Ferrum WANDLA HP DAC/PreAmp with Headphone Amplifier

Ferrum WANDLA HP DAC/PreAmp with Headphone Amplifier

The Ferrum WANDLA HP DAC/PreAmp with Headphone Amplifier incorporates all great options and specifications from WANDLA, Ferrum’s engineers integrated a powerful, and fully balanced composite IC headphone amplifier at the quality levels that come very close to those of OOR.

As with all of Ferrum’s gear, you can reach for the stars by combining WANDLA HP with HYPSOS. It has the looks, it’s all about the music, and it’s a guaranteed head-turner.

“With Dynamic Digital Filtering, DDF in short, digital filter maker Signalyst, famous for their HQPlayer app created filters exclusively for Ferrum.

At the introduction WANDLA HP will feature two special filter options. We will engage with our community to make new filters available, one by one. Doing this we create a new community of digital filter specialists by interaction with us and their WANDLA’s, in search of the best possible, tailor-made sound.

This is truly unique to Ferrum, to the category of DA converters and to the hifi community in general.”

Marcin Hamerla
Founder and CEO HEM“

Features

• Fully Balanced HP amplifier – WANDLA HP offers a fully balanced, composite IC headphone amplifier design, fine tuned for WANDLA HP.
• Powerful – WANDLA HP’s headphone amplifier can output a hefty 3.5 Watts at 50 Ω (balanced).
• Dynamic – WANDLA HP’s headphone amplifier has an impressive dynamic range of 122 dB.
• Tomorrow’s High-End Audio Today – WANDLA HP leads the way for tomorrow’s high-end, offering flagship audio quality at an unprecedented price level.
• Finely tuned DA conversion – WANDLA HP is the latest exemple of Ferrum’s digital know-how and our in-house-developed analogue audio and electrical technology. The ESS Sabre ES9038PRO combined with Ferrum’s advanced new current-to-voltage (I/V) converter compares to units many times its price.
• SERCE – Digital audio system module – Our optimized ARM chip offers the shortest signal path possible, making 5 chips redundant. Includes MQA decoder/renderer and digital filter selection.
• Dynamic Digital Filtering – WANDLA HP has a selection of digital filters specially prepared for Ferrum by renowned filter-maker HQ Player. More will follow with future updates after interaction with WANDLA users
• Optimized Digital inputs – Specially programmed USB, and tuned coaxial and optical S/PDIF, AES, ARC (TV) and I2S ports, optimized for audio.
• Proprietary amplification – Fully balanced modified IC pre-amplifier, fine-tuned for WANDLA HP.
• Truly Balanced – Whole signal path is truly balanced inside WANDLA HP. Even when using RCA inputs, the signal is converted to balanced on the input first active stage.
• Ease of use – Newly developed hi-res touch screen with intuitive UX that is a dream to operate, including remote control.
• Enhanced transparency – The whole design is focused on a balanced and very transparent sound signature, making listening fatigue a thing of the past.
• Made for HYPSOS – WANDLA HP 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 4T voltage sensing, both components will perform to their absolute maximum, unleashing unheard-of musicality.

Unique output cable design: two wires delivering the power and two wires providing the feedback to ensure flat voltage at every moment. We named this technique Ferrum Power Link (FPL) and it eliminates the harmful effects of the cable’s resistance effectively improving transient response. The current delivery speed at the powered device’s input is significantly improved.

WANDLA HP comes with a carefully selected DC power adapter. To get the most out of WANDLA HP you can connect it with HYPSOS using our proprietary Ferrum Power Link DC power cable. This FPL cable can be ordered separately.

Specifications

Headphone Section

THD balanced:

• 0.00016 % / -116 dB, 10 mW into 50 Ω;
• 0.00020 % / -114 dB, 100 mW into 50 Ω

THD unbalanced:

• 0.00022 % / -113 dB, 10 mW into 50 Ω;
• 0.00022 % / -113 dB, 100 mW into 50 Ω

Output Power Single Ended: 1 W into 50 Ω
Output Power Balanced: 3.5 W into 50 Ω

Dynamic Range: 122 dB

HP Output impedance: 0.5 Ω unbalanced
HP Output impedance: 1 Ω balanced

Other

Operation: Fully balanced, proprietary IC power amp
DAC chip: ESS Sabre ES9038PRO
DAC resolution:  768 kHz / 32 bit, DSD 512
Digital inputs:

• AES/EBU (up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DoP 64)
• Optical S/PDIF (up to 96 kHz / 24 bit)
• Coaxial S/PDIF (up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DoP 64)
• USB-C (up to 768 kHz / 32 bit, DSD 512, DoP 256)
• ARC (up to 192 kHz / 24 bit), TV input with CEC
• I2S (up to 768 kHz / 32bit, DSD 512, DoP 256), PS Audio® compatible

MQA: decoder and renderer (on all digital inputs)
Analog inputs: RCA
Analog input Vmax: 9.5 V RMS (2 – 3.5 V RMS recommended)
Analogue input imp: 47 kΩ
Line outputs: balanced XLR; unbalanced RCA
Volume control: analogue with bypass option / digital for DAC operation only
Line Output level: @0 dBFS, 1 kHz sine 10 V RMS balanced, 5 V RMS unbalanced
Line Output level (RED): @0 dBFS, 1 kHz sine 4 V RMS balanced, 2 V RMS unbalanced
Frequency response  on analog inputs: 10 Hz – 200 kHz +/- 0.1 dB
DAC THD: -121 dB (0,00009 %); THD+N: -115 dB (unweighted)
Analog input THD: -123 dB @ 2 V RMS output level
Dyn. range analog: 127 dB (A-weighted)
Dyn. range digital: 122 dB (A-weighted)
DAC Output Crosstalk: -120 dB for 1 kHz, better than -100 dB for 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Line Output impedance: 22 Ω unbalanced
Line Output impedance: 44 Ω balanced

Power consumption:

• 13 W idle (with amp powered off)
• 18 W idle (with amp powered on)
• 35 W max

Power inputs: 5.5/2.5 mm DC connector center positive proprietary FPL 4-pin DC connector (FPL) 22-30 VDC
Power adapter: 100-240 VAC to 24 VDC
Dimensions: 21.7 x 20.6 x 5 cm / 8.6″ x 8.1″ x 2.0″
(WxDxH)
Remote control: included
Weight: 1.90 kg / 4.19 lb