Rockna Wavedream NET/DAC digital audio platform

The Wavedream NET connects to the outside world via its Ethernet connection, granting you access to network-attached storage (through UPnP/DLNA), local devices (via Airplay), or online sources, as well as any FLAC, WAV, or MP3 files stored in the Wavedream NET’s on-board storage and discs played directly through its CD transport architecture. All of these are connected through a single HDMI cable to the Wavedream DAC, benefitting in the process to the most untrammelled digital pathway in all of audio; I²S. The Wavedream DAC can be operated as a digital preamplifier, but we used it with a high-performance preamplifier as the control heart of the system.

Once installed, operating the combined Wavedream NET/Wavedream DAC is effortless. The NET does all the heavy lifting in terms of accessing digital files, using the company’s strongly recommended choices of Roon (or MPD – Music Player Daemon) to act both as a server and main controller. The Wavedream NET runs relatively fast for a dedicated server, too. Switching from CD replay to local storage to Qobuz will incur a delay of a second and change (about as long as it takes to change inputs on a remote-controlled relay-driven preamp) but moving from album to album within Roon is as near instantaneous as you might get from most dedicated servers. The DAC ‘simply’ takes whatever music you give it, upsamples it, and outputs it with your choice of filter options.

The Rockna Wavedream NET and DAC provide a neat answer to the ‘streaming, downloading or CD… which is best?’ question because the Wavedream duo handle them all equally well. So, the answer is ‘all of them!’

Loading a CD into the Wavedream NET is a slightly slower process than usual because it loads the contents of a disc into a buffer. This is very much in line with models from companies like PS Audio or MSB; that might come as no surprise given Nicolae Jitariu’s substantial input into the PS Audio and MSB digital platforms. Playing buffered CD files is a more comprehensive and inherently more expensive way of playing a disc than the conventional way of live laser vs polycarbonate. It’s also better in almost all ways… and not only because you can eject the disc and still play music. In a time before streaming, the rare player that pulled the contents of a disc into memory first was a rare treat, making a sound that is more refined, more precise and more like the sound you get from good analogue tape or LP than most digital. This isn’t digital audio with the edges filed off, but digital audio free from the harshness and brashness. I played the excellent Orange by the Attacca Quartet [Nonesuch], which combines well-recorded strings with the sort of explosive dynamics and difficult microdynamic string squeaks and squeals that is an acid test for a player. The Rockna duo aced this track, not only portraying all those difficult bits with aplomb but bringing out the musical themes so easily lost in all that sound.

Breaking up the band for a moment, the Wavedream NET is a refined and elegant sounding CD transport, with an equally attractive sound from its server-side, and Wavedream Signature DAC is richly detailed, well-timed, and extremely natural sounding… but those positives are raised by an order of magnitude when the two devices join forces. This is one of those great synergies where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, even though the parts are pretty damn great in and of themselves.

I played the title track of Electrified by Boris Blank [Blank Media], which is fast-paced with plenty of deep bass notes and more than a little bit of digitally harsh top-end. It’s a bit of an acid test of both CD and streaming because it can quickly reduce itself down to a bright, brash mess. Here it retained the thrill and energy in that top-end delivery but never fell into the trap of equating top-end energy with top-end brightness.

In playing Mi Buenos Aires Querido by Daniel Barenboim, Hector Console and Rodolfo Mederos [Teldec], the Wavedream duo exhibited all the right traits, such as outstanding imaging, meticulous detail, powerful dynamics and superb instrumental articulation and projection. Of those sonic aspects, soundstaging was particularly noteworthy; the Rockna duo makes for a stereo soundstage that is as taut as it is big, and yet inviting all the same. Moving over to vocal music and the sense of ‘in the room’ projection and vocal articulation draws you ever closer to the music. But there’s something more and deeper than those audiophile tropes; on a fundamental level, the Rockna sounds refined and sophisticated, almost debonair in approach. It gives a true star quality to its sound, and ‘star quality’ in the classic sense, like a Cary Grant or a Grace Kelly. And yet, for all this grace and refinement, this is no effete performer. Play something with a powerful beat and you are met with music red in tooth and claw.