For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME Audio ADI-2 DAC FS

Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.

February 2023

When the user’s manual for a desktop DAC has 68 pages—68 pages of very small type—you know you’re not dealing with just another digital-to-analog converter. At $1299 (all prices in USD), RME’s ADI-2 DAC FS isn’t priced like most of its competitors, either. I slid it into the place normally filled by my $199 iFi Audio Zen DAC V2, between my iPad Pro and my Focal Alpha Evo 50 studio monitors.