Digital convenience in one box. Is there a respectable "jack of all trades" for <$3k?

I’ve tried Amazon HD on the Marantz. And both Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect to compare on the Marantz and ZenStream. The Marantz streamer is ok, but is outclassed when compared to others I’ve tried. And HEOS, oy vey, don’t get me started.

But the SACD 30n is a disc spinning wizard and the Ken Ishiwata DAC is first class all the way.

 

Just out of curiosity: Have you by any chance tried clamping a bunch of ferrite chokes on the power cord feeding your 30n? I discovered that doing this to my ND8006 seemed to subjectively improve its performance inside of my system. It's a cheap tweak to try.

 

I personally own the HifiRose 250 which I do believe has indeed been discontinued and replaced with the 250a. The 250a is using the same dac chip as their 150, but appears to otherwise be identical to my 250. I’ve also had in my system the Moon 380d on a demo for several weeks. I don't have any experience with the other steamers or brands you're considering.

For me and my taste the Rose is the one to beat in this category and price point for anyone considering a streaming DAC. It's extremely resolving, good software, big screen with fantastic display quality, and nicely designed case. One thing I think is worth mentioning is that the Rose is the only device on your list using a femto clock I do believe, and the way I understand it this is a positive. Per the Moon, their electronics always sound a little soft to my ear. I tend to value resolution more than most, and I'd call the Moon gear extremely musical and easy to listen to, just not my cup of tea. I think the Rose has a better form and function design in that it won't require as large of a footprint. I can confirm it will support Bluetooth (Literally tried it for the first time before I wrote this) and still displays all of the album art when doing so. I'm also fairly certain the Rose is the only streaming DAC that supports AppleMusic HI-Res, though they don't advertise that. I have been very happy with mine and wouldn't hesitate recommending one.

 

In response to my own comments denigrating the Aurender N100H, want to emphasize how impressive the sound was. It put forth a sophisticatedly layered soundstage the likes of which I've never heard before. It's a closeout model that uses an AMD processor that is not capable of being a Roon endpoint. However, their new lineup uses an Intel processor that is capable of working with Roon. Acquiring Roon Ready certification is not easy and can take a long time. Hegel struggled with it for nearly 3 years before getting it straight. So impressed I was with the Aurender, as soon as they officially announce Roon certification, I'll be buying one.

I do wish HiFi Rose would offer a streamer only version, would love to try one out.

 

You speaking from your own experiences is the best feedback anyone could request. I respect your perspective and thank you for taking the time to share what you can.

 

This is not falling on deaf ears. I'm certainly not writing Roon off, I'm just looking to get by w/o it for the time being. One giant step into digital music territory at a time.

 

I think you're right about the femto clock. While I've yet to research what that means, I have noticed it's generally only mentioned as a feature on much more expensive units and seemingly reserved for a product line's more premium options. Duly noted. I wonder why Hi-fi Rose didn't incorporate balanced outputs into their design?
Thank you for testing the Bluetooth capability of the RS250, that's yet another positive for the Rose. It's been your praises for the RS250 that has kept me interested in it (besides it's own prowess). Glad to see the 250a is available in black!
And one more repeated thank you for the gently used ART9XA. I've never heard such lifelike vocals like this cartridge is delivering. I spent some time a/b'ing the XA vs. the XI and I couldn't pick a favorite or any "faults" on either behalf. They're both incredible cartridges but I find the realism of human voices from the XA to be remarkably captivating. Being a sucker for a w-i-d-e soundstage, the XA gets the credit in that realm too.

 

Glad to hear you’re still enjoying the XA. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.

It occurs to me that some of the streaming DACs on your list are close in price to a HifiRose RS150, which would give you balanced outputs. Just food for thought. I didn’t mention in the previous post, but I don’t care for Moon’s Mind app personally, definitely not intuitive.

 

I wish you the best in your search. I know Pi solutions aren't for everyone. However, I will say it has met and exceeded everything I need short of a horrible interface for Tidal. Perhap Blue OS, HEOS or Roon will meet your needs.

Cheers to you...

 

Anyone know if the Marantz CD 60 is any good? I'm looking for a high-end CD player that excels at (at least) that, since I still play actual CDs.

 

Dang. That's a potent Rose. And here I thought I was getting close to making up my mind.

 

The Rose is extremely nice.....I've sold quite a few of them and have been very impressed with both the sound quality and features. It's quickly become one of my favorite streamers!

 

I've sold a couple of them so far. I think it's a nice sounding player and a good bargain at the price.

I know the new style of "new" Marantz has some detractors, but I quite like the look and build quality is nice for this price range.

 

I'm on my third Marantz player, and they've all sounded excellent, but....the omission of SACD playback on a $1000 player would rule this one out for me. I only own a few SACDs, but I certainly want the option to play them if I pick one up now and then. They sound very special to me.

 

Seeing as that you've handled and heard both, can I ask what you feel may be some key differences between the RS150 and the RS250? From either a sonic or tactile perspective? I'd be happy to accept a PM if that's more appropriate.

Carefully narrowing my focus to the Lumin T2 vs. Hi-fi Rose RS250b.
I plan to place whichever streamer/dac I get a lengthy 15' from my amp. Why? It works for this room and the presently limited space I have for gear. Because of this distance I feel like balanced connections would be best, no?

 

You’re on the right track

One thing that gives me pause about HiFi Rose is that it tries to do so many things. You pay for all those things, just make sure you need them.

 

Agreed. I don't like having (or paying for) features I don't need, especially if those unwanted features could become a point of failure down the road. There's potential for them to become useful features along the way, considering this is new territory for me, but there's definitely a balance of packing in a little extra vs. trying to pack in too much.

 

Get a $600 windows pc. Install roon on it. Install roon bridge on your pi and keep your dac. Install roon remote on your tablet.

 

Sending you quick PM........

 

I only own CDs, and I'm not going to invest in SACDs, so it wouldn't be worth it for me.

 

Yo yo yo, please make your reply public. Very curious as well. Or heck, send me a PM if this is a clandestine operation!

 

Also sending you a quick PM!

 

The moonshine still possibilities for stringing together a Roon rig are plenty. In my wee, mostly irrelevant opinion, while certainly functional, the route you propose cannot compete with one of these substantially more expensive streamers.

 

He's got a point. That would upgrade the interface to the highest quality available, and it would still stream wirelessly to the Pi (@aunitedlemon you'd have to confirm this based on your setup). If Lemon is fine with the hardware side of the Pi and is annoyed with the interface, this would solve the problem for little coin. If there's a decent enough PC sitting around already, he could experiment with Roon for free before spending anything.

 

Brenan B3, costs around $1,400 with a 2TB internal hard drive. Plays pretty much any audio file you could want. Plays CDs, or rips them to the internal drive in any of those formats. Built-in 20W stereo amplifier. Analog line outs and USB DAC support. Bluetooth for streaming from a phone to the device. Control from the front panel, web service or dedicated Android/iOS applications. Wired or wireless network connection support. Plays internet radio stations. Plays to Sonos devices. Connect to the device through your computer's file system to manage it's internal hard drive. Multiple USB ports for adding external HD storage, or backing up the internal HD to an external HD.

It's a pretty slick gizmo. From the forums support looks to be excellent, with the B2 model, released in 2018, still getting signifgant software upgrades and new features to this day.