A DAC that ought to be better known: RME

Paul,

don’t keep us hanging brother. Comparison!!! Appreciated. 

adg101, paulcreed:
Which model Teddy Pardo did you use with RME?

@paulcreed

maybe my use of the word ’zippy’ is getting us hung up a bit... i found the voicing of the rme to be somewhat treble forward and i would not call the midrange or bass warm... neutral and fast i would say, but not bloomy or warm in the least to my ears (there are significantly warmer-voiced dacs - metrums, ayre codex, mhdt’s in stock form, esp. with the we 2c51 tube come to mind)

i currently have a number of mhdt units (orchid, stockholm, istanbul), the stockholm i have is modded with pcm56k chip, vishays diodes and mundorf silver oil caps, other two are stock... i do find the modded stockholm to have the most highlighted treble and the best drive of the 3 mhdts, so i am not surprised your modded mhdt plays slightly brighter than the stock units - of course, the mhdt units’ sound can be further shaped with choice of tube, options are plentiful and the range of ’adjustment’ is fairly substantial

to me, i don’t fault the tonality of the rme... voicing is a matter of taste, and many systems and listeners like more ’effortless’ detail that a forward treble voicing affords -- my personal feeling is that the weakness of the rme is its relatively flat and narrow imaging... tonally i find chord dacs similarly detail oriented but their imaging is vastly superior, wider deeper bigger stage, simply more holographic, leaving aside tonal balance - the mhdt’s really excel at imaging and dimensionality...

this being said, i had the rme for about 6 months (before selling it to a good friend who is a headphone listener, for which i think the unit is really ideal), and i did not use an upgraded ps with it, so maybe i have not heard it at its best -- then again, i was using the chord qutest at the time with its own factory supplied switching ps as well...

Teddy Pardo
12V/2A with 2.1mm connector. The connector is not a locking type as with the stock switch PS, but it is a snug fit so no concern it will pull out over any other plug.

Just added a Synergistic Research Orange fuse and too soon to tell. Want to give it some time to cook in but first impression is very positive. I have Blacks in my preamp and CDP and know there, they made an improvement. Quick opinion is in the Teddy, things seem more natural and the top end is still very clean but maybe a tad smoother. Sounds damn good, so excited to let it settle in.

I also have both my RME and Teddy on two separate 1 1/2”thick Baltic Birch platforms I built sitting on three isolation pads.

I’m still running the RME direct to amp. Sounds incredible. I also leave mine on 24/7. Not in any hurry to throw my ModWright preamp back in until I spin vinyl.

The biggest thing I feel the Teddy does, is improves the stage on the RME in depth especially. The top end cleans up but it does set it back and not at all forward. Additionally the bottom end really digs deeper and mid bass, midrange is fuller. I didn’t find the stock RME bright or fatiguing but now comparing back to stock I will never go back. The transformation is significant with the Teddy. I’m probably using cables that are a little overkill, but maybe not as they pull out what the RME/Teddy combo is capable of. 

For the record RME doesn't recommend upgrading the PS. There are many ways to adjust the sound of the RME if you study the manual very carefully. In that respect it is a very professional device. On the Exogal and various other more commercial DAC products aimed at the audiophile market I had no way to adjust anything. The RME PS is notorious for having a finicky locking mechanism but once you secure it all is fine. One of the arguments for upgrading, if that is indeed the right word, is that the fancy PSs are more robust. In the end I think upgrading a PS is like exotic cables--something that can be endlessly debated.