[ufospls2]

Thank you!

Yeah I've turned down collab opportunities before because I didn't feel that what we had the opportunity to develop was actually a better product. I've no interest in slapping my name on something for the sake of it.
This was something where we could really do some beneficial stuff and I'm super excited about it.

The reconstruction filter options are the same as the standard WANDLA, that's an area where Jussi's knowledge and expertise far exceeds my own and so it wouldn't make sense for me to step in on that

Is there any plan to offer the Spatial settings as some form of VST/AU in the future, that could be used by anyone? Would be interesting to see a take on how the HM1/WandlaGS does spatial alteration in a non hardware package vs traditional crossfeed (which I've never been a huge fan of.)

 

[GoldenSound]

Is there any plan to offer the Spatial settings as some form of VST/AU in the future, that could be used by anyone? Would be interesting to see a take on how the HM1/WandlaGS does spatial alteration in a non hardware package vs traditional crossfeed (which I've never been a huge fan of.)

Not at this time, though if this product does well, I do have some ideas for a more advanced spatial alteration product though this would need to either be its own dedicated unit due to the complexity involved, or a software tool. So fingers crossed for that in the future!

 

[wagninger]

This is awesome! Very interesting design changes, cool to see that you can upgrade the "old" Wandla, even if it sounds crazy to me to pay 600$ for a software update.
Maybe do it like Roon and make 600$ the lifetime option and otherwise charge 15$/month

 

[Mimetic]

I was excited while reading the announcement but the headphones.com exclusivity threw some cold water on that. Probably prevents me from picking one up unfortunately.

Nonetheless it will be an interesting read once people have a chance to get hands-on impressions!

 

[GoldenSound]

I was excited while reading the announcement but the headphones.com exclusivity threw some cold water on that. Probably prevents me from picking one up unfortunately.

Nonetheless it will be an interesting read once people have a chance to get hands-on impressions!

If you're not in North America it'll be available through normal Ferrum dealers elsewhere too. The headphones.com exclusivity is for US/Canada

 

[fiascogarcia]

If you're not in North America it'll be available through normal Ferrum dealers elsewhere too. The headphones.com exclusivity is for US/Canada

Any idea when the upgrade option might be available to current Wandla owners? Thanks!

 

[GoldenSound]

Any idea when the upgrade option might be available to current Wandla owners? Thanks!

No concrete date yet, hopefully a couple weeks after launch

 

[Mimetic]

If you're not in North America it'll be available through normal Ferrum dealers elsewhere too. The headphones.com exclusivity is for US/Canada

I'm in Canada. I have nothing against headphones.com but it's usually much cheaper to go through my local dealer(s).

Congrats on the collaboration btw, you must be very proud!

 

[GoldenSound]

I'm in Canada. I have nothing against headphones.com but it's usually much cheaper to go through my local dealer(s).

Congrats on the collaboration btw, you must be very proud!

May be worth checking on https://headphones.ca/ rather than https://headphones.com/

And thank you!
I'm really excited about it

 

[XERO1]

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.

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

Hi @GoldenSound, got a question for ya.

If one were to lower the digital volume to 92 on the regular Wandla (which gives you 4V/2V from the XLR/RCA outputs), would the 92 volume setting also eliminate any potential for digital clipping from intersample-overs?

And congrats on your work on the Wandla GSE!

 

[kajetanjazz]

would the 92 volume setting also eliminate any potential for digital clipping from intersample-overs?

Not sure, but the digital trim function does that and is present in the current wandla. I have it on -3db

 

[George Hincapie]

So not a big price increase from current WANDLA pricing?

 

[Mimetic]

So not a big price increase from current WANDLA pricing?

$500 difference in retail pricing on headphones.com. $600 to upgrade an older unit to GSE.

 

[George Hincapie]

$500 difference in retail pricing on headphones.com. $600 to upgrade an older unit to GSE.

Given you need Hypsos as well they need to be careful with pricing. If it's too close to May money then people will just go for that. Personally, £500 is not too bad.

 

[GoldenSound]

Given you need Hypsos as well they need to be careful with pricing. If it's too close to May money then people will just go for that. Personally, £500 is not too bad.

The hypsos isn't required. It comes with a 24V PSU stock but you can upgrade to the hypsos if desired (or use an alternative 24V PSU)