OK to be clear. Does this item qualify for the return policy as stated on the Headphones.com site?
Ferrum WANDLA GoldenSound Edition - Pre-Orders are Live!
- Thread starter TaronL
- Start date
If anyone happens to be at AXPONA, the Wandla GoldenSound Edition is on demo at the Vana booth in ear expo!
Nkam
100+ Head-Fier
is the harmonic distortion suppression from the ESS chip activated?
I see the higher harmonic distortion ( 5th and 7th harmonic) is higher than the 2nd and 3rd harmonics
not that they would be audible being so low. -130db
but just curious after seeing the measurements
I see the higher harmonic distortion ( 5th and 7th harmonic) is higher than the 2nd and 3rd harmonics
not that they would be audible being so low. -130db
but just curious after seeing the measurements
wagninger
Member of the Trade: Level Audio (Italy)
I still have to change my profile to reflect my status as a dealer, but the Italian Ferrum distributor has indicated that I could order the GS edition anytime! Availability looking good.
New firmware is now available including the fix for the sleep bug
Re. the GSE vs regular Wandla... I had a pre-release unit for a while, and updated to 1.4.0 (release note said it is the first version supporting GS edition), and unfortunately it did revert the GS features... But on the other hand, I can say that it did make audible difference, and I do miss the GS features. The funny thing is that turning the features on/off when I still had GS firmware only produced very subtle differences...
CFGamescape
500+ Head-Fier
I was unaware this thread existed, as I have been posting (albeit, very little) in the regular Wandla thread. I'm one of those that happily pre-ordered the GSE, after contemplating other DACs. I already had the standard Wandla on my wishlist, but this one showed up just in time. I'm looking forward to putting this into my chain and playing with the different filters.
I'm also happy to be able to support @GoldenSound's contributions with this. He is one of the best ambassadors for this hobby. But mainly for me, it's his accent that makes me trust him.
I'm also happy to be able to support @GoldenSound's contributions with this. He is one of the best ambassadors for this hobby. But mainly for me, it's his accent that makes me trust him.
Thank you!I was unaware this thread existed, as I have been posting (albeit, very little) in the regular Wandla thread. I'm one of those that happily pre-ordered the GSE, after contemplating other DACs. I already had the standard Wandla on my wishlist, but this one showed up just in time. I'm looking forward to putting this into my chain and playing with the different filters.
I'm also happy to be able to support @GoldenSound's contributions with this. He is one of the best ambassadors of this hobby. But mainly for me, it's his accent that makes me trust him.
Looking forward to hearing what you think of it
@GoldenSound - I am currently looking at putting a desktop headphone system together and the Ferrum products are on my short list in addition to the Chord TT2 w/ M-Scaler or something like a Feliks Euforia EVO with a Weiss 204. The headphones are ZMF Atrium Open.
With regards to the Ferrum I was looking at the full stack of WANDLA, HYPSOS and OOR. As a cohesive whole they seem to provide a compelling solution. The GoldSound edition seems to also offer some interesting features. One reservation for me personally is the use of ESS DACs which I have never been found of. While the DAC itself is not the only contributor to the over sound, I have tended to gravitate to AKM or custom solutions like Linn Organik in my Linn streamer. For me ESS have always has a bright or grainy sound in the implementations I have heard over the years.
That being said could you provide any guidance and things I might consider when making a selection or my reservations on the use of ESS. My main goals is to reproduce music with a great enveloping soundstage, good separation, and good perception of height and depth (not asking much I know). I listen to all kinds of music ranging from rock with the usual suspects of (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush) to electronic (Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michele Jarre). Recently discovered an artist named Hania Rani who has crafted a wonderful album called Ghosts who coincidently hails from Poland like Ferrum.
Any feedback you can provide would be great. Like the idea of ditching MQA in the GoldenSound edition.
With regards to the Ferrum I was looking at the full stack of WANDLA, HYPSOS and OOR. As a cohesive whole they seem to provide a compelling solution. The GoldSound edition seems to also offer some interesting features. One reservation for me personally is the use of ESS DACs which I have never been found of. While the DAC itself is not the only contributor to the over sound, I have tended to gravitate to AKM or custom solutions like Linn Organik in my Linn streamer. For me ESS have always has a bright or grainy sound in the implementations I have heard over the years.
That being said could you provide any guidance and things I might consider when making a selection or my reservations on the use of ESS. My main goals is to reproduce music with a great enveloping soundstage, good separation, and good perception of height and depth (not asking much I know). I listen to all kinds of music ranging from rock with the usual suspects of (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush) to electronic (Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michele Jarre). Recently discovered an artist named Hania Rani who has crafted a wonderful album called Ghosts who coincidently hails from Poland like Ferrum.
Any feedback you can provide would be great. Like the idea of ditching MQA in the GoldenSound edition.
So I was pretty much the same regarding ESS stuff for a while. The reason I loved the Original Wandla so much was specifically because it did NOT exhibit those 'typical ESS' traits. As you can read on from impressions from various folks in the Wandla thread, the great thing about the Wandla is you still get the fantastic level of detail and incisiveness but without the 'glare' or sterility that often comes with other ESS based products.
This is due to a number of things but the biggest two are the fact that the Wandla uses much better oversampling filters than other DACs (they were designed by Jussi Laako, the creator of HQPlayer), and Ferrum's IV stage implementation. They went though a number of different approaches, settling on a few that all measured really well but one in particular sounded much better than the others. They've done a simply terrific job with that.
Other products like a D90SE, Weiss 204 etc use a more 'typical' approach both in how the DSP is done and chip itself is implemented, and the IV & output stage, which does measure well, but in my experience simply does not sound as good and has the traits that I usually found objectionable.
I liked the Weiss 501 a lot but the 204 was to be honest not the best IMO, and it doesn't have any of the off-chip processing stuff that both the Wandla and DAC501 have that help them to step up above the competition. (The 204 also has a few odd behavioural quirks which if I'm honest I'm surprised Weiss didn't fix, measurements here: https://goldensound.audio/2023/09/19/weiss-dac204-measurements )
And as to soundstage, the Wandla was already excellent there thanks to a combination of basically perfect jitter performance and incredibly low crosstalk, but the spatial enhancement feature on the GSE kicks things up a notch and is the reason why I'm now using the GSE as my primary DAC in my headphone system
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@GoldenSound - Thanks for the reply. The website shows this a a pre-order item. Do you happen to know when it will ship if one places an order. Also, any thoughts on when the OOR will be back in stock to go along with it?
Blue skies
RL
Blue skies
RL
CFGamescape
500+ Head-Fier
See @TaronL's response to the same question here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ferrum-wandla-impressions-thread.967678/page-68#post-18098146
If anyone is at Munich High-End there are some Wandla GSEs about, one is in the Meze room
CFGamescape
500+ Head-Fier
@TaronL How are you guys looking on receiving and shipping out the DACs?
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