Review on the Rockna Audio Wavelight Pre/DAC just went up on Stereo Times

Hi

I have been reading this thread and thought I would chyme in as I took possession of the Rockna Wavelight dac this week. Keep in mind this dac is not fully broken in and these are just my initial thoughts on its performance. Out of the box its sonic signature is great bass , midrange density and a non-fatiguing top end (lots of meat on the bones).Other words that keep popping up are great imaging , openness and balance. It's one of those pieces, that is just doing everything in a way that I'm not analyzing the gear but rather enjoying the terrific over all sound . At this point I have not used any reference power cords or upgraded digital connections and I'm looking forward to see if I can squeeze a bit more out of it.. I think it is amazing what you can buy in a dac at this price point these days! What really impresses me is I currently own a Japanese dac north of 40 grand that is 8-10 years old and the Rockna is a very respectable competitor. I also had a chance to compare it to my Rockna flagship Signature dac and I must say the Wavelight gets you pretty far into that territory but at a much more reasonable price point. The Rockna Signature has been my reference for the past 2 years and I have not had anything better it in my system but if you only have 5 grand and are on the fence of which dac to go for, the Wavelight will put a smile on your face. I can't wait to get my hands on the matching server but that will be another story. Is the Rockna Signature still my reference, yes and it should be at 3 times the money.

 

@911renoguy

What would you say are the main differences between the Signature and the Wavelight ? 

Detail, dynamics, tone ? 

Terry - were you able to the compare the Audio Mirror DAC to the Rockna Audio Wavelight?  I know you thought very highly of the AM, so I'm curious about the benefits of Wavelight at 2x the price of Toubaor SE. Thanks.

Teajay, I’ve been going through some DACs recently. Currently own an M3 but earlier this year I owned a Sonnet Morpheus. At half the price I think the Morpheus comes very close to the Bricasti and should be on your reviewers radar.
Sure would be interested in your take on the Morpheus.

Hey tonnesen & rja,

1) If your system is single ended and you don’t have any desire to eliminate your preamplifier, then the Audio Mirror DAC saves you a lot of money and still competes regarding it’s overall sonic performance.

2) I have heard the Sonnet DAC in another system and agree, it’s an excellent piece of gear. Enjoy your M3, it’s another great sounding DAC along with providing a reference level volume control. It’s also the first Sigma Delta single chip DAC that I would want to own because of its musicality. Hope you feel the upswing in price was worth it regarding your purchase of the M3 in your system’s performance. I have two more DACs to write reviews on, the Mhdt lab’s Balanced Pagoda and the Audio Note (England) Balanced 3.1, so I’m still continuing the process of reviewing DACs at different price points.