Ferrum WANDLA 2.0 DAC - GoldenSound Edition

The Ferrum Audio WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition is the most refined version yet of one of the most compelling DAC/preamp platforms in personal audio. It starts with the original Ferrum WANDLA, a fully balanced desktop DAC/preamp known for its transparency, flexibility, and system-building potential. From there, the story becomes more specific. In collaboration with Cameron Oatley, better known as GoldenSound, Ferrum created the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition, a version that introduced exclusive sound-shaping features designed to give listeners more control over bass impact, harmonic character, and spatial presentation.

WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition builds directly on that collaboration. It takes the GoldenSound Edition features Cameron helped bring to the platform and refines them into a more flexible, more developed, and more complete listening tool. The result is not a departure from the original WANDLA or a reset of the GoldenSound Edition. It is the strongest expression yet of that combined vision: Ferrum’s high-performance DAC/preamp platform paired with GoldenSound-driven tuning features that make a meaningful difference in real-world listening.

Key Features

• Fully balanced DAC/preamp based on Ferrum Audio’s WANDLA platform
• GoldenSound Edition collaboration with Cameron Oatley, aka GoldenSound
• Gen 2 Impact+ with seven selectable profiles for bass weight and dynamics
• Gen 2 Tube Mode with five tube-inspired harmonic profiles
• Gen 2 Spatial Enhancement with headphone and speaker modes plus Transient Compensation
• Elevated digital headroom for greater immunity to intersample overs
• Hardware-level output voltage adjustment for better amplifier matching
• ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC architecture
• Optimized digital inputs including USB-C, I2S, ARC, AES, coaxial S/PDIF, and optical S/PDIF
• Balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA line outputs
• Digital and analogue volume control
• Ferrum Power Link compatibility with HYPSOS and 4TSD voltage sensing
• Remote control included

The WANDLA Lineup Explained

The original WANDLA is Ferrum’s core DAC/preamp platform. It established the foundation with balanced architecture, optimized digital inputs, high-end conversion, and the kind of clean, composed presentation that works across a wide range of systems.

The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition took that base platform and added a new layer of functionality developed through collaboration with Cameron Oatley, aka GoldenSound. That version introduced three exclusive features that made the product stand apart: Impact+, Tube Mode, and Spatial Enhancement. Each one was designed to give listeners more control over how the system feels, not just how it measures.

The WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition is the latest evolution of that same idea. It keeps the original WANDLA strengths, keeps the GoldenSound Edition identity, and further refines the three signature GoldenSound features with more profiles, more adjustment, and more useful control across different headphones, speakers, and recordings.

What’s New in WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition

The biggest Gen 2 improvements are centered on the three features that define the GoldenSound Edition experience: Impact+, Tube Mode, and Spatial Enhancement. These were already the reason the GoldenSound Edition felt distinct from the standard WANDLA. Gen 2 simply makes them more capable.

Impact+ now offers seven distinct profiles, giving you more ways to tune low-end presence and punch depending on your system and the music you listen to. Tube Mode now includes five tube-inspired harmonic profiles, so you can move beyond a single warmth setting and choose the character that best fits your chain. Spatial Enhancement now adds Transient Compensation, along with separate headphone and speaker modes, for a more natural and convincing sense of depth and imaging. Ferrum also notes that Gen 2 adds elevated digital headroom, hardware-level output voltage adjustment, and continued support for HYPSOS pairing through Ferrum Power Link. 

GoldenSound Edition Features

Impact+ is the feature that gives the GoldenSound Edition more low-end authority without reducing it to a simple bass boost. The goal is not just more bass. It is more convincing bass weight and dynamic presence. In Gen 2, Impact+ expands into seven selectable profiles: Reference, Ref+, Smooth, Kick+, DD-Comp, DD-Comp+, and Sub-Bass. That makes it easier to tune the presentation around the specific headphone, speaker, or recording in front of you.

Tube Mode brings tube-style harmonic richness to the WANDLA platform without requiring you to add a separate tube stage. The original GoldenSound Edition introduced this idea as a way to add a touch of sweetness and body. Gen 2 develops it further with five tube-inspired profiles based on well-known tube types, giving you more control over how much harmonic character you want and what kind of flavor it brings to the system.

Spatial Enhancement is one of the most distinctive GoldenSound Edition features because it is aimed at improving dimensionality and separation while keeping the presentation believable. Gen 2 expands that control with independent toggling, dedicated headphone and speaker modes, and Transient Compensation, which is designed to make the spatial effect sound more natural and more realistic.

Why This Version Matters

WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition matters because it gives you more than just a clean DAC/preamp. It gives you a more adaptable front end. Some systems need a little extra body. Some headphones benefit from better low-end punch. Some recordings open up when spatial cues are handled more carefully. The GoldenSound Edition features are valuable because they let you address those variables inside the DAC/preamp itself, without having to rebuild the rest of your chain.

That is what makes this version special. It combines the original WANDLA’s strong technical foundation with features that came from a creator-led collaboration and have now been refined into something even more useful. It is still recognizably WANDLA. It is still recognizably GoldenSound Edition. It is just better developed.

Core WANDLA Platform

Underneath the GoldenSound Edition features, WANDLA 2.0 remains a serious Ferrum DAC/preamp. It uses the ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC, a fully balanced modified IC preamplifier stage, optimized digital inputs, digital and analogue volume control, and balanced XLR plus unbalanced RCA outputs. It also uses Ferrum’s SERCE digital audio system module and supports pairing with HYPSOS through the proprietary Ferrum Power Link connection. Ferrum’s Gen 2 materials also call out elevated digital headroom and hardware-level output voltage adjustment as part of the package. 

Key Features

What’s in the Box

• Ferrum Audio WANDLA 2.0 GoldenSound Edition DAC/preamp
• Power cord
• Remote control
• USB cable
• AC/DC power adapter