• From: Warsaw
  • Registered: 2013-10-26
  • Posts: 7

Topic: ADI 2 DAC latency

Hi,

What is the total latency from digial input (SPDIF or ADAT) to analog output?
There is no "Latency and Monitoring" chapter in manual.

Regards,
--
Piotr

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • Registered: 2007-04-06
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Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

Look in the Pro manual - same values for DAC, plus 6 or so samples for the internal processing. Why is that necessary to know?

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • From: Warsaw
  • Registered: 2013-10-26
  • Posts: 7

Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

I'm considering using it as main monitoring DAC for live VST Instruments rig (together with HDSPe raydat) where I'm fighting for every sample of latency.
I've managed to configure whole system such that I can use 32 samples ASIO buffer and it gives very low latency.
So I don't want my DAC to add let's say 2 ms (as many audiophile and much-too-expensive mastering units do).

Why are you intrigued by my question? I always thought that latency is the obvious/basic parameter to know and it seemed to me that RME always emphasized it's converter products low latenciness (adi-8 qs being an example).

Regards,
--
Piotr

4 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

Because this is a HiFi product with only DA where such questions make not much sense. Latency is very low, below one ms, of course.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • Registered: 2018-12-06
  • Posts: 11

Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

Hi,

I have a question about the latency as well. And am a bit confused by "this is a HiFi product", since it in the manual also says:

"The ADI-2 DAC is a 2-channel I/O interface when connected via USB. Under Windows install
the RME WDM/ASIO driver to play back a stereo signal from the computer. "

I know that's not the units main area of use, but it is still - by RME - considered to be operational as an audio interface.

My question therefore is, if I use the ADI 2-DAC as an interface and load up a fairly big session where I'm composing with vsts and a usb keyboard controller, what will the latency be like? Pops and crackles? Is it on a par with other RME usb interfaces or is it suffering in this area for some reason? I'm just thinking, since a portable interface that works for mixing and above mentioned tasks with the DAC and headphone amp quality and great pricepoint of the ADI-2 DAC would be ideal for off standard location work. At least for me.

I know it doesnt have any line inputs or even ADC, but that is not of interest regarding tasks described above.

Best regards,
/Jay

MacPro HighSierra&AMD Win 10 PC. Studio One4 Cubase10. ADI-2 PRO,Quantum4848 HDSPe AIO Neumann KH310
  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,183

Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

You can use it for this purpose, but it doesn't support TotalMix FX.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2018-12-06
  • Posts: 11

Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

Thanks for the quick reply.

However, I'm still wondering about the performance regarding this. Would it perform like other "normal" RME usb interfaces for this particular purpose?

For above mentioned work I dont really see the need for totalmix FX, so that is not an issue.
I will, however, have use for TFX in the main recording environment with the hdspe AIO of course..

Best regards,
/Jay

MacPro HighSierra&AMD Win 10 PC. Studio One4 Cubase10. ADI-2 PRO,Quantum4848 HDSPe AIO Neumann KH310

8 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-12-08 07:49:39)

  • ramses
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Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

It depends how you work / record.
I am using TM FX to create low latency headphone mixes recording guitar while i.e. playing backing tracks.
By this the recorded guitar signal does not have to "travel"
from recording interface -> through USB -> to DAW -> through USB -> back to recording interface -> to phones.

Its better for me playing when hearing the backingtrack in phones and to record / hear my guitar playing in near real-time.

If you record somebody simply playing guitar and maybe singing this doesn't matter, you have no playback track from computer in this case and you can choose whatever ASIO buffer size that you want.

You might need TM FX so IMHO you should use a recording interface with TM FX.
You can easily integrate the ADI-2 * into such a setup, see my blog article:

https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … tup-EN-DE/

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

9 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

The ADI-2 DAC uses the MADIface series driver and therefore has the same basic performance as any other RME interface. If at all it would even surpass the others as it only has 2 I/O which means a very low USB bus load.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • Registered: 2018-12-06
  • Posts: 11

Re: ADI 2 DAC latency

Thank you MC, that's the answer I was mainly looking for!

The ADI 2-DAC looks like a perfect addition to my setup then.

Best regards,
/Jay

MacPro HighSierra&AMD Win 10 PC. Studio One4 Cubase10. ADI-2 PRO,Quantum4848 HDSPe AIO Neumann KH310