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Model | HiFi Rose RS151 |
---|---|
Benchmark | |
Input Sensitivity | 0dBF 1kHz (Digital), 2Vrms (Analog) |
Output Impedance | 2.84 Ω |
Output Level | 9.0Vrms (XLR), 4.5Vrms (RCA) |
THD+N | 0.0002% (XLR), 0.0003% (RCA) (1kHz, 0dBF) |
Signal to Noise Ratio | 131dB (XLR), 124dB (RCA) |
Dynamic Range | Max 150dB (CCITT filter) |
Stereo Crosstalk | Max -143dB (20Hz-20kHz) |
Frequency Response | 20Hz - 75kHz (+/-0.5dB) |
Technical | |
PSU | Toroidal Linear Power Supply |
CPU | Octa core RK3588 |
RAM | LPDDR4X 8GB |
GPU | ARM Mali-G610 MC4 (OpenGL, Vulkan, OpenCL) |
DAC | ES9039 PRO (ESS) |
Oscillator | Highly Precise Femto Clock |
Inputs | |
Digital | USB 2.0 Type-B — PCM 32bit/768kHz, DSD512 (22.6MHz) Coaxial — PCM 24bit/384kHz, DSD128 (5.6MHz) (only DoP) Optical — PCM 24bit/192kHz, DSD64 (2.8MHz) (only DoP) AES/EBU — PCM 24bit/384kHz, DSD128 (5.6MHz) (only DoP) HDMI eARC — PCM 24bit/192kHz |
Analog | Unbalanced, Balanced |
Video | HDMI 2.0 (4K UHD / 60Hz) |
Trigger | DC 12V |
Network | |
Connectivity | Ethernet — 10/100/1000 BASE-T(1Port) WiFi — USB Dongle Bluetooth — 5.4 aptX (A2DP1.4, Sink, AVRCP v1.6.2) |
Streaming Protocol | Bluetooth, AirPlay, DLNA/UPnP, Roon Ready, Spotify Connect |
Storage | SMB |
Storage | |
Internal | eMMC Flash 32GB (System Use Only) |
External | 3 × USB 3.0 Type-A 1 x 2.5" SSD (SATA 3.0, NTFS, exFAT) |
Power | |
Input Voltage | AC 110-120V, 220-240V, 50/60Hz |
Power Consumption | Standby — 0.3W Idle — 5W Playback — 55W |
Protection | 6A Thermal Circuit Breaker |
Physical | |
Display | 15.4" TFT LCD & Capacitive Touch Screen (FHD, eDP) |
Dimension (W x D x H) | 16.9" x 12.6" x 4.9" (430mm x 319mm x 125mm) |
Weight | 24.3 lb. (11 kg) |
Material | Aluminum / Rust-proof Steel |
Finish | Silver, Black |
IR | 38kHz IR Receiver |
innovative products. The new RS151 is designed to deliver an incredible Hi-Res Audio experience, replacing one of Audio Advice’s streamers, the RS150B. While the new model may look similar to its predecessor, it brings some significant upgrades—many of which were inspired by feedback from RS150B users. We’ll walk you through these improvements and everything else you need to know in this article.
HiFi Rose Network Streamers & Integrated Amps Overview
For those of you just getting into Hi-Res Audio, let’s first explain how a product like this new RS151 works. This is a DAC and music streamer that is all inside one box. Music streamers like this can pull in music from the internet or use locally stored music files. At that point, the music is all still in the digital domain and you have to convert it to analog to be played back on a stereo system.
That is the role of the DAC, or Digital to Analog Converter. The quality of the DAC can make all the difference in good or bad sound. After the internal DAC converts your music to analog, you hear it by connecting the RS151 or other music streamer to your existing audio system via an analog input. Or some people would just connect the RS151 to a power amp and pair of speakers or even simply a great pair of powered speakers. The earlier RS150B nailed it in terms of its audio quality, and HiFi Rose upgraded both the audio performance of the RS150B and some of its functionality to make this new RS151. And best yet, as of January 30th, 2025, the price is the same!
What is a DAC and How Does it Work?
Let’s take a look at the upgrades they’ve implemented into this new RS151.
First, they’ve increased the size of the touchscreen on the front from 14.9” to 15.4” diagonal and increased the resolution so you have a screen that you can easily interact with and clearly see even across the room. To some, this screen is a big deal, and we’re happy to see that they’ve taken time to improve it. It’s no secret that there are plenty of music streamers like this on the market, but we haven’t really seen any with screens as big and beautiful as HiFi Rose offers, as well as a user-friendly and intuitive user interface. And, of course, without a great user interface, accessing your music can be confusing and frustrating. So, just because a piece of gear sounds good doesn’t mean that it will be a joy to use, like HiFi Rose streamers are.
To keep with the super sleek look of the front panel display, the RS151 is milled from a solid block of aluminum. This helps reduce internal vibrations but, best of all, gives the unit a look that totally matches its price. You can get the RS151 in black or silver, and its full audio size at 17” wide to match other components in a rack. They have also added physical mute, power, and volume up and down buttons on the top of the unit.
The next upgrade is for those of you with huge downloaded or ripped libraries. The new RS151 can now manage up to 1 million songs, a big increase over the 150B. Just like the 150, you can use the CD ripping app and connect an external CD drive to play them directly or rip them in audio files onto your unit.
All of the rest of the cool features of the RS150B remain, including the curated list of YouTube videos they’ve put together and their Rose Radio and RoseTube apps. That is another difference in the HiFi Rose over most streamer/DAC’s is it has video out for YouTube and can display what is playing on your TV.
It still runs on an Android operating system, which also means HiFi Rose can improve things at no charge to you over time. As a matter of fact, AirPlay was not originally present on HiFi Rose products, but it was added later with an update. And just like a smartphone, you can rearrange or delete apps to set things up to your liking. You get access to Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz, Apple Music, and even RoseTube, which is essentially just their version of YouTube, and so much more. It’s also Roon Ready. Plus, an Audio Advice favorite is how you can change the screen to be just a cool display to match other components you have in your system.
This is truly a full-featured digital control center where all you need is a power amp and speakers or an awesome pair of powered speakers. When you look at the back of both of these units, you can see just how much they’ve added to the RS151 and totally remapped the back to fit everything there. You can connect it up to your amp or speakers using either RCA or balanced XLR outs, and the connectors on the rear are much nicer and as solid as they come. You can select variable or fixed output to allow it to be a preamp with variable out or as a source in an audio system with fixed out. You’ll have plenty of options for digital inputs, such as USB, Optical, Coax, AES/EBU, and HDMI eARC instead of ARC, which was in the RS150B. With the upgrade to eARC, the HDMI input now supports up to 24bit 192K high-res audio from an HDMI source, which is great to see and was another big user request. HDMI eARC is super cool in itself as it lets music lovers use their great audio system to improve their TV sound without compressing your audio like ARC does. eARC allows the TV remote control to turn on the HiFi Rose and adjust its volume if it is set to variable, so you can easily get TV sound to play through your better speakers pretty much seamlessly.
Next, the RS151 also now officially supports PCM 24bit/384kHz and DSD128 formats via the coax and AES/EBU inputs. The other inputs vary in the type of signal they can handle, which you can see in the chart below, but suffice it to say, they are all at pretty much the extreme of what you can get these days. There is even an analog input should you wish to attach a legacy analog source but bear in mind that the signal will be converted to digital.
There are also more digital outputs on the RS151 than you typically see. You have USB, Coaxial, Optical, AES/EBU, and I²S-HDMI. We see these being used by people with a very good external DAC who love the user experience the RS151 offers as a streamer. In addition, HiFi Rose has added a much requested feature, which is a trigger out. If you are using the RS151 as an all digital preamp, this will let you send a signal to almost any modern power amp that will power it on and off in sync with the RS151. Another great add is upgraded Bluetooth which almost seemed like an afterthought on the older RS150B with its external dongle. The RS151 now has an antenna module on the rear and has moved up to aptX and Bluetooth 5.4, both offering better audio quality should you choose to use Bluetooth.