This hobby is
an escapist's dream. Escape from daily routine and distress that's causing you via something as sincere and everlasting as listening to music. I believe that the power of music is still not fully understood since it works in mysterious ways. Allow it to do its magic on you and
let your worries dissolve in melody.
Having had the possibility to try so many different sets in a relatively short time I felt obliged to go ahead and express my gratitude by trying to help some lost souls out there, just as I was when I first stumbled upon this weird hobby about wired earphones – so yesteryear! … I thought. Possibilities are seemingly endless and only by getting to meet the right people did I manage to jump onboard the train heading the 'right' direction without getting off-track thousands of times along the way. Make sure to understand the helping person's preferences and you too can find your footing and hit the ground running in no time.
Quick Intermezzo About Me
I won't bore you for too long with personal trivia, however my quick & short background resume goes as follows. Currently I am 27 years old and more in awe of sheer power of music by the day. I have always been moved by music just that slight bit more than average, I'd say. My spending started with a roughly 200€ Bose bluetooth speaker back in my first grade of highschool. What an extraterrestrial thing that was in early 2010s. And it keeps on playing to this day – a true testament of quality. Also sounded fantastic back then, nowadays … yeah, not so much. Lots of BT speakers, TWS, car audio speakers, IEMs, etc., later bring me to this day when I truly consider myself an audiophile. What brings me the most joy beside listening to music is singing, so I am currently participating in a choir and challenging myself with solo vocal covers (check the links in my signature to hear my projects). Unsure where all this leads, but the journey itself is marvelous and life is nothing but a journey.
My preferences lie somewhere in the
neutral camp with just an ever so slight bass boost, but I try to keep an open mind and truly appreciate any
outliers that dare do it differently. Our ears vary, so do our brain and tastes. I am an advocate for
respectful discourse, especially in topics that don't even have many objective undeniable truths. Audio is one of those.
My most listened genres are, in no particular order: jazz, singer/songwriter, slow-paced electronica, ambient, rock, metal, blues, trance, techno & pop.
Disclaimer: I have received the ROSESELSA RS9039 directly from Rose Technics in exchange for my honest thoughts. I am way too mindful of others' money to overly hype stuff that does not deserve it, so there's that.
Here is the link to their website:
https://rosetechnics.com/products/r...O3krAvyNse7zzO_zbEMxMu&variant=47078043156785
The Technical Stuff
Who could describe this thing's underpinnings better than Rose Technics themselves, so here are the ins and outs of what this small thing is hiding inside.
That's all nice and fine, but how does it translate to the performance and actual use case, we'll see later.
It comes in a sweet case which I was not expecting:
My Findings About The RS9039
I admit, featuring a dongle is something a bit different for me, but there's no time to lose, let's go. Today's feature is the Roseselsa RS9039 dongle DAC/AMP. I have got a simple yet effective plan worked out on how to present this cute little item.
One of the critical aspects of dongles is
battery drain and the fact they dongle and
cause stress on your USB-C port of your phone/tablet/laptop. The
small size and acceptable weight of the RS9039 minimizes the strain on your port, but some caution is still advised. Pulling this in and out of your pocket is not too difficult, but I don't trust myself to do so, at least not on a regular basis. Getting it caught somewhere and pulling on something is almost inevitable. About the battery drainage, I cannot say I have noticed anything too out of the ordinary, but clearly, this has no power on its own, so it depends on your host device to suck juice from - it is
not a heavy drinker, I can confirm.
Since I am sure by now that my most neutral sounding source is the iBasso DX180, I will
compare the TONALITY with that one. Only the tonality, because of course, it's only fair not to expect the pinky-sized dongle to be able to compete with the 500USD DAP in any category. Then, I will reach for three (all black, as luck might have it) pairs of IEMs, two of which I have recently reviewed, so I believe I am quite familiar with their sound overall – the tribrid
Simgot EW300 HBB and the hybrid
Rose Technics Star City 5 Pro. Third one is the impressive and wildly affordable single dynamic driver
Tripowin Piccolo, just to see, how far less than 100USD in total (Piccolo currently retails at 9,99USD(!) while the RS9039 is about 75USD) can get you nowadays – spoiler alert: pretty far! Diminishing returns is the term that comes to mind.
Then, to spice it up I will throw at the dongle my full-sized HPs in the form of
Meze 109 Pro.
Additionally, I will compare its capabilities to a 24USD Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini which is a TINY thing (can you even spot it on this table?), half the size of the already small Roseselsa.
Without further ado, here comes the tonal comparison with the DX180 after listening to all three IEMs on both.
Tonal Character
Going through some of my favourite and well-known tracks I use in most reviews, the differences are clearly noticeable. Star City 5 Pro gets a slight midbass boost on the RS9039 and just a tad attenuated in sibilance area. Very similar effect can be noticed on the EW300 HBB, while also showing a softer edge in the mid treble on the RS9039. On the Piccolo midrange gets pushed forward a little and some additional hiss is introduced. Simply put, it has
no significant negatives compared to the DX180 tonality-wise. Most noticeably, it
adds some midbass and smoothens mid treble. Some additional hiss is introduced, especially noticeable on my tablet, where something seems to be incompatible between the two. Alright, so how does all that affect it when going through some songs I consider myself well-versed on?
Song Examples
House of the Rising Sun, alt-J & Tuka
This song has this mysterious vibe going on throughout the song. That is maintained and nicely stretched out in dimensions on the Roseselsa. Then the bass comes in with its multiple drops. Even the lowest of low notes are grippy and tight. That shows this dongle does have some power to maintain control over the movement of the driver even in these most extreme movements. At low to mid volume no distortion can be noticed, while higher there is a bit of a stressed character, but we're talking unlistenable volumes already, at least for longer periods of time. However, even at 100+dB the low end was huge on the Rose Technics Star City 5 Pro – as if these two were made by the same company – oh wait, they are! This duo works very well, since the Star City 5 Pro can be leaning a bit brighter on most sources.
EW300 HBB fits the character of the RS9039 pretty well too. The main reason for that is the slight lack of midbass presence on the EW300 which is now aided. While it is a bit warmer as a result, it still misses the attack and punchiness. Roseselsa does not manage to fix that.
Piccolo is a set that has a very tasteful bass in its arsenal. While the Roseselsa does not necessarily ruin that balance, it does not help improve it either. Lowest notes are impressive for this simple single DD and small yet feisty dongle.
Kuwait, Mazde
A special song that requires good atmosphere and resolution.
Piccolo is so joyous here, just a sweet yet energetic listen, a special marriage between the two. This song is not too midbassy and that helps to get the overall balance into a bit more of a U-shape. No real downsides except some technicalities such as imaging which could be improved – more of an issue of the IEM. Let's hear if that is improved on the Star City 5 Pro.
First seconds of the song were all I needed to see this is improved upon the technical aspect of the previous pairing. We did lose some sweetness in exchange for better sound separation and imaging. It never sounds too busy and crowded. Very well done.
EW300 is like a mix of both worlds and it allows the dongle's strengths to come through. The bass is quite immense. You're not missing a single low note, that's for sure. The crispness is EW300's quality and all the Roseselsa has to do is not ruin it. It does not ruin it, on the contrary, it covers it in a silky dress to make it just that little more polished.
Lonely island, Amble
EW300 and Roseselsa render the guitar naturally but just slightly restrained. His rich and heart-melting voice is maybe only a bit too forward in this case. Let's swap to the other two to get a better idea if that's the IEM's 'fault' or dongle's 'fault'.
Piccolo's guitar playback is not my favourite from the get-go. It then gets even less enjoyable with the very forward vocal. Not too pleased with this song and my source&IEM combo. One more remains.
Star City 5 Pro's guitar is just a tad weighty and wooden too. His voice has an interesting forwardness but gels better with the guitars supporting him, thus the impression it leaves turns out a bit more cohesive and impressive. Either way, since all three sets struggle a tad here, I am afraid strings get a bit too polished and polite on the RS9039. Not that noticeable in usual arrangements, while this stripped down song shows that quite clearly.
And how does it do with the Meze 109 Pro?
Tonally, it's marvelous. The 109 Pro can be quite cold occasionally, but not on the RS9039. I have never liked the 109 Pro off of my other ESS-equipped sources. This goes to show the DAC chips themselves do not tell the whole story. Now, will the little Roseselsa and its 300mW run the 109 Pro to their best dynamic and resolving potential? Not quite. But listening casually is nice too, and for that the Roseselsa does a wonderful job even on these full-sized headphones.
A quick A/B vs the Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini shows the Roseselsa is a more grown up, better thought-out, smoother device. It shows more character, resolves better, allows the ambiance to hover around in a larger setting, and better controls the bass. The smaller and significantly cheaper Allegro Mini leaves a more neutral tonal impression. Vocals are less aggressive, which can either be a good or bad thing, depending largely on the performer and the recording. The form factor is wild and really cute, but it's actually even less friendly to use than the regular dongles, such as the Roseselsa RS9039. I will go into a little more detail on a short review on the Allegro Mini which follows soon.
One negative worth mentioning that I have noticed while A/Bing is that disconnecting the RS9039 from the phone or whathaveyou, makes the IEMs make this 'popping' sound in quite an uncomfortable way, but not dangerously loud. Still, I recommend disconnecting the IEMs or putting them out of your ears before disconnecting the dongle from the host unit.
Summing Up the Roseselsa RS9039
This is one for the dongle aficionados that are lacking a very small dongle which feels of significant quality and does well epsecially with those sets that need a bit of a push in that midbass area and maybe some finesse in the treble. This makes it a coloured source that would not suit all sets or tastes.
Thanks for reading and stay wonderful.
