I bought a Rockhopper in the last year and have had numerous drivetrain issues with it. Issues that shouldn't have been there. I didn't get a lot of help from Specialized. I got the run-around. I ended up taking the bike to an LBS that didn't sell it to me, and I paid for the majority of the repairs even though the bike is still under warranty. I got tired of messing with Specialized. In the course of this fiasco I did a lot of searching on the web and saw that others were having the same problems, but Specialized never owned up to it with me.
I'd be getting the DB, without a doubt.
If you don't believe me, do a search for 2011 Rockhopper reviews. Seems like people expect to replace/upgrade the drivetrain components when they buy these bikes. You would think a $700+ product would perform properly out of the box.