HiFi Rose RA280 Integrated Amplifier

When HiFi Rose first unveiled their RA180, the world noticed. Its steampunk-inspired front panel and abundance of features in its new high-tech amplifier section bridged the gap between new and old. You could have an amplifier with many of the features sought after from the glory days of hi-fi but with a new high-tech, low distortion, and very efficient amplifier section.

While the RA180 was a hit, some wished they could have an option that offered the same level of performance with a more basic feature set and lower price point. If you are a digital-only music lover or don’t plan on changing from a moving magnet phono cartridge, the moving coil and variable cartridge loading on the RA180 would not be applicable. And if your speakers are efficient and have good-quality crossover components, then the built-in active crossover with bi-amp ability might be overkill. And if you don’t need the extra features on a product, why pay for them? Well, HiFi Rose has listened to your requests and has a new amplifier, a stripped-down, more back-to-basics version of their flagship amplifier.

The HiFi Rose RA280 sports a beautiful yet simple front panel and the attractive casework for which HiFi Rose is known. It looks both high-tech and purposeful with its cooling vents and logo embossed on its top panel. The color options are black or a natural metal finish that both look attractive and give users options in choosing what fits their room and system. The remote is an elegant, well-built metal unit with simple volume up and down, mute, and power buttons.

While the RA180 had an attractive but busy front panel with more options than most integrated amplifiers out today, the RA280 keeps things simple with a front panel. There is a power button, a large volume knob, bass and treble controls with a bypass switch, VU meters with a dimmer switch, and an input selector. This look keeps HIFI Rose’s industrial theme while allowing good spacing between controls.

The back panel of the RA280 is just as simple, with a well-labeled and straightforward choice of inputs and connections. There are 3 RCA auxiliary inputs for things like CD players, DACs, or legacy sources like reel-to-reel decks. There is also a moving magnet phono input and 1 set of balanced inputs for flexibility. There are trigger-in and trigger-out jacks, a phono ground, and a chassis ground. In addition, there is one set of high-quality speaker terminals per channel for outputs and one mono full-range RCA subwoofer output. Finishing out the back panel connections is an IEC power connector for your choice of power cable and a resettable breaker for system protection.

When HiFi Rose decided to include bass and treble controls on their amplifiers, they wanted to design something higher-performing to allow much more control over the tone adjustment. The op-amp-based active tone control circuit in the RA280, like the RA180, has up to 15dB of adjustment at a 12dB per octave slope vs the standard gentle 6dB. This tone circuit allows more adjustment headroom in the bass and treble frequencies. In contrast, the sharper filters will enable you to adjust these frequencies without muddying the midrange or causing midrange brightness in the upper frequencies. For purists or people who love the sound of their speakers/room as is, a bypass function allows this circuit to be taken out of the loop.

The power supply inside the RA280 is specifically designed to stay efficient and high speed even under complex loads. HiFi Rose used silicon carbide FETs instead of the standard Silicon FETs in other power supplies. These high-tech devices have high voltage and heat resistance, allowing the power supply to supply maximum power while remaining efficient and cool. This well-designed power supply also applies a 2.5kW power factor correction circuit with a high-capacity condenser to maintain top performance at all loads while keeping stable and reliable.