Introducing the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition!

Amplifiers
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I’m extremely excited to announce the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition!

If you’re heading to CanJam NYC make sure to stop by the headphones.com booth and have a listen!!

- Elevated digital headroom - Many modern musical tracks are produced in a waythat leaves very little headroom in the recording, often referred to as the Loudness Wars, This can cause clipping and additional distortion during playback on most DACs due to the oversampling filter being unable to accurately reconstruct strong transients. The WANDLA has its own digital processing headroom, but GoldenSound Edition has elevated headroom to accommodate it to its additional DSP functions, which are described in below paragraphs. Therefore, WANDLA GoldenSound Edition is highly immune to intersample overs even in bypass mode at full output level, allowing you to play back any music free from additional distortion, and enjoy a higher quality sound. Moreover, due to its DSP functions, now this sound can be even more tailored to your personal taste.

- Spatial Enhancement - The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition features a unique spatial enhancement that utilizes the power of the Ferrum SERCE module to provide an expanded soundstage and improved clarity of separation between musical elements, whilst avoiding the drawbacks commonly found in other approaches. A Headphone Mode and a Speaker Mode are offered to provide an enhancement tailored to each use-case, and this is achieved without any coloration to the frequency response, no additional distortion, and no tricks like added reverb.

- Tube Mode - The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition features a tube mode, which intentionally increases the even-order harmonic distortion produced by the DAC, similar to the distortion added by a tube amplifier. This allows the user to enjoy a warmer, richer sound without directly changing frequency response, and without the other drawbacks commonly found in tube based devices such as increased noise.

- Hardware Voltage Adjustment - The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition utilizes a new hardware level output voltage adjustment of WANDLA motherboard, allowing the user to swap between just below 10 Vrms output to a just below 4 Vrms output. This is facilitated via a dedicated hardware voltage divider, allowing the user to select this lower output voltage and ensure compatibility with all amplifiers, without needing to use any digital volume control, or have the analog volume control components in the signal path. This feature will also be available on standard edition WANDLA units starting with board revision V4.0.

- Impact + - The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition features an Impact + function for those that enjoy a little more low-end in their music listening experience. Though rather than a basic bass-shelf, this feature uses a customized two-band EQ which not only elevates bass but provides additional punch and dynamic impact.

- No MQA - The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition no longer uses any MQA processing, with all content being kept as untouched PCM other than if you choose to enable one of the sound tuning features. All of DSP functions of WANDLA GoldenSound Edition are extensively using processing power of WANDLA’s SERCE module. Therefore, to ensure seamless operation, MQA decoder is not available in GoldenSound Edition.

The WANDLA GoldenSound edition will be available exclusively at https://headphones.com in North America, and through Ferrum dealers in other regions.

It will retail for $3295. (Estimated, subject to change)

For existing WANDLA owners, an upgrade will be available for $600 at a later date. (Estimated, subject to change)

See some of Jude’s thoughts in the CanJam preview vid from 17:55 as well!

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I am a bit confused! Is this mainly for Head Phone use only? Is this just as good with tower speakers in all modes? …Thanks! :smiley:

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Congratulations on this release! This really looks like it will be a tremendous product!

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No it’s for both, the spatial enhancement has a speaker mode and a headphones mode.

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First time I’ve seen lack of MQA touted as a feature! Nice…

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If I didn’t already have a Holo May this would 100% be my next DAC. Congrats on the collab! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

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This unit looks like the beginning of great advancements in new DAC technology!

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Just a quick update for those that are waiting on a unit.

Our understanding is that the units are currently waiting with the US distributor and they are just waiting on a final firmware fix to squash a bug. As soon as that has been implemented, units will be on the way to our warehouse and then on the way to you!

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@GoldenSound - Great enhancement of the soundstage :slight_smile: But expensive :slight_smile:

GoldenSound Edition Converting Plugin
GoldenSound Edition Converting Plugin1920×907 108 KB

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Any suggestions for an headphone amp that would be a good match with Ferrum Wandla GSE?

Thanks

Torben

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The OOR would be a natural choice if you have the Wandla already, or particularly if you plan to get a HYPSOS later.
The Holo Bliss is also terrific though, just quite a bit larger and runs hot so can’t really stack a DAC on top of it.

Between the Bliss and the OOR I’d pick the Bliss by a small margin for pure SQ, but less convenient

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I’m glad you’re enjoying it!!
There’s some interesting updates for the GSE features coming soon too, stay tuned :smiley:

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This there any pefered DAC setting (red arrow on the the PIC).

Right now I am using “95”

Thanks

DSET
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If using it strictly as a dac, go to audio settings and enable bypass to completely disable volume control.

BUT, with the oor and wandla I’d actually recommend setting the OOR to bypass using the rotary switch on the rear, then setting the wandla to analog volume mode and using the wandla to control volume. The wandla’s preamp is a bit better than the OORs volume control

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Thanks :slight_smile:

There seems to be some heavy warning in the manual:

Please use the Bypass function with caution! A sudden jump in headphone volume may damage your
hearing and the headphones or speakers! It is best to reduce the input signal at the source to a minimum before the Bypass function is activated.
Note: Ferrum refuses every liability for damage to equipment due to using Bypass function

Torben

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Don’t worry about that, it’s just one of those “warning: this bag of peanuts may contain traces of nuts” things. :grin:

Unfortunately if theres no warning someone will inevitably go “you didn’t warn me that playing my amp full volume with no preamp/volume control would be dangerously loud and now I want you to pay for my broken headphones!”. So they put the warning there just in case.

When using bypass, the OOR’s volume control circuitry is completely taken out of the signal path. The amp is then measurably better performing as a result, but you need to have some form of volume control upstream.
It’s no more dangerous than using the amp normally, since you wouldn’t just start playing with the pot maxed either for the same reason. Most amps have more than enough power to get most headphones loud enough to cause immediate hearing damage, but that’s dependent on the user not being silly and blasting something at full volume

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@GoldenSound- Thanks. Have just implemented it :+1:
Thank you for taking the time and effort to provide this information

Torben

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Audio Lounge 24122025E
Audio Lounge 24122025E1920×1798 479 KB

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I have added some “elastic buffer” (see picture) to get a bit more ventilation between the units. But not very stable, so I removed them again.

NUP
NUP1920×1483 388 KB

Any suggestions for a better solution?

Thanks and a happy new vear

Torben

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Most audio components have feet that are recessed or hollow in the middle. So, flipping your “elastic buffer” hemispheres upside down should provide more stability, if a bit less separation.

Alternatively, some Sorbothane pucks would do the job as well, and they aren’t (necessarily) overly expensive.