Ferrum Wandla Golden Sound Edition

Thinking about the potential of WANDLA’s computing power, our Ferrum team thought up of the ultimate experiment. Could we make Digital Signal Processing really work for us? Enter WANDLA GoldenSound Edition with Elevated digital headroom, Spatial Enhancement, Tube Mode and Impact+, all done in the DSP of our SERCE module. DSP done properly.

Ferrum parent company HEM has always been operating at the forefront of audio technology. HEM was one of the early adopters of the MQA codec, striving for the purest possible digital and analogue audio processing. One of the main features of WANDLA was the experiment with our own digital filtering, next to the ones of ESS Sabre, giving our audience a complete new set of tools to fine tune their sound with, done directly in the DAC oversampling stage. Could we offer our user base even more? Time for the ultimate experiment. What could be achieved with the use of Digital Signal Processing when done right? What if we leave out MQA? WANDLA’s heart, SERCE, had so much more to offer, using its full potential. This is when WANDLA GoldenSound Edition came into being and the Ferrum team started implementing new features into WANDLA’s software. The fruitful collab between our own talented workforce and Cameron Oatley from GoldenSound gave us some very interesting ideas to develop extra functionalities for WANDLA, aptly dubbed The Converter. Our team was able to create extra settings to tailor the sound to the need of the individual and created a set of brand-new features in WANDLA GoldenSound Edition. Enter Elevated digital headroom, Spatial Enhancement, Tube Mode and Impact+. We chose to omit MQA decoding to get the best performance from the DSP engine for the new features. What is more, WANDLA GoldenSound Edition uses the exact same voltage adjustment feature as standard WANDLA for better compatibility with a wider range of amplifiers. To make it even better, in the foreseeable future it will be possible to convert the original WANDLA into WANDLA GoldenSound Edition. Because we want to give Ferrum owners the possibility to make the ultimate choice themselves.

Elevated digital headroom

Higher immunity 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 high-quality sound.

Tube Mode

An intentional increase of 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 the frequency response.

Spatial Enhancement

A unique spatial enhancement to provide an expanded soundstage and improved clarity of separation between musical elements, whilst avoiding the drawbacks commonly found in other approaches. It has two modes of operation: headphone and speaker mode tailored differently for different use cases.

Impact+

For those who enjoy a little more low-end in their music listening experience. This feature uses a customized two-band EQ which not only elevates bass but provides additional ‘punch’ and dynamic impact as well.

New Voltage Adjustment

The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition benefits from a hardware level output voltage adjustment of standard WANDLA, 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 lower output voltage and ensure compatibility with all amplifiers, without a need to use any digital volume control, or to have analog volume control components in the signal path.

Dynamic Digital Filtering

WANDLA has three ESS digital filters to choose as standard and, as a world first, two digital filters created for Ferrum by renowned filter-maker Signalyst, know for their HQPlayer app. More filters will follow after interacting with WANDLA users.

Proprietary amplification

Fully balanced modified IC pre-amplifier, fine tuned for WANDLA.

Optimized Digital inputs

Specially programmed USB, and tuned coaxial and optical S/PDIF, AES, ARC (TV) and I2S ports, optimized for audio.

Made for HYPSOS

WANDLA performs beautifully right out of the box, but you can take its performance above and beyond when pairing it with HYPSOS. Using the proprietary Ferrum Power Link (FPL) connection with 4TSD voltage sensing, both components will perform to their absolute maximum, unleashing unheard-of musicality.

SERCE

Digital audio system module – Our optimized ARM chip offers the shortest signal path possible, making 5 chips redundant.