Last week I decided that I wanted to try out the RH-5 and I received it in the mail on Friday.
Functionally this amp is pretty cool, a bit on the clunky side but I'm not used to heavy physical controls. Definitely adds cool factor. Everything works well for me here with connections but I'm not a fan of the infinite volume wheel. I like a firm wheel starting at 8 and ending at 5. With this rogue I'm getting very conflicted trying to gage which volume is correct. On low gain I can listen comfortably between 55 and 85 but I have no idea where to be in the spectrum, this window is too big. Where as on my other amps the difference between a bit too loud and not exciting is less than an hour of rotation on a clock. That's all I have to complain about functionally.
I have to be honest, first sound impressions were not good and haven't changed much today. The seller gave me some extra tubes with the sale and I chose to use them. The installed tubes were a new pair of Genalex gold lions and I really wasn't digging the sound. I chose to throw in a pair of GE Grey plate O-getters. I cleaned the pins with scotch brite and electrical connection cleaner (auto MAF sensor cleaner lol) then the glass with good glass cleaner; they came out really clean looking. The unit has been on for around 4 hours and the mesh above the tubes is nice and warm. I believe these tubes still need to be run in a lot, the seller said they are NOS and haven't been used.
I have tested all my headphones on the rogue for an hour at a time. Audeze LCD-2, LCD-3, ZMF Auteur OG, and HD600. The only headphone that I actually want on my head with this amp is the LCD-2 and this has been the nicest pairing with them so far. Still I do feel that I've heard these LCD-2's sing more on other amps, but this RH-5 is suiting their sound well and maybe the best I've heard in that aspect. Unfortunately I would not praise this sound signature here overall. Some songs sound lifeless and in some songs, only a couple instruments sound impressive. I listen to a variety of music with both female/male vocals and I am hearing an imbalance in stage and volume with their voices. I'm hearing it with all my headphones and I don't like it. Its shuffling up the entire feel of the music and it's making almost everything sound fatiguing and undesirable.
What am I comparing this to? Pretty much just my PS audio GCHA. I would describe it as very refined, pleasurable, and linear. Exciting while also pushing a wow factor on soft and relaxing music. I would describe my experience with the rogue as imbalanced and failing in linearity. I feel like I'm hearing the best of one or two frequencies and the rest are being dragged behind. I think the best way I can draw it is that the overall dynamics are not controlled well at all and this is super fatiguing in the low mids and bass. Progressive and fast music sounds like a bunch of rocks falling down a hill, not a straight stream of bliss that you want. Guitars sound really nice tonally but are way too loose sounding to me ears. Heavy hitting music that I'm used to hearing as crispy is now mushy and ruins it. The bass overall isn't very exciting and the air in kick drums sounds too punchy.
Like I said, the LCD-2 takes this sound well but its still not something that puts me in the mood or engages me. The Auteur sounded too bright and boring through this and the LCD-3 lost all its low end detail making it pointless to listen to. HD600 sounded good but only just.
Another thing that I didn't think would be and issue is the background noise. No, its not interference and it's not anywhere else in my chain, it's definitely all in this amp. It dances between forgettable and loud enough to notice in the quiet part of music. Really not acceptable for me. I have very sensitive hearing and while I do forget about it after ten minutes, unplugging the headphone puts a What look on my face when it goes away.
I really wanted this amp to do awesome things for my experience. I'm not sure if any of this is fixable. I am using a nice audioquest power cable but that didn't alter the background noise. Tonality/timbre wise this amp is doing something for me sure, but the overall sound is just so unrefined and messy. I want linearity and control, bliss and engagement. In trying to hear the later part, instead I'm left fatigued, like eating cheese with a moldy aftertaste and realizing "oh crap, I just put that in my soup".
Not sure if I want to give this more of a chance. I would love it if someone could tell me strait up that this is what tube sound is and that I should give it up because clearly this isn't my taste. I know it's not that simple at all. I like listening to the actual headphones for the variety and color in the music. This is making all my cans sound foreign and it's honestly depressing.
After thoughts: The unit has been on for 5 hours now. In the middle of proof reading this something happened to the sound. I feel like I'm going crazy but it felt like a switch was turned on and the sound became more agreeable, but not much. I still feel the same way about the sound. This could either be good or just aggravate me more.
… (cowadunga !!)
