Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 Integrated review by Roy Gregory at TheAudioBeat.com...

I'd be very interested in the comparison to the separates also. The S2 works great w Raidho's. I've only got about 250 hrs on mine.

I got the phono board in mine.

Guys, you can buy both cards and swap them out as system needs change. I think the DAC is $400-500 and the phono card about $350. It's not a 2 second job, but it can be accomplished with a little effort.

And keep in mind that Roy Gregory was also smitten with the phonostage too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Oh and be sure to set the jumpers so that the display goes dark after 10 seconds or so. Roy Gregory is right - it does sound better with the display turned off.

Thanks Jock. I read that too. Nice feature.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Rufus McDufus said:

Interesting Hyperion. That raises the question of what's best - the Capri S2 & 525 or Continuum S2. The Continuum looks to have the power advantage, plus you don't have to buy interconnects, and it's a one box solution which is very attractive.

Click to expand...

I haven't compared these options side by side. In the end it might be a choice inbetween convenience and flexiblity as I would expect the performance to be close.

All, the admittedly conservative 1K break-in estimate comes at least in part from me. It is based on a 3-day long exposure to Continuum S2, and is therefore somewhat conjectural and extrapolative in nature.

My general experience with break-in, including that for class D amps, is that many devices continue to develop and sweeten for the first thousand hours or so, with the first few hundred hours being potentially painful to bear. Amusingly enough, some of the newer class D amps like my Rowland M925s make easily enjoyable music within hours of "first sound"... They deliver islands of progressively higher sonic refinement quite early in the game, interspersed with correspondingly shorter and shallower performance dips. The bulk of non linear break-in seems to abate by about 700 hours, after which progress assumes asymptotic behavior. At the 1K hours boundary I thought that the highly involving sound was the product of complete breakin, but evolution actually continued very slowly until M925 grazed the 1800 hours mark.

When I listened to CS2 at RMAF 2013, I observed that its sound was opening up rapidly over the 3 days of the show, and was quite enchanting by the 3rd day. However, based on past experience, I ventured to suspect that the integrated in the Rowland suite, being relatively new off the factory floor, may still have been delivering a performance which may have not told the entire story about its full capabilities... Hence my conservative break-in conjecture for Continuum S2.

Regards, G.

Guido

Hey Mike,

Next time you are talking to Rowland, complain for me about the amazingly bad/cheap remote that comes w the S2.

Hey it's a lower level product so I understand cutting costs, especially in a non-performance way, but when I asked my dealer about buying a nice remote that I assume comes their top of the line preamp, he said I couldn't buy it. Weird!

Jock, I suspect that there may be a matter of compatibility of the IR codes used by the Continuum S2 remote with the Corus remote, more than n issue of lack of availability of the Corus remote itself. You might be able to source a 3rd party programmable IR remote, and configure it to function as CS2 remote. I can inquire with the factory.

Guido

That's what I initially assumed but my dealer corrected me and they just weren't available. Something is very weird ----- obviously not a big deal or I would have called Rowland directly.

My dealer isn't what you would call - good.

Hi Jock, I will find out from the factory if Continuum S2 remote alternatives might exist.

9500 for integrated amp??? I think their margins can afford a nice multifunction remote with a nice case. To me this is an embarrassment to say a nice remote only comes with their top of the line preamps. IMHO
Nick

GuidoCorona said:

Hi Jock, I will find out from the factory if Continuum S2 remote alternatives might exist.

Click to expand...

Cool

Thanks

veindoc said:

9500 for integrated amp??? I think their margins can afford a nice multifunction remote with a nice case. To me this is an embarrassment to say a nice remote only comes with their top of the line preamps. IMHO
Nick

Click to expand...

I might be just spoiled and maybe the remote isn't as bad as I think. Let's see what mike thinks when he gets his tomorrow.

With an amp that costs this much, I found it to be a joke !

It must be a high-end integrated amp. I think Joe is on the right path; Job 225.

Can someone post a pic of one?

I had the Synergy pre from Rowland and I wasn't crazy about the remote either. It was a nice plastic remote, but still plastic. I thought for a Rowland product they would give a nice aluminum remote. Just wondering if they changed the design over the years or not.

I was very unimpressed with the remote upon receipt of the unit...functional, but is not up to par with the rest of the piece. That being said, after using mine daily for the last number of months, I can say that I haven't thought about replacing the remote because I get instantly lost in the music. From a functional perspective, and improvement over the previous integrated unit remotes (more functions available).

From what I gathered when providing feedback on mine, I think the factory has been flooded with comments criticizing the remote, and I don't think they are going to change it. Again, after many months of ownership, I am ok with that!

All, I have discussed with the factory the CS2 remote concerns. I am happy to report that Rowland is working in earnest towards a universal solution which is expected to prove "both highly attractive and functional"

While there are no details yet, I will keep you posted as soon as further information becomes available... Please stay tuned to this thread.

socfan12 said:

Can someone post a pic of one?

I had the Synergy pre from Rowland and I wasn't crazy about the remote either. It was a nice plastic remote, but still plastic. I thought for a Rowland product they would give a nice aluminum remote. Just wondering if they changed the design over the years or not.

Click to expand...

Not 100% sure about this (I gave more attention to the sound than the remote controller) but believe the S2 comes with a plastic fantastic remote - whereas the previous version (C-500) had a more "upmarket" aluminium remote.






Guido, will the C-500 remote control the new S2?

No, old remote doesn't control it...I tried.