My 1:1 tests of TT2 vs Wavelight are done and the product goes to Classifieds. If someone is interested it is a good moment to look
here.
Since I have promissed to provide some feedback I will try to drag a conclusion. TT2 are Wavelight are the best DACs I have ever heard but also sound very different. They are quite opposite as presentation.
I have used only one pair of headphones,
Final Audio D8000 Pro, since I am an exclussive headphone listener (my tube amp does not have outputs). The source was my PC where I have a
JCAT Femto XE externally powered by a
Sbooster 5V LPS. The USB cable is a
Kimber Kable USB-Ag. I tried several interconnects
(Lavricables Grand 20 Core Silver XLR,
Neotech NEI-2001 RCA (handmade by a professional),
DH Labs Air Matrix) and 2 headphone cables (
FAW Noir Hybrid and
Lavricables Grand Silver). My listening session took around 200 hrs (but tests only several hours, more was accomodation to the new signature). Comparison was made with
Chord Hugo TT2 connected with
M Scaler with full upscaling, powered by
MCRU Ultimate power supplies and Dual-BNC connection via
Wave Storm cables. TT2 and M Scaler power supplies are inserted in a
Furman AC-210A-E. All audio equipments are connected to a
Kemp power strip and that one in an
Audioplan Fine Filter S which is plugged into the wall. I gave all these details to let people understand a little bit the environment where Rockna Wavelight was tested. This one was plugged directly into the Kemp power strip since I did not want to remove TT2 and M Scaler from their own custom supplies and was kept powered ON all the time. As for the music, I listen exclusively to rock/metal. For the evaluation I have used 4 albums I recently listen to:
Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars,
Riverside - ID.Entity,
...And Oceans - As in Gardens, So in Tombs and
Gamma Ray - Empire of the Undead. These were diverse enough to let me form an opinion.
I will not make a review, I'll just explain why for me the decision was to keep TT2 in detriment of Wavelight, this being an information I was asked for.
And now let's begin. From the first listening hours I have observed that Wavelight had a more rounded presentation, somehow smoother and rolled off in the treble. At first this gave me the impression of a more analogue presentation, a more organic one, but later I started to miss the high frequency extension of TT2 which was for me airier and sounded more lively. It was a fluid sound, and the softer signature was less fatiguing than the one of TT2, I was able to turn the volume to a higher levels and listen without any problems. But in my usage scenario TT2 is not quite fatiguing, at least in my setup when used with a custom tube amplifier and a quite big variety of tubes which allow me compensate. The softer and more fluid presentation came with a flaw, less dynamics. Everything was sounding to me slower, and this was evident to me on the Empire of the Undead track where I had a feeling of slow motion.
Regarding detail retrieval I find TT2 more resolving and with better instrument separation, and this was easy to see in the more intense tracks of ...And Oceans. On the slower songs of Riverside the more analogue and fluid sound of Wavelight was maybe better but even in that case, the treble roll off made it sound more sterile and unengaging compared to TT2 which was more energetic and emotional while keeping a more technical presentation because of better detail retrieval and airier sound. I know, this is not a very audiophile term but in the end what we all seek is pleasure in listening.
I started to think if I can compensate the lack of engagement and speed with different cables and I obtained interesting results. While all were close, the best from all was the Neotech NEI-2001 hand made one, which sounded the most lively to me and had the best extension on both ends. With it the music was alive while on others I felt it was just a recording. And regarding headphone cables, the Forza Audioworks Hoir Hybrid was better than the Lavricables Grand Silver for the same reason. So in conclusion I made a longer listening session of Wavelight with these ones to be sure that I am not judging it with cables which are not fitting my preferences. In this configuration my previously mentioned flaws were minimized but still, there was a margin to TT2 level which made me take the decision I've mentioned.
Now, in the end, I have to repeat what I have already said. I am not an usual listener, I have a very specific setup and I have some very specific expectations. And this is the reason I have most probably a different experience as others here. I do not want to deny theirs, nor consider mine more relevant, but I felt it was my duty to present my honest thoughts to the community. Another important aspect is that rock music is a complicated genre. You have distorted guitars, keyboards and all kind of vocal performances in a quite fast and intense song. I felt that Wavelight was exceptional for acoustical music and the lack of dynamics were inexistent on slower tracks. But for me this was no help, I listen to fast music where a sharper sound is more engaging. I felt Wavelight was removing emotion and lively sound from the music with that softer presentation, and this was a no go for me. What I enjoyed more was the incredible good build quality, the Android remote app and the overall solid and fluid sound it was providing. But this sound was, at least for me, lifeless.
On the TT2 side I have to mention that my setup had incremental upgrades and I felt that they had a major impact on sound quality. In other words, I had to build a whole ecosystem for TT2 to sound as it sounds now (LPS, filtering, USB with JCAT, Wave Storm DBNC) and Rocka Wavelight plugged directly into the power strip sounded close. Close but different and I doubt I can make it go into the direction I want regardless of the additional investments as the server. This was something I really wanted to try and I will miss in the future.
Ok, this was my testimony, I do hope it will provide an interesting point of view for others and please excuse my lack or reviewer skills. I'm an engineer, most probably a failed one, since I work in a totally different area now.
