> 2. From a purely technical standpoint, is it possible for the screen to display album artwork/track info?

BluOS Controller App can, if you stream from it.

Yes, I am quite aware of that and this is how I plan to do it but you need a tablet/stand/dedicated space etc.
Thanks for your reply, I was just thinking that if this was possible, there wouldn't be anything like that on the market at the moment(not that there is anything with these features anyhow).

1.5 meters is not that long, 0.5 meter is too short and will create tight bends, and for that length, a normal cable will work well, no need to get high cost cables.

Or you can use toslink if output is available at the Bluesound Node, it provides  galvanic isolation.

Any review/opinion I've ever read for any device, would rate the optical SPDIF as worse than the coax which is the reason that I'd never use it if I have the option(this is especially valid for the Bluesound Node).

In my case the 0.5m cable would be the perfect length(the devices are next to each other) if these concerns above are not relevant.

Thanks for the help!

Your worries are over. The jitter reduction of the ADI-2 Pro/DAC (with current firmware) is stellar and there is no difference no matter which digital input is used.

I suggest using TOSLINK as the galvanic isolation is always a guarantee for trouble-free integration of the device in the real world.

The measurements done for the Bluesound Node showed some issues with the TOSLINK but it is quite possible that the unit in question was problematic and not the product as a whole. I'll give it a try of course.

Thanks!

Exactly, see also MC's great video (available in DE/EN) how SteadyClock FS can even lock/sync on a very strong jittered digital input signal (simulated) that in practive never ever would occurr that high.

Also watch the positive impact on measuring results, also for devices like the UC.

EN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti0aHW-zYcs
DE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-20vkogWvWU

Maybe this give you an additional impression, that RME devices are professional studio devices with no such deficites that you might know or heard of in the consumer area.

Surr,

I think you could safely take the aforementioned suggestions straight to the bank!   The RME is a remarkably capable device regardless of how you feed data into it, thus Gourmet Cables, etc that promise all sorts of Magic are absolutely un-necessary.   Steady Clock is no gimmick!  It does exactly what it's supposed to do, and there is a substantial body of Lab Data to support it's effectiveness.

For fun...I took a look at a review of the AQ Cable you referred to.   I could not get past technical descriptors such as "A Sassy Cable" "Dynamically Supple" and a long list of others that brought tears of laughter to my Eyes.

As it turns out?  The USB Cable included with your new RME is indeed very "Sassy", and definitely "Dynamically Supple"!!   Perhaps lacking a bit in "Swagger" but that's very subjective      Throughout the history of Digital Audio, the "Swagger Bit" has always presented challenges to designers.  Nice that AQ figured it out.

Connect your RME in the manner most convenient for you.  Run Bit-Test successfully,  and the device takes care of itself.

It's True!!

Curt

EDITED:

Reviews are not being done as they should. You can't trust them without knowing how reviews need to be done and how they actually have been performed to exclude any psychoacoustic effects and to meet a minimum of required prerequisites (equal volume levels, quick A/B testing possibility, blind testing, better double blind testing).

These are usually the same people telling you to get €100-500 USB and SPDIF cables to get a better sound.
And everybody with a little technical background knows, that this is not the case.
It's all about a reliable, lossless digital transport of "zeroes and ones" (the digitized audio signal) without changing it.

Furthermore ADI-2 DAC/Pro FS use SteadyClock (FS) to be able to lock and sync even on the worst jittered digital input signal reliably and keeping the lock. The final D/A conversion is always being performed with the own internal FS clock in highest quality. With the so called Bittest you can test this yourself, that the original WAV file has been delivered lossless (and better is not possible) from the player up to the DSP directly in front of the D/A converter.
Nicely explained by Matthias Carstens himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti0aHW-zYcs

The ADI-2 Pro FS has been compared to pure studio AD converter up to Lavry Gold for around €8000.
You can download the original wav files. The differences, IF you hear them, are at least subtle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doHG32aXBDY

So I would not be worried in any way that you miss something in terms of sound.

ADDED:

If a converter should sound different you should be more worried about, that some trickeries have been made to give it something like a "signature sound". But this is not the transparent / original reproduction of the audio signal. There I really would be worried more.

IF you want a real difference in sound, then you achieve really audible differences and a change in quality when using better speakers and if you optimize your/their position in the listening room and by optimizing the room acoustic.

One more question about the versions. I know that there are 3 versions with the first two using AK chip and the last one using an ESS one.
I am assuming that any of the last two versions is OK but is there any particular reason for choosing MKII vs MKIII and vice versa?

I have the opportunity to buy the MKII with the AK4493 chip which I am kind of thinking is the better choice since that was the originally selected one before the fire.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Thanks Curt,
Hopefully I'll be an owner sooner than later : )

I can verify this... people are going crazy about this thing on eBay!

Yes, I am aware of it . Thank you for your very valuable advice and wonderful attitude!

All spelled out in Ramses' Tonstudio blog.

Curt

Isnt the MADI modules laser based. Do you need attenuators for those?

We wouldnt wanna toast our gear with lasers

Sorry, but this question makes no sense to me because the ADI-2 will always be something like a preamp / USB DAC, it has no poweramp. And also your integrated amp will always have a preamp and a power amp inside.

So at the end of the day you connect a preamp (analog output section of the ADI-2 DAC - with line level) to a (nother) preamp (of your integrated amp). All you need to take care of is to not overload the preamp of your intrgrated amp, because ADI-2 supports higher levels than consumer level.

And from that background / in this context I do not understand in what regards / how / for what you want to test the preamp section of your integrated amp ?!

Simply use reasonable not too high output level on the ADI-2 DAC and thats it.
If your integrated amp has special inputs for the poweramp, you could also deceide, not to use the preamp of your integrated amp at all .. but maybe you need it because of a connected turntable and what not ...

Did a lot of testing today with different USB cables... whoever claims that there is no difference or that the provided USB cable is giving all the music there is, is simply mistaken or never ever did a comparison test with decent cables!

More clarity and detail with this Oehlenbach OCC copper USB cable. Obviously it is not day and night but it is better!:
https://www.oehlbach.com/en/new-product … b-primus-b

Why you think it sounds better in one word: "psychoacoustic" ! Your BIAS / expectation because the HiFi mafia tells you such bullshit since years (as they can make good money by this) and psychoacoustic effect work for them "validating" it (but no real validation .. only psychoacoustic).

When testing you need to exclude psychoacoustic by a certain test methodology, e.g.
- performing blind (or even better double blind) tests
- doing quick A/B tests
- performing tests always at exactly the the same listening level because for our ears louder sounds better.

You can validate it yourself by performing the Bittest.
If the digital data arrives lossless up to the DAC in front of the D/A converter, then everything is ok.
Better than lossless is not possible.

And I even do not believe that you had something like a problem with hum. 1. rather unlikely and 2. you can clearly distinguish hum from bad sound.

I use a 'cheap' USB cable and interconnects with the RME since day 1.

After I updated the Dali Spektor 1 to Oberon 1, it sounds better.

After I updated the Yamaha WXA-50 to a Teac, it sounds better.

All interconnects remain the same, but I am 7 months older from day 1 of RME plus some possible hearing loss in pass 7 months.

Sorry, but no. As Ramses hinted already: you should really be open to the other option, being that when you see yourself using that shiny expensive cable, your brain turns in its confirmation bias 'this must be better' mode and makes you effectively think the sound is better. Whereas there is no actual difference. Humans cannot escape that easily. Been there done that

Again: I'm not saying that is the case here, just that it is very likely. And until you do a blind test (have somone else switch cables where you cannot see it) or do proper measurements you can simply not be sure what is really happening.

Reading this thread i was thinking about my opinion. While I was thinking and typing Jamshir answered faster and in a similar direction.

Here is a lot of talking about A<>B blind test, blindfold testing. Had to work with testing my whole business life (graduate engineer for measurement technology, quality, functional safety, ...). Finding out what is good and what is bad, objective, documented, traceable. Not for better listening, but if something would not work as expected, environment would be damaged or people would die. That was not so easy. Sometimes it was not even possible. Then there is an other way: Compare, how much you have to spend to find out, and how much you have to spend for the solution that is on the safer side.

But here it is not a matter of life or death. It is about listening to music. The stuff i use should be just a tool, all right, it should be good tool, helpful. What should i do? Spend my time with blindfold tests? I would not only spend my time, i would need help, spending the time of other people. Or listen to music? Why not just take the more expansive cable and forget the price?

Listening jazz isn't my business, it's my hobby. I don't want to buy the best equipment, i want to buy pleasure. Pleasure means to me easy, understandable access to the music and as long as possible enjoyable listening. Long time ago i tried this with switching between A<>B, more or less blind. But at the end i wasn't satisfied too often. Meanwhile i do some preselection by looking, reading, hearing. But then: just listen as long as possible, and then ask myself: how do i feel? My speaker selection is in the signature. They are expansive, i listened a whole weekend at my home only to them, then i decided to by them, because i was very much satisfied.

But here we are talking about an USB cable. It may be 9, or 39 or 89 bucks. The difference is a concert ticket, or an evening at the Village Vanguard. How much time do i spend deciding whether or not to buy a concert ticket? Sometimes a concert is not a pleasure, s*** happens. But i have tried. Life is too short to despair over a failed concert, and so is whether you bought a USB cable that may be too expensive.

Sometimes I really have the impression that the most important thing is forgotten about the engagement with the technology: The joy of music!

Yes.

If you have the latest firmware - which sounds better than the one before because it has a higher number - sorry, excuse me, I couldn’t hesitate -
and activate “Load B/T w. Preset” in the EQ menu, you can see the effect in the EQ plot.

The good thing with the Bit test is, that we can skip such discussion about the quality of digital cables entirely.
If you play the WAV files prepared by RME from any playback device via USB (or other digital transports like ADAT/SPDIF).
then the ADI-2 DAC/Pro can confirm that all data has arrived at the DAC without any loss (better is not possible).
See also manual ch 31.14 for further information about Bit test.
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/adi2dacr_d.pdf
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/adi2dacr_e.pdf

In this case you validated a lossles transport of digital audio data from the source (the player) over USB to the ADI-2 DAC/Pro just in front of the D/A converter. Something like an "end-to-end" test of transfer quality in the "digital domain".

The Bit test will immidiately fail, if the digital audio data is modified and this happens very easily if you change for example the volume on your Audio player. Reduce the volume only by a minimum to smth like 99% and you will see, that the Bittest will fail.

So all this discussion about the quality of digital cable is superfluous with the introduction of the Bit test. This gives you now the safety that you never had before, because no other vendor implemented such a clever and very useful feature up to now.

A comparison. You all have computers and perform any kind of backup of data with it to an USB disk, don't you ?!
Figure out what a mess would happen, if expensive USB cables would be required to ensure a reliable backup of digital data.
Sure .. I wouldn't use/recommend the cheapest cable, but only to prevent quality issues (bad plugs, connectors) which can lead e.g. to CRC - so to say transport errors - over USB.

While I say bad cables ... in the settings windows of the RME MADIface driver you can even perform a CRC check while this window stays open.
This indicates to you more specific whether you have USB transport problems where one reason can be cable problems.
A Bittest would also fail in such a case if data is missing or corrupted, CRC errors indicate here, that you have another problem than e.g. volume set to 99% in the player, as this indicates more specific trouble in the area of data transport over USB.

I put this and other information together also here to have it at one central point
    https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ses-EN-DE/
because many people do not know what excellent and innovative features RME delivers with these products.