I would wonder if you could identify differencies when listening to both products in a profesionally held blind or abx test.
Both products ADI-2 Pro / DAC have the same quality.
RME's intention to release the ADI-2 DAC after the ADI-2 Pro was simply to deliver a product for i.e. HiFi Enthusiasts, that do not require interfaces / ports, audio levels, that are more found in the studio.
The goal for the ADI-2 DAC is to build an attractive and affordable product for more people, not to sacrifice quality.
So the ADI-2 DAC offers features that are more for HiFi users by supporting:
- RCA plugs
- IEM output
- analog levels more suitable for the HiFi sector
To make it possible to lower the price some features that you can find on the Pro model have been removed,
which are mostly needed by people working in a studio, like i.e.:
- A/D conversion
- Digital output
- AES I/O
- 2nd DA converter
- several routing options for format conversion
- SRC (sample rate converter) if you have i.e. a DAT recorder with 48 kHz fix sample frequency but want to work in 96 kHz
- support for balanced phones
But some of the Pro features could also be useful for HiFi people like i.e.:
- A/D conversion to digitize analog sources (vinyl, tapes, ..), because this saves you the extra money (and space)
of an ADI-2 FS
- 2nd phones output for balanced phones
Therefore its nice that RME updated now also the Pro version with some features like: remote, also new AKM chip
to bring the two devices again closer together.
So simply choose what you require.
a) either the ADI-2 DAC FS with new AKM chip and new remote if you need it mainly for HiFi AND an attractive price
or
b) the ADI-2 Pro FS E BE, with also same new AKM chip and new remote, if you need more flexibilty in routing and ports
or need balanced phones or need 2 phones outputs to be able to compare phones.
BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13