MSB select II vs all dacs ?

Hi,

We are the North American distributors for Rockna so I thought I would jump in on this conversation. To be 100% honest we have A/B tested most of the dacs mentioned in this forum and they are all very good dacs. I believe it comes down to personal preference. I do however like the i2S connection better than any other connection because it eliminates some parts and gets you closer to a direct connection to the dac chip. The main reason we took on Rockna was because their dacs and server competed against much more expensive dacs and servers sound wise and build quality is also excellent. The other stand out dacs that we like are the Mola Mola dac and the Total dac. Mola Mola is another well built great sounding dac at a reasonable price.

 

We feel that it is difficult to say you have the best in regard to dacs but Rockna is definitely up there with the best dacs in the world.

Hi ricred1,

 

I agree with what you are saying but "far too often" the retail client forgets that most audio stores and audio distribution companies have had the opportunity to A/B many more pieces of equipment than any consumer will every hear. Personally we have A/B 76 different digital front ends.

Truth is if you want to get the absolute ultimate out of a Rockna dac, you need to run it i2S connection into the Rockna Wavedream Net. Again I know it sounds like sales but the Rockna streamer is the perfect match to the Rockna dacs. Also your i2S cable and Ethernet cable going to the Rockna Wavedream Net are super important. Every little detail makes a big difference, just like setting up a table properly.

Cheers,

Hi,
Again that was just one persons opinion and there is no "best" and I stress this because of the obvious. Different rooms, different ears, different pairing of equipment and different taste in music.

We did test the Mscaler + Chord DAVE and we thought it was very good. I truthfully don't want to get into the whole Rockna versus the rest of the world. Rockna really comes into it's own when paired with the Rockna Wavedream Net server and a great SSD in the server with your favorite music on that drive. There are a ton of factors that make a great digital system and in my opinion, you build it slowly and most importantly have fun doing it.

Cheers,

Hi,

 

First I want to say that I fully agree that the hobby is subjective to a point and that is why we do blind testing and A/B testing with 5 other people who only have 2 things in common with our system. The remainder of the 5 systems are completely different, our rooms are completely different and our ears are completely different. But the majority of the time all 6 of us, over a 2 day test period come to the exact same conclusion. Lots of time it comes down to knowing what you are actually trying to achieve in a high end home system and listening for that end result.

 

Our digital testing has been done over the last 20 + years and as I said earlier there is no "best" when it comes to dacs or digital front ends. Set up is key, cables are super important, server is also very important and our preference connection is an i2S connection.

 

It would be absolute suicide for an audio distributor to state his/her experience and preferences. It would only sound like sales so we prefer to keep our test results among ourselves. I hope you understand.

Cheers,

Hi mikelavigne,
We are not trying to make any case but rather stated very clearly the following;
Again that was just one persons opinion and there is no "best" and I stress this because of the obvious. Different rooms, different ears, different pairing of equipment and different taste in music.

We think there are are some other very good dacs available including Mola Mola and the Total dac. Rockna makes a great dac but we really like it when matched with the Rockna Wavedream server.
Cheers,

Hi mikelavigne,

At any point did you hear me say Rockna was the best or put any other manufacture down? I think if you read my post very carefully you will read this is exactly what we do not want to get involved in.

There is no intent hear except to say "lots of good dacs" and sorry if you want to make it sound other wise. It does not matter if the person is in the audio industry or not, we should be allowed to have an educated opinion. Nothing that we said was hypothetical but rather based on real experience. 

Cheers and lets not side track this whole thing.