I'm currently waiting for my Wandla+Hypsos combo, and I'm planning to pair them with my Trafomatic Head 2 amp. I'm pretty bad at reading the spec sheet so can you give any help as to how I should set the Wandla up with the Head 2 volume control/voltage adjustment wise?

Personally, I wouldn't call buying a $3,295 DAC leaving the audiophile circus behind. :smile:

I would definitely suggest you to try the ZMF Caldera then! :sunglasses:

I owned both but recently sold the Elite because I like the Caldera more. I mainly used the Elite with the Hybrid pads but I also used the Angled Alcantara pads for a while. I used to use the Caldera mainly with the stock Caldera Leather pads but I recently switched to the Thick Caldera Leather...

Are you referring to the Caldera Ultra Perforated Suede or the Leather pads?

Yeah, PJ Harvey is unfortunately one of those female artists, for me, that has made some amazing music but the intense vocals make it hard to enjoy sometimes. I also agree that the upper-mids are more aggressive sounding on stock Caldera but with Thick Caldera pads the sound is a little less...

I used to own a Burson Soloist 3XP, and it definitely had a brighter and harsher sound overall. After I switched to the Head 2, the problem with sibilance definitely diminished a little but has never gone away completely. I've tried Mullard and Philips NOS 6922 tubes with my Head 2 but didn't...

There are many female artists whose voice usually has some sibilance in my system, for example PJ Harvey, Taylor Swift, Lorde and St. Vincent to name a few. Some male vocalists also have some sibilance, for example Nick Cave and Harry Wilkinson (from the band Maruja) come to mind.

I have used them with Trafomatic Head 2 as an amp and Gustard R26 as a DAC so I think my gear shouldn't be the problem. I used to have sibilance issues on the same gear with Susvara and sometimes slightly with my Caldera as well.

I have had the same issue with my Elite. The sibilance isn't as aggressive sounding as with some Hifimans I used to own but it still is there more often than with my Atrium Open for example.

Thanks for a great write-up! I've been considering getting the Wandla to replace my Gustard R26 and the Holo Red to go alongside with it as a streamer. Did you use your Holo Red as a streamer or as a DDC? And did I understand correctly that you don't have the Hypsos with your Wandla?

I think they differ quite a lot in their presentation, although it's highly dependable what pads you use with them. Also with Atrium Open (AO), you can tweak the sound with different mesh options as well. I've been using my AO with Caldera Ultra Perforated Leather pads and the stock mesh. I've...

Has anyone shared any impressions of the new Ultra Perforated Suede Caldera pads with the Atrium?

But to my understanding, they are removing all of the MQA content so in time there shouldn’t be any MQA files left. I use Roon and have both a Qobuz and a Tidal subscription, and any new music that has been added to Tidal hasn’t had MQA files in a while.

Actually, Tidal has switched from MQA to all FLAC files, as far as I’m aware.

Thanks for the suggestion! Would it be possible to get a shorter cable since 5 meter long cable would be way too long in my system? I couldn't figure it out on the site.

Could I just buy two single mode modules since I already have the media converters now? For example, would these be the right modules...

Ahh, I see. Can you recommend some single mode SFP module if I want to switch to one down the road or would any single mode SFP module be equally good?

Thank you for the reply! I connected my single cables crosswise and got the FMC mod working right away! Haven't had a chance to listen to a lot of music yet, but after a quick listen the sound seems MAYBE a tad bit cleaner. There is MAYBE a little less sharpness around the edges of notes so the...

Thank you all for the suggestions! This is why I love these forums! I'll report back after I try swapping/switching the boxes and cables to try and hunt down the problem.

Thanks for the reply yet again but still no luck I’m afraid… (sigh) The ethernet cable from my network switch goes to the lower box and the ethernet cable from the upper box goes to the R26.

Oh man, I think I’ve somehow accidentally ordered the FMCs with wrong SFP modules (see pic). To my understanding they are multimode modules so is there a way for me to get them to work with the other equipment I have or do I need to order some singlemode SFPs? EDIT: I checked my Amazon order...

All lights are not blinking. They light up still like before (see pic). I wonder why the upper FMC box lights up at 100M and the lower one at 1000M? And yeah, I’ve been using the streamer of my R26 without any issues, and it’s still working normally when I take away the FMC mod. But I see you...

Ahh, I see... :no_mouth: I now tried to follow your instructions and think the SFP's are properly seated (latches are now closed) but still got the same results. Router can't find my R26 with the FMC mod. Should it work if I set it up on the fly or do I need to shut down my router, set up the...

Yeah, that I did! 😄 But my knowledge on the issue is very minimal so it’s good that you started with the basics!