into deep snooze, silently breathing like the MacBook smile I mean for real, It's just a little too bright at night in a less than day lit room. Adjustable brightness and an automatic power save mode with less bright power led would be awesome, at least for me.

23

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Adjustable brightness is not possible as the LEDs are fixed wired.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Understand.. not the world going under. smile

B / T buttons could be of more use like previous post suggests.
They have no function at the moment when in "volume" mode for example.
Easy to add dim and mute at least when in "Volume"

I'm sure there's more clever things to add. Not that i consider my suggestion very clever but you get the point  :---------)

25

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

That is indeed a good idea.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

26 (edited by jchan 2017-03-30 10:47:47)

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

I just realized that I mostly need mute for switching between speaker and headphones, but there's too much wearing and tearing taking the headphone plug in and out, not very convenient. So, another option would be to auto-mute off the selected output when pressing the volume knob. And mute the output that is not selected. At least as an optional behavior that I think could work for most people when mixing.

27

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

You are too late with this proposal, someone else in this forum suggested that already smile

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

smile I take that as this eventual feature already has two votes! smile

29

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

smile smile Even worse - we are already working on implementing it. smile smile

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

very cool wink

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Haha allright well then my vote goes straight to RME instead smile

32

Re: RME ADI-2 Pro

Mute has been added in different ways, also by pushing the B and T encoder in the VOL screens. Thanks for the suggestion.

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=25454

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME