Disappointment with RS250

ROSE Products RS250
#1

I have had an RS250 for a year and a half and a year ago I made a subscription with QOBUZ. I would like to point out that I find the ROSE RS 250 very unsatisfactory with this streaming service.

Often at second 11 freezes occur without any automatic restart. But the worst aspect is the sound quality, lacking texture in the deep bass and bass region. Furthermore, the mid-high band is greatly emphasized and makes listening annoying when the volume is raised. Certainly not high fidelity listening.

Certainly it is almost more pleasant to use it with SPOTIFY.

Using Qobuz with the PC, the strange interruptions at second 11 are not noticed and the sound is not as characterized as with the Rose.

I would to express my deep disappointment for a product paid more than 2000 euros which is not able to take advantage of the qualities offered by an excellent service such as QOBUZ.

I would also add that I find it absolutely unacceptable that a little over a year after the release of the RS250 the new version called A is put on sale, which has completely different redesigned HW platform (more performing?) at a slightly higher selling price than the old version.

I find myself with a product still under warranty coverage which, with the sudden release of the new version, sees a cosiderable decrease in its value on the second hand market.

I was very skeptical when i bought an expensive product like the ROSE, convinced that the rapid evolution that digital gives to products would have made the product obsolete and greatly devalued within a few years.

But I didn’t expect it after just a year.

I believe that no buyer of second-hand RS250 is interested in the great stability of the software, the beautiful GUI and the excellent app you have equipped the ROSE with.
He will only tell you that version A with the new ESS chip, the new clock is much better than the previous one etc… Then just a review that indicates that the new ROSE is a big step forward from the past …

And maybe he will be right?
And maybe QOBUZ streaming will be improved too?

I am very very very disappointed by a product that does not streamer well and that becomes old too quickly.

I’m curious to know what other buyers who read this community think.

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#2

Same feeling with you, can’t agree more, i just got rs250 for a month, but i feel i’m using a china made buggy mid grade product.

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#3

Bonjour ,
Désolé pour vous et quel dommage.
J’ai comme vous un RS 250 depuis 1 an et j’en suis complètement satisfait . Habitant en région Parisienne j’ai acheté ce produit via une boutique Hifi se trouvant en Bretagne ( Quimper ) l’objet envoyé chez moi complètement et totalement réglé. Avec également un compte Qobuz pour environ 700 albums ça fonctionne du tonnerre .
Le tout fonctionne en réseau câblé et non en wifi , j’ai relié mon système hifi avec du très bon Audioquest.
Pour moi c’est une superbe petite machine que j’aime beaucoup.
Très cordialement.

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#4

I also had the problem with the dropouts at first, so I bought a Bonn N8 switch and plugged it in just before the RS250. Works perfectly and sounds fantastic.
Regarding the sound: It is possible to choose between 7 FIR filter settings which influence the sound. Try the minimum phase slow roll off filter.
Last but not least, the new one is always better, but at some point you have to buy the device, otherwise I’ll wait forever for the right time.

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#5

My problem is in the standby mode the power consumption is
too high.
Only the shut down mode gives a lower result ,remotely operation is then impossible.

#6

I want to clarify that listening to music stored on SSD with the ROSE RS250 is pleasant. His timbre is clearer and I don’t mind. The operability is great and I think this is the strong point of the ROSE RS250.
I was disappointed with streaming with QOBUZ and am puzzled by the short time between the release of the first model and the new version A.

#7

I have done many sides by side comparisons on the Rose between my DSD or FLAC music files and Qobuz. If you play one, then play the other, you can then go to the Rose home section and play from the “history” tab. This way you can go back and forth from stored high res music to Qobuz. I was truly impressed with the results. Yes, very slight improvement with the DSD files. But when I sit back and consider the convenience, I’ll stream all day and be happy.

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#8

i have an 150 b and i have at least 5-7 things I’m not happy with, and it doesn’t seams to get better either.some problems ar things who was ok with others for several years ago,regrett that i bought it!!

#9

I have no problem with Qobuz and for SQ I prefer it to Spotify.

All products develops and yes if you just bought the old version I understand that you might feel that you are loosing out. But a new version does not make the old one bad - I think SQ of the current RS250 is very good and it will be part of my system for many years.

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#10

I would like to give my perspective on this given that the first post is giving a rather negative view on the RS250.

I understand everyone’s experience (and expectations) is different. Here is mine : I upgraded from a Bluesound Node connected to the XLR input of Buchardt A500s.

I am using only streaming services (Spotify but mostly Tidal and also Qobuz which I tried thanks to the free trial accessible to RS250 buyers).

When I upgraded from the Node, I immediately noticed a better sound, cleaner bass, wider soundstage, softer and nicer mids and highs. I think this is the most pleasant sound I ever heard (and I have friends with systems costing 3 times more).

Spotify has a pleasant sound, round and with good presence but lacking details vs Tidal CD quality. When switching to MQA or Qobuz hi res, the sound is even better with more details, a more delicate presentation and more space between instruments.

Note that I had to use the Ethernet port because the wifi connection was very unstable, although my wifi 6 router is 5 meters away from the Rose and all other devices are able to use wifi without any issue, including for 4K HDR streaming on my Samsung TV.

Software wise, a few annoying user interface glitches were present in Sept 2022 but they’re now fixed (for example the VU meters settings are kept when going to standby and coming back).

I still miss Tidal Connect. Many other streamers, including cheap ones includes this and it just doesn’t make sense that it’s not present on a high end unit.

Lastly, the Rose screen and UI is one of a kind. A few products start to imitate but they’re definitely class leading for this…

Bottom line there’s no perfect product and everyone is free to like or dislike a product, buy it or not, depending on their specific needs and preferences…

Hope this helps,
Hervé

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#11

Hmm, using the RS250 as streamer for Spotify, Qobuz, internet radio and Roon is ok, but if you start streaming/playing local sources (and should be possible with a streamer) then the problems are starting (no DLNA client, slow SMB V1 connection, not acceptable performance while sanning medias, crashing after playing from CD,…).
I’m using primarily Roon and so not affected by the most bugs, but such a high price product must have a much better software/support.

Also I don’t think, that the RS250 SQ is great in using the internal DAC (my MA element i2 - which uses the same DAC - has a much better SQ and also my other streamers from Lumin or Naim are superior), but it’s not a problem to use an external DAC with it.

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#12

I have had an rs250 for 3 weeks. After a pretty smooth first week all sorts of glitches and bugs ocurred. There were so many functions that I simply could not use without hours spent on community page looking for solutions. By the third week I felt I had to return do to OS integration with Tidal, Qobuz being so complex to resolve. Also had constant failures when storing to internal Samsung evo pro 4tb ssd. Sadly I felt I had no choice but to return for refund. I had to fight with dealer to take back. He constantly ensured me that the fixes were all available on community page. I feel for the many owners who still suffer due to poor quality of a very expensive product. I am so glad it is over. Good luck to all current users, hopefully help is on the way.

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#13

I’ve noticed Qobuz just stops playing randomly, but Tidal is fine.

More recently I decided to add an external DAC as I’ve never been as happy with the RS250 as I was with my SoTM/Wadia combo (I bought the Rose because I wanted a remote analogue volume control).

I connected the DAC via USB and it just stops working, seemingly randomly. I bought a better USB cable (Neotech) and that wouldn’t wok at all, the Rose just hangs with the spinning circle on the display. So, I tried connecting the cable to the non audio USB socket. It worked for a few seconds, then gave out a full volume white noise that scared the entire household, so it obviously bypassed the software volume control. Now I can’t get the coax digital out to work either!

I have an iFi Zen Stream en route being delivered today, so I’ll try that and see if I have any success.

#14

Did you limit the output data rate to 48kHz? If you feed it a too high datarate it will not work. You did not give any information on the DAC you are using. What dac chip and which usb input chip does it have?

#15

I wanted to do an update. I changed the modem and now the connection with Qobuz is stable and there are no more interruptions. It wasn’t Rose’s problem, sorry for the previous report.

#16

Hello to everyone

I have had an RS250A for over 6 months:

Due to a lot of problems with certain functions via the remote control during video playback, I sent it with its remote control to after-sales service.
He came back to me with a new remote control.
This is indeed more stable, BUT there are still the same problems with the “Play/Pause” function in video playback, whereas there are none with the touch screen nor with the app on Smartphone.

The after-sales service did not find any physical problem with the device but specified that the problems with the Bloutooth remote control would be known to the Manufacturer and would be corrected in the next update…
But when ???

Do you have this same problem?
To read to you. Cdlt. AlainM

#17

The problem is well known. The workaround is to press a button longer than one would on a normal remote, sometimes five or six seconds before releasing it. You have to experiment with the length of time and the amount of time for a pause in between inputs. A kludge, I know but it works.
Someday it will be fixed.

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#18

Dear Friends.

I constantly read that everyone has problems with their Rose hiFi equipment.
They are always problems related to playback from Streaming platforms (I understand, the purpose of the product in question).

I have a RS250A, I bought it a couple of months ago and the truth is, I have no complaints,
I want to emphasize that I do not use Streaming platforms, I play from a 4-tera USB external hard drive, and I can say that the playback quality is excellent.

RS250A, in my case it is a DAC with a display to navigate within my hard drive and I mostly play SACD ISO’s, WAV’s extracted from my original CDS with EAC, high quality Flac’s; Perhaps this is the direction of the product, aiming at people who do not reproduce from platforms…Anyway, I have no complaints regarding the purpose I give it.

My best wishes to all.

José

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#19

I have no problems with the remote or streaming (I use only Qobuz).

The only thing that nags me is watching apps on my tv (YouTube and Rumble) that the sound is out of sync and becomes robotic like a Dalek. Just a pause+ play fixes it. Sound is only looped through the Rose (tv toslink Rose usb dac) but I don’t know what causes it.

I think the thing works and is a joy to use. For me it’s far more usefull than the PC or laptop I had before (not to mention the Android media player or CD player). Also it is a lot les work than maintaining a pc. And a lot less powerhungry and noisy.

This is a very complex machine compared to any audio device, so there’s bound to be some problems. Even a lot. If you have a forum like this to help solving problems, guess what?.. You’ll only hear the problems. It’s just like customer ratings on a webshop. You’ll hear the complaints 100%, but when it works ok or people are satisfied you only get 20% response. People need to be stimulated with perks or bonusses to give good reviews.

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#20

It is normal that satisfied users do not write or write little. In my opinion, 90% of those are satisfied.

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