• From: Austria
  • Registered: 2009-01-19
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

Good day to all of you,

I hope that I don't bring up already answered questions; the search-function didn't give me satisfying answeres 'though, so I hope you won't be too upset with me posting.

Here's the situation:
I'm sort of a headphone-enthusiast (obviously you could call me rather a nut, I s'ppose) and everything but a professional when it comes to gear like the ADI-2 - listening to music is what I primarily do; therefore I bought an ADI-2 to finally get a small, decent combination of D/A converter and headphone-amp.

First of all I want to say that I'm very happy with the sound of the ADI-2! It's just gorgeous what pleasant sound you've managed to get out of such a small, handy device. Kudos to you! smile

But there remains one problem: The D/A-Monitoring section doesn't satisfy me the way it was supposed to be.
To get in detail: First, I do listen to music on quite low volume levels; second, I do that with rather low-impedance headphones (40-70 Ohms) as well as with 'phones of ~250-300 Ohms.
This means that the effectively used range of the volume attenuator is between start and 08:30, maybe 09:00 position (even with the higher-impedance headphones).
My first question: Is there any way to lower the amplification? It's simply too loud for me (Note: I found the (indeed very helpful) manual but didn't think I oversaw this point, did I?).

My second question concerns the attenuator itself - I happened to be a bit of disappointed because of the canal tolerances at low volume levels. Left and right become equal not until short before the 08:00 position which reduces the range of listeningvolume further for me.
Therefore I'd like to ask if there's a way of installing another, maybe "better", attenuator?


I know that the ADI-2 is a "professional product", not intentionally made for home-users like me, I s'ppose. Nevertheless it'd be quite a good thing if these 2 "problems" I have with the device could be sorted out without me buying an additional headphone-amplifier out of the same price-range. smile


I shall thank you for your time and effort,


Regards,
Christian

[i]"the hills are alive... with the sound of music..."[/i] <- dear god, [b]please[/b] make it stop.

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 24,837

Re: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

That is the first time someone complains about our headphone outputs being too loud. :-)

Seriously, the only thing we can do here is to modifiy internal resistors to reduce the overall volume of the headphone output. That requires soldering. We can do this for a reasonable price. You would have to send the unit in to the manufacturer in Germany.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • From: Austria
  • Registered: 2009-01-19
  • Posts: 3

Re: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

Dear Mr. Carstens,

thank you very much for your answer and kind offering. smile
(Oh, and besides, please excuse the time delay of my response.)

I would like to ask some questions about the modification in advance, if I may?
As you mentioned to modify the internal resistors to reduce volume - will this affect the source resistance of the output (maybe by connecting a higher resistor in series to the output) or did you mean a change of the amplification factor through modifying the resistance ratio?
I don't mean to give you a hard time by asking but I'm somewhat sensitive when it comes to the sound colouring effects of high source resistance. hmm

Thanks to you in advance,

regards,
Christian

[i]"the hills are alive... with the sound of music..."[/i] <- dear god, [b]please[/b] make it stop.

4 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
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Re: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

The resistors are changed around the vol pot, not the output stage, so sound will not change.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • From: Austria
  • Registered: 2009-01-19
  • Posts: 3

Re: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

Ah, very good. Thank you very much for your statement!

Well, then I would like to send in my ADI-2 to RME Germany!
To whom may I write an e-mail to for further details of the transaction? I wouldn't want to occupy your time any longer, Mr. Carstens.

[i]"the hills are alive... with the sound of music..."[/i] <- dear god, [b]please[/b] make it stop.

6 Reply by MC

  • MC
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Re: Questions about RME ADI-2 D/A-Monitorcontrol

Done.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website