If i2s doesn’t work, that’s a deal breaker for me.
I2S works fine with the 130 but you have to deal with the PLL locking time issue
Fiber optic works well.
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I was in the same place @joyofmvid based on prior experience with 12S. Here is what I have found.
12S works. Using Rose Connect you can get PCM and DSD up to 512 with PLL. However, the PLL can take up to 10s to lock.
Roon does not allow for DSD over 12S.
To my my surprise the Fiber Hub and USB sound seems in my system to be better (lower noise floor, wider sound stage) than 12S. With the Fiber hub and USB the PLL lock issue and Roon DSD also work, so this is a better path for me.
My experience is still and unfortunately: Rose can play up to dsd256 (on my dac: a PS Audio Mk2) over I2S, but only throught the Rose app from my nas. When playing the same files over Roon, the reproduced format is only dsd64.
Rose hasn’t been able to fix this, up until now. Obviously, not a hardware problem, so why not fix it on the software side?
Is the 10s issue fixable via a firmware update?
What is the “10s to lock” mean? Is it only on Rose startup (ie, wait 10s before starting to play music?)
The PLL or Phase Lock Loop is the feature on the Rose that locks into the source clock and drastically reduces jitter. For me it was taking up to 10s to lock into a new bitrate when that changed using I2S. So song starts, no sound for until it locks, which is not good. Not an issue with USB…
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I can’t use USB. My prepro (AVM 90) does not have a USB input. I desired i²s in hope that in the future, RS130 will support surround sound & 3D immersive sound – streaming services is starting to support this (surround sound SACD, Blu-Ray Audio,… plus 3D sound from Amazon Music, Tidal, Bluray Hans Zimmer Live in Prague, …). For the AVM 90 Prepro, my only interconnect choices are i2s & digital coax – I don’t think coax can carry surround sound & 3D sound. Hence, i2s is my only solution. The 10 second issue is a deal-breaker – I would go crazy to wait 10 seconds for each song. What’s the solution? I sure hope HiFi Rose fixes this with the next firmware update? Would an external clock solve this issue? If so, what are recommended external clocks for high quality sound & quick PLL?
@joyofmvid
Are you a Roon user? If so, you can work around the PLL issue by either turning it off on your DAC or using Roon DSP to set a constant upsampled bit rate. Also note this is more of an issue with My Holo MAY DAC and so your DAC or “mileage” may vary. It could have a faster or slower lock. What did you plan to connect via I2S? I don’t see that your Pre/Pro has 12S out…
For MCH /Surround music I use the HDMI out of my Roon Core into my AV processor. Another reason to use Roon.
No, I am not a Roon user. I plan on connecting the RS130 to my Anthem AVM 90 prepro using i2s to HDMI (Anthem confirmed that they accept i2s via HDMI; however, their pin configuration differs from RS130’s – I found a cable manufacturer that will custom build me an i2s to HDMI Cable).
You gave me an idea. From what I read, RS130 can upscale digital audio so if I set RS130 to always upscale to 24-bit 192kHz, then the PLL 10 second issue won’t occur, right? ← any drawbacks with me requesting RS130 to always upscale (hopefully, no lost of audio quality).
RE: HDMI to I2S
I would encourage you to do more research on this. I am not an expert on I2S but I don’t think that a simple HDMI cable going from the I2S out to HMDI in on your Anthem is going to work. You might be able to get an active adapter (they exist) but, why? If you are looking for surround I2S does not support more than 2 channels. All you have to do is look at the pinout diagram to see it’s only L/R.
That said why not just use the HDMI out on the Rose 130 for multichannel (HMDI Passthrough) and use COAX for 2 channel 24/192?
If you are spending the money on Anthem and HiFi Rose, you may want to try Roon because it does support multi-channel PCM, will work with the HDMI in on your Anthem, etc…
RE: UPSCALING
Yes, this would or could solve your PLL lock issue if the DAC in the Anthem even has delay. I would still encourage you to try Roon because it does a better job of music management than the Rose. I think you will find many voices on this forum that agree Roon + HiFi Rose just works.
Happy to help if you have more questions - you can even send me your AVR for testing — looks awesome. Enjoy!
EDIT: HDMI cable is an I2S cable - nobody needs to build this custom
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Your comments were really informative. My AVM 90 has 7 HDMI 2.1 inputs with the AVM 90 HDMI-eArc output port connected to my Sony A95L QD-OLED TV HDMI-eArc input port… I thought I read that RS130 HDMI should not be connected to a preamp/prepro. If I understand your comments, I can connect an HDMI cable from RS130 HDMI 2.0 to one of the AVM 90’s HDMI 2.1 inputs. Supposedly, the AVM 90 will treat the Audio & Video in the same manner as that sent from a 4k disc player. That’s great!
The 2 channel audio quality is most probably better via i²s. Hence, would it be possible to connect both the RS130 HDMI Out & the RS130 i²s out ← hopefully, I could set all mono & stereo audio to be sent via i2s and surround sound & 3D sound to be sent via HDMI. Is this possible? If not, I’ll most probably loose a lot of audio quality if I use the RS130 HDMI for stereo sound; mmm…
BTW, the custom HDMI Cable would setup the pin configuration for say RS130 Mode A on the transmission connector and the AVM 90’s pin configuration on the receving end connector ← the custom cable is directional.
Regarding AVM 90’s DAC, it is a Saber ESS…38 Pro DAC. You said “PLL lock issue if the DAC in the Anthem even has delay” ← does this mean, only some DACs utilize PLL; hence, most likely the AVM 90’s DAC will NOT be affected by the PLL 10 sec issue (Is this correct?).
Thanks for your feedback – it’s helping me a lot.
Yes, this is how I would connect it. Let your processor drive your speakers, subs, room correction, for video and surround from RoseTube, etc.
Not really, some hear a difference with I2S. Some don’t. The advantage is the higher bit rate due to more bandwidth and the lower jitter due to clock signal that rides along. I²S - Wikipedia
You could manually switch to HDMI for Surround content and I recommend you use COAX for your highest quality sound out of the Rose 130 into your Pre/Pro. And NO, you can NOT use I2S into HDMI without an Active Adapter. Like this one: HDMI/MHL to IIS I2S HDMI IIS I2S Separate Extract Audio I2S/DSD/Optical/Coaxial | eBay
Your Rose 130 will do the same job as an I2S Adapter. Why bother?
Forgot to comment on this. You may well find that your AVM DAC over COAX has very little or no delay at all. The DAC I have has a special low jitter PLL that reduces jitter but introduces a delay…
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