I promised to write about some impressions, so here I go. This is only about 30 hours worth. I primarily used this setup as my server/streamer + DAC over the last week as my main setup. I only switched back to my Antipodes or LampizatOr just to compare.
The TL;DR of this is that it is an impressive all-in-one solution. I would say that if I didn’t own my Antipodes combination, I would have likely kept this. Spoiler alert (not really), you can see that I decided not to do so. There were many overlaps that I already had that didn’t make sense to me. This was also the first time that I had my gf “peek behind the curtain” to help me decide to keep this or not, with actual prices and all.
So let’s say I didn’t have a server/streamer and wanted one that could also connect to my TV and be an entertainment hub, I can see this being an awesome addition to my setup. It is quite user friendly too, so my gf would have been more likely to turn on the setup herself.
Listening impressions:
RS150b acting as server + DAC - This was more impressive than I thought. Again, if I was building up to this, I could be happy. Unfortunately, I have heard things that I cannot unhear and worse, I already own them. This has a grandiose sound. Big presentation that envelopes the room. Very wide, very tall, good 3-D presentation. Again, I may have to bite my tongue on this, but I felt this bested my old Amber 3 (only on presentation). It also has a lot of sparkle, detail, and air. Again, very impressive for the price point. You can start to see holes in it when you hear better. In my case, when I switched back to my Antipodes and LampizatOr. The main setup is better at the presentation and is more accurate with the imaging. It can better fool me, rather than throwing a huge sound. The main setup is also blacker, so sound pops in and out like you were in a darken dome (sort of like Epcot or one of those dome-theaters). The main setup is also more natural and has more texture. Everything is just much more realistic. With that in mind, you have to know that I am comparing a 5k product with a 20k combination though…
A few notes: RS150b allows you to do upsampling and has filters to mess around with. I tried upsampling and while it gave it nice zing and detail, it can be wonky when things get busy. I went back to original settings.
RS150b as server to Golden Gate as my DAC – This was nice. This definitely added a lot of my qualms from earlier. This enveloped the room a bit more. The presentation was more natural. Now, the decay, texture, and time domain seemed more realistic than the Rose by itself. Again, if I didn’t have the Antipodes, I would have loved this combo, even though I am “wasting” money on an onboard DAC that I wouldn’t be using. This definitely got pretty close to my reference.
Back to my main setup to realign my impressions - Yep. This is my reference and it just elevated everything another last tick. Everything just sounds right and natural – can’t say more than that. You close your eyes and it’s like you’re there. I would say the electronics is where I like it at the moment. My only “logical” upgrade would really be my speakers.
Impressions on the other features: This was a nice entertainment hub that attaches to my TV. It could have replaced my receiver, although it cannot handle Atmos or surround sound. I currently have 2.1 at the moment, so I wouldn’t have missed out. You can also passthrough to a receiver though. I would have to read more, but it may allow you to pass the information to the Rose, use that DAC, pass it to the receiver to do the surround encoding, then to your speakers… maybe…
The music discovery stuff. Is it gimmicky? I guess. I can see how most people would think so. Including myself in some ways. Did I use it? Yes. Did I like it? Yes. Are there alternatives that are cheaper? Yes. But again, this can be like a lifestyle product. All of your radio stations, podcasts, YouTube playlists, server, and streamer can all be in one location. That’s pretty cool as a product.
In conclusion, again, this is a great all-in-one lifestyle product for someone that is looking to add a server/streamer into their setup or even better, server + DAC upgrade.