When I‘m reading so many complaints or critics of the Users about mostly tiny issues I can‘t unterstand that. I have been moving from a Streaming Engine which had been succsessfull at the beginning and now there is no updates and support existing anymore. For years had been a simular situation with so many complaints which had been unimportant and didn‘t touch the functionality or the audio quality. The result was, the company stopped any activities and was running into a Financial problem.
My review on the rose product is that I‘m 100% satisfied with the RS520, the rose support and the joy of good audio quality every day.
I don‘t have any complaints and I would ask all users to have the focus more at the output and not at things which might be better for their own aspects. Have fun!
Hi Wallis,
I think you may misunderstand what you’re seeing.
The reason you’re seeing so many ‘negative’ complaints is that this is the only support place where people can ask questions and vent about the niggles. (Small thing)
What you are not seeing are massive complaints about the product because most people here do enjoy the sound and its the little things that are a pain. Not to mention, it seems some can easily be tweaked or fixed via software upgrades.
What makes this more of an issue is that you now have companies like Eversolo introducing new products and getting more air time and praise. The Eversolo has a better UI, yet I don’t believe it has better sound. (Ok so the Play is a fraction of the price.)
Congrats on buying a RS520. Warts and all, I’m happy w my purchase…
Hi Smegel,
I agree with you that obvious bugs and problems with Rose device should
be mentioned and complained in this forum. But I See a so many demands
and issues which I can‘t follow and these will overload the Rose support.
Result: No time for further developments. As I mentioned already I have observed a simular ongoing with my last distributor in connection with the developer of my high valuated Streamer. The Streamer has been excellent but from 2023 on no official support anymore. It‘s still working with a better handling Software than Rose but I accept the new handling of my RS520. I think it‘s a matter of learning the functions day by day.
Let us have fun with a good music and looking forward to continuous good support in this forum.
But this isn’t really support per se.
I mean we’ve talked about the lack of balance controls… the now discontinued 201E has it, but the 520 doesn’t. Rose came back with a non-committal response. I took that it meant that they would put it on the wish list and may add it sometime in the future.
I understand that you feel the forum is a bit negative at times. Sure.
But take that with a grain of salt.
I’d be more afraid if it was all positive reviews. There are issues w all products so when you don’t see any negative comments… time to be wary.
Just for a positive comment.
I have an iBasso DX180 DAP. The 3.5mm output doubles as its SPDIF (coax)
So I got an adapter and ran an rca cable from the DAP to the coax in.
Using spotify… I was listening to the music going thru 2 DACs. Sounded a bit smoother.
You could probably do that w your streamer into the RS520.
As to support… most hi-fi gear doesn’t really need support after a certain point.
I picked up an Arcam Solo Uno a few years ago, which I replaced w the RS520. Now we’ve got it in our living room. Its been discontinued, but if you can find it… for $250 USD its a killer small AIO. The OS and app suck… but its a 25wpc 8Ohm, 50wpc 4Ohm. Now my wife can use airplay and spotify to listen to music. (Never seeing the app. ) I have some internet radio stations… It will run until either something breaks, or airplay/spotify change their apps and I can’t get it to work anymore.
W.R.T the Rose… quirks and all … as long as the tech works… its good and will run for a long time.
My tiny complaint is, that the ROSE intelligence is not able to find all information in the tagged music data.
This renders the use of tags, which are a standard format to write/read metadata in several music file formats, in part useless.
… since the main use of using the ROSE audio device is listening music from tagged music data (FLAC files), this issues is rather large one for people like me.
Just a few days ago I was totally disappointed with my RS520 - but the issue was not this beauty… it was me. My used to work with my former Equipment. So some days passed and I just love it. It is the Perfect hifi I was looking for. Love it …
Thank you very much for your positive feedback regarding the RS520.
If you experience any issues in the future or have any questions, please feel free to let me know at any time.
I love my RS 520s. They are really wonderful devices. Nothing is perfect but as they say “Perfect is the enemy of the good.”
StandardModel
So far I have tested almost every interface on the RS520.
I haven’t tried the PC USB in…
I’ve pulled out an old USB B to USB A cable… so I might try it this weekend.
I kinda hope that Rose will standardize on USB-C 4 for future products. (This would allow for more power along w better connectivity. )
Got the RSA780 additional to my 520. what a Charme. Placed it with a longer usb cable under my Rega P3 - fits perfect. And I don’t have to knee down for changing cds. Except …. Pressing the eject Button 
.
A friend in another forum found a used RS520 for sale here in the US.
Priced around $1850. Asked if it was a good deal.
I honestly had to tell him … maybe. It depends.
If you want an AIO w a great amp? Yup. Best amp on the market at the price point.
For $1800… definitely, quirks and all.
But if you’re looking for a checklist to compare against other products? Not so much.
Its one of those devices where if you know the warts, and make an informed decision… its a good value. If you don’t and expect something different? Not so much.
Laughable, but your knowledge of amplifiers is only surpassed by your expertise in subwoofers 
By the way, Boris, as far as I understand, you are the owner of a HiFi Rose RS520.
Which speakers are you using it with, and how does it sound that “indescribable” Class AD from HiFi ROSE?
Just a few words would be great. Thanks!
I have a pair of rather old Mission floorstanders. Which are quite good (in a “Great British Sound” sort of way). It’s not my main critical listening setup, but it sounds decent after much fiddling with DRC and room integration.
Does it sound better than my office system with a PowerNode and a pair of new Revels? Nope. And ironically, with all that fancy GaNFET technology that’s supposed to be far more efficient, and with much more ventilation than a PowerNode, after 10 minutes of doing nothing, it gets much warmer than a PowerNode after several hours of playback 
Oh, and prior to Rose I had a lower-power NAD in its place and with same speakers (replaced it with something else and put that in a different room). That one was slightly better, thanks to, again, proper bass management. Not enough for me to bring it back – RS520 makes a great conversation piece in the dining room and we pull New Year fireworks on it when having a NYE dinner – but on sound quality alone it’s… well, it’s OK. If I decide to get another box with similar features, I’ll get a Lyngdorf or something like that. For a lower-power setup, a Wiim Ultra Amp is the comparable device, ith much better value.
I noticed that my RS520 warms to more than handwarm with a volume to max 20.
But when the neighbors are not @ home I go until 50 - 60 and does the 520 outside not get to handwarm and stays cool.
So it invites to play louder. Hahaha
Uh… those old Missions — were they by any chance the 783?
Back in the early 2000s I actually had to choose between Mission 783 and the Canadian Sound Dynamics R-818. Man… speakers back then were something else.
If I remember correctly, both used plastic cones, and at that time I was listening to a lot of rock and craving a big, juicy, no-nonsense bass — so I went with the Canadians.
That said, the Missions always sounded more refined, more elegant, almost audiophile-correct 
You often mention DRC room correction so let me clarify something.
Do these systems work by continuously measuring the sound field, with a microphone placed in the listening position and adjusting the sound on the fly in real time?
Or is the correction done once, based on a calibration sweep that identifies problem areas and room modes?
If it’s the first option — that’s basically a bombshell. Seriously impressive stuff.
But if it’s the second, then how does this actually work in practice when listening to real music?
Take mixes where one track has a ton of bass and another has almost none simply because that’s how it was recorded.
In that case, the room mode might be nicely tamed on a bass-heavy track — but on a track with little bass to begin with, wouldn’t the bass end up sounding even thinner?
That’s the part where my brain starts scratching its head
Those are the 77-somethings, with Aerogel cones. Rather similar to 783 just with less bass. As long as you do not expect them to do an organ concerto by themselves they are quite pleasing.
This would be theoretically possible but requires some serious computing power exactly for the reason you mention – to do it right you’d need to analyze the original signal at the same time as the reproduced sound and adjust it. But unless you change speakers, rearrange furniture, or do something else that changes the room/speaker interaction, necessary adjustments do not change. So most of these systems start with measuring the reproduced sound of a known signal (usually you want to measure it in a few places so you don’t have to keep your head fixed in one position). That gives the frequency response, reflected sound, and phase information as it is reproduced in your room by your speakers. Then you select what kind of overall frequency response you want (the “house curve”) and either generate convolution filters (e.g. using REW, or something like Focus Fidelity which is what I use, as it is significantly easier) or have the built-in calibration system (e.g. Dirac) do it for you. With a good filter designer you get phase-correct signal with a much smoother frequency response and more accurate timing. As long as you keep the target curve close to what the speaker does naturally, you still get the sound of a speaker you chose (presumably because you like it), just improved.
As far as the bass goes… you can’t fix room modes with DRC alone. If some frequency cancels at your listening position, you can send 10x times as much signal to the sub, it will still cancel. If this is a problem you need multiple subs and position them right.But at least you can deal with peaks to a degree.
Of course this really works if you have a good recording – it helps to reproduce it “as recorded” more faithfully. If the recording is lacking in bass, this is where you want to fire up some equalization just for that track. Of course this is something Rose decided people should not have on their “flagship” devices so you need to apply it elsewhere. Since I use Roon for 99% of my listening, I have base convolution filters active for every zone, and turn some slight PEQ on for those tracks that need it with a couple of clicks.
You do need to experiment what kind of a curve you like (which could also be different for different locations) but one you find it I think it gives quite a bit of improvement. And just the measurement itself will tell you right away at least if you have some glaring problems – like wiring things out of phase, or having an incorrectly set crossover.