Усилители для наушников — HiFi Rose RS451

The RS451 is a network streamer, DAC and headphone amplifier from HiFi Rose of South Korea, known for its touchscreen streamers. It inherits the architecture of the RS151 in a compact chassis for desktop use, and it can also serve as a source for a stereo system through its preamplifier output. It is Roon Ready and certified Play with Audirvana.

Key specs that matter

Two ESS ES9027PRO DACs, one for the preamplifier output and one for the headphone output, support PCM up to 32-bit/768 kHz and DSD512. The DACs are rated at 124 dB dynamic range. The headphone amplifier uses four high-output amplifier ICs in parallel with a slew rate of 1,300 V per microsecond and drives headphones above 600 ohms. The processor is an octa-core RK3588 with 8 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. The 8 in IPS touchscreen shows the Visible Audio interface. Inputs are USB-B, coaxial, optical, HDMI eARC and RCA analogue. Connectivity includes HDMI 2.0, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.4. Headphone outputs are XLR, 4.4 mm balanced and 6.35 mm, delivering 2,600 mW into 32 ohms from the balanced outputs. Power consumption is 20 W at most.

Engineering and use context

Using separate DACs for the preamplifier and headphone outputs keeps their analogue signal paths completely apart, and each DAC has its own power supply and grounding to block interference. The headphone section's four parallel amplifiers provide current for low-impedance headphones and voltage for high-impedance models, and each channel has an isolated power supply to suppress crosstalk. The ROSE DPC, Digital Processing Core, synchronises incoming signals with a femto clock and aligns them as I2S, isolated from the device's other functions to reduce jitter. The ROSE NRA, Noise Reduction Analog, filter in the analogue stage removes noise and keeps the frequency response flat even at very low frequencies, without roll-off. Seven digital filters can be selected for the DACs. HDMI eARC takes the audio from a television, so the RS451 can serve as a desktop or living room hub. The octa-core processor handles streaming services, large libraries and the touchscreen interface. Black and silver versions are offered. It works with AirPlay and DLNA as well as Roon.

Pairing

The RS451 drives demanding headphones directly and feeds powered speakers or a power amplifier from its preamp output. HDMI eARC connects it to a television.

Alternatives

HiFi Rose's RS151 is the larger streamer whose architecture the RS451 inherits.