Стримеры — HiFi Rose RS150B

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

Key specs that matter

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

Engineering and use context

A hexa-core processor, combining two Cortex-A72 and four Cortex-A53 cores with 4GB of memory, runs Rose OS, so the interface, album artwork, analogue-meter displays and video playback at 60 frames per second do not slow audio processing. The audio side uses a linear power supply with a large toroidal transformer instead of a switch-mode supply, a high-precision femto clock for the DAC and isolated circuitry to keep digital and display noise away from conversion. The I2S outputs, with configurable pin assignments, can pass unconverted digital audio to external DACs that accept I2S, bypassing the internal DAC. Streaming covers Qobuz, TIDAL, Spotify, internet radio, AirPlay, DLNA and Roon Ready, and the unit plays from network storage using 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 high-purity aluminium as a single piece to improve heat dissipation, and control is by the touchscreen, a front volume knob, a Bluetooth remote or the ROSE Connect app. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are provided through a supplied USB dongle.

Pairing

With variable balanced and single-ended outputs, the RS150B can feed amplification or powered monitors without a preamp, or feed an integrated amplifier at fixed level. HDMI ARC brings in TV sound, and the I2S outputs suit owners who want to use it as a transport for a high-end DAC.

Alternatives

HiFi Rose's own RS130 is a network transport without an internal DAC, designed purely to feed external converters.