[FYFL]

That's where the Rose comes in. I just got the package. Already happy with it, playing Qobuz and trying to get it to play a complete album via app remote. I hate playlist playing. But those are teething problems (ie my learning curve). I have it playing with it's internal dac, an ESS9038 Q2m, but it sounds pretty good. And a lot better than using my TV chromecast. Still some cables to connect.

I also played some lp's while waiting for the mailman and yesterday.
Traffic - the low spark is good. I like Stevie Winwood but this was a bit dated imo.
Thin Lizzy is classic hard rock from a few years later, not a great recording but it sounded as perfect as can be expected. That hit the nostalgia spot. Great album.
Björk - Utopia is a typical Björk sound, lovely made, very good recording but you have to be in the mood for it. It can be a bit chaotic with 4 different musical threads making a whole. It's also clearly Nordic.
And I finally started the Kruder & Dorfmeister sessions. I only played lp 1/5 but what a joy. Great nineties lounge music.

Edit
I hate 'high end' usb cables. I spent the evening rerouting cables inside my rack. That usb cable is so stiff I had real trouble twisting it 180°. Finally got it in in the Rose... Cable is just inches too short. Meh. Hdmi cable to my TV is 2m and just long enough. Of course the in and out are on opposite sides. But...

Now it works. And I can see the artwork of Qobuz on my TV and switch to recommended videos via RoseTube, everything without adds. And much better quality. Only that Thriller video still doesn't sound that good.

Hahaha
Crapping all over my Triller huh?
Funny guy.

Sounds like we are going to hear some interesting comparisons soon.

Convenience is great. But it better sounds good too. It’s not exactly peanuts.
I like the way it looks and some of the features. But as you know, I am just not into digital period.
At least not for pleasure and critical listening.

Speaking of listening.
Did a little needle drop earlier of Vinyl Me Please LPs that arrived recently.
All sound great but Blossom Dearie was somewhat noisy due to higher than usual surface noise. (Clearly noticeable in a sample).
Unfortunately, many of my EU orders are running at snail pace and I am getting antsy.
Meantime, try this raw needle drop on your new shiny toy:

 

[FYFL]

Also, take some awesome pics of your new toy.

 

[]eep]

Snails and ants huh? Getting acquainted with the future Swab source of proteines huh?

I was already at it. I like high tech and proven value of old tech. A nice mix of new and old. Pragmatic with style.

 

[FYFL]

Did you compare against vinyl?
And nope, not jumping on woke bug eating train.

 

[]eep]

There's no use comparing to vinyl. I didn't change the dac. Well I did but that's because I can't see what cable went where (coax) and the usb is too short, so I haven't tethered it to my r2r dac. And if I did I don't think it will be better than DSD from mobile player. But it is convenient!

It also is easier to browse my big 2tB harddisk than the SMSL does via Hiby-link. Still not perfect but now it's possible to browse by genre or artist. And then 'various artists' still get messed up (doesn't use 'album artist' label).

 

[FYFL]

There's no use comparing to vinyl. I didn't change the dac. Well I did but that's because I can't see what cable went where (coax) and the usb is too short, so I haven't tethered it to my r2r dac. And if I did I don't think it will be better than DSD from mobile player. But it is convenient!

It also is easier to browse my big 2tB harddisk than the SMSL does via Hiby-link. Still not perfect but now it's possible to browse by genre or artist. And then 'various artists' still get messed up (doesn't use 'album artist' label).

It would be interesting to know how far behind your analog, your digital really is. Lol
Heard you mentioned “premium” USB cable in your previous post somewhere…
I don’t know how I feel about that?
My go brand is premium Amazon USB cable. I’ve heard “HiFi-ish” USB cables sound like crap. Mostly due to weird architecture and shielding.

If anyone is interested in comparison between three Michael Jackson “Thriller” versions (Early pressing, Colored variant and MoFi One Step) …..


See and share which one you like best and why. If you care to share that is.
Time stamps for each track and pressings revealed in video description. Just keep scrolling down. Enjoy


In case copyright won’t let you watch on YouTube:

 

[]eep]

Ahem. Usb cables... There's a topic to avoid. I'm not spending benjamins on that. It's just a chinese knock-off. However, it's too short. And shielding is a thing. So I'm not using a printer cable.

I have the toslink cable in the right socket now. And it's working. I find it peculiar however that Rose chose to only let you chose 1 output. Ie only the internal dac of the optical or the coax. Not both.

Vinyl has more sense of space. More realism. More direct, more presence. It doesn't have anything to do with frequency response. Both are flat. The Denafrips sounds fuller than the internal ES9038. Neither sounds bad, just that vinyl sounds more real.

The Hifi Rose is a lot of fun to play with. It sounds fine and has a lot of features making listening to music fun. It is especially when you have a short attention span. I'm not always that grounded. When I am, nothing compares to vinyl. One thing I learned, my focus won't always stay on one point, but vinyl will always stay.

 

[FYFL]

You mean that you can’t toggle between digital outputs? That’s unfortunate.
And no doubt about it, streaming music with great and engaging visuals makes it more fun. And browsing through endless library within few clicks of your finger tips proves to be an amazing platform for music less known. Hard to compete with that. And that’s how I use it. When I actually am using it. However, I never ever use it for the actual listening sessions to indulge myself in music enjoyment. It just doesn’t work for me that way. There are some recordings tho that I’ll never purchase on vinyl but still sounds surprisingly decent via streaming service and DAC as a source.
I don’t know when and if they will ever get rid of that “digital artifact” in its dna tho. Seems like industry is perfectly fine with the way digital music is consume and reproduced. I didn’t hear about any grand development or substantial step forward in making it better. Basically, it’s an endless effort to polish the turf and repackaging it for an easy buck and killing profits.

There are few things that helps me with my ADHD and vinyl is certainly one of them.
It simply comes me down and let’s me linger in musical enjoyment like no other.

 

[FYFL]

Perhaps some of you could use a little humor…
Enjoy

 

[]eep]

Should I respond to that with: "that's what he said!"?

 

[FYFL]

Picked up a box of classical music records from my local store and some sounds fantastic. Will pick up another box or two later today.
And 2nd good news, Hummingbird LP cleaner should arrive early next week so stay tuned for hands on impressions.

 

[]eep]

I played some music on my new toy compared to lp's I bought recently. Zeit by Rammstein in particular.

On Qobuz it's only 24-48kHz something they call 'high res' for marketing purposes. It isn't. The 24 bit means nothing if your living room has 40dB background noise (and I'm even calculating 10dB extra for human hearing). Ie 16bit is 96dB +30dB = 126dB which is nigh impossible for any dac or amp. Let alone 144dB for 24 bit. Anyway, the Qobuz file is digital as we know it.

As I wrote in my review of 'Zeit' the sound quality is fenominal. And even if everything seems to be there in the digital version there is one thing missing. The emotional impact. With the vinyl I had tears in my eyes on the digital I was looking in the virtual sonic sounds ape 'where is it?'. The vinyl had me sit down and let it wash over me. Big difference, if unmeasurable. You can't measure soul.

 

[]eep]

It would be interesting to know how far behind your analog, your digital really is. Lol
Heard you mentioned “premium” USB cable in your previous post somewhere…
I don’t know how I feel about that?
My go brand is premium Amazon USB cable. I’ve heard “HiFi-ish” USB cables sound like crap. Mostly due to weird architecture and shielding.

If anyone is interested in comparison between three Michael Jackson “Thriller” versions (Early pressing, Colored variant and MoFi One Step) …..


See and share which one you like best and why. If you care to share that is.
Time stamps for each track and pressings revealed in video description. Just keep scrolling down. Enjoy


In case copyright won’t let you watch on YouTube:

I had the versions right for 1 2 and 3. On 3 there was a lot of crackle, as expected.

I think the 2nd sounded fuller, the first sounded 'flat' to me. Not flat as in flat curve but flat beer.

For anyone who would like another needledrop only direct from the phono:

 

[FYFL]

I played some music on my new toy compared to lp's I bought recently. Zeit by Rammstein in particular.

On Qobuz it's only 24-48kHz something they call 'high res' for marketing purposes. It isn't. The 24 bit means nothing if your living room has 40dB background noise (and I'm even calculating 10dB extra for human hearing). Ie 16bit is 96dB +30dB = 126dB which is nigh impossible for any dac or amp. Let alone 144dB for 24 bit. Anyway, the Qobuz file is digital as we know it.

As I wrote in my review of 'Zeit' the sound quality is fenominal. And even if everything seems to be there in the digital version there is one thing missing. The emotional impact. With the vinyl I had tears in my eyes on the digital I was looking in the virtual sonic sounds ape 'where is it?'. The vinyl had me sit down and let it wash over me. Big difference, if unmeasurable. You can't measure soul.

No you can not

 

[FYFL]

I had the versions right for 1 2 and 3. On 3 there was a lot of crackle, as expected.

I think the 2nd sounded fuller, the first sounded 'flat' to me. Not flat as in flat curve but flat beer.

For anyone who would like another needledrop only direct from the phono:

That’s exactly right. Evetho 2nd older pressing is recorded a little hotter (lauder) it’s still more exciting and true to intend. MoFi gets reputation of Hi Fidelity version for some reason…. That’s not what I have heard. It sure is more quiet. That alone can makes you think that nuances are coming at you more clearly. I like older pressing (I think it’s OG) much better. Hands down.

Also, I’m in the process of testing HumminGuru ultrasonic cleaner. And it is pretty much what others are saying. I’ll just add that it’s very easy to use, not disturbingly laud and meant mostly for moderately dirty to new dusty records only. Trashed records will need a lot more effort to get cleaned. Unfortunately.