Articles Archive

HiFi Rose RS130

Viewed objectively, the arguments for dividing streamers into their front-end and decoding sections are good. All sonic and engineering ideals applied to splitting CD players into two boxes remain applicable. Still, they are augmented by ones specific to the streaming process. Over the years, I have tested several devices that have been sonically brilliant but about as pleasurable as a root canal to operate. Splitting off the front end of a streamer allows you to ensure you have an interface you can swear by rather than at and then choose the decoding to suit.

HiFi Rose is one of the more consistent high achievers in terms of interface. The South Korean-based concern makes point-of-sale software, which benefits from stability and ease of use. Its Android-based streaming platform has some idiosyncrasies (more of which in a bit). Still, the platforms are ones borne of unique functionality rather than because the software was developed on a microscopic budget by a confused intern. For the most part, the company’s products include decoding on board (and, on occasions, amplification, too), but the RS130 is a transport only and will only output digital streams to the DAC of your choice.

Impressive hardware

The hardware employed to achieve this is impressive. The RS130 employs a two-pronged method of ensuring signal integrity. The first concerns signal isolation. HiFi Rose has joined the increasing number of companies active in network audio in fitting an SFP-type network connection to the RS130. The principle behind this connection is that it avoids requiring a ‘PHY’ bus interface for a more conventional RJ45 connection. This reduces data errors and loss in the incoming stream. An adapter is supplied for those of us still muddling through on plain ethernet, and you can also use Wi-Fi via a dongle.

Neither is this the only means of cleaning up the incoming signal. The RS130 uses USB over fibre and HiFi Rose also produces the RSA720 USB hub that can have USB drives connected to it and then sent to the RS130 via a dedicated umbilical. Distributor Henley Audio supplied an example for testing, which was used in addition to my more conventional NAS library. Finally, you can simply connect a USB or SATA drive straight to the unit and it will index it. Anything that the RS130 plays is again buffered on a 256GB drive in the pursuit of signal stability.

Clocks rock!

Having obtained the signal, the RS130 uses a high-precision OCXO 10MHz clock to maintain the sync and will also accept an external word clock feed (although HiFi Rose doesn’t make such a thing). The internal power supply is a 15v DC system and the board layout pointedly separates AC and DC sections to reduce the chances of interference. The signal is made available to optical, coaxial, AES/EBU and USB outputs, and you’ll need the latter if you want to stream the notional maximums of DSD512 and 768kHz PCM.

Where the RS130 takes a swerve from normal streaming functions is the same as other members of the HiFi Rose family. In addition to accessing stored content and music streaming services (including Apple Music which remains a rare thing to find), the RS130 has an HDMI output that can send video content from a curated ‘Rose Tube’ channel or from Tidal while outputting the audio via the outputs. If you don’t want to connect a screen, show it on the whopping full-width 15.4” 1920 x 382 resolution LCD on the front panel.

Love at first sight

This display dominates the visuals of the RS130, and not everyone who has encountered the review sample has been as enamoured with it as I am. I make no bones about the fact I love the RS130. It has a bit of visual drama that streamers are frequently devoid of, and it makes the RS130 a pleasure to use across the various ways you can interact with it. I find the app odd; the focus on video means it ‘flows’ a little differently from some rivals but is unconditionally stable and plays nice with Roon should you want to use that. Like everything I have ever tested from HiFi Rose, the build quality is peerless too. This is not a cheap device, but you can see where the money has gone.

The bulk of testing for the RS130 has taken place with the resident Chord Electronics TT2 and M Scaler and these represent a stiff challenge for USB streaming transports.

Extensive reclocking

The extensive reclocking that the two devices do, Chord deliberately ‘aims off’ for indifferent quality USB connections and eschews all forms of external clock input as well, means that the effort that HiFi Rose goes to in the preservation of the signal ought to have a decidedly limited effect. It is a testament to the thoroughness of the engineering in the RS130 that this isn’t the case.

What the HiFi Rose does, in comparison to running direct from a Roon Nucleus or going via a SOtM SMS-200 Neo, which are the two standard options here, is conspire to eke more order and coherence from the material being played. The ‘semi-live’ Disappear on Emily King’s Despite the Snow [Linn Records] is a raw and immediate recording that can start to sound slightly constrained as the scale builds. Some of this is baked into the recording itself, and removing it would sound wrong, but I was genuinely surprised at how long the RS130 delays the onset of it becoming apparent.

Audio Decongestant

This effect is vaguely akin to an audio decongestant. Across a significant material selection, it allows specific passages of music you had long thought to be bandwidth-limited to reveal elements of their content you weren’t necessarily sure were present. I’ve also found it interesting that this is not consistently tied to the sample rate either. The 24/192 Qobuz stream of REM’s Automatic for the People [Warner] benefits from the gentle sense of order that the RS130 brings to proceedings where many 16/44.1kHz recordings don’t necessarily respond similarly.

Using the HiFi Rose with a Cambridge Audio Edge A, which has a decent digital board but one that is less absolutely committed to indifference over digital sources, the benefits of the RS130 are more repeatable and extend to a consistently greater sense of three-dimensionality and order to the material being played. Something else that is very repeatable is that using the RS130 as a Roon Endpoint and applying Roon upsampling settings to the RS130 to send on to the Cambridge Audio was consistently more enjoyable than running direct from the Nucleus. There’s an element of guesswork to this but I suspect that the effort that the RS130 goes to stabilise the signal before it is sent onwards for decoding does come into its own when the signal itself is being altered further up the chain.

Nuts and Bolts

And, even after the nuts and bolts of the performance of the HiFi Rose have been considered, the value-added elements still need to be considered. The USB over optical functionality did not yield an enormous step forward when tested here. However, this must be caveated by the admission that the drive in question is my NAS backup and was selected for resilience rather than sonic prowess. It sounds better via the RA720 hub than when connected directly to the back of the RS130. The video functionality is a more subjective area. I always enjoy playing with it when I have a HiFi Rose product here, but I honestly don’t know whether my enthusiasm would be sustained long-term.

It’s important to stress that I think the RS130 is a convincing bit of kit, even if it never came within a mile of a television. This is a seriously proficient streaming front end that is a pleasure to operate and look at in a way that many rivals that can match the engineering at work can fall relatively short at. This device doesn’t forget the golden rule of network streaming, that the experience must match the cleverness and the result is a seriously impressive network front end that will drop into a wide selection of systems and delight with all of them.

Technical specifications

Type: Network Streaming Transport
Inputs: USB+SATA, Wi-Fi (with dongle) and Ethernet (with SFP module), HDMI (video in and out)
Digital outputs: Coaxial, Optical, AES-EBU (XLR), USB, I2S
Master Clock Connections: 50Ω + 75Ω Input (10MHz input frequency)
Supported Streaming Services: Spotify Connect, Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music, RoseTube and Rose Podcast Supported
Internet Radio: HiFi Rose Internet Radio App
Additional support: Apple AirPlay, MQA Renderer, RoonReady, Bluetooth V4.2 (with dongle)
Codecs Supported: WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, DFF, DSF, AAC, CDA, AMR, APE, EC3, E-EC3, MID, MPL, MP2, MPC, MPGA, M4A Supported
Video formats supported: ASF, AVI, MKV, MP4, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 H.263, H.264, H.265, VC-1, VP9, VP8, MVC,H.264/AVC (Base/Main/High/ High10 profile @ level5.1 up to 4Kx2K @ 30fps) H.265/HEVC (Main/Main10 profile @ level 5.1 High-tier up to 4Kx2K @ 60fps) Supported
CPU: Hexa Core: Dual-core Cortex-A72 up to 1.8GHz / Quad-core Cortex-A53 up to 1.4GHz with separate NEON coprocessor
Display: 15.4” TFT LCD & Capacitive Touch Screen (eDP)
Oscillator: High Precision OCXO Clock
Dimensions (WxHxD): 430 x 125 x 317 mm
Weight: 12kg
Price: £4,299, $5,195

Manufacturer

Hi-Fi Rose

www.hifirose.com

UK distributor

Henley Audio

www.henleyaudio.co.uk

+44(0)1235 511166

Tannoy Super Gold Monitor SGM10

There aren’t many loudspeaker or hi-fi brands that can truthfully say they have become a household name, but Tannoy is one of them. Tannoy has a phenomenal heritage, typified by models like the Super Gold Monitor SGM10 tested here. These are a re-working of a classic design from the Sixties.

Guy R Fountain kicked things off in 1926 by setting up the Tulsemere manufacturing company in London, but two years later he changed its name to Tannoy after the materials it used in its rectifiers – TANtalum and lead allOY. It started out with PA speakers but made the move into domestic speakers in the Thirties.

Landmark Moment

The landmark moment came when the company invented its dual-concentric drive unit in 1947. The original Monitor Gold Concentric range, which included the Super Gold Monitor, came along in 1967. Tannoy studio monitors have quite a pedigree and have been used on albums from artists such as Michael Jackson, The Eagles, Elton John, Billy Idol, Depeche Mode and Christina Aguilera.

All of this means that Tannoy will soon be celebrating 100 years in business. It has seen several changes of ownership, most recently in 2015, when the TC Group, of which it was a part, was acquired by Music Tribe, which is the parent company of Behringer and Burgera as well as British pro audio brands Midas, Turbosound and Klark Teknik.

In April last year, Tannoy appointed Symphony Distribution as its new UK distributor and in May launched the new Stirling III LZ Special Edition. They were followed in September by the Super Gold Monitor series – the standmount SGM10 at £5,995 with 10in dual concentric driver, and two floorstanders, the SGM12 (£8,249) with 12in driver and SGM15 (£11,495) with 15in driver. These were Tannoy’s first new speaker launches for seven years.

Revitalised

Tannoy’s global brand category leader David McCaffrey told me: “The UK market has been revitalised by the introduction of Symphony Distribution. Our strategic partnership has seen incredible growth and exposure within the UK. Tannoy turns 100 in 2026 and we have major plans for the future.” And to that end, he also revealed that Tannoy has plans for a new flagship premium series.

The Super Gold Monitor 10 is intended for stand mounting and features the 10in dual-concentric driver, where the tweeter is mounted at the centre of the bass/mid cone. It has a reflex-loaded cabinet with two forward-facing ports and, which is very unusual these days, two sets of adjustment to its frequency response by means of a screw-in knob that can be moved from hole to hole to tweak ‘Treble Roll Off’ and ‘Treble Energy’. The roll-off provides an adjustment of +2dB to -6dB from 5kHz to 30kHz, while the energy adjustment gives a shelved boost or cut of 3dB over a range of 1kHz to 30kHz. On the rear panel, two sets of high-quality gold-plated binding posts are provided so that the user can bi-wire or bi-amp them as required.

The speaker certainly has a presence about it, looking so different from the modern generation of tall, narrow-baffled designs. The 10in dual-concentric looks splendid with its classy gold-coloured mounting ring and those treble adjustment controls also give the speaker an unconventional demeanour. I guess you could say old-fashioned, but hey, this is a retro model, albeit a retro model brought up to date.

Update

So what exactly has changed and how have Tannoy brought this Sixties design into the modern era?

One change is that the new cabinets are finished in real wood veneer as opposed to the melamine of the originals. They also use thicker, 19mm particle board and MDF inserts. Internal bracing has also been improved with plywood. The new model also sports a double sandwich front baffle brace, which is said to significantly reduce vibrations. The second reflex port is a new addition to help reduce internal standing waves.

The 1.3in (33mm) aluminium/magnesium alloy dome tweeter sits in the middle of the 10in paper cone bass/mid driver and now uses a tulip wave guide as opposed to the old pepper-pot type, and its range has been extended up to 30kHz. The crossover network has also been brought up to date, using premium-grade polypropylene capacitors, high-power resistors and low-loss inductors that are hard-wired to avoid avoid the unwanted metal-to-metal contact of a circuit board.

But what remains the same is the philosophy behind the dual-concentric driver. The idea is that a more coherent and accurate sound can be achieved by integrating the tweeter into the centre of the main driver. This means that both high and low frequency sound waves emanate from a single point source, which Tannoy says helps to eliminate phase and time alignment issues that occur when sound waves from different drivers may not arrive at the listener’s ears at the same time.

Many Benefits

Tannoy says that the benefits include: point source imaging, coherent sound, wide dispersion for more uniform sound quality throughout the room, and a smoother fre-quency response.

So how do they sound? To find out, I hooked them up to my Audio Note TT3 turntable with Arm2/Io1 with S9 transformer and Meishu Tonmeister valve integrated amp. An Audio Note CDT-Five/DAC 5 Special CD front end was also on hand. And with 89dB sensitivity, the SGM10 is eminently suitable for partnering with the ever-growing roster of valve amplifiers now available, most of which have lower power output than transistor-based designs.

To begin with, I tried adjusting the treble energy and roll-off controls, but found that in my room, they were best left flat. It is worth experimenting though to get the best balance with your room and system. I also tried inserting the foam reflex port bungs, but I found these gave the music a more restricted and less open sound, so I left them out. I found the best balance in my room was achieved with the speakers around 18in from the rear wall and 12in from the side walls.

From the first few bars of music, I knew I liked the Tannoys. You might look at them and be afraid they are going to sound old-fashioned and coloured, but trust me, they aren’t. They are fun. They are dynamic, punchy, detailed and they really bring the music to life and got my foot tapping to the beat.

Friend of the Drummer

On the superbly recorded and very dynamic ‘It Didn’t All Come True’ from jazz singer/pianist Ben Sidran’s Bop City album, the first thing that hit me was how good the Tannoys are on drumkit. Drums had a real crack to them and when the drummer really hit those skins like he meant it, you knew it. The Tannoys also dealt with the delicate detail and nuances on cymbals and hi-hats. Sidran’s voice was open and articulate, and on fast piano runs when his fingers really flew along the keys, the notes were well separated and not blurred together. At the same time, the bass line was tight, deep and tuneful and really drove the track along with great pace.

I then reached for Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Hasten Down the Wind’ and the track Lo Siento Mi Vida. The SGM10 conveyed the body and inner detail of the guitars on the intro beautifully and Ronstadt’s voice came across with the emotion and power that I know and love. At the same time, I could follow what the pedal steel was doing and that is often lost in the mix on poor equipment. The bass line too was tight, deep and controlled.

With each subsequent track I played, I found myself warming to these speakers more. On Dave Koz’s ‘All I See Is You’ from the saxophonist’s Saxophonic album, his tenor sax was conveyed with great inner detail, power and its characteristic rasp and sensual edge, while the complex drum programming had great syncopation and the bass line moved well and drove the track along apace.

Touching Tribute

On George Benson’s touching tribute to the late, great John Lee Hooker on his That’s Right CD, the nuances and inner detail of each guitar note and his masterfully understated technique were well presented.

As impressed as I was with that guitar masterclass, so the vocal masterclass I was treated to on the track ‘So Amazing’ from Luther Vandross’s Give Me the Reason album also left me breathless. Luther is still my favourite vocalist of all time and the Tannoys captured his power, finesse, emotion and unique style very well.

These Tannoys are a thoroughly modern reworking of the Sixties original. They are dynamic, detailed, tuneful, fast and fun and they capture the essence and life of the music. They did not to me have any significant vices and I would not hesitate to recommend them at an exceptionally reasonable £5,995. You owe it to yourself to hear them.