Rotel RSP-1572 Up and Running

Hi! I look forward to reading more of your experiences as you get more aquatinted with the 1572. And I'll post my thoughts as soon as I get my 1572 up and running!

What Blu-ray player? Any handshake issues? Do you have a cable box hooked into it; if so what provider? Sounds like the unit I've been waiting for!!

Sackrat -- Can you confirm SACD audio is playing through HDMI? Your comment above says this is occurring, but the manual says SACD must be played through the analog inputs (but DVD-A can be played via HDMI). Thanks.

It cannot play DSD via HDMI but, if your player can convert DSD to PCM (most can), the RSP-1572 will play it. However, my sample of the Rotel seems to be capable of handling 88.2kHz PCM signals in multichannel but needs to downmix 176.4kHz PCM multichannel to stereo. Rotel says they are looking into the matter.

I have not tried any 176.4kHz or 196kHz PCM multichannel original recordings yet.

Thanks. My Oppo and PS3 do convert to PCM, so that will work for me. Still somewhat a shame that the player won't play it directly. Do you like the product? Does it deliver at the same level of quality we have come to expect from Rotel? I ultimately transitioned from Rotel to an Onkyo Integra product because of Rotel's lack of features. But with HDMI 1.4, I am considering a return to Rotel.

The Rotel owners thread has comments on the RSP 1572.

?????

Rotel sent me a patch to fix this problem on 12/7/11 and say that it is incorporated into all currently shipping products.

Kal can you please clarify & confirm whether this pre amp does the following:

A) Does it accept DSD via HDMI for SACD? If so, does it do it for both 2 ch and 5 CH SACD recordings? If not, how can one listen to SACD with this pre amp?
B) Whow does the FW you just recently received handle the 192 & 196 KHz recordings.

I was at my local dealer and played a DD THD demo disk that has a 5.1 DDTHD 192 Khz recording....the Panasonic BD player was bitstreaming via HDMI to the Rotel 1572 and when I cheked the display on the Rotel it was reading 192 Khz, I purposely played this track to see how the Rotel would handle the signal, and it seems like it handle it correctly, in fact it played it in 2 ch DDTHD 192 Khz and in 5 Ch DDTHD 192 Khz?????

I really want to buy this unit to match it up to my Parasound Halo A51. I am however, hesitant, because this unit seems to be falling short on some areas that a $2000.00 pre/pro should be able to deliver.

Please advise

Thanks

Paul

It does not accept DSD. Most players will automatically convert to mch PCM for transmission to such a preamp.


Yes.


If you read what I said, you should notice that I was referring to PCM, not bitstream. Dolby HD and dts MA are just fine.


I don't see that.

Woops. I meant to say it is a shame the Rotel (not the "player") wont play DSD from my Oppo or PS3 directly. But, they do both convert DSD to pcm.

Some of the best prepros (e.g., Meridian, Classe) will not accept DSD directly.

Hi Kal just to be clear here.... When you say, "my sample of the Rotel seems to be capable of handling 88.2kHz PCM signals in multichannel but needs to downmix 176.4kHz PCM multichannel to stereo.". What connections are you referring to, the hdmi or 7.1 analogue?

Thanks

Paul

HDMI, of course. The original bit-rates are irrelevant, technically, once they are converted to analog.

Kal, would you mind updating us on your listening experience withd the Rotel? Thanks.

See the March issue.

As a 10 year stereophile subscriber, i will be happy to wait.

Based on my 4 hours experience with this unit, the smiley face and your defense of it's perceived short comings, I'm going to guess this will be a very positive review. From what my limited use I have a very strong suspicion I am going to love this thing. The EQ, again with limited use, is awesome.

It ain't perfect but what is? It is quite distinguishable from the competition in a number of ways.

I'm sure it isn't perfect. I've only just now begun to explore it. I don't have a lot of older audiophile equipment, like an SACD player. Everything I do have, except for a couple of game modules which I choose not to keep connected anyway, uses HDMI. I bought the Rotel because I wanted something that would sound musical so i could listen to music in the same room as I watch TV and on those grounds I am quite, quite satisfied. The EQ takes care of what ever issues I had with pronounced treble and lacking bass, the USB input is awesome. My Oppo will handle all the video processing so as long as the lip synch and delays work out well, I'm a happy camper.

Except for the almost rude decision to make updates unavailable to Mac users. What's up with that? There are tens of millions of mac users in the US, people who are willing to pay a little bit more for a product that performs well and looks great. Isn't this Rotel's demographic?

I wrote to the folks at Rotel and asked about whether they would be making updates installable from a Mac. I was told it is something they are beginning to discuss but there are currently no plans. what planet are they on? I almost want to return the unit over this issue. If I have to go buy a PC I may as well just buy a more expensive pre/pro that doesn't require an otherwise useless to me computer. Other than that, I love it so far. Haven't really dug in.

Can anybody confirm that the first 2 seconds of audio don't get clipped when playing through hdmi? This is a deal breaker for me.

Thanks

I don't believe michael fremer of home theater magazine mentioned the clipping in his review of the 1570 processor. The 1570 and 1069 both exhibited the same problem with the digital signal lock via hdmi.
So I'm hoping that this model finally has it rectified.

I got my 1572 about a week before Sackrat got his. As I mentioned in the Rotel owners thread, my unit clips the first 1 to 2 seconds of each song. My work around now is to use the coaxial connection. Audio wise, I don't hear a difference. However with anything going to the Rotel via HDMI, the audio clips, DVD's that start with music, like the TV series MASH. On a movie with a layer change on a standard def DVD, the audio clips as the new layer starts. However, with a movie on blu ray, I haven't experienced the issue. But I have experienced the clipping with the Star Trek TOS blu rays as an episode starts, the first second of audio is clipped.

I am working with the Rotel dealer I bought from and expect they will get a fix from Rotel soon.

I was hoping that Mr. Rubinson may have mentioned any such occurrence with his unit. Perhaps he will have more to say in his review.

I've been emailing Sackrat and he's got a good unit. Can't figure why I am having an issue he isn't. The dealer I bought from confirmed the problem, their demo unit also clips.

If you are hesitating to buy, don't. I am enjoying the sound quality and ease of use. And I'm sure Rotel will have some kind of fix.