Ferrum WANDLA - Impressions Thread
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being irrationally rational 
great
krude
1000+ Head-Fier
I am rather impressed by the standard Wandla with Hypsos owning May previously.
To my ears it's summit fi and sounds anything but a typical delta sigma / ESS.
We can agree to disagree here
Since my initial impressions which were already very positive it burned in a lot, lost any hint of sharpness or digitalness it still might have had. It's a very clean and powerful sound while somehow managing to sound as analogue and refined as a top class R2R. I can't get over how good it sounds and I can't believe it uses an ESS
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Its a great dac that sounds much more like Chord Daves little brother to me with hypsos, which is pretty great on its own, especially in that form factor and for that price.I am rather impressed by the standard Wandla with Hypsos owning May previously.
To my ears it's summit fi and sounds anything but a typical delta sigma / ESS.
We can agree to disagree here
Since my initial impressions which were already very positive it burned in a lot, lost any hint of sharpness or digitalness it still might have had. It's a very clean and powerful sound while somehow managing to sound as analogue and refined as a top class R2R. I can't get over how good it sounds and I can't believe it uses an ESS
But I wouldn’t compare it to R2R stuff, its a very different tonality imho (this includes r2r advantages and disadvantages) imho. Harmony was much closer to May imho, there was a hint of Lapizator euphony too. This was rather apparent in show environment recently in Munich since you could test the almost units next to each in Meze room. I suggest to A/B May vs Wandla - as usual, our audio memory is very unreliable
krude
1000+ Head-Fier
I did have both DACs for about a month, I think that's enough of AB and I was happy to keep Wandla and allow May to find a new home.
Since then Wandla and Hypsos really came into it's own. If I haven't owned May for 2 years I would be tempted by it, but I'm passt that and can enjoy the advantages Wandla gives without feeling I'm missing something.
For me the main difference is the midrange fullness / clarity May sounding more full / warm off neutral and Wandla having more speed and sounding less warm off neutral.
The main trick even stock Wandla pulls off is throwing a huge stage both width and depth with great imaging but without sounding sharp, cold or artificial in any way. That's exactly what I was hoping for getting it and it exceeded my expectations by quite a lot.
OhmsClaw
500+ Head-Fier
what's your favorite filter? Responses like this got me stuck between the Laiv and Wandla. I'll be moving into my new place next week so its almost decision time
Really cant second this. Guess we must have very different ears / rest of the chain / headphones / library. I suspect the differences in stage are not as apparent on Utopia (which barely has any stage to beginn with) and on Abyss (which has a giant and deep stage and doesnt need much "help" from the dac side). As usually so much of it is about synergy.
With Susvara, wich is my benchmark to reveal qualities of the chain - May sounds far fuller, wider and deeper than GSE. You can add quite a bit of heft throwing Hypsos into the equation, but May still will have more weight to the notes and depth to the stage. Apart of that Wandla had clear delta sigma characteristics, like harsher highs and a hint of digital glare, that I couldnt help with no matter which filter, its present to a lesser extent than on cheaper delta sigma dacs and daps but its very much there. You can expand the stage with GSE functionalities but it wasnt quite the same. Yes May is a warmer dac this we can agree upon, Wandla is significantly colder.
What Wandla exceeds in vs May is the slam and dynamics, they are great and reminded me of Dave a lot. Thats where you just need to throw HQP in with May, but still I believe Wandla might have a slight edge there. Wandla is a better allrounder in that regard since you dont need to tinker with HQP when you want to get the most out of your more energetic recordings. But I cant think of any other area where I woud pick Wandla over May tbh apart of sparing some space - infact I would pick pretty close to May sounding 2.7k Harmony over very expensive "full" package of GSE + Hypsos variant any day over it
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krude
1000+ Head-Fier
Did you actually spend time at home with Wandla and Hypsos? I think your initial assesment was just the Wandla with the brick psu with an assumption that Hypsos won't change muchReally cant second this. Guess we must have very different ears / rest of the chain / headphones / library. I suspect the differences in stage are not as apparent on Utopia (which barely has any stage to beginn with) and on Abyss (which has a giant and deep stage and doesnt need much "help" from the dac side). As usually so much of it is about synergy.
With Susvara, wich is my benchmark to reveal qualities of the chain - May sounds far fuller, wider and deeper than GSE. You can add quite a bit of heft throwing Hypsos into the equation, but May still will have more weight to the notes and depth to the stage. Apart of that Wandla had clear delta sigma characteristics, like harsher highs and a hint of digital glare, that I couldnt help with no matter which filter, its present to a lesser extent than on cheaper delta sigma dacs and daps but its very much there. You can expand the stage with GSE functionalities but it wasnt quite the same. Yes May is a warmer dac this we can agree upon, Wandla is significantly colder.
What Wandla exceeds in vs May is the slam and dynamics, they are great and reminded me of Dave a lot. Thats where you just need to throw HQP in with May, but still I believe Wandla might have a slight edge there. Wandla is better allrounder in that regard since you dont need to tinker with HQP when you want to get the most out of your more energetic recordings. But I cant think of any other area where I woud pick Wandla over May tbh apart of sparing some space - infact I would pick pretty close to May sounding 2.7k Harmony over very expensive "full" package of GSE + Hypsos variant any day over it
I have zero glare and no stage issues on Utopia and TC and as 2 channel DAC it has deeper stage than May and as wide.
The only difference for me is that Wandla has a bit drier midrange and maybe is a little bit less forgiving. There's not much in it tbh.
Btw well amped Utopia has very wide and deep stage. Took me 3 years to realize that.
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Yep I did.
Midrange is where the music happens for me to be fairly honest, what you describe as dry is likely to be the digitalness that I perceive.
If you can hear a wide and deep stage on Utopia, we definitly have a very different perceptions of audio to beginn with
krude
1000+ Head-Fier
Yeah, no idea bc your Envy with WE should throw a nice wide stage on Utopia, way wider than shoulder width for me. Depth was always Utopias specialty. Ofc it's not HD800 / TC stage but it should be very decent sizeYep I did.
Midrange is where the music happens for me to be fairly honest, what you describe as dry is likely to be the digitalness that I perceive.
If you can hear a wide and deep stage on Utopia, we definitly have a very different perceptions of audio to beginn with
One thing to note is with envy (and many other tube amps) you'd definitely need to use vol control/voltage adjustment.
10V into a tube amp will cause them to distort significantly more.
With the WA23 and Envy AE the sweet spot was about 1V
10V into a tube amp will cause them to distort significantly more.
With the WA23 and Envy AE the sweet spot was about 1V
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Thats true, I am aware.
Was doing my testing with Orr and Bliss alongside with Envy.
Havent heard Utopia with Envy, only with Bliss, Burson Soloist, Ha-3a and daps like dx320 max. The depth is there and the layering is alright. But the left right width is very low, compared to stuff like Caldera, Verite Open and even closed backs like Atrium Closed. Not to speak of current totls like Aperio, Susvara or Immanis. I was always suprised how a technically impressive hp like Utopia with absolutely totl res and layering could sound so small. There are plenty of IEMs with larger stage than it tbf ^^Yeah, no idea bc your Envy with WE should throw a nice wide stage on Utopia, way wider than shoulder width for me. Depth was always Utopias specialty. Ofc it's not HD800 / TC stage but it should be very decent size
krude
1000+ Head-Fier
Ah well, try it on your Envy. Utopia surprised me many times. None of the pairings you've listed does Utopia justice.
On yours with WE, if you find synergising driver tubes Utopia shouldn't be far off Susvara with staging and detail. Obv different presentation in the end but same ballpark imo.
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Thank you very much for that info.
I did read the Spec Sheet of Envy and thought they were joking when mentioning an RMS input voltage of 1V.
Why is it so low? Considering Envy has XLR inputs...
What would the setting on Wandla be to reach 1V?
I have Wandla Rev 4.0 with FW 1.4.0 installed, so I can switch between Red Book and Pro Spec via HW.
Acorrding to this article, Euforia (my unit) was measured by Feliks with 1.8V RMS.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-31-feliks-audio-focal-grado-jps-page-2
How can I set Wandla to Output this voltage for use with my Euforia Evo?
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So is the Calculation as follows?
2V Max via RCA when Wandla is set to Red Book -> 0,02V per Step -> Level 90 should Reach 1.8V RMS correct?
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AntonRisto
100+ Head-Fier
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?
