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DAC upgrade from RME

A couple weeks back I inquired as to a preamp upgrade, most likely tube, and received much appreciated advice. I now wonder if the upgrade bug should begin with the RME, although in many circle it receives very high marks. When listening to jazz trios/quartets I notice sharp piano strikes can become quite strident. I’m looking into NOS, R2R dacs with good USB capability. Mojo, entry, medium Lampi’s, Gordon Rankin Wavelength, Border Patrol SEi are a few where I have interest. Not so much the Chinese made R2R ladder dacs.

kckrs
tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
610 posts
 

 Take a look into the Lab 12 Reference DAC.  NOS DAC that is very analog sounding. It’s built for USB but has Toslink and Coax.  Music room sells new and used ones.  Also, USAM has ones on occasion. 

adg101
1,062 posts
 

Had the RME ADI 2fs with a Teddy Pardo LPS which was a nice setup. The Teddy Pardo definitely improved a pretty good DAC. I ended up trading my RME/Teddy to TMR when they were selling refurbished PS Audio DirectStream MKI’s with a one year warranty. I would say PSA is in another league and very happy with the upgrade. You can probably get a DirectStream MKI for around $1700 in great shape no problem and maybe less. 
 

The DSD MKI is going to have a fuller, more refined sound. Top end is there but not at all edgy/harsh and will extract more micro detail than the RME. The bottom end has a lot more weight and even with the Teddy Pardo. It’s hands down a better DAC and should being 5X the price when new. I can play it for many hours and never get tired or fatigued. 
 

Would strongly suggest looking into a DSD MKI. Warning though as with it’s improvement I ended up buying a PS Audio AirLens and just recently their current PerfectWave SACD Transport with both connected with the I2S HDMI cables. 
 

Good luck.

hhudo's avatar
hhudo
13 posts
 

I went from RME to Schiit Yggy OG to Holo Spring 3 KTE. To be honest, didn't like RME sound, its just too flat and "digital". Yggy was a big big upgrade, love that DAC. Don't know why are people prising RME so much, maybe for headphones, but i use it only in speaker stereo system. 

adg101
1,062 posts
 

The RME is a good DAC but agree with others if you are using the the stock SPS with it. I know the manual says the stock power supply is great but that is not so true as when I switched out to the Teddy Pardo LPS is greatly improved things. That being said no doubt there are better DAC's out there. If you buy new you are going to spend alot to outperform the RME, but on the used market it can easily be done for not much more than even the RME/Teddy Combo. I enjoyed the Combo but I don't miss it either. 

kckrs OP
37 posts
 

I have added a LHT linear power supply to the RME .

It may have added a bit of weight but it wasn't a revelation.

 

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