Just first have to say how awesome this community is. I’ve made numerous friends and genuinely look forward to coming to head-fi to interact online with everyone. Because of the connections I’ve made, I’ve been blessed to listen to things that I would probably never have an opportunity to listen to.
Yesterday was one of those instances.
@akgb and I had a fun opportunity to listen and compare a couple of great DACs yesterday. He brought over his Rockna Wavedream Edition XLR so we could compare to the Mola Mola Tambaqui and Holo Audio May KTE. It was a blast and we spent the better part of 8 hours listening back and forth.
We used my Cayin Soul 170HA as our amp. For headphones, we were using the RAAL Immanis, Hifiman Susvara OG, Final Audio D8000 Pro, and for kicks and giggles Austin brought over the Apos x Audio Technica r70x Refine.
So, let me get this first out of the way, the May KTE, which has been my baby for a while now, is outperformed by both the MMT and the WD Ed. We tried the May NOS with no HQP and we also tried with HQP up to 1.5mHz. Utilizing HQP, detail retrieval and spatial presentation gets closer to the MMT and WD Ed, but you lose out on a large amount of overall dynamics. Going back and forth, we both found it’s akin using a volume normalization or a dynamics limiter. It just comes across as more polite. You gain a lot of detail through HQP, but that loss in dynamics was significant enough that it would be a really tough trade off. Outside of HQP and using the May and NOS mode straight, dynamics were on similar levels of the MMT and WD Ed. The overall sound signature in comparison is like a slightly downward tilting frequency response. Treble is softer and the bass is just a little thicker and bloomier than either the MMT or WD Ed. Soundstage and micro details on the May (NOS no HQP) are reduced pretty noticeably as we switched between the three.
With the MMT and the WD Ed, overall we found the dynamics and detail retrieval to trade blows with one another. The biggest difference we concluded came down to the presentation of the detail. There are differences in soundstage presentation, too.
On the Rockna Wavedream Edition, the leading edge on detail articulation seems to be more pronounced. This ends up giving the initial perception that there is more detail, but upon listening I’ve discovered that it isn’t that it is giving more detail, it’s just putting it more in your face and maybe a bit more aggressively more consistently. It also just had a little bit more bite to the sound. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you are ultimately going after. It also made a difference which headphones we were listening to. For example, on the Final D8K Pro and Susvara OG, the extra touch of bite and aggression ended up being a good thing across the board. However, with the Immanis, it ended up being more of a rollercoaster of an experience, where some of the tracks sounded great because of that leading edge, then some tracks it ended up being a little harder to listen to. It made the Immanis sound a touch brighter on some songs. The adage “too much of a good thing” was something we mentioned. Soundstage-wise, the Wavedream ended up being wider, width-wise by a bit compared to the Mola Mola, but closer in forward presentation.
On the Mola Mola Tambaqui, as I mentioned, all the detail information that is there, like the WD Ed, but the presentation was not so brash. Sometimes detail was even more noticeable, then sometimes more recessed, but still present. I think that has to do with two different aspects, one being the soundstage differences and the tonality differences between the two DACs. For example, the track “Dance is the Answer” by Dubdog, Ruback, Ticon, and Raja Ram, there are birds chirping in the background that you can hear. The difference between the MMT and WD Ed, the sound of the birds chirping are both present, but on the MMT they sound further away. On the WD Ed. the birds chirping seem more in line with the other track layers. I do think the MMT, despite having a little bit less lateral width, has a noticeable amount more forward depth. So it sounds more circular versus maybe a little bit more of an oval or football shape on the WD Ed.
Timbrally, the difference between the two is also noticeable. The Wavedream Edition is just a little bit more thin-sounding versus the Mola Mola, which had a little bit more weight to the sound. Austin and I agreed it sounded a little more analogue. With the D8K Pro, the WD Edition was a bit better pairing because the Final is a little bit more of a thicker-sounding headphone overall. I personally found I preferred the MMT’s tonality more for the Susvara and Immanis.
Overall, I do have to state that the law of diminishing returns is very, very much a thing. The May is still a great, great dac at its price point. The amount of improvement that we noticed, we are comparing DACs that are about two (or more) times the price of the May. With the Rockna and Mola Mola, it’s not a huge, huge difference. When I articulate these differences, I’m not talking night and day differences. I’m thinking it’s in percentages of difference where we’ve only been able to discern from swapping back and forth. Austin and I concluded, both the MMT and WD Ed are fantastic DACs and one is going to be better only given specific source chain needs. My preference still prefers the MMT over the Rockna and Austin agrees with the Immanis, the MMT is a better pairing. The slightly more aggressive nature is better suited for the Final and Hifiman. Both, do macro dynamics and detail extremely well, though, so you’re not going to be missing out on either by going one direction or another.
Side note— we also tried the headphone out of the MMT with the Susvara and it does decently well, though you do get less bass from it. Immanis is the same situation. Though, these are two hard to drive headphones, so anything easier to drive will actually be decent, so those considering an all-in-one solution, the MMT is a worthwhile consideration! I’ve tried the AK x EE Novus out of it and it does really well. The only problem is the headphone outs are on the back of the unit. So I am probably going to get an XLR to 4.4mm adapter to run from the back to the front to run my IEMs directly off of it.
Non-sound related note, the MMT is TINY compared to the Rockna and the May. So if space saving is a consideration, MMT is the clear winner in spades. The Rockna and May are chunky boys. Stacking the MMT on top of the Rockna made me grin just at how small it is.
And finally, again just for kicks and giggles, the Apos x AT headphone was a fun little small distraction. For $300 it sounds better than a lot of other headphones in its price bracket. It does seem to scale with good source, but realistically, it’s not super resolving. It’s not overly dark or veiled, but it’s got a decent sound profile. It’s lightweight, too, being mostly just plastic. Cups are a little small for my ears, but still pretty comfortable otherwise.
