New Rose 150B - Thanks Mike!

[Michaels HiFi]

OK Guys,

Received a new Rose 150B from Mike and set it up over the weekend.

As usual, a HUGE shout out to Mike for answering all my streaming / DAC questions and pointing me in the direction of the Rose. I was aware of it but never really took it seriously until Mike recommended it.

As usual, I would never talk to Mike for info/recommendations and NOT order from him / waste his time so I ordered from him and had it shipped directly to my front door.

I specifically wanted to compare it to the Naim Uniti Star to it, as both the Rose and the Luxman I have on order from Mike will be replacing it.

Some general observations:

The Rose is a beautiful piece of kit;
The LCD screen is gorgeous;
Was up and running in only 90 seconds;
Very intuitive.

I then ran the Rose into the Naim to replacing the onboard streaming on the Naim with the Rose. I honestly expected them to be similar ONLY because I thought the streamer being integrated within the Naim would offer advantages to an external unit - no matter how good the external unit may be.

Cold out of the box, the Rose was every bit as equal to the streamer within the Naim. That's a promising start.

Over the next 6 hours, I listened to it every hour on the hour and was surprised at how quickly the Rose's sound improved. usually I don't notice improvements that quickly but within only a couple of hours the Rose was far, far, far superior to the Naim built in streamer. And, never has that Naim unit sounded so good with music!

The bass is still a bit light, but I'm sure it will fill in after some time.

All in all the Rose is looking to be an outstanding unit sound wise, and usage wise. The only note I'd offer to newbies is do NOT download the app that the screen on the Rose tells you to. It is no longer used. Instead simply download the Preimum (free) Rose Connect form the App Store (it has the black logo instead of the tan one they recommend) as the one they recommend is no longer used.

Now, if only Mike could make that Luxman magically appear at my door some time this week....

 

[Michaels HiFi]

Guys - MASSIVE typo. That's what happens when I don't drink my entire Iced coffee.

I fixed the above.

I meant to say I wouldn't ask Mike for his advice and then NOT order from him after getting his awesome help - meaning I wouldn't just waste his time as he is so awesome to deal with.

Sorry Mike!

 

[Darrel]

Congratulations on your new streamer. I've had mine since the end of May. It works well for my multi use system. It's the first product in audio where I find the remote almost a forgotten piece when using the HiFi Rose. Everything is done with the app on my iphone or ipad.

Enjoy!

 

[Mr Peabody]

congrats

 

[Mogulman]

I'm having trouble connecting my 150b with the Ethernet. What speed is your Ethernet, do you have any switches between the 150b and the router? My Tidal is always buffering. I don’t have trouble with any other device.
Thanks Billy

 

[Michaels HiFi]

I'm having trouble connecting my 150b with the Ethernet. What speed is your Ethernet, do you have any switches between the 150b and the router? My Tidal is always buffering. I don’t have trouble with any other device.
Thanks Billy

Hey Billy - I would suggest getting a cheap ethernet cable checker of Amazon. It can run a test on your ethernet port and tell you if there are any issues with it. Also, plug your computer into the wall then do a speed test that way vs wirelessly. If it is much slower on the ethernet cable, you have a wiring issue somewhere.

How fast is your internet subscription to your house?

 

[Mogulman]

My Centurylink speed is 40 mps the router is a Greenwave C4000. The switches are Netgear gigabit. Can you recommend a tester? Do you plug it into the switch.
Thanks Billy

 

[Michaels HiFi]

My Centurylink speed is 40 mps the router is a Greenwave C4000. The switches are Netgear gigabit. Can you recommend a tester? Do you plug it into the switch.
Thanks Billy

I think that is your issue. I am 500 mbs.

 

[Mogulman]

MM, I checked the speed at the MacMini and Ookla indicates 28 mbps speed. The cable from the switch to the 150b is 6’. So I don’t understand why it doesn’t work.
Billy

 

[Michaels HiFi]

MM, I checked the speed at the MacMini and Ookla indicates 28 mbps speed. The cable from the switch to the 150b is 6’. So I don’t understand why it doesn’t work.
Billy

If you have multiple devices drawing off that same signal, you will have less. Also, just because you are paying for 40, does not mean you will always get a full 40. Can you up your internet speed service?

 

[Mogulman]

Thanks, I've ordered 60 mbps which is the fastest Centurylink offers at my house. I can stream YouTube Video and donÂ’t have a problem on the MacMini.
Billy

 

[el0designs]

MM, I checked the speed at the MacMini and Ookla indicates 28 mbps speed. The cable from the switch to the 150b is 6’. So I don’t understand why it doesn’t work.
Billy

Hey Mogulman. Sorry you're having issues with the internet connection. I'm going to stick my head out and offer a few things based on my experience as a 30 year home automation guy, currently still in the industry. I ALWAYS avoid forums and commenting cause I don't want to get my head ripped off, but I joined to share and help, so here goes...

Speedtest isnt really a great indicator of what's happening with your network internally. It's a one time snapshot of the connection speed between your device and the connected host server at that moment.

I will bet that the 40mbps is a HUGE factor. Another is that the router you're using is not a high performance device and could be causing a lot of the buffering you experience. The Greenwave isn't a high through put device and likely just not capable of handling that much bandwidth. Remember, in addition to streaming music, the router is also working in the background for the rest of the network AND its in constant communication with the cable provider.

You could try a firmware update which could help and flushing the cache, but I bet a small upgrade here might make a big difference. Another good check is always the DNS server settings in the router. (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) For upgrades, even something like an inexpensive Araknis AN110 router is way better.

Another good practice we learned is NEVER use the built in switch in the cheap routers. We typically go out LAN1 to our switch and let the switch handle the traffic. The built in switches often stink or fail.

Lastly, I have witnessed ALOT of issues with the Netgear switches. They run hot and ports start to fail or partially fail and through put becomes an issue. For an inexpensive good solution, again Araknis makes some good managed and non managed switches that are inexpensive but work well.

Of course, check cables. Even a CAT6 patch cable can cause issues if its kinked or poorly terminated. If the RJ45 connector isn't seated well in the port or if the little locking lever is broken, it can effect performance.

Sorry for the novel. Good luck!! Hopefully, I don't get my head torn off here for my advice...

 

[jmusica]

The above couple of posts are good advice, follow what you’re able.

I’ll add that 28 (even 40) Mbps is on the low side. Given you can’t get more, you’ll have to be careful of two things primarily: 1) don’t have other things going on while you’re trying to listen - gaming, online videos, movie streaming, etc, and 2) you may need to be careful with the resolution of the music. CD quality (44/16) may work fine, while 192/24 or 256 DSD maybe not so much.

Far as switch equipment, Cisco Meraki is also pretty decent. Home network switches generally are pretty hit and miss, brand and model wise; you may end up needing to try a few different. But very definitely I agree with one of the points above more than others - don’t use the built-in switch ports that come with your service provider modem/router. In fact if you can replace that altogether with something along the lines of a Nest or whatever, then put a switch behind that, you’ll be better off. I’d also try a couple different Cat 6 ethernet cables just to rule out a stupid cable problem; happens more than you might imagine.