WANDLA HP Headphone DAC / Preamplifier / Amplifier

Ferrum introduces the latest family member of WANDLA, WANDLA HP. Ferrum’s journey up the hifi chain brought them HYPSOS, their revolutionary hybrid power system, OOR, their flagship headphone amplifier, ERCO, their entry level DAC and WANDLA, their flagship DAC. What these products have in common is their upgradeability with HYPSOS. WANDLA HP resides comfortably in the space between entry and super flagship level for headphone enthusiasts.

WANDLA HP essentially is WANDLA with a great sounding headphone amplifier. It will satisfy those who are seeking more than ERCO has to offer but are not ready for WANDLA in combination with OOR, being the super flagship option. Incorporating 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.

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.

"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

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.

• WANDLA HP DAC/PREAMP with Headphone AMPLIFIER
• Fully Balanced - WANDLA HP offers a fully balanced, composite IC headphone amplifier design, fine tuned for WANDLA.
• Powerful - WANDLA HP’s headphone amplifier can output a hefty 3.5 Watts at 50 Ω (balanced).
• Dynamic - WANDLA HP’ headphone amplifier has an impressive dynamic range of 122 dB.
• Proprietary optimized ARM chip offers the shortest signal path possible, making 5 chips redundant
• Four proprietary Signalyst filters
• Proprietary 4-pin Ferrum connector for HYPSOS
• Balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA line outputs
• Digital and Analogue volume control
• EES Sabre ES9038PRO with selected filter
• Remote control included

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