HiFi Rose RS250: The Perfect Network Streamer for Audiophiles! DAC, Preamp & 8.8" Touchscreen

I hooked up the newer Denafrips Iris 12th (a DDC) to my Denafrips Ares II 12th (a DAC) and OMG!
1. Significant sound quality improvement (bigger stage, vocals).
2. Streaming from my iPhone 12 Pro max, even with the songs downloaded to my iphone, is more stable (no more hiccuping or skipping to the next song before finishing the current song).
Conclusion: Worth every penny!
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I love my Denafrips Ares II 12th. This is an R2R technology which is no longer chasing resolution as a priority but 3D realism.

Earlier this week I ordered the newer Denafrips Iris 12th (a DDC with bigger power supply) for my Denafrips Ares II 12th dac so I hope that I will be able to hear an improvement like reviewers have said.

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I love thin-film tweeters (ribbon, AMT, planar).
Even though our ears can only hear up to 20 Khz, a tweeter that can go higher than 20 Khz is faster so it also improves the transients in sound quality below 20 Khz.

After 23 years in the hobby since 2000 with dome tweeters, I auditioned Wisdom Audio P4m/P4i speakers (with planar ribbon tweeters) at $2,500/$2,000 each. I loved the vocalists and cymbals on it even more than the $90k-$300k Wilson Audio speakers that have dome tweeters.
Ideally for my budget I would get floorstanding speakers by GoldenEar Triton Reference or T66 or One.R, with the awesome reference AMT ribbon tweeters. But I needed short speakers to not block my 150 inch screen.
So I got bookshelf GoldenEar BRX speakers which has the same 50% bigger neodymium magnets as in the GoldenEar Triton Reference or T66 or One.R, 20Hz - 35Khz) and they sound as good as the Wisdom. I also play the bookshelf speakers with my existing 2 sealed subwoofers (each with 2 bass radiators).

I liked my new pair of GoldenEar BRX speakers for music so I bought a 3rd GoldenEar BRX to replace my center channel speaker for my home theater in a 7.2.4 setup. There were high notes missing with my old speaker when I played a bluray disc movie version 'The Phantom of the Opera'!
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What's amazing is that previously I bought better RCA cables/interconnects by Worlds Best Cables (mogami wire and Neutrik plugs) from Amazon but I did not hear an improvement with my old speakers (titanium dome tweeters with neodymium magnets, 91 db sensitivity).
But now I do hear an improvement with the GoldenEars BRX in the high notes, female vocalists, cymbals, bigger soundstage, and more airy.
So I've ordered speaker cables by World's Best Cable from Amazon with Mogami 3082.

Also with my old speakers and RCA interconnect and Apple Music, I could not hear an improvement with hi-res lossless such as "Michael Jackson's Billie Jean" (24bit/96 Khz) via USB cable but now I do hear an improvement with the new GoldenEar BRX and Worlds Best Cable RCA interconnect.
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source=Apple Music (hires lossless, and spatial audio surround music) and Denafrips Ares II 12th dac (R2R technology for 3D live/realistic sound).

Thank you for the video. I’ve been intrigued by this unit for quite a while. Short question: how it stacks up against Lumin D1 just in sound quality department.
Thanks for the reply in advance.

Okay, you've convinced me! I just ordered the new version one today 🤑from you! Love the reviews! And, love the live shows! So, you get my business!

If you're planning to connect it to an external dac and amp, is there any reason to upgrade to the 150?

No wifi?

That hat could almost pass for human hair!

Will this play amazon hd natively ? I don’t want to use Bluetooth or AirPlay. Also is the Dac on this competitive with a standalone Dac at a similar price point?

Does anyone know how this will treat MQA when using the HDMI out. I have a new Anthem AVM90 and want to use this to connect to my LAN to stream my hires FLAC and DSD library. Does this play SACD ISO's? Also, since it has HDMI out, does this have the capability to play movies too?

I owned 1 of these RS250 streamers. But 2 months later, a serious malfunction occurred in the device. It is unfortunate that there is no factory reset button. Therefore, I had to wait for the company to send me a new one. In general, I like it because of its integration with many streamer services and its high visual capabilities.

Any idea why Amazon Music HD native integration is quite hard to come by ? I only know of HEOS (Marantz, Denon), BlueOS and maybe one or two more... If HiFi Rose supports Amazon Music HD natively, I would be all over it !!!

🤤

the only criticism I have is that it does do upnp. I have my local music stored on a media server on my PC. the RD250 will allow me to see the folder on the PC as as shared drive but not allow me to see a media server. I was disappointed as I assumed that it would as it's DNLA.

Great video, very helpful and concise. Looking to upgrade my NAD M10's, HI FI Rose is on my eval list!

Thanks fir this, infirmative and useful...

Wow this thing looks and specs beautifully, add room correction, XLR and subs outputs to it and this would be an end gamer.

I currently have a Maratnz ND8006 CDP/Network streamer. How much of an upgrade (if any) would this be? Thx

Nice turban 🤣

Lovely !!!!!!

What's even more impressive is the reviewer's luxurious, full head of hair, and solid beard. Yes, I'm envious. 😐

I like it all except for the price I have to believe you can get something of comparable quality and features far less than $2,500. If anybody has any suggestions let me know

I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. 🤦‍♂️

Funny how I was listening to Let's Dance today and then bumped into your video

Hi, I was wondering what wireless earbuds under $200, would be good all around for example sound, mic, gaming, call quality, and etc?

Looks amazing! I love the ability to customize

Bro. Stop using that dye. Great review though.

Please tell them they need to upgrade the HDMi to eArc.

How’s the sound quality of digital co ax input if I connect my cd player? DAC bits/ khz? Thank u

LS50 Meta or Lumina II what did you guys prefer with the RS250

As I understand it, Qobuz is the highest quality streaming platform and Apple Music is the second best. Why them would devices like this not have Apple Music built in?

That's what I call an in depth review!

Looks amazing! I love the user interface and design, so slick!

Oh boy loved the RS201E streamer, but this review has just convinced me to step up to the more musical models. 🤤 This was great, thanks!

Very impressive!

Beautiful device 😍