New- HiFi ROSE RS130 Ultimate Network Transport

Seems like there are some bad reports circulating regarding HiFi Rose and their model 150 which is too bad.  Seemed like a very interesting kit when it first came out and I almost tried one.  I guess I should be glad I didn’t.  This unit looks interesting as well.  Hopefully it fares better.

I'm a Rose dealer.....not sure what reports you're seeing, but I've sold quite a few 150bs, and they are good (actually listening to my demo 150b as I type this).  The app is easy to use, and seems to be fairly stable (they do tend to push updates pretty consistently).  Sound quality is as good, or better than others in its price class, and the screen and hdmi implementation is very cool.  

The new 130 transport looks excellent.  As an fyi, the first batch of 130s have arrived in the US and are shipping out to dealers now.  I should have my first few arrive early in the week!

I owned both 250b and 150. Sold both. While it has a nice screen and able to stream YouTube, the sound is meh. The IanCanada kit, which I still own, will fair better, no glares when listening to Nat King Cole The very thought of you. Also while I'm not a big fan of Bartok, my wife also said it sounds much better than 150b while I had it for audition. I know it's not a fair comparison due to price diff but thought I mentioned. 

For 5k+ streamer, I would prolly go with a used Aurender or something else. Better yet an used Weiss 501 which has excellent DAC and streamer built-in. 

Looks like they thought of everything with RS130 but the components that tries to do everything often fails to deliver in the most important aspect i.e. SQ. 

There doesn't seem to be a lot of choices when you want to have HDMI for TV included. I have been waiting on reviews and opinions on this and the relatively inexpensive new Denon 2000.

My first few RS130s arrived today, so dealers are starting to get them in hand!

I look forward to hearing users impressions. 

With their use of i2s and optical, if implemented correctly, this will be a big advantage for audiophiles over other products. I do remember reading somewhere that there were some issues with using optical for home audio. If anyone knows, please share the reason. I wonder how or if Hifi Rose overcame such issues. 

Any updates from anyone who has purchased the rs130? To me it's the most desirable streamer available right now, and I'm curious if it lives up to the promises.

There was a recent post from an owner on audiophilestyle.com who is quite impressed with the RS130, but as an EE he's very technically inclined and said it has a lot of settings that are less than intuitive to use. Took him over a month to figure out many features and that if you want ultimate flexibility along with sound quality it's very good, but that it's not for anyone looking for an easy to use product.

Thanks. I looked into that thread which lead me to another thread on the Rose site where I learned it cannot access lossless on apple music. That's pretty unfortunate. Hopefully they are working on getting that access. Also learned it leverages an old version of android which could lead to security risks. Hope they can release updates in the future that will support the hardware instead of making someone buy a whole new streamer.

Anyways, I appreciate the leads to under the hood information.

goldprintaudio

I have a DAC with an exterenal-clock output via TOSLink. The clock input on the 130 looks like (hard to tell from the photo I have) a copper (BMC?) connector like those used for antennas.

Would there be a way to connect the 130’s clock input to my DAC’s clock output? If so, that might might put me over the top re: buying a 130.

but as an EE he's very technically inclined and said it has a lot of settings that are less than intuitive to use. Took him over a month to figure out many features
 

I was an EE before I retired, and also own an RS130. It’s not that hard. 🙂 Yes the manual could be better, but as with anything technical nowadays, a little searching on the maker’s forum and a question here and there can sort things out quickly enough. 

I just recently bought an RS130 after reading all the positive reviews. I already own a Lumin U2 and a Silent Angel Munich M1T. I did some A/B testing between the 3 and tested the RS130 with 3 DACs - an Audio Mirror Toubadour V, an Okto Research DAC8 Stereo, and a Schiit Yggdrasil OG version. I also use a Denafrips GAIA DDC. Preamp is a Pathos Synapse, amps are Pathos Adrenalin monoblocks and speakers are Dali Epicon 8s.

I heard no discernible difference between the RS130 and the Lumin U2, they perform basically the same when paired with the AM Toubadour V and the Okto DAC8, but with the Yggy the RS130 sounded slightly more fleshed out. No enough to be a huge difference though.

Both the RS130 and the Lumin U2 have the edge over the Silent Angel Munich M1T.

Where the RS130 has the edge - the screen is great, the fake VU meters look cool. It’s more aesthetically pleasing in my main living room with the other gear.

Severe disadvantage of RS130 vs the Lumin U2 -
This one I think is the biggest disadvantage for me - when you plug the USB output the RS130 "recognizes" the DAC it’s connected to and allows you to active the USB input. When you plug the GAIA DDC in between, the RS130 does not recognize it as a DAC and won’t allow you to activate the input. The same goes for the I2S HDMI input. The only way you can put the DDC in between the RS130 and the DAC is if using AES/EBU or the other connections but you cannot do it with USB or HDMI I2S, at least not yet. I hope this is an easy firmware fix in the future.

The Lumin U2 has no such problem.

This is important to me because I clear a hear improvement when the DDC is paired with any of the DACs I have, and I don’t like that I can’t run USB or I2S just because the RS130 doesn’t "recognize" the machine. What if it’s a brand new DAC in the market that the RS130 doesn’t recognize? will that cause similar problems? I don’t know.

Second (minor) disadvantage -
I was considering purchasing the Cen.Grand DCDAC Deluxe but I’m afraid that the Cen.Grand’s all DSD design may not be a great pair with the RS130 all PCM design, considering I will not be able to do a direct DSD source to DAC.
This would also apply to other DSD designed DACs like the Meitner MA3. This forces me to reconsider my next DAC purchase and perhaps consider the new Merason DAC1 in the near future.

I’m still keeping the RS130 and I’m happy with it otherwise. I will move the Lumin U2 to my second system and use the GAIA DDC there with the Okto DAC8 going through a Hifi Rose RA180 and Focal Diablo Utopia standmounts. Toubadour V will stay with the RS130 in the main system.

I just received a new RS130 a few days ago so here are my impressions.

First off, this thing is very cool. I’ve made many upgrades to my system over the years and all for better sound. This is the first “upgrade” I made for something fun/interesting and the RS130 delivers in that regard. The front face can be changed from Now Playing to a dozen different VU meters, a dozen clocks with/without weather, an old school Receiver, etc. The HDMI out to my TV is really cool, and although the YT audio isn’t up to the level of Qobuz or local files it’s good enough and there is an endless supply of videos, very enjoyable to watch.

I’ll reserve judgement on the sound for now except to say it is certainly not worse than my Innuos Zen MK 3. After a few more days of running it in I will compare to the Zen directly.
I’ve used several different software interfaces over the years:

Roon is far and away the best I have used.
Innuos Sense is next best, and I used that because it was free and because it sounded better than Roon (that was several years ago)
I put the Rose Connect app in the same category as WiiM, Spotify, Qobuz; Somewhat cumbersome and takes some getting used to but in each I can get the software to do pretty much everything I need it to do. I was playing music 10 minutes after opening the box. 

I upgraded from an Innuos Zenith mk2 and Phoenix USB to the Rose 130. The Innuos has a bottom up sound while the 130 is more neutral. One thing that stands out is the 130 does a great job with imaging. 

I heard no discernible difference between the RS130 and the Lumin U2, they perform basically the same when paired with the AM Toubadour V and the Okto DAC8

I've read the RS130 caches the file for playback. I would imagine that it would be more immune to the network?

may not be a great pair with the RS130 all PCM design, considering I will not be able to do a direct DSD source to DAC

@dhungana, I’m not sure if I’m reading this correctly. The RS130 does do native DSD out if configured to do so.

@tonyptony I stand corrected. The RS130 can do DSD when using I2S. But not through AES/EBU or USB. At least not with the curent firmware. Maybe it gets fixed and you can do DSD through USB soon as well.

@dhungana, hmm. Have you tried DSD over DoP, or only Native? Also, do you have the RS130 set up with volume control enabled? 

@tonyptony No volume control enabled. I've never tried DSD over DoP, only Native.

Regardless, 99.99% of all the music I listen to are NOT DSD so I can live without it. Perhaps my own unit is defective or I didn't configure it properly, but as long as everything else is working I'm not too bothered by the lack of DSD.