I spent a small fortune on my RS 130 and put in more hours than anyone should trying to make it work. Most of us have done. I kept hoping the promises of products and software improvements would be fulfilled but the latest update has made even basic functionality worse ( nonexistent in fact) and enough is enough. I expected superb sound and very good video for my money and patience. The video has never been good or stable, when it works the sound in audio is actually excellent on USB, but basic functionality? Garbage. The machine intermittently can’t see its own storage, its remote control is next to useless, the RoseConnect software fails to connect or loses the machine regularly, and the last straw for me is that trying to select songs to play make and access playlists is complete frustration. “The selected queue is empty”? The brain of the programmer was empty. The basic functions are misconceived, Byzantine ( convoluted and inefficient) and even then seldom work as designed. I have been a big defender of the machine and the company but enough is enough. I very much regret the purchase and can no longer recommend the company or its products.
Couldn’t have summarized it better myself.
I think all the amazing reviews out there are due to the fact that there is probably one 90% markup on these and the different dealers want to sell as much as possible.
I don’t know enough about hardware to judge but the software is just plain bad.
+10000 for both post.
I read also lot of reviews before buying my rs-250a. I don’t understand how rose hifi have so many good reviews : ok hardware is good but the software is so bad.
But anyway is a good lesson : never trust reviews (they probably paid by companies that want to sell lot of their products).
Now each time i turn on my rs-250a i am always wondering what will be the next problem (valid for hardware and software).
I don’t anymore enjoy my expensive machine.
I better bought a wiim ultra that costs only 399 euro
I somehow agree when considering the sum i paid for the RS520
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Yet my life is easy because i mostly listen to whole albums from FLAC files.
I also do the FLAC generation and tagging on a windows computer and copy the files to the internal SSD of the RS520.
A year ago i badly missed functions which make use of tags to find, sort and filter artists, bands, composers and so on.
I still think that more usable functions to make use of tags should be available.
I also never use playlists or watch video
I would want to use radio more but the functions are rudimentary and not overly friendly to use as compared to cocktail audio player i had before. There using radio was simply great. There was even a function to search and list local radio stations.
I hope for improvements
I have the RS250 and ripped all my CDs into the internal storage. I agree with HJK that "The selected queue is empty” is confusing and useless. I don’t use it, and save frustrations. I created folders from my laptop, and each folder is a list to play. I never use the remote control, just the app on my phone. It works for all practical purposes (volume, selection of songs, turn off/on). Overall, I am happy with the system.
I have the basic 201D and use it everyday in my breakfast room.
I use the radio, play tracks from the hard disk I installed and CD from the addon CD rom drive.
I have now owned it for over 2 years and apart from a few radio station issues a year ago have had no problems.
I thoroughly enjoy the sound quality with it driving a pair of LS3/5A’s
The functionality of the touch screen on the unit is OK most of the time if just doing simple things. I am not a great fan of the app but its useable and better than some.
The remote is just OK.
Some of the complaints on here seem to be from people who didn’t check out the functionality before they bought it which is their problem and not the units.
I wish I could use it as a server and I wish it had Tidal Connect but I bought it knowing it didn’t have these functions.
I say a thank you to HiFi Rose for giving me a piece of equipment thats sounds great and is fun to use.
I see so many of you struggling with newer Rose Products - while I’m still having my RS150, to be used as a Roon Backend only. I did lots of tests with it at the beginning, but Roon has more to offer, than any other built in media Software.
I was considering, getting an RS130 as a Streamer only because I don’t use the internal DAC anymore. But after months of reading about issues, I decided to keep my working RS150, mainly because I got used to the screen.
The Rose Software itself compared with Eversolo is several years behind to be honest.
For what I need it, its working. For the rest I don’t care.
I switched from the RS150 to the RS130, using it with a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC MKII. It is connected via SFP through USB using the SFP Hub. I really can not agree to the posts before. Sure, there are some issues via I2S, playing Roon only in DSD64 which was announced by ROSE to be changed in future. Using the USB port the RS130 works really good and the sound and the display are absolutely amazing. I am coming from a Eversolo DMP A8 and the difference in sound is astounding. Yes, there could be more done by ROSE regarding the software, but still I do not regret my decision switching to the RS130
Every software release brings new malfunctions. Software volume control malfunctioned and had to be disabled to get any sound. Now Playlists cannot be added to. Roseconnect will randomly lose connection and ability to connect. Queue list goes missing. Displaying folder content to make a queue or playlist stops part way through and will not load. Functionality was never well designed but now even that is mostly gone. By the time I figure out workarounds as we always have to do a new release with new errors will come out no doubt. It makes it very very very hard to use or recommend the product ( 150B)
As far as the comments about some people not checking out the functionality before buying, that may apply to one or two people but certainly not to me and others that have commented here. I checked out the manual and the claims carefully first and the reality does not match. It also does not cmpare to other similar products from other high end companies of which I own several, so don’t p on my head and say it’s raining.
I reiterate, when you get it working properly I think the sound, especially through USB, is outstanding. but video is highly unstable at higher resolutions etc. and you pay for functionality you do not get. So far. I still have an unjustified hope the problems will be fixed eventually but it is now a faint hope
I’d be interested which apps you think it’s better than.
Such as the app from ?aryAudi?
IMO it’s not quite as good as Innuos and better than WIIM. But all 3 apps are perfectly fine for what I want to do*, and the Rose RS130 sounds better in my system than the Innuos Zen and WIIM Pro that I have in other systems.
- I stream Qobuz and Tidal (no Roon) and play ripped files from an internal HDD I installed in the RS130. I haven’t had any major issues in the year + that I’ve had it.
I have to agree with you HKressl that it’s not perfect but I don’t agree with all the negative posts.
I have a 4TB NVMe SSD drive attached via USB connection and haven’t had any issues with my unit as have been described by many. I think the only software improvement I’d like is better music list generation when picking 1 song and then generating a playlist for me. The “related contents” does do some of that.
My biggest disappointment is not with the RS130 but with Apple Music. I tried to listen to Apple Music through the app on the RS130 and I find that Air Play has better SQ than the API Rose is using. People need to keep in mind that this is not the fault of Rose, but this is Apple’s doing. YouTube Music is the same in that no units will have the app on them. I have a yearly subscription to Apple Music as I listen to nothing but Apple Music in the car. I have an Android phone and the native app is fine.
I am in sonic bliss with the RS130 as I previously owned a Node 130 and there’s absolutely no comparison. The RS130 wins hands down. Someone made a statement in one of the blogs of Rose community that the BlueSound Node sound better than the RS130 with Air Play. I did a perfect A/B comparison and couldn’t disagree with that statement more. The RS130 has a blacker backround and better resolution even through Air Play. The Node 130 is garbage.
It’s nice to see that someone else appreciates the unit for its great SQ over many of the units available. I thought about purchasing a DMP-A8 but I don’t need a DAC. I wanted a streamer only. I have a very high-end 2 channel system and the Rose is an excellent complement to what I own.
Surely the people Rose should be looking to compete with are the likes of Auralic and Aurender and the Rose software is not even close. Two really fundamental issue for example:
- The Artist listing uses the Artist tag rather than the Album Artist, which means you end up with hundreds of entries many of which have single tracks on some “best of Christmas” compilation.
- When you select an artist their albums are listed in alphabetic order and there’s no option to list them chronologically.
For a premium product this really not good enough.
The Rose hardware is excellent and the sound quality is exceptional, which makes this all the more disappointing. I suspect though that Rose expect most customers to use a third party product such as Roon where these issues don’t occur.
Hello, I own a Rose 130 since 14 month. Built, Display and SQ is outstanding but unfortunately this is all. If the pros listed above would not have been the case I would have sold the unit. When I got my unit from the official dealer the Rose was huming like a bee swarm. It took Rose about 3 month to tell me where I have to send the unit to in order to get it fixed. That meant to me at that time there was almost no European service in case off!! I was told to send the unit to Piega in Switzerland how told me they can`t do anything about it, moreover shipping would have been quiet expensive and since Switzerland is not in the EU - taxes would have to be implemented. Finally I got the adress of a repair shop in the Netherlands who got the issue fixed, but the Rose was out for service about 3 weeks - in addition I drove the 1 1/2 hours each way to the service shop. The numerous male function of the software and the truckload of complaints from owners speak their own language. To be frank, I have no real hope that Rose will get this sorted out! Even the Eversolo 6 I owned before was a breeze using it and I could play Spotiy using an own icon and not having the mess with Spotify on the Rose. Last comment: also the manual is lacking detailed infos …it tells what to push or change but not the impact on sound etc. - anyway enjoy your X-Mas tiem Oliver
Look what fiio is proposing for only 1099 euro.
It’s in French but you can translate it
I’m thinking to sell my rs-250a and buy this one instead.
Bonte,
Very, very impressive. It has all the bells and whistles…except an HDMI display. I’m pretty sure that’s the case… Hopefully I’m wrong but I looked and don’t see an HDMI out.
First one to add that really will cut into HiFi Rose sales.
Please, please Rose programmers, take a look at what’s happening in the marketplace.
StandardModel
Hi Ron @StandardModel
(It has all the bells and whistles…except an HDMI display.)
Yes, competition never sleeps!
That is also the purpose of a market economy. If you want to remain competitive, you always have to keep up with the biggest. That applies to hardware and well-functioning software.
I have no problems with my 520, I have always posted that here and if Rose didn’t have that big display, which we all felt magically attracted to, many people would definitely have bought other devices (big + point for Rose)
I am a fan of all-in-one (if, with a tube, like the https://www.advanceparis.com/fr/produit/myconnect-250/).
The display and everything in one device and then with a good converter like the (RS150B) and power amplifier components from the RA 180 (smaller, of course)…that gave me the reason to buy Rose.
The future for me, if I’m still alive, is…
the second larger all-in-one (from 1K - 4K) should be like the Advance MyConnect 250, but for now we all want to use our roses for a couple of years.
This is just another example of your post about the Eversolo DMP-A10. If you can do without a lot of gimmicks, you get a good device for 1k. (If everything is as it is advertised (praised to heaven).
Merry Christmas, a happy New Year and stay healthy (the greatest good on earth).
🪅
The 520 is such a unique device all about the display. I have mine behind glass in a dark recesses of an old rosewood cabinet where you only see what playing, it’s like magic the raised blacks of the LED display is a giveaway though here’s hoping for OLED down the line. And yes something radical with a software overhaul I want to move onto the separates