[Luxmancl38]

Prosumer is a crossover between professional and consumer.  In this case RME (a German company that has been selling to the professional community for 20 years) has released a spin off from their more expensive ADC/DAC (same cabinet) that actually has improved reference level performance.  Professional gear offers no-nonsense features/performance, is well built (to be rugged yet reliable, normally without 1/2 thick face plates), and use balanced design.  As a prosumer product the ADI-2 DAC also includes specially designed separate IEM and singled ended (RCA) outputs with other useful home features (remote, PEQ, a 'real' loudness control, bass/treble controls, multiple output levels to match your gear/setup, improved jitter reduction, 5 different crossfeed headphone adjustments, etc.).

Like the consumer market, professional gear can also be built to meet a price point (not every studio is top drawer, in fact many are near hobbyists running out of a spare bedroom or the garage).  So not all professional gear is top drawer.  But in general professional gear is intended for production (work) versus consumer gear that is used for personal entertainment, so it's serious/bottom line stuff that hopefully will enable staff to get to a quality final recording as quickly and easily as possible with good sound quality and useful features/controls. 

We audiophiles have much to learn from the professionals.  Active monitors (with all their advantages) are the norm.  They use near/mid-field setups to minimize room interactions.  They use balanced design (inherently lower distortion in the gear, cables are self-shielded).  And long ago, they gave up on vinyl (except for DJ's and a few vintage audiophiles) and tubes.  And they don't tweak or give into marketing hype.  Professional gear is what's used to produce the music you listen to. 

Congrats to you Luxmancl38 for seeing the light.

Excellent overview of the RME and pro audio gear in general. This is one product that got me excited over the past year. Price and performance ratio is very high. Lot's of features that are usable. I don't have headphones yet. But I'm going to my dealer today to try some out. I think in due time more people will catch on to this DAC.

[Vingard]

I had an RME in my system for a bit.  Initially sounded thin (compared to my NAD M51 and Auralic Vega), but opened up after break-in.  I would describe it as rather transparent and uncolored, likely to appeal to those seeking a DAC that remains true to the source material.  Some of the thinness remained after break-in, and soundstage was slightly narrower than the other DACs I mentioned.  I ultimately sent it back, kept the M51, and also sold the Vega. 

[Luxmancl38]

I had an RME in my system for a bit.  Initially sounded thin (compared to my NAD M51 and Auralic Vega), but opened up after break-in.  I would describe it as rather transparent and uncolored, likely to appeal to those seeking a DAC that remains true to the source material.  Some of the thinness remained after break-in, and soundstage was slightly narrower than the other DACs I mentioned.  I ultimately sent it back, kept the M51, and also sold the Vega.

The transparent uncolored sound is the basic sound you will get w/pro gear. For my system it makes a nice balance I have an all tube Luxman CL 38U-SE and a pair of Aerial 5T's. They are both on the slightly warm side. This DAC gives the sound an increase in dynamics. While you had the RME did you use any of the filters? I found the SD Slow filter which I'm using now smoothed out the Digital harshness at the top end and gave a smoother presentation. My dealer sells the NAD M-51 heard it w/the Yamaha AS-2100 and Plinius integrated. Excellent DAC. Never heard the Auralic but that's 3.5 times more than what I paid and it uses the same Femto steady clock as my RME. 

[JLM]

I had an RME in my system for a bit.  Initially sounded thin (compared to my NAD M51 and Auralic Vega), but opened up after break-in.  I would describe it as rather transparent and uncolored, likely to appeal to those seeking a DAC that remains true to the source material.  Some of the thinness remained after break-in, and soundstage was slightly narrower than the other DACs I mentioned.  I ultimately sent it back, kept the M51, and also sold the Vega.

Thanks very much for the comparison.

I'm a more hard core audiophile, just want the best of everything (for cheap) with minimal if any enhancements.   

Did you use the volume controls in each of the above units, in other words as a DAC/preamp? That's what I'm after (a very minimalistic system).  From my reading, the volume control is the weak link in the Vega.  RME goes to some length to technically justify their digital volume control while Benchmark lauds the advantage of their hybrid control (to address overload distortions that can show up in the digital recording process - which frankly can be taken care of by simply turning down the gain by 3 dB). 

RME ADI-2 DAC (prosumer focused) and miniDSP SHD (EQ focused) are both very modern, pure DSP based pieces.  They represent great value at near state of the art sound quality.  Right up my alley.  Another option for computer only sourced systems is to use software solutions, either REW (Room Equalization Wizard freeware) or $450 Dirac Live (included with the miniDSP SHD) that includes a microphone, then add a DAC/preamp of your choice.  To stay price competitive I'd look hard at the $500 Topping DX7s (at least it measures well, another newbie piece that I'm waiting for a full review of).

[Luxmancl38]

As I've been fooling around w/this DAC you have 5 filter options to shape your sound. Sharp (which is the default filter). Short Delay Sharp, SD Slow, Slow and NOS (Non-Oversampling). I went w/SD Slow as it nicely reduced the high compression digital audio you can find in many songs, and still kept the detail I wanted. You'll get a warmer presentation if you go w/NOS. Choice is yours as it matches up w/your speakers and what you subjectively enjoy. Lot's of options in this DAC's tool box. Very flexible unit.