Romanian audio company founded by Nicolae Jitariu. Unknowingly some users are already listening to his work being involved in multiple companies such as PS Audio, MSB, Goldmund. Rockna is also the parent company of AudioByte and AD Labs. AD Labs RD26 was my first dedicated dac, fitting their flagship is my last.
Rockna WaveDream comes in:
Wavedream edition SE(2x RD1 26 bit dac modules)
Wavedream edition BAL(4x RD1 26 bit dac modules)
Wavedream signature edition SE(2x RD0 27 bit dac modules)
Wavedream signature balanced(4x RD0 27 bit dac modules).
Besides the module differences they are the same including the output stage.
A bit of wavedream history:
Initially launched in 2014 I it had the same chassis but MSB modules in a similar arangement, MSB platinum and MSB signature, crucially without an output stage similar to Metrum.
After Rockna developed their own modules RD1 and RD0, the philosophy as follows:
If you are looking for high-end audio as it should be, you may be in the right place.
Let’s bring back innovation, consistency and common sense applied to design and technology.
One day soon I hope this will be part of my setup, on paper it’s perfect, isolated server and audio components. FPGA audio player with ram buffering, linear power supply, software I can trust and little mambo jumbo.
How would I describe the wave dream in a few words: holy mother of audio heaviness.
This dac made me rethink my view of digital audio, specifically just how much of the music is lost, not just information/detail but pacing, rhythm, depth. A very subjective rating, if the wavedream signature is 100% then:
Metrum Pavane Lvl2: 85%
Schiit Yggy A2: 79%
Schiit Yggy A1 70%
Geek Out V2 45%
There’s no area where the Pavane or Yggy equals of exceeds the Wavedream, close to very close yes. A party trick of this dac is different filters including no filter, NOS mode for when I get the urge to hear a very similar pavane sound.
I usually have to fight like hell to get a few percent of improvement so the jump was considerable, the largest improvement so far in my journey, more so than Stratus to Stellaris.
I’d love to compare it against the Wavelight at some point while I still have the Metrum unit.
I was exceedingly happy with the Pavane but didn’t know what I was missing, the constant struggle when upgrading gear, lack of a reference.
I wish I could tell you, the standard editional balanced is almost double the pavane price, not a fair comparisons in any way. Still I feel the pavane can offer a great taste of these super high end dacs. The wavedream addition was unexpected, I was uber happy with the pavane had no active intention to replace it.
I think the Pavane is deeper and wider and I feel neutral. The Voce I think is a little more musical, or a tad laid back. . Both are awesome dacs. I would like to own either one.
Spoke to a dealer recently and it seems that the Wavedream ed SE has been discontinued which was a shame. On the upside it makes deciding between the standard SE and Signature SE way easier for me . Can’t wait for it to arrive.
P.S.
Has anyone compared the SE with the Balanced version? I understand that the Balanced comes with 2 more dac modules but I only ever use SET amps which will never take advantage of the additional modules and can’t justify the premium over SE. Would love to hear more thoughts on this as there seem to be very little info regarding this.
The two additional modules are indeed just to allow balanced operation, sound quality is otherwise very close. A friend who listened to both ultimate chose the signature SE and unless you need the additional gain SE is very much worth it if you’re sure you’ll never ever need balanced. For my very specific system I need the balanced version for reasons outside of sound quality.
That’s great to hear. I was considering the Wavedream edition balance for a bit as it is almost the same price as the Signature SE so glad to know the SE is not compromised in terms of sound. The additional output is great for future proofing especially if I were to consider a solid state amp in the future but the premiums does makes it hard to justify. In a way, I can kinda see why the Wavedream edition SE got discontinued as it may cannibalize the sale of the wavelight…
Just out of curiosity how are you running your wavedream?
Rhodey - re:where to buy in the US - I just ordered my Rockna Wavedream Signature and Wavedream NET Server from verdantaudio.com today. Scott Bierfeldt is amazing to do business with, would highly recommend.
. Can’t wait for it to arrive.