Rockna Wavelight thoughts?


Rockna's new wavelight looks great at ~$5K, im guessing it sounds similar to the acclaimed big brother wavedream, very little reviews/impressions so far though, anyone have one or plan to order? im looking to try a good R2R. denafrips terminator was just OK in my system. i especially wonder how wavelight performs vs la voce s3 which is a similar price. couldnt find any dealers that would home demo the two. any other suggestions for +/- 5k?

mrkoven
I just got the Wavelight DAC and my first night with it was fantastic. It's an excellent DAC, super smooth, balanced and dynamic. I've listened to alot of gear over the last few months and this is by far the best digital I have heard yet. 
I already own a great sounding DAC, the Lindemann Musicbook DSD. And now Lindemann offers an upgrade which entirely replaces the contents within in skin for less than $2K.

But, mental illness has me wishing for a new dac. It happens in audio. And mental illness along with age has me grappling at various types of dacs. 

I thought first about the Doge Audio Doge7. But those guys didn't respond to my last email as they are so busy selling product - a good thing no problemo. Love to see success in this tough competitive industry.

Then I thought about a Terminator. Then the Holo May KTE. Then the Rockna Wavelight after Terry's review. Now I'm on to the Audiobyte stack. And that got confusing as I go through reviews of such confusing Hydra Vox with Hydra Zap, Wave this Wave that, Hydra this Hydra that, Vox Rockna, Byte, heck, I just want a great sounding DAC :)

 OCDguy has got some great videos comparing some nice DAC's. That APL through YouTube then my computer headphones made me want the APL. Then I searched the price. No APL for me :( The Audiobyte sounded great and with the coming of the server streamer clocked to the DAC, should be a very good sound.

I'm trying to glean differences between the Wavelight and the Audiobyte Hydra Zap stack, all 3 boxes which gives me a FPGA based DAC, clean power and a server streamer.

Thanks for your help.


I have tried for a few years to get a DAC that sounds "right", to my ears. Conservative estimate I tried nearly a dozen including; two Schitts, IFI, Phison, Mytek and a Cambridge. I'm sure I'm missing a few from my trials.... ranging in price from $1000 - +$6000. On the recommendation of a friend, I tried a Wavelight and am hooked. It is the first DAC that I can actually sit down and listen to music to, while all the others were at best background music. I'm still in awe of how good it sounds after 6 months. 
Hey jimpittsburgh would love to know more about your impressions of the wavelight and also a bit about your system (music server, digital cable connection... are you using the wavelight as a premap etc.). If you get time... thanks! :)