Waversa

Waversa DAC3c (compact)



Here we go again!
Waversa DAC3c on long loan for two weeks.
It's ESS but I left it on for a few days anyway, even in standby mode it gets rather warm.

A Korean ex medical company moved into the high end audio market a few years ago.
DAC3c is part of a 'system' the core which is a roon core and streamer and the router, an audiophile grade router?


Stock photos used as my dealer asked me to leave it in the shrink wrap for resale..

It's a solidly built box with a smaller footprint, tidy looking piece of gear.
The buttons look and feel a bit cheap and the manual is full of broken english and explains almost nothing.
So how does it sound?

It took a lot of tinkering to make this thing sound good. Out of the box it sounded bad.
if you hear this thing in a store or a show, chances are it will sound off.

Set up: Ethernet as Roon endpoint > Waversa DAC3c > ATC sca-2 > ATC 150aslt alternatively DAC3c fed into my eddie current studio SET - headphone amp with hd800sdr.



Settings specifically:
Everything I tried with USB was compromised. Without WAP (waversa audio processing (nothing to do with Cardi-B)) it was ringing hard, without 8x it was thin and grainy sounding, with both WAP enabled and 8x the separation reduced to basically nothing. bypassing or 1x sample rate sounded super strident and bad but as you increase the sample rate it does improve markedly each time.

With ethernet as a roon endpoint it improved a lot- I was using 8x WAP and whatever md1 is. I assume these are filters but I really couldn't hear much discernible difference between md 1,2 and 3.
There is also a 'WUS' setting which is apparently a filter which gives tube tonality (supposed to make it sound like a NOS WE300b is in the chain).
This is basically just a warm poo and distortion setting that sounds terrible...

I had to drop the output to -18db or 2.5v output, now it was good. However, things are still a tiny bit bloated and congested, the sound signature of the dac is very similar to rockna WD SIG now, just not quite as refined and crisp. It's close though, very close.

Clarification on final setting choice to make it sound 'right' in my systems: 8x, -18db, wap/x on, WUS off, MD1/2

Keep in mind, I've had to handicap Rockna a bit by running it at about -20db to match volume with speakers, I prefer to run Rockna flat out but a lot of people like to run it with 10-20db.
When doing the headphone sessions I was using balanced for the Waversa and SE for Rockna, I think EC Studio and Rockna both sound best balanced.
With speakers I ran both balanced, volume matched with Rockna volume and then could just AB toggle the pre-amp with roon group (this is invaluable for dac comparisons if you aren't already doing it).

Can play the same track to multiple dacs easily.



So, it's an all in one (pre-amp, roon endpoint and obviously DAC). Probably the best sounding all in one and Sabre dac I've heard but as you can see it took quite a lot of tinkering to get it right.
It does have a bit of unwanted warmth in the treble, tonal density is a bit heavier than rockna overall (this is probably due to the WAP/X dsp trying to make sabre sound full bodied), stage is a bit narrower and separation can seem a bit congested. Rockna also edges it on air and bass quality/quantity and Rockna digs deeper.
Timbre wise the rocknas extra plankton rounds out instrument better than the Waversa. The Waversa transients feel good but the bloat gives instruments like bass guitars and cymbals a dullness and at times even a bit fuzzy sounding.

@skem mentioned that if I had of come to it in its current configuration I might have rated it more harshly.
A fair comment, I think the expectation bias for me was very low to begin with, I was pleasantly surprised and I do honestly think it is neck and neck with something like tambaqui, I'd also take it over something like the Holo May since I hate being stuck with HQ player.


Overall I'd take this over a lot of other dacs. It really is a less polished/refined/nuanced version of Rockna wd sig bal.

Added to the ongoing DAC ranking list.
It only got 9th, if this was a tiny bit cleaner and had a bit more air I think it would be closer to 5th, dethroning May with HQ. Also if it worked well with anything other than the onboard streaming, with my transport, USB, even from the mutec it only wanted to sound decent with the onboard roon streamer.

Special thanks to Hugo from indie hifi - Hugo has been amazing at supplying me with gear to review, he hasn't asked me for a cent and knows I have no intention of buying these DACs.

 

@zerodeefex Hey mate, can I have this moved to the watering the ashes DAC thread? I thought it deserved it's own thread but seems like 0 interest.

Thanks,
Al