Rockna Wavelight DAC - Thoughts/Experiences

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by exocer, Jun 1, 2020.

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  1. skem

    skem Friend

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  2. Clemmaster

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    They probably sell the WL to fund the WD, after getting a taste of Rockna ;)

    Mine is not going anywhere, unless I really need the cash for something else.
     
  3. etherealsound

    etherealsound New

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    Welp, I'm just here waiting for the impressions from @ChaChaRealSmooth

    Edit: Dislikes not taken seriously. Got a bit ahead of myself despite knowing how things work around here. At any rate, I guess a specific question I have in regard to the Wavelight is regarding the preamp function in it and how well it actually works.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2020
  4. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    Patience. Dislike given for mucking up already convoluted (and almost useless) thread. Try to avoid posting unless you're going to ask a good question, or offer solid signal to the thread.

    *don't take dislikes personally. Think of it as a nudge.
     
  5. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    So a brief blurb - based off brief initial listen the Wavelight synergized well with Stellaris. I had a few minutes of "wow" when listening. For the first time in a while, I didn't "hear the chain" but rather just heard the music and everything just got out of the way. Better synergy per my preferences than Yggdrasil A2

    However, it didn't synergize sooooo well that I'm no longer curious about Bricasti M3, Burl B2, or possibly the right Holo DAC. I will also say I wouldn't bet on this being better with any random or given amp vs a synergistic amp + DAC combo. On the flip side, if I have no opportunity to try the other DACs by the time I save up enough $ to buy this, I won't have any nervosa or FOMO about it - I would be very happy with the Wavelight for a long while.

    Filters make a difference but I could see NOS, linear, and hybrid being favorites for different chains, preferences, sources, or high/med/low Z outs on the same amp. Minimum isn't "bad" per se, but I didn't think it was at the same level as the other 3.
     
  6. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    Anyone experiencing pops when the DAC changes sample rates/bit depth? I’m not sure I ever noticed before, but it’s quite loud now that I have sensitive speakers.
     
  7. Clemmaster

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    No pops here, can just hear an internal switch.
     
  8. skem

    skem Friend

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    @AdvanTech I wonder if this indicates some leaking voltage on your amplifier (or preamp) inputs that is being grounded through the DAC. Wonder what you would get if you used a DC volt meter to measure the voltage from the ground (shield) on the DAC output to the ground (shield) on the amp input.
     
  9. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    Looks like it's not the DAC, it's the 1:1 transformer that is the culprit. If I take it out of the chain, I can only mostly only hear the click from the DAC case itself.
     
  10. skem

    skem Friend

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    Weird. Now I’m wondering if there’s DC on the XLR outputs that is discharging and causing the magnetic field on the transformer to collapse and making a click.
     
  11. ufospls2

    ufospls2 Friend

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    [​IMG]

    The Wavelight, in black.

    Hi Guys,

    First I need to apologize for this review taking forever to get done. I bought new speakers, and wanted to spend time with them and the DAC, and also have had some other stuff going on, but here we are.

    Today we are talking about Rockna Audio’s “affordable” DAC. The Wavelight. The Wavelight comes in at $4750USD MSRP, so its certainly not an inexpensive DAC, but compared to Rockna’s top of the line offering, the WaveDream, it is certainly more affordable. I’ve been interested in Rockna Audio since I found out about them back in 2014, but the cost of the WaveDream kept me off the playing field. I was very excited to see that they were trying their hand at a more affordable offering with the Wavelight DAC. Rocknas founder, Nicolae Jitaru has lended his design chops to quite a few notable brands over the years, so I was very interested in what he has managed to come up with in the Wavelight DAC.

    The Wavelight DAC arrived double boxed in what can only be described as a foam sarcophagus. It is a small detail, but it is without a doubt the most impressive and protective packaging I have seen from any manufacturer, period. Its little details like this that add up to make a product more impressive than their counterparts overall. Once I got the Wavelight out of the foam, it struck me how truly solid the build felt. It is heavier than I expected by a good margin, and certainly feels “premium” enough to match the MSRP. Looks are a personal thing, but I actually really like how the Wavelight looks. Its understated, slim, and fits in well with my set up. I think most people will feel similarly, and when you combine that with the fact you can choose either black or silver, to match your other gear, you are off to the races.

    [​IMG]

    The foam sarcophagus

    Now, the Wavelight has multiple modes, filters, etc…to choose from. For the vast majority of my testing, I used the USB input, but I also played about with the optical input. I don’t have any SPDIF or i2s sources, but those inputs, as well as AES, are there should need them. I would certainly like to try an i2s input, as the trend seems to be that if a DAC has i2s, it is the best option. With that being that, I found no real problem with the USB input, and would recommend it as the go to plug and play with a computer source. The optical input perhaps wasn’t as resolving as the USB, but I’m entirely willing to admit that may have just been my mind playing tricks on me. The Wavelight has an interesting feature that the remote is..well..your phone! There is an app you can download on Rockna’s website which acts as the remote. An interesting feature, but honestly, I would prefer a cheap stand alone hardware remote. I don’t know how much this would add to the price, but I think it would be worth it, if it wasn’t exorbitant.

    [​IMG]

    Having a seat

    In terms of filter choices, you have 4 options. NOS (non over sampling,) Linear Phase, Minimum Phase, and Hybrid. In terms of overall sound signature I found that the filters went as below

    NOS: The most tonally dense, bordering on thick sounding. Warmer than the other three settings. This was not my preferred setting.

    Linear Phase: This ended up being my preferred setting! It had the best balance of sound from all the filters and had the best extension at both ends of the frequency spectrum.

    Minimum Phase: Perhaps my least favourite setting. Not as warm as NOS, but warmer than Linear Phase. Seemed less detailed than the other settings for some reason.

    Hybrid: Interesting. My second favourite setting, which surprised me. It has a sound all of its own, detailed but not fatiguing. Again, less warm than NOS.

    The Wavelight has a sound signature that I would describe as being absolutely pleasing, and enjoyable overall. This is a good DAC. There are, or course, personal preferences, but the Wavelight plays to its price point very well. It is extremely capable, and has ended up being my favourite DAC that I have owned overall. Now that is not to say it is as good in certain areas as other DACs I have owned, but as an overall package, it ticks the most boxes. Im listening to it as I am writing this, and it is just a pleasure to listen too.

    In terms of overall tonal balance I would say the Wavelight is mostly neutral with a slightly dense tone. Its dynamic capability is very well done, and conveys the ebbs and flows of the music incredibly well. It is tied for the second most detailed DAC I have owned, with the Chord Hugo TT2. The Chord DAVE being the one which out resolves it. However the DAVE’s tonal balance, whilst impressive sounding, is not as easy to listen to as the Wavelight, especially for extended periods of time. So if I were choosing between the two, it would really come down to what I was looking for specifically for that system, and what music I was going to be listening to. One of the more impressive features of the Wavelight DAC to me was its sound staging abilities, which are impressive both with speakers and headphones alike. Not overly wide, but wonderfully deep and “holographic” sounding. Creating an almost 3d like sense of space. Its imaging is entirely impressive as well, though for some reason I noticed the imaging capabilities more with speakers than I did with headphones, which I thought was interesting.

    [​IMG]

    The rear of the unit

    The Wavelight DAC is also a fully analog Pre amp, should you want it to be. Although it lacks XLR analog inputs, it does have RCA analog inputs, and can be used as an entirely analog pre amp. Now, I did not have a pure power amp to test its pre amp capabilities with, but I have given it the best try I can with my integrated amp, and it seemed to do a lovely job. However, I am still curious what the Wavelight would do when put up against a pre amp/ power amp set up of competing quality. Does the Wavelight compete with high end stand alone pre’s? This is a question I will do my best to answer in the future as I mature in my Hi Fi journey. I most certainly will write an article about it when I do so. With that being said, and with what I could ascertain with the system I do have, the Wavelights pre amp capabilities would be good enough for someone who is slowly piecing together a set up, and wants to buy an amp but can’t afford a pre yet. Using the Wavelight as a pre may not be the last word in pre amp quality, but is certainly good enough for a stand in, or as a DAC/Pre combo in a secondary system.

    [​IMG]

    The Wavelight, and my time with it so far, has been absolutely lovely. Whilst it isn’t the absolutely end of the road in resolving the tiniest of details, it has a superb neutral and dense tone, conveying music with accuracy and a natural quality that a LOT of DACs struggle to come close to. The Wavelight is incredibly solid and well built, looks great, and sound great too. There honestly isn’t much more you can ask of a piece of Hifi Gear. Whilst its $4750USD MSRP is going to keep some people away (which I absolutely understand,) if you are in the market for a DAC in the sub $5000USD price range, I think the Rockna Wavelight certainly merits your attention. It is the most enjoyable DAC in overall listening enjoyment I have yet experienced, and whilst I do think there is more that is possible, you are going to have to spend more and break that $5000USD barrier to experience it.

    Overall, the Wavelight gets a solid thumbs up from me. It is a complete DAC/Pre package, that performs very, very well. An overwhelmingly competent piece of gear, that sounds great too!
     
  12. Vinylbrother

    Vinylbrother New

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    Hello. I have spent literally dozens of hours researching a new digital system to replace my analogue set up, which after many years of enjoying, no longer have the storage area, time and continual fuss of trying to find new software from substandard recent pressings.
    I am from Canada and glad to have just made acquaintance with you all !
    After much study and some reading between the lines, I ended up with a Rockna Wavedream NET to do the heavy lifting and have just brought home a Wavelight DAC. This gear was chosen upon the advice of a good friend who went through dozens of products before ending up here as well. The Rockna product appears to be quite well built and works well together. Although the WDNET is pre-owned, the Wavelight is new and straight out of the box. One word of caution, please do not listen until the power supplies are full saturated, which I felt was achieved within about 8 hours on trial listening and I suspect the unit will improve greatly within a week or two of continuous running. For connected equipment, I am using a Vinnie Rossi L2iSE direct heated triode integrated amplifier and Audiovector Signature R3 speakers just to give y’all some bass platform of associates. So far, I am quite shocked at the level of resolution and detail retrieval as I have tried many DAC in this price range and thus far, I would have to say, even still within a long break in period to come, it would be top of the heap. I have found the best setting ( for me ) seems to be run in I2S mode and set to NOS ( non over sampling and no filters ) I found many other brands of R2R types to be just a bit rolled off and a bit soft. This one seems to have stricken the right balance for my personal tastes. Just for the record, much of my uncharted experience came from this forum to which I must thank you all for participating in.
     
  13. DietKokaine

    DietKokaine New

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    Just picked up the wavelight. Beautiful DAC, sounds full and detailed...both at the same time.
    Timbre is damn near perfect...
    One thing for any owners, or people looking to pick this up, Do yourself a favor and swap out the internal 10 cent glass fuse for a quality ceramic one. Treble with the glass fuse is brittle, and I can hear distortion on my speakers on vocals. DAC sounds a bit hot, and sharp.
    After installing a better aftermarket fuse, treble is sweet and very enjoyable to listen to. Resolution has also seen a jump, and with it layering etc. Zero harshness anywhere
    Simple mod, that is a must for a DAC in this price range.
    Amazing DAC, that is a keeper as far as I am concerned.
    :punk:
     
  14. Clemmaster

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    What's the rating?
     
  15. DietKokaine

    DietKokaine New

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    I am using a 4 amp HIFI supreme fuse. Slow Blow. Stock fuse is 3.15 amp I believe.
    It is just such a good match for the wavelight.... Textures everywhere, and bowling alley depth. Resolution is very noticeably higher. Try it both ways, it is a directional fuse.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2021
  16. DietKokaine

    DietKokaine New

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    So my previous DAC was directly connected to a deep cycle marine battery, with coper foil cables terminated into a DC power plug. Basically very clean power, that lowered distortion in my system quite a bit.
    For the Rockna, I made a Litz power cable (20 gauge solid copper DIY in a hexagonal formation) and as said above added an after market fuse. Both were quite substantial upgrades from stock configurations.
    Then as an experiment, I plugged the DAC into a Furutech GTX Gold outlet that is being used for my monoblock amplifiers.
    to keep it short, this DAC is extremely transparent, and reacts to changes all along the power delivery chain.
    I have another GTX outlet coming in specifically for this DAC.... the difference for me is well worth the price of admission.
    So before the Broke, psychotic, lazy Hyenas come jump in here, and attack me for propagating another "Audiophile Myth" I would just like to leave a record of my findings for other people that might be interested in doing something similar.
    To each his own...... having said that, this will be my last post on this website.
    Congratulations to the Rockna team for designing a very high quality DAC, I am sure it'll be my reference for years to come

    P.S. This DAC does not use the power and Ground pins on the USB cable, just DATA+ and DATA- are needed. So the people who make their own cables, they can forgo the extra work.
     
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    Last edited: May 12, 2021
  17. Zurvv

    Zurvv Acquaintance

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    What fuse did you replace it with? I know it is 5x20mm (from rockna), but they didn't tell me the mA.
    also, RE: marine battery... doesn't the chemicals reaction in batteries make for worse noise than just a clean feed from the wall (assuming it is clean) or a all feed that is cleaned up.
     
  18. EagleWings

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    6.3A fuse for 110V units and 3.15A fuse for 230V units. It could be different for the Wavedream though.
     
  19. DietKokaine

    DietKokaine New

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    So here is my final setup for the wavelight.....
    >Matrix USB 3.0 powered by a Deep cycle marine battery 12v, to 20 gauge flat Neotech Legenburg cables, into a pure Copper (Gold Plated) DC connector.
    >Hooked up with 16 gauge Mundorf Silver Gold Foil USB cable (DIY)
    > wavelight with HiFi Tuning Supreme SILVER/GOLD 6.3 amp fuse ( power cable 12 gauge Litz Cable (DIY)/ Furutech GTX Gold outlet)
    > Mundorf Copper foil XLR cables (DIY)
    > Modified/Rebuilt Bryston 7B3 monoblock amplifiers (Duelund Cast capacitors/AudioNote Kaesei) (Litz power cables/Furutech GTX Outlet) DIY
    >Modified/Rebuilt MAGNEPANS (Crossover/frame internal cables/crossover Mundorf Supreme evo oil /Duelund cast) DIY

    After a few weeks of tinkering, the Rockna sounds nothing like it did when I first took it out of the box. It is a highly sensitive DAC that responds to every part of the audio chain. Fuses, like I already said are easily identifiable in Blind A/B tests.
    Power cables, outlets all impart their own tonality and resolution changes.

    At the end of all the work all I can say is that this DAC is just special... Tonality of instruments is just spot on, I find myself being startled watching movies, I actually thought someone was breaking into my house...Turned out they were just banging noises that were part of the soundtrack. It is that convincing. Every instrument is just spot on, stage never gets crowded. String instruments, pianos, Brass instruments are faithfully recreated. They occupy their proper space, and have textured dimensions that are easily audible on a good speaker. Instruments sound like they do live. That is my ultimate barometer for a speaker system at the end of the day.

    Resolution is only limited by what the DAC is being Fed upstream, so the people waiting for the Rockna Server are really in for a treat. If Rockna's earlier work is anything to go by, it'll be worth the wait.

    Stage has become extremely 3 Dimensional to the point where with my 2 channel setup I hear sounds coming from behind my head, and way outside of the speaker plane, I can't hear any distortion whatsoever, even on very Bass heavy tracks.

    Treble is extremely Liquid, it just hangs in the air, sparkles that don't cause any fatigue. For me this DAC in this setup just hits the perfect sweet spot.

    Mids are very expressive, singers emotions are conveyed very convincingly, again the DAC just presents what it is being fed upstream, garbage in garbage out....... So your audio chain has a lot to do with what you are hearing. Both Male and Female Voices are accounted for, High Res Vocal music is just a treat to listen to.

    For me as it is, this is pretty much an end game DAC, I couldn't be happier with it's performance, yes it took a bit of work to get it all figured out, but the work was worth the effort. All my listening at this point is done with the NOS filter, it sounds the most balanced and natural option to my ears.

    Good luck to all the other Rockna users, you have an awesome piece of gear, that hopefully you can also optimize in your setup. Thank you to all the people that left their impressions in this thread, I read all the comments before I made my decision to buy this DAC, they were all extremely helpful.

    P.S. Got an email from Nicolae at Rockna, The new firmware should be out soon, and I just cannot wait to hear what they have in store for the wavelight.
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2021
  20. JeremiahS

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    I’m not sure where to post this question but is the Wavelight considered a good upgrade if you come from something like the SFD-2? I consider the SFD-2 to be neutral/warm, has forward mids (which I like), overall slightly laidback and airy presentation. Ideally I would like something with similar presentation but if it doesn’t check all points it’s OK too.

    Other DAC that I consider is the Holo May. This one is really good but the things I’m not sure about it are: 1. Needs long warm up time 2. Sounds very much like a Bitsream DAC (can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective I guess) and 3. Requires software upsampling to sound its best.
     

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