Same here. I bought two of them. One machine died within two days. The machine won’t boot and was replaced with a new one. The replacement has the same problem after two weeks (!) and needs to go in for service. I wish Rose would offer me a refund. Not to mention the depreciation incurred due to the repair of the device. I contacted Rose and so far I have not received any response.
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I just brought my RS130 for the third major repair in 12 months. After swapping the input/output- and main-board this morning it deveolped drop outs and the screen shut off. I tried to restart the device but the screen remained dark and it could no longer be detected by the app. I even tried entering the IP address manually with no success. Disconnecting the unit from mains for a few minutes also had no effect. At least I have my trusty CocktailAudio X50Pro as backup. I think I’ll stick to that until the RS130 is repaired and I’ve got it sold.
I’ve been into hifi for over 50 years and had loads of equipment in that time. The RS130 is by far my worst experience in terms of quality and reliability.
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Dear HiFi Rose users
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced.
We will strive to repay your patience with improved hardware and software going forward.
ose users
How does this help all the users that currently own the RS130. Be very transparent in your reply. What I read into your reply is that all the folks who purchased the rs130’s are alpha / beta testers and Hifi Rose will use our feedback to you to shape future products without resolving the issues with all of the current rs130 owners, is that correct?
5 Likes
Well that is good but it doesn’t help me build confidence regarding my RS130. It needed a new input/output board upon unboxing and had the same issue again 3 months later. At the same time it got a new mainboard and now another 9 months later the screen quit working and when switching the power on the only thing that happens is that a relay clicks.
To be honest I would have expected to receive a new unit for exchange when it didn’t work straight out of the box. 3 major defects in 12 months is not acceptable and just replacing the failed parts with the same ones does not work for me. I have no reason to believe that the problems have been addressed and that the unit will keep working when the warranty has expired.
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You are correct, we are the beta testers.
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Dear HiFi Rose users
The existing products were built on hardware that does not support features such as Spotify Lossless or TIDAL Connect.
Over time, we began receiving many requests from users asking for support for Spotify Lossless, TIDAL Connect, and other similar features. We did carefully review whether these functions could be added to the existing hardware, but due to hardware limitations, it is unfortunately not possible.
For this reason, we are planning future products so that they can support these features from the beginning.
The feature requests mentioned above were received after the existing products had already been released, and they were not part of the original specifications at the time of launch.
@ROSEHAN
Could you please explain why the hardware is insufficient and what is missing? Until now my understanding was that it is simply a matter of software and there could be the possibility to add those features in a future update. If that is not the case I have a reason more to sell my RS130 as soon as it is repaired.
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Since this cannot be added through software alone, the final option would require hardware changes. However, because it is not possible to modify the hardware of products that have already been released, we are considering addressing this by revising the hardware design in future products.
@ROSEHAN
Yes, you already explained that, but what is the hardware missing? I mean Tidal Connect was common when you introduced the RS130 and it is supposed to be a flagship…
Quoting you from Sep 2023:
Hello Hi-Fi Rose users
We are planning to support Tidal Connect anytime soon.
However, to support Tidal Connect, we must be provided with the Tidal Connect SDK compatible with Rose’s platform (OS).
Currently, Tidal Connect SDK has not been created for the platform (OS) we are using.
In this regard, a request has been made to Tidal, and if an SDK that can be used in the environment used by Rose is provided in the future, we will support it.
Thank you
I too would be very interested in knowing just what the particular hardware limitations are.
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Rosehan,
I too would like to know what hardware limitations keep the existing Rose products from offering Tidal Connect. Is my detailed explanation of the problem (see my post:
Rosehan,
What you say is technically correct but it’s not the entire story.
Other vendors that don’t rely on that deprecated Android NDK SDK (i.e., custom Linux builds, proprietary Connect support, or third-party integrators) can support lossless via software. Examples:
Sonos — updates over their S2 OS to support lossless Connect.
WiiM devices — reported to already have firmware supporting lossless Connect.
Other OEMs — Sony, Bose, Samsung, etc. appear in Spotify’s lossless compatible device lists.
So the pattern is:
Android Application based streamers that depend on the old Android NDK Spotify Connect are stuck right now.
Devices that integrate Spotify Connect via newer SDKs or proprietary connect stacks are getting lossless support via firmware. HiFi Rose Is Not Alone — But Not Entirely Correct.
Rose is correct about the Android NDK SDK situation.
But the broader claim that no other manufacturer using Android SDK can get lossless without extra hardware is only partially right:
If a device like Rose is pure Android + old NDK Spotify Connect, it’s out of luck until Spotify/third parties provide a supported SDK.
If a device uses a different Connect implementation (proprietary, third-party, Linux based, or the Spotify approved Connect SDK), they get lossless in many cases via software.
So what Rose is really pointing to is: Their specific implementation path is too old — that’s why Rose needs external hardware.
Bottom-Line:
- Rose cannot add Spotify Lossless with a firmware patch because Spotify pulled support for the Android NDK Connect SDK.
- It’s not a physical hardware limitation — it’s an SDK integration requirement.
- Some manufacturers already support Spotify Lossless via software (Sonos, WiiM, Bose, Sony, Samsung).
- The difference is how they integrated Spotify Connect — Rose’s Android NDK path is antiquated, others didn’t rely on that path.
- If Spotify or a third-party makes an updated Android Connect SDK available that works with Rose’s platform, the software path would exist again — but that doesn’t exist right now.
Another issue is also true. Rose has known for a very long time that its version of the SDK would not function but said that they were working on it. They knew that the lossless connections would not be implemented for their existing user base. I wish that they had been more straightforward about that much sooner.
Hi Fi Rose “backed the wrong horse”. It is true that Spotify moved the goalpost and Rose got caught. This is really a consequence of using an SDK that Spotify considers to be obsolete.
StandardModel)
incorrect in some way?
It would seem that the problem is in fact the software implementation route chosen by HiFi Rose. Because of that unfortunate choice no SDK was made available for HiFi Rose’s implementation as it was for other implementations. I do understand that it would be extremely costly to change that at this time but it in the end was an erroneous software decision that could still be rectified were it not so expensive to do so.
StandardModel
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We also tried to add features requested by ROSE device users, such as Spotify Lossless and TIDAL Connect, but due to difficulties in implementing them, we plan to ensure that future new products will support features like Spotify Lossless and TIDAL Connect.
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Rosehan,
Thank you. I think that you are not taking issue with my explanation above of the problem.
Hopefully, as you write, in the future this will not occur on new models.
StandardModel
We will take into consideration the areas that can be improved and continue to make adjustments where possible.
We will do our best to ensure that everyone can use HiFi ROSE products comfortably and without inconvenience.
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Since the subject is open, what is the status of gapless DSD?
I’m writing here just to give me honest feedback about the RS130. My unit is working flawlessly and I never had any critical issues or HW failures. I’m actually very happy with this streamer, and I have tried a lot of them. My hope is that the team will provide more features (es. HQPlayer NAA) and improvements (es. switching automatically the display between cover, clock and VU meters)
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@Tony22
We are currently working on adding the DSD gapless feature. Our initial goal is to have it implemented by March, but we are experiencing some difficulties in the process. We ask for your understanding that the release may be delayed beyond the originally planned target date.
@Miracle1980
For ROSE to appear in the output list when sending HQPlayer’s output over the network, the HQPlayer NAA (Network Audio Adapter) must be installed on the ROSE device. However, at this time, ROSE products do not support HQPlayer NAA.
The NAA installation and executable files provided by HQPlayer are designed for general-purpose operating systems (such as Windows, Linux, macOS, etc.) and are therefore not compatible with the ROSE platform.
I don’t understand why Rose cannot update the version of Android being used as my phone seems to be able to do this?
Surely if this was updated the problems of Tidal Connect etc would be fixed?
Is this all about money and profit rather than being customer focused?
Don’t think an Android update will be the solution.
RS151 runs Android 12 and has the same issues