Roland DS-90
Our Score:	Imaging	5
F	Dynamic Performance	4
	Frequency Response	4
	High Volume	4
	Sound Quality	4
	Price / Performance	5
	Overall	46 F
	List price	Approx $1200/pr
	Web site	http://www.rolandus.com

Roland has its own unique approach to the powered nearfield solution. The DS-90 is billed as a "digital monitor speaker". The system features 24 bit D/A converters that allow the user to feed the speakers directly from the digital output of a digital mixer.

The DS-90 offers a 6½" woofer and a 1" silk dome tweeter. Power is provided by a 60 watt bass amplifier and 30 watt treble amplifier. The cabinet is ported with two small, round ports located below the woofer.

The smaller woofers and lower power output makes the DS-90 something of a bad fit for our article. However, since its price is comparable to the other speakers in our shootout, we thought buyers might think a comparison is in order. Also, since it offers an original take on the powered monitor phenomenon, we thought it was worthy of scrutiny.

The DS-90 is designed in particular to mate with the Roland VS-1680 and 880EX digital mixers. These mixers offer Roland's COSM speaker modeling technology which supposedly will make the DS-90s sound like a number of popular monitors including Yamaha NS-10s and others. In theory, the DS-90s combined with a COSM-capable mixer will allow the engineer to hear their mixes on any number of reference-standard monitors.

Listening to the DS-90 we could tell that the speaker's top end is a little harsh. Adjusting the high frequency contour helped a little but did not solve the problem. My first thought upon hearing these speakers was "listening fatigue." These could be particularly tiring monitors to listen to exclusively.

Bass response was shy below 80 Hz, due to the speaker's smallish woofer and underpowered amplifier. Very low frequencies were poorly rolled off resulting in excessive woofer excursion and severe port chuff. And the underpowered amplifiers were very easy to clip.

Midrange response was good. Vocals in particular shone, with decent imaging and a warm midrange. However the overall tonal balance was shifted to the mids and highs. One would need to be careful in order to avoid muddy mixes with the DS-90s.

So the overall sound was not great, but not horrible. Now what about the idea of a "digital monitor?"

The simple answer is that Roland just doesn't get it. While the idea of a "digital speaker" might get everyone horny in the marketing department, the reality is that there is no benefit from placing D/A converters in the monitor and several drawbacks to this approach.

For one thing, nothing changes faster in the world of digital audio than sample rates and bit depth. These monitors will not support higher sample rates (such as the proposed 192 KHz DVD-A spec) or longer word lengths, or in fact any changes to the underlying digital technology. So when some new audio format comes along (as will soon happen), your speakers are not up to the challenge. It's called Planned Obsolescence, and in this case, it's blatant.

Then there's the cable run. People who do not understand the problems of digital cabling are likely to look at the ability to run digitally "from DAW to speaker" as A Good Thing. Not at all. The upside is negligible – a good cable run can carry both +4 dBu analog and S/PDIF digital signals with virtually no distortion. The downside, however, is clear – any cabling problems or interference will manifest themselves more prominently in a digital environment, where distortion is not tolerated. As a rule, analog cabling can handle problems much more gracefully than digital.

Moreover, are the digital converters in the DS-90 really special? No, chances are that most outboard converters will sound as good or better than the converters in the DS-90.

So, instead of using the D/A converters you already own, you'll purchase another pair that you don't need as part of your DS-90 purchase. In the process you'll waste valuable money that could have been better spent on any of the other, better sounding, higher-powered speakers in our shootout. Hey, here's an idea: save your money and buy a better sounding speaker in the process.

Lest I sound like I'm picking on Roland exclusively, note that Genelec has now started to sell speakers with built-in converters. Unfortunately we were not able to test these speakers in our review. However the same issues apply: converters in the monitor are simply a bad idea. Just say no. Hell No!

Since Roland is also wildly promoting their COSM speaker modeling technology, we thought we'd take a close listen to that technology as part of this review. Note that the DS-90s do not include COSM - it is included in the VS-1680 and 880EX multitrack recorders.

I really did not find any benefit to mixing with COSM. The fact is that, like modern "microphone modelers", speaker modelers cannot truly reproduce the sound of the speakers they attempt to model. COSM cannot remove the port chuff of the DS-90's ports to make it sound like a Mackie, cannot realign the tweeter to make the DS-90 sound like a Tannoy, cannot cause the DS-90 to reproduce 18 Hz bass like a Bag End subwoofer, cannot shoot sound all around the room like a Bose 901. COSM is a nifty effect and nothing more.

I believe that, even if the technology really worked well, the vast majority of skilled engineers would still prefer to mix on a single pair of well-known reference monitors instead. I know I would. So, even if you have a Roland COSM-equipped mixer, don't buy into the hype by buying these speakers. As we say in Texas, "That dog don't hunt."

The final word? Forget it. Roland's DS-90s are the New Coke of the audio world.