Ghost Rider,

Welcome to the Group!

The RME Unit is at the Cutting Edge of Technology, and the Third Party Tests have verified this repeatedly.   It would be safe for me to suggest to you that the RME is Superior to your existing unit (and the others) by any measure!

Take some time to familiarize yourself with your new RME here:

(Hold On Tight!!  The Capabilities are Mind-Boggling!)

  https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/adi2profs_e.pdf

Best Regards!

Curt

Edit:   I'm an ADI-2 DAC user, and the Product has been SO impressive!  Not just the Stellar Sonics, but also RME's ongoing efforts with product refinements, New Features, etc provided to users via Firmware Updates available here at no cost to you.   

I"m SOLD!! 

Wishing You all the Best!!

An Amazing bit of Gear, with Long Term viability in it's DNA.   

Enjoy!!

Ghost,

I wouldn't read too much into that.   BOTH Units (ADI-2 DAC and Pro) are Cutting Edge.   You are missing out on nothing. 

As a fellow home consumer of Audio, allow me to say that the RME is the way forward!

Is it possible I need a burn-in period for this to sound it's best?

Well I can definitely say it sounds different. It may come to pass some music sounds better. It's going to take a few days.

You, probably. The RME, less so.

I really appreciate everybody chiming in trying to help me out. I'm going to sit back and chill out and listen to it for the night. I'm sure I will have plenty of questions tomorrow.

Ok here's the deal. 90%of this device I will never use. I'm pretty sure this is how it's going to sound. I suppose I could adjust the eq to closer match the sound I'm used to with the c2500.

Cymbles were the first thing that sounded far more realistic with the c2500. So maybe I could raise the high hats.

I tried to record something and was difficult to more precisely set the levels. I'm interested in how it sounds when recorded and played through the ADI.

  If the unit is not going to be an improvement to the DAC in the c2500 I may not have the time or even desire to learn and study the manual. I think it's not likely anyone here ever heard a c2500 . So it would be hard to say.

If I don't use it as a DAC $2000 is to much for a recording device.

So before I drive into the manual is there a way I can reset the factory settings and bypass the volume and all DSP functions to the output 1&2? I want to hear the DAC with no colorization.

I can adjust the preamp for the levels so they sound the same. Doing it with the ADI it's at -11. Should it be at 0.0? As far as I can tell the eqs remain flat, which is how I want it for now. I believe they all are disengaged so the B G F & Q settings I may have changed learning how to navigate should not have an effect.

  I just turn it on see how to set the record levels and everything is a huge learning curve just to make the headphones work Outputs 1&2 are off I don't know why or how to turn them back on.

Going through the I/O using a test record with a constant 1000hz tone I see there are 4 ref level settings and a trim gain to go up and down from there. Phase invert is off not sure how the AD filter should be set. Dual eq is off and AD conversion is PCM.

  Ok this is not working it would be nice if RME had a tech number to call and have a product specialist walk me through the basic steps in navigating. I can not see how to turn on 1&2 and I can not see why phones 3&4 do not work.

Yes on page 28
Mute v. TRS 1/2 ON, OFF. Default: ON, but grayed out. As soon as a plug is detected in PH 1/2 the rear outputs 1/2 are muted. Note: This function requires Dual Phones to be on to become accessible. With Mute v. TRS 1/2 ON the channels Phones 1/2 and Mains Out 1/2 have separated settings. Al-though both outputs alternately play back the same signal, all settings (Settings, EQ, BT) can be different, and are separately stored in the background.

OK I'm getting somewhere what page tells you how to change this stuff?

How do I turn on 1&2? I have it playing and the spectrum analyzer is active but 1/2 is off. Don't know what changed last night I was listening switching between the two dacs by changing the drivers in Sound Forge and inputs on the Mac. I turned it off and powered down the power supply as I do with all the wall-worts.

Ghost...Whoa!!  Slow down Man!

TMI...

I sent you a Users Manual, and that will direct You!  Review your Manual, and all will become perfectly clear.

Curt

OK I forgot it's the dual phones on p28   I'm still not seeing any directions on how to turn anything on

28 User’s Guide ADI-2 Pro FS -  v 2.314.1.4 PhonesDual Phones OFF, ON. Default: OFF. With Dual Phones ON the phones output PH 1/2 will be active. Default state is Off, as PH 3/4 is the main phones output and should be used exclusively unless two phones are to be connected. If Dual Phones is on and two phones are plugged in, a push on VOLUME toggles between 1/2, 3/4 and linked volume control (with the marker over both). When VOLUME is turned the Dual Volume screen is shown then. Bal Phones Mode OFF, ON, Auto. Default: OFF. In Balanced Phones mode output PH 3/4 carries the left channel, output PH 1/2 the right channel. See chapter 18 for details. When Auto is selected, the bal-anced phones mode is automatically activated as soon as both Phones outputs detect a con-nector being plugged in. This feature temporarily deactivates DSD Direct mode if active. Note: When active, the rear analog outputs are muted automatically.Phones <=> Line OFF, 1/2, 3/4, 1/2+3/4. Default: OFF. Activates the ability to toggle mute between Phones Out and rear Line Out. Pushing the VOLUME knob for half a second will then switch between loud-speakers connected to the rear and phones plugged into the front. This function can also be controlled by one of the four function keys via Remap Function Keys. Mute v. TRS 1/2 ON, OFF. Default: ON, but grayed out. As soon as a plug is detected in PH 1/2 the rear outputs 1/2 are muted. Note: This function requires Dual Phones to be on to become accessible. With Mute v. TRS 1/2 ON the channels Phones 1/2 and Mains Out 1/2 have separated settings. Al-though both outputs alternately play back the same signal, all settings (Settings, EQ, BT) can be different, and are separately stored in the background. Mute v. TRS 3/4 ON, OFF. Default: ON. If set to ON a plug detected in PH 3/4 mutes the rear outputs 1/2.

You're the best Curt

All I'm trying to do is evaluate this device.  I'm listening to Black Sabbath 1 and for comparison I set the ref level to 0.0 and turned the trim down as low as it goes -6.0. So listening the AVI sounds good. Switch back to the c2500 and it is still 30% less volume and even still it sound like it is a different league. I mean everything but how the drums sound the air between each cymbal strike the blackness between each instrument. I'm talking apples to oranges here.

Thanks Curt

I'm listening to the BS1 from vinyl as I record it. This is how the c2500 DAC sounds. And the ADI falls short. It can have all the features in the world but if it can't beat this in sound quality that's the end of the story.

I really wanted to make this work

We have this from time to time: a confused user who didn't get it right in the beginning drives himself into total chaos by continuing the wrong routes. Let's see if we can detangle this. But it won't be easy as long as you don't use precise descriptions of what you want to achieve. Saying out 1/2 is dead when you want to monitor the analog input is a statement that will steer us in the wrong direction as well.

First of all: a total reset of the unit is described on page 11 and page 29 of the current manual (version 2.4). Please use the online version:

https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/adi2profs_e.pdf

A PDF is searchable! Open it, Ctrl-F, type in 'Reset' and there you are - page 11.

You might also want to update the unit to the latest firmware to make sure you don't run into an already fixed bug while exploring the unit:

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=28936

Fiddling around with all knobs trying to find out what they do: we added a simple and easy to understand folded paper that explains all this and a bit more for quick starters that don't like to read the manual. Of course that paper can't explain everything.

The unit comes in a default configuration for typical first time use. That may not be your personal application, so needs some tweaking then. For example when plugging in Phones 3/4 outputs 1/2 in the rear are muted. You can disable that in the dedicated Phones menu (which you might not have if the firmware is older), but you can also use the long press on the VOL button to change between front and rear (Toggle Phones option). That's quite easy if you do one thing straight after the other.

A peak level of -1.7 dBFS @ 4 dBu will give -4.7 dBFS when set to +13 dBu with +6 dB Trim Gain (simple calculation: 9 dB minus 6 dB = 3 dB difference). You also have to note that the ADC is extremely noise free. Especially with vinyl as input you could record at -40 dBFS peak level and won't notice a difference in recording quality. What you have to do (and that is always true) is to normalize an analog recording after it is finished - the current record level/volume doesn't matter. Better lower with no peaks clipped than too hot. The software that you use will have this feature.

So please reset the unit and let's start over again with one question after the other.

One tip upfront: the unit comes with a Basic mode called DAC, which might help you using it as that simplifies input control and clock setting. See page 40. How to set this? See page 34, Chapter 17.1, second paragraph.

We also DO have support by email and telephone. If you are in the US our product specialist Jeff at Synthax US will be happy to help you with your setup.

I don't know the C2500. If the sound difference is so big then there is something different. Possible causes: the C2500 has no linear frequency response. The ADI-2 does not have a linear frequency response (it has, unless some options alter it). Heavy impedance mismatches change the sound (so far the total setup and signal flow is not described clearly).

Jeff is available here as  'Jeff' or by email:

jeff.petersen@synthax.com

@Ghost Rider,

I can understand you frustration at least partly, the Adi2-Pro has oh so many expert features unseen elsewhere which is certainly overwhelming at first and the required user interface, though well designed, is not so ultra straight-forward compared to simpler a DAC+ADC preamp. I needed about total ~10 hours of operating time and manual-reading to fully absorb what's going in the device in any given moment. Only thereafter I could fully appreciate this *milestone implementation* of a 2ch ADC + 4ch DAC ultra-flexible and versatile device.

I suggest a loop-through test with the Adi2 set to AD/DA mode (96kHz), inserted between your MacIntosh and the power amp.
Set ref. levels of ADC and DAC to the same fixed and proper level (and Vol to "0dB") such that it doesn't clip the input (don't use L/R Trim as this is useless for headroom because it's done after conversion to digital) when you turn up the C2500 to the loudest reasonable setting. This is a quite unforgiving resolution and noise test for the ADC and the DAC because your volume control is in front of it, forcing the converters to really work on low levels quite often.

This basically is an impedance buffer (gain = 1) with "hidden" AD/DA internally. Balanced connections to be preferred.
Insert this buffer before power amp and give it a listen, comparing with the straight path. This will show if it's transparent enough to pass through the sonic signature you are used to with your gear. Quite probably it will.

Therefore, if you want to keep a certain magic of the C2500 you must record the whole thing (as passed to the power amp), routing the vinyl to the amp output, setting a useful playback level, etc. Don't be afraid when the ADC is running with "more than needed" headroom, the ADC section of the device is really outstanding.