Rowland "house sound"?

Redkiwi - could it be that the Rowlands were not broken-in yet?

I've had both Rowland 201s and Nuforce 9.02s and to my ears the Nuforce are clearly in a different league. Rowlands were definitely stale in my system.

I owned the Rowlands and used them daily for a couple of years, so I would say they were broken in. I can agree with Kiethr's words too. If you find the Ref9.02s a bit sterile then try the Ref8.02. Provided they have the right set of mods these compete with the 9.02s - and there are many that prefer them. The 9s are drier and the 8s are very liquid. I think the 9s are more neutral but even the 8s beat the Rowland for me.

I own 8s and 9s and have listened to both for months on end (with brief breaks for sleep of course) and know them both very well.