[tomwoo]

the Rose blog is full of questions from owners with a whole host of complaints and frustration .

To be fair I rarely encounter any of those problems...

 

[]eep]

Jeep I found the Rose a little quirky / a little confusing navigating , the Rose blog is full of questions from owners with a whole host of complaints and frustration . This being a fairly new product on the market like most any software based components it’ll get sorted out , there’s a team of people behind it .
What has my interest I watched some fabulous concerts having that option for video built in is fantastic, sometimes we music lovers get bored staring at a wall .
Secondly I like the option of bypassing the internal dac if I want to kick it up a bit , a Weiss dac did just that. Finally overall sound quality is darn good as is.

What I tried to say is: it always takes some time to get used to a new interface. Ask anyone trying a stickshift for the first time.

I am on the Rose forum and made quite some posts already. I found that Rose is doing a good job with updates. Even if those on the forum seem to have little experience in properly explaining what their problem or wish is. That makes it quite hard for the coders and engineers, especially given the language barrier.

I too like the sound quality. I prefer my R2R dac but the internal one is very capable.

 

[]eep]

I just watched a very informative video on ripping CDs with the Rose RSA780 and installing the ssd to put it on. That CD Player looks very sturdy and I think it's sheer mass helps to quiet the spinning noise of the drive. It is expensive still.
To see all that gear next to each other sure helps getting a better perspective on their size. I can now see that the RS520 is a lot bigger than I thought. And especially the screen gives you much more real estate than the 201 which is the same size as the RS250.



This video made me smile. This guy has made great progress over the last year I watched his videos. He explains very simple why you should dump your CD player and rip your CDs.

 

[ABuilder]

I have been watching more and more Youtube, and Rosetube has some serious appeal to me if it would help me avoid all those ads. I don't have a separate DAC in that system with my TV and have just been using a receiver, even though it is just 2.1 channel. This has me wondering if I should rework that system and add a RS250 and a separate amp or the RS520. I'm thinking separates, but that could be that it just lets me buy more gear and I seem to have a problem..

 

[]eep]

I

I have been watching more and more Youtube, and Rosetube has some serious appeal to me if it would help me avoid all those ads. I don't have a separate DAC in that system with my TV and have just been using a receiver, even though it is just 2.1 channel. This has me wondering if I should rework that system and add a RS250 and a separate amp or the RS520. I'm thinking separates, but that could be that it just lets me buy more gear and I seem to have a problem..

I had the same idea. Only my vinyl system is not 'compatible'. I'm not sure how to describe that. It's my primary audio source and sounds fenomenal. The RA520 would digitize the signal and destroy the all analog chain. But for streaming and video it's a great combo. I don't think you can get a better amp for the extra price. And the screen is considerably bigger. And the inputs are more versatile than those of the RS250a.

Usually receivers sound like crap for stereo (don't tell when you're selling it). With the RS520 you get a high tech GaN FET amp, powerfull, sweet and low energy consumption. And outputs for 2 subs or a 2nd amp. If I had the money and wasn't hooked on vinyl it would be an easy choice.

For Rosetube it's good to subscribe to your favorite channels. Easier to tune in. And all without adds.

 

[]eep]

Some news here.

As I'm gradually moving files to my internal SSD I get to find out more and more about the RS250. I just transfered Alan Parsons Project albums in dsf (that's DSD64), and man... They sound incredible!

There's just one thing you must be aware of: you need to stream native DSD to your dac. Not DOP (DSD over PCM) or converted to PCM (24-88). It will sound good but not as awesome as real DSD.
Here's something to take note of: DSD was intended by Sony and Philips to store masters in the best digital format and quality. It's not intended for mixing. You can't manipulate the stream in any way. That means you can't even change the volume digitally.

Here's the catch: the Rose engineers decided to play it safe and let the setting 'software volume' override the 'DSD Native' setting. Normally it's the other way around so if you choose DSD native there's no 'software volume' possible and your dac will give the signal full blast.

!

In order to get true native DSD you need to turn off 'software volume'!

And use your amps volume knob the old fashioned way. And oh yeah: fantastic sound. True master quality.



There's more. Not every media player plays all formats. And the one that is often most likely to not be supported is DST (compressed DSF). I just tested the iso format of an SACD, that is an iso of an sacd that has DSF files. That works flawless and gapless (DSF has breaks between songs). But here's the kicker: it also plays the compressed DST iso format without a hitch or hickups. The problem is it takes a lot of computing power, compared to any other music file.

I'm playing an sacd of the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums in a 3.3gb file.

PS: DST is compressed but still lossless. Like flac is compressed but lossless. DSF is to WAV as is DST is to FLAC (or APE).

 

[tomwoo]

Some news here.

As I'm gradually moving files to my internal SSD I get to find out more and more about the RS250. I just transfered Alan Parsons Project albums in dsf (that's DSD64), and man... They sound incredible!

There's just one thing you must be aware of: you need to stream native DSD to your dac. Not DOP (DSD over PCM) or converted to PCM (24-88). It will sound good but not as awesome as real DSD.
Here's something to take note of: DSD was intended by Sony and Philips to store masters in the best digital format and quality. It's not intended for mixing. You can't manipulate the stream in any way. That means you can't even change the volume digitally.

Here's the catch: the Rose engineers decided to play it safe and let the setting 'software volume' override the 'DSD Native' setting. Normally it's the other way around so if you choose DSD native there's no 'software volume' possible and your dac will give the signal full blast.

!

In order to get true native DSD you need to turn off 'software volume'!

And use your amps volume knob the old fashioned way. And oh yeah: fantastic sound. True master quality.



There's more. Not every media player plays all formats. And the one that is often most likely to not be supported is DST (compressed DSF). I just tested the iso format of an SACD, that is an iso of an sacd that has DSF files. That works flawless and gapless (DSF has breaks between songs). But here's the kicker: it also plays the compressed DST iso format without a hitch or hickups. The problem is it takes a lot of computing power, compared to any other music file.

I'm playing an sacd of the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums in a 3.3gb file.

PS: DST is compressed but still lossless. Like flac is compressed but lossless. DSF is to WAV as is DST is to FLAC (or APE)

I didn't know Rose played DST SACD ISOs. Like you said it is a very rare functionality among streamers!

 

[]eep]

Yes, it's hard to ignore once you tried DSD. And you'll want it in any format you can lay your hands on. Until now I had to avoid DST, and those are almost half of what I can get. And they're half the size, but that's not the important part. And iso files play gapless. So I'm really happy with that.

 

[WDitters]

Starting to read-in to this thread now as my new RS250A (Black) makes its way to me ... Hoping to receive it before the weekend ...

 

[]eep]

Succes met lezen

 

[]eep]

And again I found out something new...

As I'm struggling with my new internet connection. I switched to glassfibre on a new and different entry point. So... Teething problems to get everything working again, setting up network as it was, cables under my floor are useless now, Wi-Fi 6 went to 5gHz so my home automation (lighting) has problems. Basic internet and TV was working in 30 minutes without reading any guide. But the rest... Days.

My main problem was with my lights. I use the Tuya home automation protocol since it's cheap and works fine (no seperate hub required like the Ikea of Philips system). Only it needs the old 2.4gHz Wi-Fi. This way I can have all sorts of extremely low energy colorfull light that turns on and off automatically or from my phone (Google home comp) from anywhere in the world. The only 'problem' is that every light has to be inserted into the 'home' network, grouped and automated. Then you never have to do the rounds with all the lamps anymore.
Voor de Nederlanders: gewoon van de Action.

But how do I get 2.4gHz? I couldn't access my light controllers. Turns out the router has settings for main Wi-Fi 6, guest Wi-Fi and 'extra' which is legacy 2.4. Of course it doesn't say in the easy setup guide you get... Not that any real man ever reads that... But still having problems.

That was the introduction.
I didn't look into the Wi-Fi part of the Rose RS250 yet because I had an rj45 cable inserted. So I turned it on. But I was surprised that I had to put in network ssid and password.

1 Turns out it's a hub! A good old 2.4gHz hub. So you can set up the RS250 as a Wi-Fi hotspot to tether your phone or tablet or... Tuya lighting. And it's plenty fast enough. Iirc I can transfer 7MB/s (or 70Mbit). Good enough to access your SSD.

2 Then came the second surprise. Even in standby, it keeps your tether intact. You can see what's on your ssd even when it's in standby and transfer files to it. So you can fill up the ssd with files from your phone while you're charging or sleeping. Or watching TV.

It's like in the review I saw about yge engineers asking the boss of Rose audio: "can we put this and that and that in too?" - "Yeah just do it"

 

[tomwoo]

And again I found out something new...

As I'm struggling with my new internet connection. I switched to glassfibre on a new and different entry point. So... Teething problems to get everything working again, setting up network as it was, cables under my floor are useless now, Wi-Fi 6 went to 5gHz so my home automation (lighting) has problems. Basic internet and TV was working in 30 minutes without reading any guide. But the rest... Days.

My main problem was with my lights. I use the Tuya home automation protocol since it's cheap and works fine (no seperate hub required like the Ikea of Philips system). Only it needs the old 2.4gHz Wi-Fi. This way I can have all sorts of extremely low energy colorfull light that turns on and off automatically or from my phone (Google home comp) from anywhere in the world. The only 'problem' is that every light has to be inserted into the 'home' network, grouped and automated. Then you never have to do the rounds with all the lamps anymore.
Voor de Nederlanders: gewoon van de Action.

But how do I get 2.4gHz? I couldn't access my light controllers. Turns out the router has settings for main Wi-Fi 6, guest Wi-Fi and 'extra' which is legacy 2.4. Of course it doesn't say in the easy setup guide you get... Not that any real man ever reads that... But still having problems.

That was the introduction.
I didn't look into the Wi-Fi part of the Rose RS250 yet because I had an rj45 cable inserted. So I turned it on. But I was surprised that I had to put in network ssid and password.

1 Turns out it's a hub! A good old 2.4gHz hub. So you can set up the RS250 as a Wi-Fi hotspot to tether your phone or tablet or... Tuya lighting. And it's plenty fast enough. Iirc I can transfer 7MB/s (or 70Mbit). Good enough to access your SSD.

2 Then came the second surprise. Even in standby, it keeps your tether intact. You can see what's on your ssd even when it's in standby and transfer files to it. So you can fill up the ssd with files from your phone while you're charging or sleeping. Or watching TV.

It's like in the review I saw about yge engineers asking the boss of Rose audio: "can we put this and that and that in too?" - "Yeah just do it"

I found the internal SSD is accessible in standby mode as well. But for UPnP the unit has to stay on.
I'm using wifi but haven't noticed any differences in terms of SQ compared with wired network.

 

[]eep]

I found that support on the Rose forum really helps quickly. Nice to know.

Suddenly my remote stopped reacting. I tried reconnecting, rebooting, removing and re-adding. But I just couldn't get it to work. So I explained what I did (verbose, unlike above) and that the "Rose RCU" showed in white in the left hand 'connected' window.

So I got an email with the answer post with a video 'how to connect BT RCU'. Turns out I had to tap the white letter 'rose RCU' to confirm (why?). Only then the letters turn gold signifying it is active and working. *sigh*. Silly but it works again.

I think the manual has been written by a non native English speaker as this was lost in translation. The English is correct but the idea behind it from the engineer got lost. These things happen.

 

[tomwoo]

I found that support on the Rose forum really helps quickly. Nice to know.

Suddenly my remote stopped reacting. I tried reconnecting, rebooting, removing and re-adding. But I just couldn't get it to work. So I explained what I did (verbose, unlike above) and that the "Rose RCU" showed in white in the left hand 'connected' window.

So I got an email with the answer post with a video 'how to connect BT RCU'. Turns out I had to tap the white letter 'rose RCU' to confirm (why?). Only then the letters turn gold signifying it is active and working. *sigh*. Silly but it works again.

I think the manual has been written by a non native English speaker as this was lost in translation. The English is correct but the idea behind it from the engineer got lost. These things happen.

I found the official forum very helpful too. They have reps on the forum who answer questions very quickly.

 

[Dionysus]

I was lucky enough to have the weekend to test drive the RS250A. As a current owner of the Matrix Audio Mini i 3 Pro, I was very curious to see what I might get additionally compared.
The RoseHiFi is pretty stellar and is quit the upgrade, great build, better power delivery, sounds much better. And the UI and that display wow.

I’ve only had it for a few days but I have decided to keep it, I’ll get some impressions soon as I continue to break it in, but wanted to post something as a new owner. For anyone thinking of a streamer with a package that’s has just about everything and the kictchen sink. Look no further, this is a winner and it sounds equally as good as it looks.