I'd like to briefly tell here about my experience of using the ADI-2 Pro mainly as a portable tool for almost 2 years now.

On one hand I think it’s been a great little device, definitely a worthy small investment for people who are serious about signal integrity. I still don't see any other device doing so much and so well at this price point, as small and lightweight AND with the ability to be DC powered..

Support here on the forum has alway been top notch, super fast and comprehensive answers, and no other product that I know of updates the firmware so often in order to allow the user to get the most out of the device.

On the other end I dare highlighting some issues I've been having with it, maybe it's not worth fixing it, most people use it in the studio anyway, or maybe it's just my fault, but I'd like to throw my little incidents on the table anyway:) at least others can be more careful than I was..

About 2 years ago I got stolen on a train of a Sound Devices USB Pre 2 sound card. Sound quality wise it's good but not comparable to the ADI 2 Pro.. It's a little rugged box, deliberately made for field use and it works both with a computer and as a standalone mic pre (with a 5v battery). My specific work involves a lot of traveling and it never let me down.

For some reasons, after my theft I started recording analog (to Type IV Metal cassettes and with a reel to reel Nagra) but I still needed an AD converter for transfers and a DA for mixing wherever I was. I've been traveling with the ADI-2 Pro ever since. I put it in a Porta Brace case, the transformer inside its cardboard box, a Lipo power bank for using it when no wall plugs are available, and everything went in my backpack, hand luggage when on planes.
After a few months, the transformers' cable disintegrated in the point of insertion of the plastic box covering the electrical transformer, just by putting it away several times, it just couldn't take being bent. These touching cables must have eventually short circuited the input section of the ADI-2 Pro, thankfully warranty fixed this for me. After another couple months, I dropped the device in a hotel room, it fell from a bed to a carpeted floor (40-50 cm height max). The usb cable was plugged and this just slightly bent the USB input plug, but the device was working flawlessly. After another 8 months (and this is last month) the main headphones out stopped working, the device kept showing a warning signal about a short circuit. A few days after that, the new transformer that I had received as a substitute also stopped working. This time no sign of wear was visible, the device just turned on in bypass mode and couldn't turn on completely. After just a few attempts the device just stopped working at all, not even the bypass red light.

I now received a mail from Thomann saying that the RME technical support found the device in very bad shape (with a picture of the bent usb plug, which was not the issue anyway but it's my word against an evidence of bad use) and that a complete substitution of the mother board is necessary, no warranty is covering this and the expense for this operation is more than 500 €.

So, my humble advice would be that it would be maybe interesting implementing a more rugged transformer ?(at least for people who don't use it all the time in a fixed position in the studio), and also it would be great to have a serious transport case as I wonder whether the issues I've been having cannot be related to the shaking that traveling with such advanced device involves, in this case I would advise against traveling often with the ADI-2 Pro as I did. I also wonder whether the circuit hasn't been damaged by the various climate changes that obviously occur when you travel, even inside a case inside a backpack?