Can anybody explain what is the difference between RS150 and RS250?

Can anybody explain what is the difference between RS150 and RS250 ? I have the RS250 and I am so far very hapy with it (bought it few weeks ago here in Melbourne Australia). Here RS150 sells at almost double price compared to RS250, however, functions and performance appear quite similar (based on information available). Is it worth the double price ? If yes, based on my experience with RS250 I would consider to buy a RS150 later .

Depends on how you use it. RS150 is a better DAC/pre-amp but perhaps the same streamer as RS250.

On what basis do you draw such conclusions? Did you test them simultaneously? From what I heard and according to law of the diminishing returns you get max. 10% increase for double the price. One must also consider entire set - amp, speakers, room acoustics in order to assess either the investment is worth the money. In other words and according to my local store: if you have 3000 USD amp and 6000 USD speakers you will not hear significant difference to justify the spend.

The full size case :wink: ^^

In this hobby 10% makes all the difference in the world.

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10% was a symbol, example to make a point

Or no difference at all. lol :wink:

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I created an excel with difference between the 2 devices. if you are interested, send me a mail or PM.
I cannot upload a PDF here.

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Hi,
I bought a RS150B, i think its a much better DAC than my Hugo2. I use it with my Moon P-3 pre amp and cyrus monox300 power amps into pmc fact 3. Better soundstage - more depth and musicality , bass. I tried the internal pre-amp going direct to the monos but my phono amp didn’t sound as good as through the moon.
I havent heard the rs250 but personnally the RS150B was worth it to me. Its going to be a very subjective descision for you. I was very happy with the Hugo2, until I heard the Rose … :slight_smile:

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I have different experience with Hugo2. Try to connect with coax to your Hugo2. Always. I think it’s the best input.

I agree, if your looking for a better dac, which I already have then the RS150 would be the better choice. Sabre dacs are over analytical for my taste, that’s why I use a Ladder Array Dac by Aqua. I wanted something that could replace my Sony HAP Z1ES which was great, but you have to do it Sony’s way via downloading files, which took the fun out of it, seems like the Rose units have no issues as long as the Hard Drive (External) are formatted in ExFat. I just put a internal in today, so hopefully it works like it says it will.

I have the RS150 (without B) and did not yet had a chance to compare.
maybe a dealer will lend me a new one to do a 1:1 session.
That would be fun. I had a Cocktail Audio X45 before I changed to the RS150. And the Rose sounds much better to my ears. And of course - the stability and software of the Rose is way better than on the X45.

Hi Kontomatiego,
That’s interesting, but what would I connect to the Hugo2? I use it with a 2go streamer. I have Densen B-400 XS (old model) and found that to be a great CD player (I guess down to the DAC and power supply!) and never needed to use the digital out. I did think the Rose 150B too clinical when used without the pre and direct to the mono x 300s.
As a fairly complete solution I do rather like the Rose, I’m using Van Den Hull The D-102 III hybrid RCAs to the Moon P3. I’m using the ARC in from the TV and I think that’s on par with the toslink for sound quality.
The only thing I’d like is the VU meters working with Roon! It reminds me of being a kid looking at my father’s Rotel tuner and amp… :slight_smile:

Try to connect RS150 to Hugo2 with coaxial. It sounds much better as 2go to my ears.

high end dacs are different mainly because the analogue output stage ,they will have good psus and quality dac ics

The 150B uses the ESS9038Pro DAC chip and the RS250 uses the ESS9038Q2M DAC chip. My old ears couldn’t tell the difference, what’s probably more important is how the output is handled. I use my RS250 as a digital streamer/source only and feed a better DAC and output.

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It is foreseeable that there are important differences between the two models, taking into account whether they are products of the same brandand double the price of each other.
It is not just the DAC chip that makes a device sound, but it is all the hardware as a whole, starting with the power supply, the clocks, the output stages, the internal shields, the signal path between the boards, etc. .

Bonjour, je serais intéressé par le résultat de l ‘analyse des lecteurs rose 150 et rose 250,car j’ ai peut etre une occasion d’acquerir un 150.cordialement

Si le prix est juste…

Le RS150 a le plus grand ecran, le meilleur qualité de son, des plusiers connections. Moi, je l’utilse seulement la function streaming et le RS250 me suffit perfectement (avec un DAC externe). Mais si vous voulez un boîte pour tous, je pense le RS150 (sans ‘a’, le veille modele avec le dac AK4499) est le meilleur choix.

Ok merci pour les infos. Je me suis renseigné et apparemment, gros avantage avec notre rose 250, car on a l égaliseur alors que le 150 et 150b pas d égaliseur. Et c est nettement plus efficace que les filtres, je sais pas si vous avez essayé, mais par contre il faut utiliser le dac du rose, sortie analogique.