RME goes under the knife

One of the backbones of my audio lab is the RME ADI-2 PRO FS R Black Edition.  Quite a title, eh?  I suppose lots of numbers and letters appended to the end is appropriate for a top of the line ADC/DAC.  

The RME can't quite dig deep into the noise floor of the latest Chi-fi DACs that are being custom built, by their own admission in their 'mission' statement, to perform on the bleeding edge of the very latest Audio Precision test analyzers.  

For my own bleeding edge dive into the world of the noise floor, (kind of like sinking into Challenger Deep),  I decided to fight fire with fire.  I purchased the E1DA ADC and APU (Audio Processing Unit with pre-analyzer notch to assist in measurements of THD and SINAD) from the Silicon Valley of the East, the Shenzhen 'Special Economic Zone', from whenceforth Topping, SMSL, Gustard, etc all come.  

On an aside, Shenzhen (once called the less than sexy "Sham Chun"), looks like something straight out of Star Trek.  The 'home base' on Terra in the 24th century would look like this in my dreams.  

But now, it isn't Topping under the knife.  I finished all those measurements and am planning on having those reviews (E70 and E70V) up by midnight Eastern Time this day.  A day late, but better late and somewhat informative than on time and a bunch of crap.  Under the knife is the RME ADI-2.  (We will just call it that from now on, and we all will know the reference is to RME's state of the art top model)

By any reasonable standard, the RME ADI-2 STILL is an impeccable piece of engineering, with measurements that completely blow past the human ear's resolution.  That is why it is also marketed as a home lab measuring device, since the vast majority of hi-fi kit even to this day will not reach the specifications of the RME.  

Here is what I found in my non-literal look under the hood.  Although we could do that too, someday.  

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A special ADC/DAC or ADDA.  One that will always be here.  One of two products I will never sell.  This RME, and my iFi iDSD PRO.  (my iDSD has a iffy OLED display, so maybe someday I will just buy another one, but it will be a DAC I have until it dies.)