Edit April 8, 2021 :Although the subject about the RME could be serious for its ADC capabilities, my posting about the suggestion it could be better than the NOS1 really is too much of an April Fool's joke. I suppose this was clear from the start, but usually my jokes backfire much later only. And in this case it might worry NOS1 owners. Please don't.
Meanwhile we can nicely continue the discussion about the RME. Mine is still new in its box, waiting for show time.
Dear people,
Yesterday my new RME ADI-2 Pro FS R "BlackEdition" arrived. It was meant to be used as ADC ...
Partly I obtained this because my ADC died on my long ago, partly this is because I promised a friend to digitise his reel to reel tapes without realising that I don't even have an ADC any more, and partly (or mainly ?) this is about the continuous attempts of people to record differences between "bit perfect" playbacks, them sounding different with different XXHighEnd settings, or them sounding different because of USB cables ... etc. etc. etc.
The RME-ADI-2 has been a candidate for me since I first saw it appearing, as it not only records at twice the speed of any normal audio analyser (which would be 192 KHz), but it also records at a bit depth of 32 (normal would be 24).
Day before yesterday I ordered it (a bit stimulated by Mani, elsewhere) and yesterday it arrived. And because Mani at the same elsewhere talked about its good sound compared to his "office" NOS1, I thought to give that a go first.
We had to make adapters so its outputs could adapt to my Blaxius^2.5 interlinks, and then ...
ahem ...
I hardly dare to say it. Maybe I must get used to the special sound. Maybe it *is* special. But it really is something else.
I figure that it could be related to XXHighEnd always plainly outputting 32 bits if the DAC can take that (the driver of the NOS1 can - the NOS1 itself is 24 bits only).
The very least I should say is that this is interesting. So far I also hear some small downsides (it (standing-wave) buzzes a little, but I obviously did not have sufficient time to exploit everything for "variables" (XXHE, configurable cables, Mach III core settings)).
If the thing can ADC-measure itself, then maybe I can learn something from it. Not that I foresee a NOS3, but at least the AKM chip in there will be normally available.
Maybe Mani has a special view on this, as he has this RME quite some longer already (I think).
Btw, Mani, nice try :
My phone sounds better than the NOS1hahaha - you won't 04/01 fool me with that one.
Best regards,
Peter