HiFi Rose Integrated Amp
 

Korean manufacturer HiFi Rose has entered the integrated market with the introduction of the RA180. From a design aesthetic it's one of the most intriguing I've seen in some time.

Have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tPp_JZRt08

i just ordered the 150 streamer/dac. has received great reviews at its price point.

For those that may be interested, here's the Andrew Robinson review. You can speed up past the annoying ad that starts the content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5FeANl0eyk

New Integrated RA280
 

Another Hifi Rose release. Smaller brother to the RA180. IMO, much cleaner lines with Nagra inspiration.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...1&d=1706898534

Certainly less 'steampunk' in design. Their spec's are a bit non-conventional, so seems to make 250wpc compared to the larger (physically) RA180's 200wpc.
I'm good with my RS150B, so assume these integrated amps will be good, as well.

Happy camper with the RS150B as well. I can picture the RA280 + Canton Reference 9 (2023 release) + high level streaming day...if they play nice together, can be very compelling for a sub-$10k system.

The Canton Ref 9 = $5000 & the RA280 = $3450 for a total of $8450, leaving $1550 for a streamer, cables, speaker stands, etc., in order to stay under $10,000. If going with the RS150B = $5000, to include the required DAC, we are now up to $13,450 and still needing the cables & stands. Think $15,000 is perhaps a better number, neglecting discounts. But, its only money.

Canton+Lumin+WW+Shunyata, easy peasy, Ivan will work his magic!

Interesting system design “thought exercise”

I was at HiFiCon in San Jose last week, and listened quite a bit to the fully loaded Schiit Ragnarok 2, which includes a DAC and MM phono stage, all for $1799….and I was quite impressed.

So, personally, this what I’d consider putting together, “soup to nuts”.

Lumin U2 streamer: $2400
Schiit Ragnarok 2 with DAC & Phono stage: $1799
GR-Research XLS Encore standmounts (w/Sonicaps upgrade, & no cheesy iron-core inductors & sandcast resistors in the crossover :p) $1499
Shunyata Venom-X speaker cables: $1995
Shunyata Venom-X IC (only 1 req’d): $995
Shunyata Venom v10 NR PCs (2): $1200 ($600/each)
Power distributor: Shunyata PS10 $900
All in: $10,792

or, for a more a sophisticated system utilizing Altaira grounding tech:
Shunyata Gemini combination Power Distributor and Altaira Ground Hub: $3000
Shunyata Venom GCG ground cables (2): $500
All in for $13,392 MSRP

These prices before applying any discounts that may be applicable, items on sale, or available on the used market.

With either of these systems, you’d not only have very well-designed and engineered products manufactured with quality parts, but you’d also have an excellent foundation of quality power distribution, signal transfer, and in the second system, ground-plane noise reduction. So both of these systems would be…quiet. Gee, imagine that…:D

More importantly and with respect to maintaining the value of the original investment, this solid foundation could remain in place if you decided to swap out the amplification gear later.

Place your components on some Kallax furniture (which like Rega TTs, are very stiff but light) from IKEA like John Darko does, and you're good to go. :thumbsup:

Cheers.

I agree the specs are stated in unusual ways. Anyone know what '+13dB of turnover at 100 Hz' means for a MM phono stage? is that a good number?

Curious why they omitted a headphone output. Is there a balance control?

Innovative industrial design, Swiss-like.