well, after a quite some wait (thanks Corona virus for few extra weeks of that!), I have finally received my Rockna Wavedream signature balanced DAC. I have used it for almost a week and a half now, in order to get a good idea of whats going on and allow some break in. worth noting, I have sold my Aurender N10 before its arrival. certainly going for a Rockna wavelight streamer when its available (don't need the CD in the NET, wavelight would cheaper). so, I didn't get to have the exact same source to play with which is not ideal. at the moment, I've got to use it with a borrowed singxer SU-1 + laptop. and just today, I managed to borrow an Auralic Aries G1.
Ok, I honestly don't know where to start with my compliments! I'm not expert in describing sound, nor an expert in music, but I will try to summarize my impressions:
this DAC is another level compared to anything I have used in my system before, which are chord Dave (used for one week, borrowed) and Denafrips terminator (was my main DAC for a year and half). my temporary DAC which is a questyle CMA600i does not even count here.
-extreme purity jumped at me first. Dave had that over Terminator, but it was clinical/mechanical/thin sounding dac over all, (at least in my setup/cables), which made me accept slight grain in favor of full fat sound of the denafrips, kept it for that long. here with Rockna, I don't have to live with either or. pure sound, while having a delicious, just right amount of body.
-dynamics and dynamic range. did everything I hear before was getting compressed? the level between lowest level portions of a track and higher ones is mind blowing. if its in the recording, you will get it. it can clearly show you the difference between internet radio being mp3 and CD/High res.
-musicality and sheer speed. its very fast. PRAT at its finest.
-imaging and 3d, just went through the roof. its a tangible, realistic presentation, just life-like. with layers and further depth than I have ever had before.
-its very true to the track. I couldn't put my fingers on a general color or a description of the DAC sound flavour. I read that somewhere earlier at another forum, now I can understand such statement. some recordings show that there is unbelievable amount of information that was not rendered at full potential before, others tracks didn't show that. this is new to me!
I was afraid before I receive the dac of sibilance or sharp highs. oh, how wrong was I. the best highs rendering I ever heard. never gets annoying to your ears while extended and full of information. same applies for bass information.
my thoughts were, this is awesome, delicious and certainly deserves more recognition/ exposure. I wonder why there is not much of a chatter or information around this DAC and that company? they rock! could be the price point? or they don't care much for marketing? I wonder!
have to add that using Singxer Su-1, yes HDMI I2s is better that AES, even that I have a very high end AES cable. there is more details, there is sparkle, sound stage is larger, its just better, donno how to explain. I cant wait for a true I2s source to see the results!
if not for quarantine, I would have tried to put the wavedream vs the Aries Cerat kassandra ref 2. from memory, the kassandra is more euphoric for sure. it has some slight but very attractive coloration to its sound. the Rockna doesn't. is it the kassandra tube output, or older chips sound, I have no idea. anyhow, that's just from memory which is not totally dependable. once I'm able to put them against each other, will follow up.
yes, I recommend for a friend. I haven't that many DACs in my life to make any claims, but this is a super DAC for sure.