Alas – I was obliged to return my 2-week old RS130 to Crutchfield. It wouldn’t start – just clicked when you pressed the power button, even after unplugging/plugging it in and even holding the power button for a while.
So I’m back to using a Bluesound Node in digital passthrough mode. Maybe the joke’s on me: I can’t hear the slightest difference between the Bluesound and the RS130, despite the latter costing $5000.00 more.
I’m very sorry that you had to return the device after only two weeks of use. But don’t mislead people, the difference between the two devices is fundamental. Look for the reason why they sound the same to you elsewhere.
I had no issues with my RS130 and discovered the same thing. It’s sitting in someone else’s audio rack now. Sold it and bought a streaming DAC and sounds better than the DAC in my preamp. Used digital pass thru for years and was surprised with the sound improvement. Rose app needs a lot of polishing.
The reason is very simple – they both send out the same data to the DAC, which generates the same sound from that data. The only difference exists between the (golden) ears of people who listen with their wallets.
Although I am not one of those people with wallets, I will tell you that you are very far from the truth. The lack of experience, a sufficiently good system and even more so the lack of an acoustically treated listening room lead to such inadequate statements. The bad thing is that somewhere there are people who do not understand anything, but by reading posts like yours they are actually misled into making wrong decisions. In some other life I will also explain to you about digital pulses and how they are extracted and transmitted and why there is a huge difference between the devices. Thanks, next time get yourself a Raspberry Pi and enjoy life.
So basically, you know even less about any of my systems (or rooms) than you do about audio, which is to say less than nothing, but feel compelled to present your opinion.
Yes. One of those persons is you.
You’ve probably meant to say “in my dreams I could explain explain something to somebody, too bad it never happens in reality.” Would your “explanation” involve phlogiston, jitter, and the importance of the Sun being in Aquarius?
That you do not realize that a Pi, apart from some difficulty integrating with remote controls, is superior to a 130 in every way that counts just goes to show that you have absolutely no idea what either of them does or how.
Wow, what empty words, typical of a fool. I will ask the administrators of this forum to take action, because no one needs to waste time and nerves dealing with degraded half-idiots, and half-because they still managed to press a few keys in a row. I am very outraged.
I knew any of this would go right over your head. Or whatever that thing you carry on your neck is.
Don’t piss your pants, baby. Must be quite miserable, pissing with outrage every time people notice that you are a clueless ignoramus, which would be happening at least a dozen times a day.
Or otherwise called an audiophool!
Yup. But look how confident they are promising to explain, one day, the REAL TRUTH about “digital pulses” (whatever those are) and how sweet, sweet $$$'s make them flow so much better.
@BorisM Wrong. My RS130 is a component level upgrade to my very resolving system. It makes all previous streamers I’ve owned (and there were many) sound identical to a Raspberry Pi. Upgrade your system dude.
If you think that any streamer, whether RS-130, or a Pi, sounds any differently from any other streamer, you should lay off drugs and try reading some textbooks.
Since “resolving system” always means something with more noise than a stone quarry on a busy day, and more distortion than NPR reporting from Breitbart headquarters (or vice versa) I can’t “upgrade” to anything like that. Poking some holes in my speakers with a nail might bring me close though.
I encountered the same issue with three RS-130 units I purchased from Rose. Unfortunately, despite reaching out several times, I didn’t receive a response, and some of my posts were removed. Eventually, I decided to trade in the machines. While the RS-130 has many great qualities, I’m currently exploring other options. There are comparable products on the market that offer strong performance along with responsive customer support and a clear commitment to their customers.
I’ve had Bluesound, Auralic, Rose, Moon, and Eversolo in my system. As streaming transports, they all sounded about the same to me. I have a high-end system which consists of a Mark Levinson preamp/DAC, Moon 860A V2 amplifier, and Dynaudio Contour 60 speakers. All those mid- and high-end streamers as streaming transports sounded the same through the Mark Levinson DAC. The sound quality will change with the DAC. The biggest difference in my system was switching to a streaming DAC and using the balance XLR analog connections into the preamp. This is where I heard the biggest difference in a streamer. I would only ever attempt to use a Rose product as a Roon endpoint. In fact, the last online dealer I talked to said they would only ever recommend a Rose product as a Roon endpoint.
I got lucky with my unit since it was solid for 6 months. The software was so bad that I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. Yes, there is another company based in Korea that is noted for outstanding customer support. I had considered purchasing one of their units but I didn’t want to spend that much on a streamer.
I have iFi streamer, PC with HQ Player as streaming sources feeding into my T+A Dac 200. The difference that RS130 makes over them is huge. It is bigger than my upgrade from Ygddrasil to T+A Dac 200. Or my upgrade from Denon amp to a krell amp. Without RS130, sound is bit more harsh. The staging and separation is not that refined. It is one of the best investment i have done in my journey.
ah yes those famous audiophile words that can not be refuted. Because they are absolutely meaningless and don’t signify anything
Inasmuch as they mean something, none of them can be possibly affected by a digital transport, only by the DAC, and even something as crappy as iFi does not make any difference. Of course, having spend about 20 times what a vastly superior in any respect PC used as a transport would cost (with working software, to boot) you have to justify it to yourself and convince yourself of some nonexistent “harshness.”
Please don’t remind me that I should be using my Mac as a digital front end. I have never had a problem with the software and navigation.
Sorry!
I am using an all-in-one mini PC with a built-in touchscreen for one of my systems, and even on Windows it does everything that a 130 would, with a higher resolution screen, you can attach a real keyboard to it, run full Roon (or Qobuz, or Tidal, etc. etc.) client on it, do room correction, upsample to DSD1024 with HQPlayer, if one is so inclined, and then some.
It’s much more simple than that @BorisM. The answer to, if you think there’s no difference in sound between a Raspberry Pi and a HiFi Rose, you need to get your hearing checked, or get better gear. Most likely both.