Whichever way you slice it, the Neo Stream is a power user’s dream.īowers & Wilkins has this week formally announced its long-teased PX8 active noise-cancelling headphone. Most innovative/unusual (you decide) is the inclusion of a third LAN socket that connects to an OptiBox transceiver via an optical cable and then to the home router, thus electrically isolating the Neo Stream from the home router. Like the DAC, the internal streaming engine is also iFi’s own, running on a quad-core ARM Cortex processor to offer Roon Ready, UPnP, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Apple AirPlay and HQPlayer’s NAA. Digital outputs are similarly comprehensive: TOSLINK, coaxial, AES/EBU (to which iFi’s iPurifier reclocking is applied) and I2S. Most notably, the Neo features a ‘True Native’ Burr Brown DAC circuit, designed by iFi, that outputs via single-ended RCA or true-differential 4.4mm balanced outputs. IFi‘s new Neo Stream network streamer/bridge (€1299/US$1299) borrows its looks and aluminum design from the neighbouring Neo iDSD DAC/headphone amplifier and, according to the Southport-based company, signifies a step up from the Zen Stream in both price and performance. However, a UK RRP of £3399 puts it closer to the Naim. The RS520 promises a loudspeaker output of 250wpc into 8 Ohms and is, on paper, more powerful than its British and Canadian rivals. That the touchscreen a) runs the full width of the unit, b) will display album cover art and c) gives us the option for digital VU meters whilst music is playing means it sits closer to the NAD M10 V2 than the Naim Uniti Atom. The 12.6″ 1920 x 515px touchscreen also permits device control and, should you be so inclined, YouTube video viewing. In other words: we just need to add loudspeakers to the RS520 in order to listen to music via Roon Ready, Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect or Hifi Rose’s own software control system.
One way to look at the new RS520 streaming amplifier from Hifi Rose is that it takes the touchscreen and customised Android OS of the South Korean company’s RS150 streaming DAC, adds an MQA-capable ES9038PRO-based decoder – with HDMI eARC input – and marries the lot to the RA180’s Class AD GanFet-based amplifier tech (but minus that unit’s quirkier features and phono stage). The most interesting hi-fi (and head-fi) news stories for Week 39, 2022.
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