Streamers — HiFi Rose RS150B

The RS150B is a network streamer, DAC and preamplifier from South Korean brand HiFi Rose. It runs Rose OS, the company's own operating system built on a customised Android platform, and combines streaming, local playback, digital inputs, analogue preamplification and video playback in one aluminium chassis. The B suffix marks the version with an ESS DAC, as the original RS150 used an AKM AK4499EQ chip.

Key specs that matter

The DAC chip is an ESS SABRE ES9038PRO that accepts PCM from 8 kHz to 768 kHz at 32 bits and native DSD up to DSD512, with full MQA decoding. THD+N is -124 dB and dynamic range is 132 dB. Digital inputs are optical, coaxial, AES/EBU, USB audio and HDMI ARC, joined by one analogue RCA input. The XLR and RCA outputs work at fixed or variable level with a 50 ohm output impedance. Digital outputs mirror the first four inputs and add two I2S links (DVI and RJ45), and an HDMI 2.0 output carries video up to 4K/60Hz. Storage options are an internal SSD of up to 4 TB, external drives up to 10 TB on two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD slot. The front panel is a 14.9-inch touchscreen, and the unit weighs 13 kg.

Engineering and use context

A hexa-core processor with two Cortex-A72 and four Cortex-A53 cores and 4 GB of memory runs the system, so artwork, analogue-meter displays and 60 fps video do not slow audio processing. The audio section has a linear power supply with a large toroidal transformer rather than a switch-mode design, a high-precision femto clock for the DAC and isolated circuitry that keeps digital and display noise away from conversion. The I2S outputs have configurable pin assignments and pass unconverted data to external DACs, bypassing the internal one. Streaming covers Qobuz, TIDAL, Spotify, internet radio, AirPlay, DLNA and Roon Ready, and network storage is read over SMB, FTP or WebDAV. An external USB optical drive such as the HiFi Rose RSA780 adds CD playback and ripping. The chassis is milled from a single piece of high-purity aluminium for better heat dissipation. Control is by touchscreen, a front volume knob, a Bluetooth remote or the ROSE Connect app, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth come through a supplied USB dongle.

Pairing

Variable balanced and single-ended outputs allow the RS150B to drive power amps or active speakers directly with no extra preamplifier. Set to fixed output, they can go into the line input of an integrated amp instead. TV sound arrives over HDMI ARC, and the I2S links turn it into a transport for a high-end DAC.

Alternatives

HiFi Rose also makes the RS130, a network transport without an internal DAC, designed purely to feed external converters.