HiFi Rose RS130 network transport

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I have a 130 and have owned the 250A and 150B.

 

The 130 is a beautiful piece of audio bling. It's not just a pretty face. It's built like a tank and the components are first rate and has a very advanced design such as optical cabling. It's a noticeably better product than the 250A or 150B. The sound quality is superb. This isn't too surprising since there is no built in DAC, it's just a Transport.

The major downside is the software.  You have to understand that the 130 is not entirely a consumer product. It is unbelievably comprehensive in what it does and is capable of doing. I've looked at the competition and nothing is really close in terms of features. For example it has an internal Graphics card that produces 4kHDMI for my projector TV. Nobody else does that.

Capability adds complexity of operation.

The software works, it's beautiful and it's stable. It never freezes or crashes.  There are more alternatives, options and settings than you can imagine. However, there are bits and pieces which are maddeningly unintuitive. Things that could make the interface easier to operate are not where you would expect them. This isn't helped by the fact that there is no functional user manual for the software. It took me the better part of a month to feel comfortable with the software and I'm an EE.

On the plus side, there is a very active user group online pushing for things (including me). To its credit HiFi Rose support responds within hours.  

If you're the type of person who wants to plug it in and play, this is not for you. You could do that but it would be a waste of money. This is a much more serious piece of kit meant to be tweaked and adjusted to your heart's content. If you are the type of person who loves to tweak, it's audio Nirvana.

 

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You are not the only one to make that observation. You are correct that they do not access the lossless version.

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Still, despite its faults, it's the Trinnov of Transports.

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I too am using the optical link for the internet connection. 

To my ears, it is a big improvement. State of the art, really.

 

Roon has been absent too long.

 

What is your opinion of RoseConnect? 

I find it stable and feature rich but maddeningly unintuitive in many areas.

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Badgerdms,

 

You are describing my exact use case. I have the RS 130 behind me next to a Sony 4k projection TV. I love that the RS130 feeds 4k to the Sony. 

There isn't to my knowledge, a RoseConnect user manual. I have proposed that a user group make a Wiki. That would at least make a start. 

 

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Be prepared for a very long learning curve. In the end it is absolutely worth it but the road to achieve Rose Audio Nirvana is rocky at best. The hardware is bulletproof and spectacular. The sound, magnificent. The software is stable but the decision tree is a Rubik's Cube. The task you want to accomplish is in there somewhere but just as easy to find as solving the Rubik's Cube. Oh, and just to make sure you don't cheat and RTFM, there isn't one for the software.

 

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