New 150b- Experienced Users Thoughts Welcome

Function TIDAL / QOBUZ / SPOTIFY
#1

This is longer than I imagined. Its not a review. Its my experience with Rose 150b going from unboxing and listen to days later. I wonder if anyone else has had the similar experience of coming from a much more expensive DAC to trying ROSE and what your thoughts are moving forward; are there ways to improve Rose? I don’t want to lose my ROON but it did not sound even close to being good the first nigh so I abandoned it for Rose Tidal direct.

I’ve had 2 days, 6-8 hours on Rose rs150b. My ears are use to one of the best DAC’s under 10K, Merging+NADAC (Swiss if you’re not familiar).

My first 2-3 hours setting it up I expected to need to adjust it and my ears. I used my ROON server (Gaming PC) however, Roon sounded absolutely awful. WAS IT JUST TOO NEW AND NEEDED TO burn in and settle? I’ll go back to ROON over the weekend and in desperation to hear something different, I switched to using Tidal through Rose. I was then 2-3 hours in and after switching, it got better. MQA tracks sounded better, way better.
My set up was that night Pass INT-60 on Devore Fidelity Super Nine speakers.
Ended first night with Tidal sounding “ok”, not great. *Started the evening with compressed and terrible sounds, too shrill and the midrange seems lost to the up lows, ended up with less shrill, but compressed sounds
FIRST IMPRESSION “Did the dealer say 15% restocking fee or store credit?
Day 2, Evening listen- switched to tubes, Conrad Johnson ART27A 35w class A, using Pass INT60 as pre-out. First impression day 2 was that it sounded much better and maybe the CJ amp is just that good….( experienced user forgetting the electronic device needs burning in a bit; how long was the ROSE sitting in the box before I bought it?) Listened to one jazz album and impression was; Wow, this may be acceptable after all. Switched to another tube amp, all in one CJ CAV45s2 amp with EL34 tubes. The rest of the night things sounded very good….starting to feel better as the shrill has faded a bit to almost none while the compressed sounding music is giving way to a more natural recording. Most music sounds good; vocals sound natural but in live recordings the clapping of hands that start or proceed a song remind you just how unreal the setting is, compressed hand clapping as a reminder this is less than like being there in the recorded moment. I ended day 2 with another 4 hour listening session. The Rose has opened up or my ears are adapting to something less than they are use to.
Morning 3: Using Pass Labs INT60 amp again…. The music sounds well…… like music and less like shrill compressed music…… a more cohesive presentation that reminds me more of the Merging+NADAC. Yes, I’ve played with the linear roll off and settings and found a point to my liking. If you ask me Rose 150 has opened up quite a bit and settled in to sound exceedingly great. So my 3 day journey started a little rocky, from dog doo doo to pleasurable presentation. Yeah, there are some hints of brightness but much more hidden and less, far less than it will matter. Should I expect it to get even better? Tell me? Day 3 and 95% brilliant sounding music is coming forth now.

I Will I try putting my Roon server back in line and see how it sounds; yes this weekend. I’d like to know if anyone using Roon server is enhancing the connection with a bridge or clocking device or….? The question I have on my head is can I make this Rose sound as good or better than my Merging+NADAC. What’s your experience?

#2

If you are using separate PreAmp set output Voltage to at least 5V for balanced outputs. Much more dynamic sound than 2-4 V. Regarding filter I prefer Hybrid.

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#3

Martin, that’s funny as I was just switching the voltage after moving back to Pass INT from Conrad CAV45 s2. Will apply filter and give it a try with Hybrid. I’d been happy with Linear Slow Roll. Thank you for the advice and experience.

#4

Is Qobuz available in your area? I started out with Tidal and was so very happy with it. Then after a month or two, I thought, well, The Rose does offer both so I set up a Qobuz account and I also have digital DSD files on the internal Drive (especially nice recordings that I am familiar with) The nice part of Rose is in the HOME tab, it will show recent play history. It is there that after I played 1. from my DSD internal and 2. from MQA Tidal and finally 3. from Qobuz, I could go to recent tracks and tap them sequentially to hear the difference. Of course DSD internal rules all. But then I heard nice symbols on the DSD so played Tidal and could barely hear them. Qobuz yes, about the same as DSD. After playing quite a few different tracks this way, I realized Tidal was higher pitched or something I can’t explain, but more disturbing to my ears at the high end. Whereas DSD and Qobuz had a more pleasing rich sound. I know those are subjective terms and to each listener their own description. But it was a consistent difference.

#5

I tried to love the 150B for 28 days…then returned it to Crutchfield (best service in the business, imo).

Hardware/build quality seemed up to the price point, but the internals are dogshit (sorry). Software is buggy as all get out…needed to be rebooted many times, would hang on screens, not switch between Roon Ready and Rose streaming, and when using the DAC, it sounded aweful. Of course I use a Holo Audio May KTE, so the comparison is not quite fair.

If they could improve the software and features, and provide a streamer/server only with no DAC…for a couple grand less, they would have an interesting product. Just my 2 cents…

#7

[quote=“Jahatl513, post:6, topic:2438, full:true”]
When was it you had yours? I guess since you are following the posts you are not done.
Your experience is not mine. My Merging+NADAC is a top of the line Swiss DAC so my expectations were this would not suffice.
I’ve had none of the experience you had other than the first 3 hours or so burn in. No Software issues I could not deal with. It sounds like you had a one off. I bounce between ROON and Tidal and music files on my USB drive.
[/quote]. Sorry I did not reply to the right post

#8

I’m coming up on a week. Roon Server is back on line and no issues going back n forth between it and Tidal or my USB hard drive (external drive). Everything seems to be as it should musically and in fact as close to great as the Merging+NADAC. I have no reservations about keeping this unit. Ease of use; sound quality; everything is perfect for now.

#9

Interesting to hear about your experience and also a little strange. I’m 3 weeks in to my own experience using the RS150b and other than the very first day with a minor issue upgrading firmware resolved fairly quickly, everything has been flawless, not a single reboot, software freeze, or issue.

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#10

Yes, I find if you are just let it auto voltage, the high frequency respond will drop off very much, due to my legacy equipment used is usually high output voltage, I set it to 1.9V (unbalanced) and ignore the remote control volume feature. But got much better sound.

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#11

Just got the RS150B for 2 days, the first day just installing and initial listening. It sounded good coming from a Moon 280D.

Day 2 :
more checking settings, trying HMDI rosetube/youtube and tidal video. Tidal video is not really in sync! very annoying

I just read some people need burn-in time on the RS150. I think it’s needed to some degree. Some parts need/will form in the heat. If this is an SQ thing… don’t know.

RS150 vs my moon 280D
the RS150 sounds more cohesive the soundstage is more realistic, with that I think the Moon 280D makes instruments sound bigger. Something that made me always wonder and nagged my brain a lot. So 1 of the reasons I went looking for something else.

Anyways… the RS150B is everything I look for in a streamer dac. Am keeping my RS150B!

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#12

Thanks for your experience and the comparisons. I feel as if the unit is playing at a higher level than expected. I think that with an “EVERYTHING” kind of product, as long as 80% of the EVERYTHING is there, then you are good. Some things will be better than others. I’ve not tried Tidal video, but Rosetube was fine.

#13

Well like I said am happy with the RS150B. Am thinking to stop my Roon. I have Roon rock server on a fanless nuc with linear PSU. Roon is handy and easy to use. But i didn’t compare running the RS150B via the app VS Roon SQ wise. I my head SQ cant improve. Unless Roon will destress the CPU on the RS150B. Hence Roon will decode the signal to the RS150B… But now am only speculating.

Ill run a few days with the app of Rose and switch in a few days to Roon and see.

#14

I have had the 150 for about three months. I initially bought the 250 and sent that back. Unfortunately, had wifi issues (which could have been due to my home network) and some software glitches.

The 150 has been rock solid with no issues. I do have it hard wired, so that may have helped.

Love the unit and don’t feel the streamer/DAC is a step down from separates. Using a Peachtree GaN amp with Wharfedale Elysian 2s. My Roon subscription is about to expire and don’t know if I will renew. Qobuz sounds great and Rose streaming is good.

Been trying different FIR settings and still haven’t found one that I like best.

#15

Rose RS150b Problems
After 7 days of using this unit
This is the first time when I have so many problems with any audio/ video equipment in such a short period of time.
DJ ( since I was 13 ) Audiophile

I hope that is just the software issue not a hardware issue and HiFi Rose engineers will fix it quick because they will lose a lot of potential buyers .

MAJOR ISSUES :

1 NO ROSE SCREEN MIRRORING ON TV
Whatever you see on Rose screen , should be seen on tv , but it shows only still picture .
My couch is 13 feet away ( about 4 meters ) from my entertainment center .
after connecting my external drive to this unit , and trying to find the right folder ,I need to sit right in front of HiFi Rose to see the folders .

Comparing to my Oppo 205 its like night and day , after connecting my external drive to Oppo I can see all folders on the tv screen and quick find what I’m looking for .

2 SYSTEM UNRESPONSIVE
“hifi rose’ system service is not smooth, would you like to restart it? restart/wait”
the system goes unresponsive. a number of times i have had to restart by turning the power switch off.

3 ROSE CAN’T RECOGNIZE EXTERNAL DRIVE
Connecting an external hard drive to the rose through the USB ports
I was able to access the same hard drive through my pc or both my OPPO 105D and 205

4 IPAD ROSE CONNECT APP CANNOT FIND MY ROSE RS150B

It doesn’t show up as a discoverable device when I open the app.
I’ve tried many times, reinstalling the app ( both - unit and iPad connected to the same network )

5 VIDEO ERROR
“Could not play due to temporary error , Please try again later “

6 NO SOUND PLAYING VIDEO FILES
the video plays, but there is no sound ,
need to reboot , search for video again and after rebooting its ok , changing to another external drive cause the same problems , system crashing or losing sound playing video files .

8 SYSTEM CRASHING USING EXTERNAL DRIVE

The system keep crashing. changing to another external drive cause the same problem.

7 LOST BLUETOOTH CONNECTION

Downloaded the latest version as recommended by the unit, RS150B
I have lost Bluetooth connection to the remote and my iPad

8 PLAYING FIRST SONG FROM THE ALBUM

Selecting THE FIRST song from the album using remote , after playing this selected song , unit starts shuffle playing random songs from different albums. IT SHOULD PLAY NEXT SONG FROM THE ALBUM!
If unit cannot find the shuffle songs it’s unresponsive.

9 USING RETURN / BACK BOTTON ON REMOTE
Example
Main directory - drive - main folder - sub folder - sub folder - songs list

Using remote you can go back only to previous sub folder ( every other device let me go back to the main directory using return / back bottom on the remote )

10 NO AUTO POWER OFF FUNCTION

11 ROSE SERVER CONNECTION FAILED ,
It happened many times !

MINOR ISSUES:

1 POOR REMOTE QUALITY

2 REMOTE TOO DARK

During the day when room is sunny and bright it’s ok , but at evening or at night when room is dark is practically invisible comparing to the other remotes , no backlit no big visible icons on botttms )

3 SLOW MEDIA SCANNING RS150B

4 PROGRESS BAR INVISIBLE
( when art cover is in light colors bar is invisible)

5 PLAYING FIFFERENT SONGS – THE SAME WRONG ARTWORK IS ON THE SCREEN

6 WEATHER INFO
The closest city I can set in my region is New York , 100 miles away ! Useless feature.

7 WI-FI/ BLUETOOTH dongle works all the time ( even when unit is off )

#16

@Rob

Interesting comments. Based on your list send the 150 back to let somebody else enjoy.

Go back to spinning your records.

#17

I have had my 150-B for a few weeks fresh out of the box I went straight to the heart of the server ignoring for now all the frills . I have a 2 TB SSD I immediately started to fill up and connected the 150b to my TV .
Sound quality using a Merason Dac 1is exceptional I find this pairing more enjoyable then my previous aging front end , Rockna WaveDream Net server and WaveDream balanced dac . Upgrading my network cable and switch was a huge improvement sound wise listening to internet radio .

My conclusions at the top of my list is the 150-B has exceptional sound quality especially using a high end outboard dac , I suspect it’s a synergy thing happening though I am astonished with the level of natural sounding timbre and tone especially with the human pitch both with internet radio and a selection of ripped CDs .

As for the minor glitches and clunkeness of use I have confidence the Rose team will catch up and smooth out some of these software issues myself and others have experienced.

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#18

Try testing Roon server as I said in my posts, the SQ difference is not just better but excellent in my case. Please let us know what you find in yours?

#19

There are so many things on your list. No.1…. Video does not automatically display on TV unless you get up and touch the ROSE screen and set that function in motion; again its not automatic. There are threads here that describe how to do it. At this…… I have to assume some other issues are human error or lack of knowledge as well. Not putting you down, but if anyone else can help this user; please do.

This link should show you how to get video to your TV

#20

@Rob I feel you! If something is not working as you want to. emphasis on “you”. Everything starts to annoy you.

Am now on day 3 and had none of these problems you have. But if I had so many issues with this. I would return in immediately! I wouldn’t accept it at all.

Seems you are and you are hoping for a good resolve? I hope you get it and can start to enjoy your RS150B

If not, just return it. It’s a lot of money!

#21

I have no problem playing video files ( music videos , tv shows or movies)
I’m talking about screen mirroring while searching for the music ,folders etc ,
Whatever you do on the Rose screen should show be visible on tv .
Look at the picture.
Rose main menu on display , but on tv is just some screen saver .

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