I own two ADI-2 Pro FS R BE:
- one in combination with UFX+ (through AES) in the recording corner
- one in front of a High-End HiFi
It's a phantastic device and I am very satisfied with these units, I can only recommend it.
You can find information about it in my blog:
- Integration into your setup through AES or ADAT, as you prefer: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … our-Setup/
- Information about the different models and differences in feature set: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ses-EN-DE/
Sound wise .. I own both devices, but have no possibility for quick A/B testing / blind test.
From the converter shootout from Mark Einstmann (one of the Youtube Videos in the last blog) you can see, that the ADI-2 Pro FS plays on a high niveau where it is being compared with pure AD converter with 4x higher cost (up to €8000 for the Lavry Gold). Note: you can download the three original wav files from AD conversion of all three devices (as Youtube changes / reduces sound) and then compare on your own.
The differences are IMHO only subtle, so a great performance for RME and the ADI-2 Pro FS. BTW .. the other devices are specialized on AD conversion only, with the ADI-2 Pro you have AD/DA and tons of useful features), so much value for a still affordable price.
Best is, you try it out yourself in your environment and with your monitors / ears. And not only for the sound, but also for the very useful features.
ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, advantages for your setup, some examples:
excellent ad da conversion
support of four reference levels and a feature called auto reflevel that automatically chooses the optimum reference level so that SNR and dynamic is optimum over a much wider volume range of 20 dB (honours also B/T, PEQ and dynamic loudness settings in the calculation to select optimum reflevel)
ear protection by slow ramp-up of volume when plugging phones or switching between monitors and phones
key remapping feature: the four switches in the front can be remapped with useful functions, like e.g. switching between monitors and headphone. This saves you one of the 8 Snapshot slot on your UFX+.
dynamic loudness (as it should be!) so that music keeps it's body if you turn down the volume, customizeable
5 band PEQ to compensate deficits of phones or hearing weakness, even possible per channel
B/T controls to compensate bass and treble for bigger differences in music material/masters
"Bittest" to be able to perform an "end-to-end" test whether audio from a PC player was received lossless to ensure/check highest quality playback
State Overview Display ideal for troubleshooting status of digital connections (Sync, Sample Rate, State, Bit depth)
support for DSD in case you want/need it
Crossfeed for headphones: Bauer stereo to Binaural crossfeed effect emulates speaker playback by reducing the stereo width in the treble range. Adjustable in five steps.)
extreme power headphones outputs driving even phones that need a lot of power
balanced mode for phones in case you want it
useful status screens with the possibility to troubleshoot digital connections better
SRC (sample rate converter) to decouple the fix clock of digital devices like DAT and to automatically up-/downsample to the sample rate of the rest of your environment
two dac chips to connect and compare phones at the same type of da converter
can act as a monitor controller for your monitoring section finalising the end volume so that a 0dB fader setting in TM FX can not harm your ears and/or equipment just in case you performed no proper level matching eg using attenuators if needed.
possibility to choose between different DA filter of your DAC for eg either most linear frequency courve or to use have an emphasis on other things of a little bit higher separation of certain percussive music instruments. These are only nuances and might depend on your room, equipment, etc (see KaiS's posting why he prefers slow filter for listening: https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 68#p177168. Note: faster frequency rolloff of slow filter at single speed can be compensated by PEQ settings.
excellent remote control with a lot of functionality, but not too much, just right
remote control (key 1-4) can be programmed by the key mapping feature to e.g. compare different D/A filters, PEQ settings, etc
DSD support, in case you need it
and even more
Last recently very useful features have been added again by firmware update and even some more changes are upcoming.
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=34364
This device is a gem!
BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13