CanJam NYC 2024 (March 9-10, 2024)
- Thread starter third_eye
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I'm very interested to hear some of the impressions of the production model of the new Grell headphones.
Might pull the trigger.
Might pull the trigger.
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, a conversion will be available for $600 at a later date.
See some of Jude's thoughts in the CanJam preview vid from 17:55 as well!
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, a conversion will be available for $600 at a later date.
See some of Jude's thoughts in the CanJam preview vid from 17:55 as well!
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Looking at the timestamp- IEMs and portables are big ticket items in Canjam NY. No wonder, lot of IEMs are coming in market and headphones now have to catch up.
rotter2142
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Welp, I thought it was today. Made the 1.5 hour all the way to Times Square and then the concierge was like show me your tickets and bam it is next week. Oh well lol.Hahaha
I think ALL the slots are open today, but HE-1 is not on site...
Sorry bruv. Might as well head to Audio46 nearby and listen to the Empy 2 and other gear.
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My thought exactly!
Next week @rotter2142 it should go extra smoothly for you, since you had a practice run today
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@jude and @AxelCloris - such an excellent video!!!
I really love the new format (that you started for Dallas preview video). Works better than the old style "news anchor" format. Cannot wait to see you guys in less than a week...
I really love the new format (that you started for Dallas preview video). Works better than the old style "news anchor" format. Cannot wait to see you guys in less than a week...
flyte3333
Previously known as Em2016
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The filters are the same on both versions.
The only functionality this doesn't have vs the original is MQA
flyte3333
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Wish you worked with Ferrum to add minimum 5 bands PEQ - 10 bands being ultimate.
Would have trumped all the features announced.
After all these years it is still just the RME ADI-2 for a powerful desktop solution with PEQ
10-band PEQ is more meaningful than adding distortion , for tuning to preferences
A missed opportunity to do something special
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That is YOUR opinion... I for one would much rather have tube mode and spacial enhancement than PEQ.
Nkam
100+ Head-Fier
Does it play nice with HQplayer?
What happened to all the talk about NOS, the Holo Audio and HQplayer?
legit questions, not trying to be snarky.
does golden prefer this to HQplayer filters through a NOS DAC?
cheers
What happened to all the talk about NOS, the Holo Audio and HQplayer?
legit questions, not trying to be snarky.
does golden prefer this to HQplayer filters through a NOS DAC?
cheers
WANDLA has reconstruction filters designed by Jussi, the HQPlayer developer built in
That was one of the big selling points of the original, and you can swap on the fly between those and the ESS ones. The difference is quite stark IMO.
Full-fat HQP is still better, as there's things you can do with the power of a proper PC, but the ones in the WANDLA itself are already really good. So kinda just a case of whether the convenience vs difference is worth it to you.
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