No, it can not.

But not with an ADI-2 DAC.

Both units are very very similar, I think this won't make any significant difference.

I'm surprised that few people read reviews on the site branded of the PME !

Yeah, sure.On the page http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-pro_ae.php here is this link http://prosound.ixbt.com/interfaces/rme-adi2pro.shtml

We tried to measure the second option, not from a desktop PC and a full-time unit, but from a laptop and an external battery to avoid possible earth loops. The results practically did not change ... Yes, the noise result increased by 0.4 dB and improved.

Power supply pulse in the set.
Noise level-118.8
Dynamic Range -118.5
Harmonic distortion 0.0002
Harmonic distortion + noise -109.4
--------------------------------
Battery     
Noise level    -120.1
Dynamic Range -119.1
Harmonic distortion 0.0001
Harmonic distortion + noise -111.3

I personally connected ADI2 DAT to a separate high-quality power supply unit on the transformer. The sound is much analogue and softer. It's deeper and the scene is wider. Of course you can not believe it. But I personally recommend replacing the power supply unit going in the kit (impulse) to any quality one.(I used a different power supply, not IFI iPower)

Yes on the left side a lot of interesting things!
Yes, it's understandable 4 dBu ref level with PSU vs 24 dBu ref level with battery.Try it yourself with normal settings, create dimensions. However, regardless of the measurements, the sound changes greatly when replacing with a high-quality power supply(I used a different power supply, not IFI iPower). Apparently, the earth loops are removed and all the same noise is improved. What generally affects the overall sound quality.

Actually in that Russian review mentioned they just say "battery power make sense, not for sound quality, but for mobile use".

Added: ah, nevermind, later they say that because of "adapter condition" and extreme signal to noise ratios in this case they were able to see some signal harmonics that was previously masked by the noise.

I know that MC always say power sources don't make the difference, also the guys who knows "electricity" professionally say this "better power" devices usually don't make any sense data-wise. The point is that you should know exactly what problem you are solving, and all the electric signals, good or "bad" will be converted in the device anyways. So if the external component make the impact on the sound quality that should mean that the actual device have a poorly designed electric components.

Again, very curious if there is a chance MC is missing something and some pristine quality power adapters can actually make sense. Unfortunately I'm not able to fully understand the case, so like many others I could be a good target for manipulation here.

Audiophile grade SATA cables come to mind...

Isn't the answer herein ?! https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopi … 35#p129335
If somebody should have ground loop issues... This refers also to "quality".

I tried ifi iPower, Teradak 12v and superteddyreg (Teddy Pardo's regulator) based PSU with my ADI-2 pro. Sonically the best among I tried was superteddyreg followed by an ifi DC iPurifier. iPurifier made an immediately recognizable improvement over just superteddyreg, and I think they are better than an iPower. I think ADI-2 benefits from a lower noise PSU than well regulated one.

My gear rolling was not test, I never did A/B or blind test (and I never tried batteries). Times with each gear were varying from some hours to some weeks.
But I'm quite certain about the impact of DC iPurifier upon superteddyreg (I repeated pulling it off and putting it in some times). Impressed with it, I added other ifi items (iSilencer and AC iPurifier) to my system but they were at best subtle although i'm keeping them.

I think that the supplied AC adapter is not as bad as it is told. Immediately after starting to use it was an accented sound, but after a few days of energizing and the high heat generation of the AC adapter ceased, it became much better.
I also have iPower 12V / 1.8A, but I'm not sure if I can hear a clear difference in the blind test.
Perhaps, it may be due to my shitty ears.

In any case do not assume that it is bad from the beginning, and I encourage you to try using the attached one for a while.

Sorry but what you tell is absolutely impossible.
You can not remember over days how the sound was exactly.

Even audio engineers for Mixing and Mastering recommend

1. not to sit for too long on the same project, but instead of that to switch after a while between projects, so that this effect, that the ear accomodates to a sound is being eliminated.
2. that an A/B comparison has to be immediate without too much delay between it.

The way your ears / brain work its absolutely impossible that you can recognize over days that the sound becomes better.

It appears to me that you are simply a victim of psychoacoustic effects: The more your hear the sound of your devices you become more and more accomodated to it. Additionally your brain has already a certain expectation that the sound becomes better, as you obviously heard already about it, that taking a better power supply shall make the sound better.

So the accomodation of your brain/ears to your devices sound plus the expectation, to get better sound with the "better" power supply results into these "well known" psychoacoustic effects.

Its the same about "HiFi Voodoo cables" for speakers and the newest trend is digital Voodoo cables, with maybe nicer looking Zeros and Ones in it

"USB purifier"... It makes 0 and 1 more pure?
Save your money to buy music... And if a power supply really changes the sound of your device, your device is really poorly designed...
Try blind testing, you will be surprised by the psycho-acoustic bias... "This expensive and really well packed cable really improves the sound".. No it does not... But before blind testing it you were sure. After blind testing is another story.

Don't waste time listening cables, PSU or CD drives...

I can generally tell a difference with audio equipment when using linear power supplies vs. switch mode.

With the RME ADI-2 DAC, I've tried 3 or 4 good linear power supplies and an atomicbob Noise Nuke.

None of them made an audible difference.

USB is another area where the ADI-2 DAC is one of the only devices I'm happy to use without some other solution (usually a PCIe S/PDIF converter).

It's just an all-around well-designed, well-implemented device.

I only watched 5 minutes, that was enough. I find him spreading dangerous half-knowledge as truth.
I think he is still entrenched in analog technology and still doesn't understand enough about digital transmission.

The square wave form is simply a representation of "logical 0" and "logical 1" during digital data transmission over USB.
The analog waveform of the square does not need to be perfect as long as the receiving circuit can still recognize / distinguish "zeros" from "ones".

As long as you stay within the specs this is possible even with a non-expensive USB cable.
The RME driver settings dialog will inform you about CRC errors. If there are non, then there is no issue.

If things would be so worse, how would you get i.e. a reliable data transfer between the PC and an external USB disk for backup ?

Go to an IT shop and tell them you need an audiophile audio cable to get a better wave form to produce a better backup of your data ... They'll laugh at you.

I don't want to get into an argument about cables because it always winds up with one person, who is certain they hear a difference, being told they are hearing wrong based on theory x, y, and z, which to me, may or may not be an accurate or complete theory/understanding of what's actually going on in a cable... as scientific knowledge is not absolute.

Personally, on my old Dac (haven't tried it on the ADI2), I genuinely noticed a difference between the cheap Microcenter USB cable and the Audioquest cable. Among other things, I noticed less noise and distortion. It wasn't a scientifically valid comparison, where I didn't know which cable was which, but it as enough for me.

It doesn't seem like a huge stretch to me that cable construction will influence sound quality. Certainly that is the case between types of cables. My XLR cables on the ADI2 sounded different than the RCA cables ... it's not much of a stretch to me that within the same type of cable, the materials used may also influence the signal and the sound quality.

The cables argument will never be solved because it always boils down to one person sure they hear a difference and another telling them from a theoretical basis why their perceptions are wrong.

I mentioned already that it wasn't a scientifically valid test. I'm not trying to convince anyone here, either. I'm trying to improve my understanding. At the same time, I'm not ready to accept blanket statements like "USB cable quality has no effect on sound quality" when my perceptual experience differs.

Further, the cable manufacturers like Audioquest do give technical reasons for their design choices. Here's an example:

Are you going to say what's in the statement above is complete B.S.? If so, how do you know? Where is the proof and evidence that they are wrong?

I'm not committed to one point of view or another. But my EXPERIENCE indicates to me that there probably is some variation in sound quality with different cables.

For MC, because I'm very pleased with the quality of your product, I don't doubt your expertise as an engineer. I chose the ADI2 Dac after reading reviews of a number of products (Gungnir, etc.). I tend to believe pro products have to meet certain criteria by professionals to be considered high quality vs. consumer audiophile products, and so I have gravitated towards pro grade products like the ADI2 and Adam speakers. That said, my opinion based on experience only, is that cables can make a difference in sound quality.

Quite in line with our post-factual world, but no, for many reasons explained above, your personal "experience" does not alter facts.

There may possibly be a certain merit to discussing purely analog cables and whether or not they could have an influence on sound (coat hanger vs. Monster cable...). At least these things actually transmit audio. USB cables do not transmit audio. Not even digital audio (where a difference in "sound quality" can already be ruled out, e.g. in SPDIF transfers). They transmit data. As long as none of the data is corrupted, and each and every 1 and 0 recognized correctly, there is NO way any gradual difference in data transmission could have a specific, reproducible, and recognizable effect on the audio signal ("stereo width", "stage", "spaciousness/localization", or whatever other voodoo criteria). Otherwise, you would have to be able to explain which changes to bits in a USB connection would have which specific influence on the embedded audio signal without affecting the reliability of the USB data connection....

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Maybe. No one is omnipotent here either. Maybe there are additional relevant facts that you're not aware of, haven't considered, or are not yet known science. Audioquest (based on their website) would tell you that cable materials affect variables like jitter, distortion, etc. 

Look, if I observe something, and you tell me I didn't because of technical reason x, I'm going to tend to think you're missing something rather than that my perception is off. A few hundred years ago, it was "known" that the earth was flat. Plenty of things are scientifically "known" that later turn out to be false.

Point is, let's not act like science is equivalent to perfect and absolute knowledge. Besides, the Audioquest crowd will give you their own set of "technical facts" for why their cables work. You may disagree, fine. I don't see any definitive proof from either side yet.

Personally, I've found changing my cables makes a modest difference in sound quality. That's all I'm saying. I'm not asking you to believe it, I'm not trying to prove it to you, I'm merely reporting a subjective impression, which by definition is not falsifiable.

If there are additional relevant facts about electromagnetism not incorporated in the physical theory of electrodynamics, Audioquest or any other "high-end" cable vendor should demonstrate this by a scientific experiment and have the corresponding article subsequently published in a scientific journal.

Do you really think your perception is epistemologically superior to the scientific method?! 

Science is the best predictor of reality conditional on the totality of objective observations and the degree to which it is not perfect decreases the more objective observations are made. While conclusions based on objective observations may turn out wrong as more objective observations are made, the observations giving rise to the wrong conclusion are themselves not falsified and any new conclusion must also be based on them. 

To think that your perception can even come close to matching the predictive capabilities of science without even a basis of objective observation and thus no reliable footing in reality is ludicrous.

A lack of a difference can never be proven while the presence of a difference can easily be demonstrated.

Thus, it is upon the "Audioquest crowd" to demonstrate the existence of the difference they claim.

Also, if definitive proof is your standard, your perceptions will not do either.

Good for you (and Audioquest).

Here is an interesting thought....
If you normally listen at a certain volume, you can have a whole new listening experience, more then with any new DAC, by just upping the volume  1db. Or moving your listening position a little bit closer.
Or if you listen on the loud side in general, reducing the volume, will make the sound less harsh instantly.
In a way it is more about waking up the brain to listen afresh.

Amen!!!

And we can read same BS about Ethernet audiophile directionnal cables by audiofool brand AudioQuest... Sad sad world...

And for those who can hear differences between cables, help yourselves, you can become rich: https://gizmodo.com/james-randi-offers- … ove-305549

No kidding. Because you didn't read the post correctly. The point I was making is that if the sound from XLR cables varies (including in decibel level) from the sound from RCA cables, due to the different construction of the XLR cable, then A PRIORI, construction of a cable can influence sound quality. It has nothing to do with "my experience." Always fun to be corrected by someone who can't even read the post correctly.

The above is a longer version of the point I made in my original post which you misread. 

I did not ignore your question about it being bit perfect. I said:

In other words, THEIR argument is that there are other factors involved in sound quality resulting from USB signal transfer such as:

Is this true? I have no idea. You guys are the Dac designers so I'll defer to your knowledge here.

You need to stop misinterpreting my posts. Did I say my perception is "epistemologically superior" to the scientific method? No.
I simply said, it matters TO ME if I hear a meaningful difference between cables.

I also stated I'm not trying to prove it to you or anyone else here. At the same time, I haven't heard anything here that gives me a definitive reason to believe that cables can't influence sound quality. In fact, I'm now reading some tacit acknowledgement that in terms of analog cables, it MAY be possible.

Let's put it this way: If I go on the Schitt forum and they tell me for technical reasons x, y, and z, their Gungnir Dac is going to sound better than the RME, but my PERCEPTION indicates to me that the RME sounds better... who do you think I'm going to listen to? My own listening impressions, or a couple forum experts? 

That's not to say I'm 100% sure it's not psychoacoustic effects based on expectation. It certainly could be. But FOR ME, again, not to prove it TO YOU, I'm satisfied that I have noticed enough of a meaningful difference in sound between cables to make it worthwhile to try "better" ones.

Are we now back to the topic "Voodoo cable make sense" ?

Would be very kind if you could inform yourself what the difference is between balanced and unbalanced connection.
Wikipedia and other webpages / online magazines will contain information.
Please take your time to read and understand it.

Then re-think and re-phrase, many thanks.