New- HiFi ROSE RS130 Ultimate Network Transport

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.