Judging by the description on the official website, HiFi Rose RS201E is positioned by the manufacturer as a professional streamer, sporting an incredible number of possibilities and operating with Ultra High Pixel Stream, which radically improves the quality of digital playback. Indeed, the enumeration of what the device can do can make your head spin - we have before us a real "Swiss knife" for sound (and even for video). But whether the South Korean manufacturer threw out the "baby with the water" (that is, how the HiFi Rose RS201E sounds), we will analyze in the course of further thorough testing of the media player.

HiFi Rose RS201E review

So HiFi Rose RS201E. As they say, they are greeted by their clothes - in our case, there is simply nothing to complain about. The chopped edges of the aluminum body, the huge eye-catching 8.8 ”touchscreen display on the front panel - yes, this is how technology of the XXI century should look like (design awards Reddot award, Pin Up design awards and iF design awards are quite justified). The declared characteristics of the model are very impressive - say, the signal-to-noise ratio reaches 122 dB, and the dynamic range is 132 dB, the frequency response lies in the range from 16 to 80,000 Hz, and the THD does not exceed 0.006%.

The heart of the HiFi Rose RS201E is a digital-to-analog converter based on the SABER ES9018K2M chip; the latter can work with streams up to PCM 32/384 and DSD256, natively supports MQA and can work with a huge list of file formats (MQA, WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, APE, DFF, DSF, AAC, CDA, AMR, APE, EC3 , E-EC3, MID, MPL, MP2, MPC, MPGA, M4A, ASF). The device also supports video streams (AVI, MKV, MP4, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 H.263, H.264, H.265, VC-1, VP9, ​​VP8, MVC), can output them to your display via HDMI with support for 4K 60 Hz, has a built-in podcast module, Internet radio.

One of the more curious features of the HiFi Rose RS201E is the built-in pre-amplifier and power amplifier. Of course, digital technology was used (D-class, otherwise the weight of the device would have increased several times from the current 2.3 kg), which made it possible to fit a very solid power reserve of 2 x 50 W in a compact case, and even with the support of acoustic systems with nominal resistance 4 Ohm.

You can transfer digital content to the HiFi Rose RS201E via a wired Ethernet network or "over the air" - the media player has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (true 4.0). Not enough again? Then let's recall the USB ports (up to 512 GB), a micro SD slot (up to 4 TB) and the option of connecting drives via SATA 3.0 (up to 4 TB, NTFS / exFAT / FAT32 file systems).

Cherries on the cake - Tidal, Qobuz apps, plus full Roon and Spotify Connect support. In general, when used as a "combine" HiFi Rose RS201E replaces several devices at once - which, however, does not interfere with using it only in the streamer and DAC version (which we will concentrate on further during testing). Of particular note is the already mentioned Ultra High Pixel Stream topology - the company has seriously worked on the separation of power circuits, the "clock" of the player and jitter reduction systems.

During testing, we used an Audio Note UK M6 pre-amplifier, single-ended tube (with a pair of 211 tubes connected in parallel in each) Audio Note Ankoru / II power amplifiers, JBL DD67000 speakers, Paradigm Founder 40B and Fyne Audio F301 speakers. The digital work was organized through the Roon ROCK server. Network and interconnect cables were from LossLess, acoustic 

After warming up (installation and setup of the device is extremely simple and does not cause any difficulty), we tested the HiFi Rose RS201E as an integral device, connecting shelf speakers to it - probably, when using the component as a combine, the choice will fall on such speakers. The sound turned out to be confident (the power reserve was enough for the speakers mentioned above, and even for the huge JBL DD67000), assembled and very dynamic.

Sometimes the presentation was almost lacking in warmth and gloss, as well as resolution - so we decided to switch to using the player in its main, digital form (as a powerful streamer and digital-to-analog converter). And then HiFi Rose RS201E literally transformed! The ES9018K2M chip can work wonders, and the properly organized operation of the clock generator and the jitter reduction system add "salt and pepper" - so it turned out that the media player sounds indecently great by the standards of its price.

The Dire Straits album "Telegraph Road" demonstrates excellent separation of sound images, the rhythmic and punchy presentation of the device copes without question even with Manowar "Warriors of the World", and the detail of Infected Mushroom "Vicious Delicious" raises no complaints. The only thing that is given to HiFi Rose RS201E with some difficulty is complex classical compositions performed by BSO. For example, the finale of Dvorak's "Ninth Symphony" can lose the feeling of solidity of sound images, reducing the spatial accuracy of positioning.

At the same time, the dynamic range does not suffer (dynamics is generally the HiFi Rose's horse) - but, apparently, HiFi Rose RS201E “loves” jazz, rock and modern compositions most of all, on such material the feet want to start dancing themselves. However, once again - let's pay attention to the price tag. For the indicated amount in the modern market, one can hardly find a better competitor - on material with a large symphony orchestra, almost any contender from this price group will receive complaints.

Passport data:

Type - network media player with built-in integrated amplifier | Title - HiFi Rose RS201E | price, rub. - 188 706 | OS - Android 7.0 (Nougat) | Front display - 8.8 ”touchscreen | Output power, W - 2 x 50 (4 - 16 Ohm) | Interfaces - Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g / n / a / ac), Bluetooth 4.0 (AD2DP SINK, AVRCP), Gigabit (GbE) Ethernet, optics, USB, micro SD, SATA 3.0 | Outputs - 3.5mm headphone minijack, line out from preamp, HMDI | Support - Airplay / DLNA | Formats - MQA, WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, APE, DFF, DSF, AAC, CDA, AMR, APE, EC3, E-EC3, MID, MPL, MP2, MPC, MPGA, M4A, ASF, AVI, MKV, MP4, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 H.263, H.264, H.265, VC-1, VP9, ​​VP8, MVC; PCM 32/384, DSD 256 | Dimensions, cm - 27.8 x 7.6 x 20.2 | Weight, kg - 2.6 | TTX source -

Evaluations

Design

95

Workmanship

95

Sound

90

Functions

100

Total

90

Output:

The HiFi Rose RS201E media player seemed to us to be a very successful solution for organizing a system in which digital sound will play the "first violin". If you have acoustic systems, at first you will not need any other components, however, if you use the device as a streamer and digital-to-analog converter (adding an external amplifier, in addition to the speakers), the HiFi Rose RS201E will reveal itself in all its glory and power. And it will clearly show what modern technology can do.