HiFi Rose RS130 – Network Transport (Ex-Display)

No More Noise

The principle technical ambition when developing the RS130 was to produce a totally clean digital signal for any connected DAC, allowing for a very low noise floor and a vivid, detailed sonic image. This has been achieved with a variety of new technologies including optical network connectivity, optical USB connection options and a high-precision OCXO clock. The result is evidenced in the stunning technical measurements achieved by the RS130 under laboratory conditions.

Optical fibre data transfers are noise-resistant, fast and reliable, even over longer distances. Therefore the RS130 supports sending and receiving data using Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers over ethernet. Similarly, fibre USB technology is more immune to electromagnetic noise and achieves greater signal stability, which is why the RS130 boasts a fibre USB 3.0 input. Further, HiFi Rose will also soon offer the RSA720 USB Hub with fibre output, to allow this still-developing technology to upgrade the performance of any local, USB attached music storage.

Keep In Time

The RS130 maximises the accuracy of its digital output signal by using a high-precision OCXO 10MHz clock. This type of clock is amongst the most accurate and stable on the current market, regardless of temperature changes, and is purpose-designed to suppress jitter generation. The result is  perfect musical timing in the end-performance, allowing listeners to travel deeper into the sound-field. There’s also an external master clock input, for synchronising the clock signal between various devices.

Optimised Performance

Throughout the RS130 signal path, HiFi Rose’s designers have selected premium components and technologies to ensure no part of the transport process is compromised. This logic even transfers to the actual board layout, where the AC power supply, DC power supply and audio-signal processing circuits are physically isolated from each other.

The entire circuitry is then fed by a newly designed 15V DC / 6.67A power supply section, featuring high-capacity supercapacitors and a shielded linear power supply. This innovative design provides excellent power delivery to the main audio circuitry, with sufficient headroom to ensure the power supply is never under stress and the performance is never compromised. The end result is dramatically reduced power noise and a sound performance from the RS130 that is entirely natural and faithful to the original.

A Build to Behold

Externally, the RS130 is identifiable as a piece of luxury industrial design. The solid aluminium construction is complemented by functional heat-management aspects, such as the heat-sinks on the side of the chassis, and the ventilation built-in to the HiFi Rose logo on the top. It is also highlighted by striking visual elements, such as the crystal-topped control buttons on top of the unit, and the wide-angle 15.4” 1920*382 resolution LCD capacitive touch-screen, making the device a true joy to use every day.

Rose OS

At the centre of the RS130 experience is ROSE OS, HiFi Rose’s Android-based operating system, which opens up a world of music and video to your streamer.

Rose OS allows users to play music and video files from a local storage device (USB, MicroSD or SATA), or access files elsewhere on your home network with a DLNA connection to any NAS drives or other storage devices. The Music app gives a clean presentation of all your connected music storage and is easy to navigate and use. Rose OS also features built-in apps for Tidal, Qobuz and Apple Music – giving complete access to their extensive streaming libraries. The Tidal app even gives access to the service’s music video streaming content for playback on the RS130 screen or via the HDMI output.  On top of this already impressive feature set, the RS130 is also an MQA decoder, for full playback of Tidal Masters tracks.

Elsewhere, the CD and CD Ripping apps allow you to attach any standard external CD-ROM drive for convenient CD playback, or to rip CDs in highest-quality to any local storage device in a quick and intuitive way, all through the touch-screen interface. The Radio and Podcast apps give you access to extensive live radio and podcast databases, while Rose Tube gives you access to YouTube for music and video playback. Rose OS also offers support for Roon Ready, Spotify Connect and AirPlay, effectively bringing your entire digital audio experience into one elegant system.

But in addition to offering extensive music access, Rose OS is also engineered for high-performance sound. The Rose Audio Architecture within Rose OS can deliver pure audio data to a DAC without loss, thanks to the Rose Audio Server, developed in-house by HiFi Rose to utilise various signal processing technologies. These technologies effectively involve separating the audio data from all other processes required to run the operating system, meaning the audio signal is never affected when you are controlling other aspects of the RS130.

The RS130 further benefits from a dedicated 256GB SSD for audio caching, eliminating the impact of vibrations and noise that can occur when playing audio from a hard drive connected via USB. Additionally, it minimises latency errors that can occur during network streaming, allowing for more stable caching and playback, which prevents audio quality degradation.

Connect what you need

The RS130 is designed to be at the front of your digital audio system, and as such it boasts a variety of inputs and outputs. There are more traditional Coaxial, Optical and AES/EBU outputs, alongside an Audio USB output and a selectable I2S output. The HDMI video output allows you to play video or music information to a connected screen. The EXT Clock BNC inputs allow for clock synchronisation and the USB inputs allow for local music storage attachment. The USB 3.0 Fibre port can only be used by connecting an SFP module and using an external USB 3.0 Fibre Hub, like the RSA720, and an optical cable. The 10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet port can be used with SFP Fibre and Copper modules for appropriate network connectivity.

The Ultimate

The RS130 has been designed from the ground up to function as the ultimate network transport device. With innovative technologies and industrial design characteristics throughout, it’s capable of delivering perfect digital audio to any connected DAC, resulting in a sound that is natural, free of unwanted noise, and coloured only by the influence of your chosen DAC.