This is a review written by Terry Ellis March 2025.

For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here

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Is DAC technology progressing?

Its been a while since I have reviewed a stand alone HiFi DAC, I had lost interest in testing them. It has felt like DAC development has been mostly incremental in the last few years, however there has still been a few that have definitely got me excited about DAC’s again, one of those is the HiFi Rose RD160. Its had me questioning, surely a DAC released at the end of 2024 has to be categorically better than a DAC I have been using since 2020>? That whole situation is very interesting but far from clear cut

WOW Factor

The RD160 is HiFi Rose first stand alone DAC and its very much intended to be a high end unit with a high price tag of £4699. That is a lot of money for a DAC, so my expectations were naturally very high.  The RD160 definitely looks and feels like a high end HiFi product, one where Rose have not held anything back, except there is no streamer or no headphone amplifier here,  its just a DAC. It does however have a variable output or volume control so it can be used a preamplifier too and I will give it a pass on that one as it does a very good job.

This is not my first time seeing the RD160 in the flesh, but it still had the wow factor for me when I took it out of the box and held it my hands. I was really very impressed with the styling but also the fit and finish, its just a lovely designed and sturdily built HiFi product. For comparison the overall build quality feels a noticeable step up compared to the Eversolo 10 range that I have here too. The Rose costs more but feels better built at least from the outside.

The RD160 has one of the nicest looking volume control wheels that I have seen full stop, its especially good for a DAC. It has an extra touch of class about it with a dimmable illuminated ring that I love the look of, especially in dim lighting and the whole front panel design with the stylish buttons is super modern and elegant. Elegant and stylish would be how I would describe the full build, the top, the sides and it will no doubt give an owner an immense sense of pride of ownership.

A screen like no other

That is not all that impressed me, the RD160 has an invisible AMOLED screen that shines through the front face plate in a totally unique way,  I have never seen anything like it before. The screen is surprisingly clear considering you cant tell there is a screen when its not on and that is extremely clever because we dont have that plain black box always present that is never visually pleasing, especially on a silver component.  I cant help but think the visual effect of this screen would look better on a black version of the DAC as the contrast would naturally be a lot higher, because the screen is not massively bright. Its bright enough, but not massively bright and you can’t adjust its brightness, the dimming options only change the illumination of the volume control ring.

The screen takes on two forms that you can select between, one with a larger more obvious volume control better for viewing at a distance and the other is a more technical screen. Both show essentially the same information just in a different way so its whichever floats your boat. Included is a very nice quality remote control that you need to use as this is not a touch screen device, I mean there is no screen to touch. The remote gets you into the menu system where you have the options to fix the output voltage between 9 different levels, a great setup option, allowing the user to be exact with the output voltage. Some audiophiles will love this.

Within the DAC’s menu you have the option to select how the RD160 behaves visually. Do you want the screen to go away after a short period of time or do you want to see the DAC’s party trick a very cool waveform modern VU meter type of animation that matches up perfectly to the music. This is a super cool visual feature that I couldn’t help but really appreciate, again I think it would look even cooler on a black unit. As much as I liked it, it did feel like a a party trick because I did turn it off after a few days, but its very cool albeit a little bit quirky, the HiFi Rose way. They always find a way to make their products that little bit different and stand out.

Round the back and inside

Turning the DAC around there are many digital inputs to fit into “all” systems, including both a singled ended and BNC coax input, its great to get both along with an I2S input. The most interesting input for me is the SFP audio input, a variant of USB I believe and if you also have a HiFi Rose streamer such as the RS130 as did I Rose sell a kit where by you can connect from the streamer to the DAC using SFP.  This is using a fibre optic cable connection with the benefit of fibre being it offers full electrical isolation between the source and the DAC, electrical noise cannot travel along with light pulses.  That is my best understanding of the reason for its implementation and we have seen this technology come into the HiFi market for networking uses, the RS130 offers that for the network.  This is my first time seeing it used as a HiFi DAC connection to use instead of a USB or SPDF or I2S connection, but does it sound better is the big question I was keen to find out?

For analogue outputs there are both singled ended and balanced and I was surprised and impressed in a way that the balanced outputs are so far apart indicating some good separation for the internals. There are options to use an external clock which some will love so it does seem like Rose have not held anything back here and the build quality of everything is exceptional. But what about the internals?

Removing the lid was no easy task because its extremely thick and heavy, much heavier than I expected and I assume its acting as some kind of shield for the internal components.  Inside the first thing you see is the triple transformers showing three separate linear power supplies that are independent, one is for the digital inputs and one is for the DACs left channel and the other the DAC’s right channel, very nice.

The overall design seemed pretty complex to me, its fully balanced and symmetrical, its using a an AKM AK4191 chip for the initial digital filtering and conversion and then the signal is sent to a second AKM DAC chip the AK4499EX for the final digital to analogue conversion.  The signal then feeds out via JFET dual OP amps using what Rose call lavish OCC copper cable. The internal clocking is using what Rose call a high precision OCXO clock with an impressive number of capacitors being used and more

So there is a lot going on with the RD160 and much that was very impressive to my non engineer eyes but I will admit I lack the ability to do a deep level technical analysis that I know some people like to know about it. Instead I did a huge amount of listening and comparison in my fully acoustically treated listening room and there are some very stand out things about this Rose DAC.

Sound as good as it looks?

When it comes to the sound quality from the RD160 it is important to consider what connection I was using using USB or SFP, I found that it really mattered. More so than engaging the different upsampling options that I didn’t really like the sound of any, I preferred to use bypass. For those that like upsampling to DSD you can do that here for a softer more “old man” sound and I mean no offence by that, but when you upsample to DSD I noticed a big reduction in the output volume. I assume this is for a technical reason and will be where the volume control of the DAC will be even more useful, it can output a very high 4.5v from the single ended and 9v for the balanced output.  There are also 5 different DAC filter modes to choose between, these do make some difference but none of them stood out to me as being better than the stock setting of short sharp, I figured it has a little star by it for a reason.

For me the bigger difference maker in the end was choosing to connect from the HiFi Rose RS130 streamer to the RD160 DAC using either USB or SFP. The story here is simple SFP sounds cleaner, more relaxed and there is better detail and resolution to the music, but in my testing music also sounded leaner and not as full and big so there was some trade off.

Initially I did about a weeks worth of listening using the RD160 as a DAC and preamplifier which was a great way to get to know it. I tested it with three different power amplifiers and over the week I found I generally preferred to use the USB connection because its more full sound I found it easier to get a balance of the overall sound I preferred. I was getting some great results with the RD160 reminding me of my time with the Rose’s RA180 integrated amplifier. If you familiar with that amp you will know it has some stand out sonic attributes. It sounds very clean, very fast with a vibrant energetic sound, especially in the height regions of the sound stage.

Measures flat but sounds?

I am sure the RD160 DAC measures flat for its frequency response, it says so on the Rose website but I would describe its sound as coming over as a little “smily face :)”  Where you have a lot of high in the sound stage and high frequency information energy, this is great for creating a sense of space and energy and speed to the music. Combined with a foundation or deep bass that is very full and powerful that of course I like a lot, but the middle region of the audio spectrum, the upper bass or lower vocals seemed slightly on the cooler side of neutral.  This creates a lot of space in the middle of the sound stage, what some call an “open sound”, but the trade off is vocals could sound a little leaner or undernourished for my taste depending on the amplifier I used.

I found it very easy to balance this, very much the other way using an amplifier like the Eversolo F10 that sounds very warm, bold, dark and sweet and it made for a very nicely warm balanced overall system sound.  This was very enjoyable for obvious reasons and its warm and quite bass rich but darker sound showed how delicate the RD160’s highs are despite them being very present with a lot of energy. Using a more transparent power amplifier like the Esoteric S-03 showed me the spaciousness of sound the RD160 can deliver with a little extra sweetness to the vibrant high frequencies, and I enjoyed this systems system sound a lot. It was clear, lively, dynamic very vibrant with just a touch of sweetness and it was keeping me very engaged and entertained across a wide selection of music.

So if you are an audiophile who just streams digital music you might not need a separate preamplifier as the RD160 does a very good job. This was proven to me more when I connected it to the HiFi Rose RA180 Integrated amplifier because I didn’t instantly notice a massive improvement from having a different preamp in the system. In fact that “part” sounded about the same to me, I noticed the change in amplification capability more obviously. I need to be clear, I am not saying using a dedicated preamplifier wouldn’t give you better sound, of course some would but it seems like the preamp feature of the RD160 is about as good as that in the RA180 HiFi Rose flagship integrated. At least as best as I could hear it here anyway and that is really great and praise worthy but its not the full picture.

Connections and comparison

To try and explain the difference I was noticing between USB and SFP using a big orchestral crescendo as example. This big peaking mass of energy could sound like a big mass of mushy sound when using the USB connection which is fine because its like there should not be detail in it anyway. But with the SFP connection it broke that mass of sound down and I could hear there was detail there, there was some structure to the mass of sound energy. This was pretty much the same experience across everything in the mid range and treble, so more fine details or maybe just better timed music could be another way to describe it. I couldn’t hear any significant difference in the bass. This is not a one “destroys” the other difference but I found once I heard the difference, I could not un hear it and I didn’t want to go back to the USB connection as it sound was a little mushier. I think this is likely related to the RS130 streamer output more so than the signal processing through the DAC but it’s the DAC that allows you to benefit from the SFP connection from the streamer.

But none of this tells us if the RD160 is a good DAC?  To me the fact I have been listening to it as much is a very telling of how much I like it. To know how good it is I needed to compare it to another and that meant comparing to the Chord Hugo TT 2, a DAC I have been using as my reference for around 5 years now.

I was able to setup a pretty cool test whereby I ran USB out of the RS130 streamer to the Chord DAC and SFP out to the Rose DAC and that allowed to keep both DAC’s powered on and warm, then all I had to do was a quick power off, change the balanced analogue cable from one to the other and change the output on the RS130 to the correct DAC.  This setup allowed me to change between the DAC’s in about a minute so it was a reasonably quick change to keep inside the audio memory threshold as best I could, however I didn’t need to worry about that, the differences were easily audible.

Straight away I found myself looking to match the TT2’s sound to what the RD160 had been doing before it which is an instant sign of there being a difference and that meant, amp mode, high gain, with the volume set high otherwise the TT2 sounded lacking some in terms of delivering music with the same energy level as the Rose. That was telling difference number one.

Secondly was a big difference in the highest regions of the the sound stage or the sense of height information. The Rose sounded around 2db louder or more present in the high frequencies.  You might think that would make it very bright sounding and therefore harsh but it doesn’t sound like that, it just sounds far more present or vibrant in the height and high frequency information of music.  I have really been enjoying this aspect about it because its adds something great at times but it definitely needs to be balanced by the bass level.  With an amplifier like the HiFi Rose RA180 its easy to get the balance just right because of the excellently implemented tone controls but there are other ways to do it.  This is where a DAC like the Chord offers I think more useful set of sound filter options that change the tonal balance of sound, I find that far more useful than the different filters in the Rose.

That said in comparison even with the TT2 in its most analytical filter mode it was the drier or darker sounding of the two, the bass was similar between them for quality, being a little more full and punchy from the Rose, but I really liked the bass articulation from the TT2. The Chord is a very good DAC for bass quality but it was also the more dry of the two still even in its bass delivery.  The vocals sounded drier as well which in a way I prefer as its maybe more of an in the studio vocal booth sound, but at the same time the vocals sounded a little muffled or maybe a little filtered.  Vocals from the Rose sounded clearer and more present and more 3D in space and that was another big difference between the two.

So the long and short here is I enjoyed listening to the TT2 a lot but I enjoyed listening to the RD160 in this system more, it had more going on that I missed when it was taken away but we do have to factor in the price difference the TT2 costs about £1000 less.

A more difficult test

This was a very intersting comparison but I know many TT2 owners also have M Scalers as do I and the M Scaler will level up the TT2 in regards to clarity, resolution and sound stage spaciousness. The question now is would the M Scaler + TT 2 best the RD160. I tested this as well and now the difference between them was much closer, they sounded quite similar to me. The major differences now being the Rose still has that same extra height information and energy, the TT2 doesn’t give you that and it still sounded the drier of the two for good or for bad depending on how you see it. The Rose still had the advantage of more small and precise details thanks to the SFP connection, I could still hear that same difference between the USB and SFP coming through with the TT2 and M Scaler.

I had planned to do more testing with different amplifiers but I realised it will be the same every time using the Rose RD160 DAC with the Rose streamer and the SFP connection, its always going to have the same advantage of essentially what seems like better timing or lower noise maybe. If your using a Rose streamer with an SFP output the RD160 DAC is going to make for a very compelling option for you that I think might be difficult to best with another DAC unless it does something miraculous with its USB or I2S input. The SFP output from the RS130 did have an advantage, again its not night and day one destroys the other but it was clearly evident as offering something a better.

Taking SFP away, if there was USB going to both DACs I think the RD160 would go toe to toe with the TT2 and M Scaler offering something different and maybe “better” to you in some ways for less money so that is a very compelling thing to think about.

Final Thoughts

In summary, the RD160 proves that the DAC game has been moving forward in the last 5 years even if not by miracle amounts there is evidence of clear progress here. That includes other important technology developments that can gives us better sound quality such as a connection technology.

I suppose the main negative is maybe the Rose DAC’s “character” might not be for everyone, if your system is already a little bright and your looking for a cure to that it might not be the cure I would recommend. Maybe a softer sounding R2R DAC would be a better choice but don’t let that comment deter you either as its not a massive thing and its easy to balance with other components in the system, so don’t let these comments mislead you. I know audiophiles fear the word “bright” as they think its one of the least desirable audio traits as bright is another word for harsh. However its, not all brights are bad, the Rose shows that some brights can be good and without them we are maybe missing out.

I think the HiFi Rose RD160 is a fantastic DAC, that sounds a good as it looks and its well worth checking out if you enjoy a lively dynamic sound from your digital music collection and its possibly a no brainer if you use a HiFi Rose streamer with an SFP output.

A Special Performer Award is Pursuit Perfect Systems highest accolade and is in recognition of exceptional product performance regardless of price

For the full specification of the HiFi Rose RD160 DAC see their website linked here