HiFi Rose RS201E
HiFi Rose RS201E
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How To Receive a Motor Freight Order
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Visually inspect the box to make sure you see no signs of damage. If you notice any damage at all, take some pictures with your phone and make a note of them on the delivery receipt the driver will ask you to sign. If it is obvious that the product is damaged, please refuse the order and contact us immediately at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
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uShip In-Home Delivery
Due to current concerns surrounding COVID-19, uShip is able to offer THRESHOLD SERVICE ONLY at this time. To ensure everyone’s safety, uShip is advising carriers to refrain from making room-of-choice deliveries. Threshold service consists of the shipment being brought into the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo, and does not include set-up, installation, assembly or debris removal.
What to Expect: Most oversized items will be delivered within 2-3 weeks. Your carrier will place your item inside the first door of the address or the lobby of an apartment/condo.
Appointment Scheduling: Your delivery partner will call 24-48 hours prior to delivery to arrange an appointment window.
How to prepare for in-home delivery:
- Determine the clearest path from the street to your home
- Measure entrances and hallways to ensure your item will fit
- Remove any wall hangings or clutter to ensure a clear path and to prevent damages
- Remove old furnishings to allow placement for your new piece
Check your furniture for damages: We rarely expect damaged furniture, but in the instance it does happen, we have you covered. Once your item’s packaging is removed, check for any damages that may have occurred in transit. Take pictures of any damages and notate appropriately on the delivery receipt. Keep possession of the damaged piece and contact us via phone or email and we’ll start the process to repair/replace your new piece of furniture. For uShip customer support, please call 800-698-7447.
At Audio Advice, we pride ourselves on customer satisfaction. We'll bend over backward to make sure you're 100% satisfied and we won't accept anything less. We offer 30-day hassle-free returns and personalized service from real, live people.
If an item doesn't meet your expectations, you may return or exchange it in its original condition and packaging within 30 days for a full refund, minus shipping fees. Items shipped back in like new condition through standard shipping carriers will only incur a flat fee of $15 to return. If the items were initially shipped through free scheduled delivery via motor freight (commonly referred to as LTL), returning them will result in return shipping fees starting at $150. These items include but are not limited to, oversized items such as TVs, certain subwoofers, floorstanding speakers, furniture, and most items weighing over 75 pounds. Return fees will also apply for exchanges. We want to treat your system as if it is our own and want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase.
Please see the instructions below. We only accept returns for any product purchased directly from our website. If merchandise is not returned in its original condition or is missing packaging, manuals, accessories or other parts, or the resale value of the product has been impaired, a partial refund will be given and calculated on a case-by-case basis.
Non-Returnable Items
The following items cannot be returned or cancelled:
- Special/Custom Order Items
- Open Box Products
- Gift Cards
- In-ear headphones cannot be returned once the packaging has been opened due to personal hygiene reasons. Please contact our customer care team if you'd like help choosing.
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Turntables With a Broken Stylus: All turntables ship out with the stylus intact. If you return a turntable or phono cartridge with a broken or missing stylus you will be subject to a return fee. Please be careful when setting up your turntable and contact us with any questions.
Is It Easy To Return An Item?
Yes, simply give us a call at 888.899.8776 or you can email our support team at support@audioadvice.com. Many times our team of experts can help figure out why the product might not be working like you expected and get things fixed over the phone, so don’t be surprised if we ask a few questions, we love troubleshooting!
If our tech help can not make you happy, we will email over a return shipping label with a Return Number.
Hopefully, you saved all of the original item’s box and packaging inserts. You will want to pack back up your return or exchange in the same way it came out of the original box. Once you have everything packaged correctly, tape the box on the top and bottom to assure it stays together. If Audio Advice shipped the item to you inside a second box, it's a good idea to use that same extra box to help prevent damage on its way back to us. To avoid it accidentally coming back to you, use a magic marker to cross out the old shipping label or just tear it off.
The return shipping label we send you will have our address on it, just make sure you take the box to the right shipper (UPS, FEDEX, or USPS) as per the label.
If you are close to one of our stores, please let us know if it is more convenient for you to return it to us directly. You will still need to get a return number by contacting us and shipping and/or restocking charges may apply.
When Will I See My Refund?
It usually takes around 7-14 days for the refund to show up on the payment method you used. We do inspect all returns for damage and accuracy of the item inside the box before issuing a refund. Some items may be subject to shipping and restocking fees.
Can I Exchange My Purchase For Something Different?
Sometimes those big speakers just don’t fit in the room or you might have bought a small subwoofer and later found out you’d love a bigger one. If you would like to make an exchange within 30 days of receiving your item, just give us a call at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com and we will help work out the details. Additional shipping charges and return costs may apply.
How Do I Cancel An Order?
If the item has already shipped out or is a special order item, it is not possible to cancel the order. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com to start the return process.
What If I Find Shipping Damage?
We need to know right away about any shipping damage. Please contact us at 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com within 48 hours of your delivery so we can get the ball rolling on making things right. It’s very helpful to take some pictures and email them to us if possible.
Can I Refuse A Shipment?
You can, but unless the item is damaged, shipping and restocking fees will be deducted from your refund. If your item arrives damaged and you are lucky enough to be there, snap some quick pics and refuse the order. Then contact us so we can get a replacement on the way.
What Happens If My Order Is Defective?
This is actually pretty rare, most consumer electronics work fine out of the box 99.9% of the time. We’d like for you to contact us first by calling 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com so we can help get to the bottom of things. If your item is indeed defective during the first 30 days, we can usually exchange it for a new, replacement unit.
What About Service After 30 Days?
Audio Advice has a great relationship with all of our brands and can help you with warranty service by the brand after our 30-day guarantee period. Even after the warranty expires, we can arrange for service by the brand on products purchased from Audio Advice. Just call 888.899.8776 or email support@audioadvice.com.
How Do You Determine A Restocking Fee?
You may not believe it, but sometimes we receive items back that were put in the box with zero packaging and are completely destroyed or are missing many of the pieces that came with the item. We also track serial numbers and will get back different serial numbers. We’ve even seen different items than what we shipped out be returned. However, it’s very important to package your return properly so that nothing goes missing or gets damaged in shipping, which will result in a restocking fee or even no refund at all. If a product is opened and the market value of the product is reduced, then a restocking fee may be applied to the cost of restocking and the reduced market value of the product. The bottom line is if you treat us fairly, we will do the same.
Audio Advice strives to provide industry-leading support and service while also maintaining the lowest prices available on products for our customers. We work hard with our vendors to bring our customers the best products at each price point. As a part of that process, we work with our vendors to provide the lowest pricing in our stores and on our website.
Our prices should always be the same as any other authorized dealer, including big-box retailers and major online retailers.
If you believe that you have found a lower advertised price from a legitimate authorized seller, call us and let us know so we can make sure we can correct any inadvertent error on our side. As a matter of policy, we update our prices automatically if a vendor changes its authorized pricing policies, so we generally have the best prices all the time. Increasingly, there are knock-off copies of products online, usually sold by non-authorized dealers.
Please be sure that the item meets the following conditions:
- The item is brand new, in stock, and available for purchase
- The item has the identical model number, color, etc as the item on our site.
- The seller is an authorized dealer
As always, our goal is to provide a terrific customer experience, including industry low prices. We appreciate your support.
Overview
Company & Product Overview
HiFi Rose has a pretty cool backstory. Its parent company—Citech—was founded in 1954 when they first started making set-top boxes for television sets in Korea.
Eventually, they started specializing in touch interface software for consumer-facing internet kiosks—and this easy-to-use tech found its way into all the network media players & integrated amplifiers they make.
Interestingly, one of the executives at Citech was an audiophile, so he created a division within the company dedicated to audio.
In 2017, the idea that started from a passion for premium components, ideal circuitry, and beautiful hardware with the best user experience available became a reality, and HiFi Rose was born.
Today, all HiFi Rose products are designed and assembled in-house in Seoul, South Korea.
In our HiFi Rose overview, we covered the design philosophy behind this new brand and the user experience, but for this review, we will tell you more about the RS201E hardware and explain the features.
Design & Build Quality
The RS201E is the entry-point model in the HiFi Rose lineup that starts out with a generous 8.8-inch touch capacitive display that will show high-definition album cover info and video playback at 60 FPS. This is both a network media player and an integrated two-channel amplifier for connecting up a pair of passive speakers (50W x 2 into 4Ω)—all rolled into one single, versatile component.
The front-top plate features high-quality anodized aluminum, a volume knob with a “joy stick”-style control, a power button, and a very wide-view touch screen for a nice, modern look and feel. The body of the unit spans almost 11-inches wide, 8-inches across, and stands 3-inches tall.
The RS201E weighs about 5 lbs and is available in a silver finish, only.
Features & Technology
On the back of the unit, there are two pairs of speaker terminals which support 4 ohm passive speakers. The RS201E’s amplifier section has a maximum output of 50 watts per channel (100W), which is enough power to enhance your TV watching or two-channel music. 100 watts will also drive most passive speakers with reasonable impedances & sensitivities (4~16 Ω).
The RS201E can also be used as a pure DAC/streamer with a fixed-level analog output so you can connect it with a separate integrated amp, preamp, or a powered soundbar. Should you need more power, a pair of unbalanced stereo RCA sockets labeled “PreAmp Output” will let you use the RS201E as just a music streamer with a separate vacuum tube amp, or a reference-grade amplifier, such as the HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amp.
For the digital section, the RS201E has a built-in high-performance ESS ES9018 K2M 32bit DAC that will support most of the popular hi-res audio formats up to 384kHz—(MQA, WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, APE, DFF, DSF, AAC, CDA, AMR, APE, EC3, E-EC3, MID, MPL, MP2, MPC, MPGA, M4A, PCM, DSD).
If you already have an external DAC, you can bypass it using the USB 2.0 audio output. If you have a collection of hi-res music & 4K videos stored on an external hard drive, the USB 3.0 type-A DAC input or the SD card reader will let you experience all of it right from the 8.8-inch front panel display! You can even install an internal SSD in an under-chassis bay.
Connecting the audio coming from external A/V sources, such as a CD player, DVD player, or Blu-ray Player to your TV is done through the RS201E’s optical Toslink input or the other pair of unbalanced stereo RCA sockets labeled “Line Input.” Finally, there’s an optical output for connecting the RS201E to a soundbar, and one HDMI 2.0 port that will let you send audio and 4K video coming from the RS201E to a TV or a projector.
Performance
As an integrated amp, streamer, DAC, preamp, and Roon Endpoint, the RS201E is designed to enhance TV watching & two-channel music listening. There’s also a headphone jack on the front panel that will accept a 3.5mm stereo miniplug connection! With plenty of expansion options, this model is suited for a media room, a bonus room, or even a living room as an all-in-one streaming multimedia unit.
We tested the RS201E in a medium-sized living room with a pair of Sonus Faber Lumina II bookshelf passive speakers—which need about 50-75 watts per channel to really get them going in an average-sized room—so the RS201E provided plenty of power.
When we powered on the RS201E for the first time, we were greeted with a horizontal stream of familiar icons on the display—Music, Video, Qobuz, Tidal, Clock, Settings, In-Out Setting—plus some others that are less obvious, such as—Bugs, RoseFM, RosePodcast, RoseRadio, RoseStore, RoseTube, CD Play, & CD Ripping.
Tapping the Settings icon allows you to make adjustments to the display brightness, the format of the clock display, the appearance of VU meters that can appear when music is playing, and rearrange the order of apps. You also have the ability to add or remove apps from the main menu, so you can keep the ones you use and sort them just like an iPad/tablet. There’s also a built-in Rose App Store where you can update the apps to the latest versions.
There’s a really cool custom app called “RoseTube” that will let you swipe through a curated list of YouTube videos with the highest resolution and audio stream available plus all the advertising removed. There are a ton of classical performances in this app, and we really enjoyed the selections. You can also search and watch any video that is available on YouTube with this feature. HiFi Rose DAC/Streamers are high-end two-channel audio devices that happen to have 4K video capability, so fans of Tidal’s exclusive video content will probably love this feature!
There’s also an “In-Out Setting” icon that will let you choose things like setting digital or analog external inputs to “Internal,” setting up where they default, and then choosing a digital or analog output. Super cool!
One thing, we have to mention is how easy HiFi Rose’s companion app made it for multiple people to sign into their music streaming accounts like Tidal or Qobuz. In the HiFi Rose Connect app, all we had to do was sign into our Qobuz accounts on our phones even while someone else was already signed into theirs, and already controlling the unit.
This made it so easy for guests to stream their own music to the system when they came over. No one had to sign in and out of anything. They just download the Rose Connect app to their phone, open it, and connect their phone to the same WIFI network as the streamer, follow the on-screen prompts in the app, and away they go. From there they could sign right into their streaming service, and then tap on the RS201E they want to control when prompted in the app. It was that easy!
We streamed all kinds of music, including funk, rock, classical, EDM and Jazz—and everything sounded great. I would say the RS201E’s sound profile was “transparent.” The RS201E presented sound that was clear, resolute, and transparent—which made everything—from the audio coming from 4K YouTube videos—to hi-res versions of Top-40 music—sound really good.
We kept coming back to a hi-res version of Thom York’s title track “The Eraser,” off the 2006 debut solo album. On a really good pair of speakers like the Lumina II passives, Thom York’s vocal almost “floated” outside the speakers right in front of us. The detail was also very impressive. We could pick out more voices in background vocals than without the DAC/streamer.
We would say if you are looking for more audiophile-level resolution, then you should consider stepping up to either the RS250 or the RS150B. But, if you want a sleek, easy-to-use network streamer with an integrated amp, we highly recommend that you check out the RS201E. The Bass was tight, punchy, resolute, and it also had a very clear mid-range with an impressive depth of detail in the stereo image.
With it being Roon Ready, plus support for bluetooth, Airplay2, Spotify Connect, and television connectivity on board, this really has everything needed to be an all-in-one box for streaming hi-res music & 4K video playback.
Overall Recommendation
As the entry-point model in the HiFi Rose line, the RS201E delivers a lot of value with plenty of options to expand it.
This is the model to get for anyone wanting a network media player and an integrated two-channel amplifier—all rolled into one easy-to-use component that also looks super cool with an 8.8-inch front panel touch display!
For anyone with a collection of hi-res music & 4K video files stored on an external hard drive or an SD card, this one delivers a very convenient solution to experience it all without breaking the bank. We like that you can pair this one with the HiFi Rose RSA780 CD drive and rip a CD collection right to the unit!
The upper-end models will deliver even better performance for those who care about having the best musical sound quality possible—but as a multimedia all-in-one for rooms where space is limited—HiFi Rose RS201E packs in most of the key features all of the models share with good sound & video and this one offers one the best user interface we have ever seen from a DAC/streamer at this price-point.
