... (And a side note about tube rolling)
In Part Two of my CanJam NYC 2026 coverage (Issue 230) I promised to tell you about the most interesting audio component I’ve come across in years: the Ferrum Audio WANDLA Golden Sound Edition Gen 2 DAC. That’s because of its unique DSP processing, which includes spatial enhancement, low-frequency tailoring, selectable digital filtering, and the feature that grabbed me and didn’t let go – their Gen 2 Tube Mode.
At CanJam, I’d run into Roy Feldstein of VANA Ltd., distributor of Poland’s Ferrum Audio among other brands including European Audio Team, Austrian Audio, Okki Nokki, Rekkord, and Atlas Cables. He knows what I like – I bought my very first set of good speakers, EPI 50s, from him when I was in college. Roy told me, “you need to check this out,” and showed me the WANDLA and its Gen 2 Tube Mode, which is a feature that emulates the sonic signature of various output tubes including EL84, 2A3, 300B, KT88 and 7062 along with a setting called “2nd only.” In addition, the WANDLA gives you the ability to dial in the amount of “tube signature,” by means of an intuitive touchscreen (which also, along with the supplied remote, lets you control other features).
I sat in Roy’s booth and played around with the Tube Mode feature, and found myself really digging the way it sounded.
I can already sense some readers shaking their heads. Why on Earth would you want to add coloration to the original “accurate” signal?
Because I loved the way it sounded, that’s why!
I’ve said this before. No audio system is entirely accurate. So, I think most audiophiles pick the colorations they like, even as they strive for ever more high-fidelity reproduction. I like the so-called “warmth” of tubes. If you want to accuse me of preferring second harmonic distortion to a more accurate, “neutral” sound, so be it. There, I said it. (Of course the other side of the coin for many designers and listeners is that vacuum tubes are more faithful to the music than solid-state, regardless of how they might measure.)
I was so intrigued by the WANDLA Golden Sound Edition Gen 2 DAC ($3,695) that I asked to borrow one. I wanted to hear the Gen 2 Tube Mode in my main and desktop systems at home. Well, my listening confirmed what I heard at CanJam NYC. The WANDLA added various degrees of very pleasing warmth, and a greater sense of presence to instruments like tenor and alto sax, which had that elusive “creaminess” that I really need in an audio system. Female vocals were heavenly. I spent an afternoon listening to Samara Joy and had difficulty tearing myself away.
The WANDLA Golden Sound Edition Gen 2 DAC offers a variety of tube flavors to choose from.
Of course I listened in “straight” mode. It sounded superb, as the WANDLA is a really excellent DAC, with features like their proprietary Gen 2 Serce (Polish for “heart”) digital audio system module, digital filters from specialist supplier Signalyst, a choice of digital or analog volume control, and a whole lot more packed into its compact chassis. In “straight” mode with no effects, the WANDLA sounds sweet and detailed and spacious and excellent, without a trace of digital artifacts.
But…I found myself drawn to that Gen 2 Tube Mode feature, in particular to the 300B emulation at about 120 percent (on a scale from 0 to 200). It added an alluring richness, maybe at the expense of some fine musical detail (and maybe not), a tradeoff I was more than willing to accept.
I had to know, and I’m sure you’re wondering, how the heck did it work?
I received replies from Roy Feldstein and Pawel Gorgon, Ferrum's vice president and chief R&D engineer. Roy noted, “These added capabilities are made possible by Serce. The Serce module, which incorporates a dual-core ARM chip, handles all signal processing and digital filtering. Ferrum sells Serce modules to other manufacturers, including one in the US.”
Pawel added, “We tested amplifiers built with specific tubes, and measured their harmonic distortion. We played a 1 kHz signal and measured each harmonic level on an FFT [fast Fourier transform analyzer]. Then we used some math: trigonometric formulas for sin to powers 2 to 7 (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th) and their reduced forms. We got six formulas, which we transformed into final formulas for calculating coefficients to achieve the required levels of each harmonic.
Having this, we implemented simulations in Python [audio software], where we were able to change the level of each harmonic separately, put all of them into our formulas, and then into our algorithm, and check [to see] if it worked. It sure did.”
Gorgon added, “What is important is that the 32-bit input sample remains untouched, and scaled harmonics are just added to it, so the whole operation has no negative impact on overall audio quality and, at the same time, produces tube-colored sound.”
So, with the WANDLA, you can have your audio cake and eat it, so what’s not to like, or to criticize? I think it looks great also.
The WANDLA measures about 9 by 8 by 2 inches.
With DSP having come such a long way, and with undreamed-of advancements undoubtedly on the horizon, maybe it’s time to abandon the “purist,” less is more, straight-wire-with-gain philosophy that’s dominated the high-end preamplifier and amplifier landscape since the 1970s, when the feeling was that eliminating circuitry like tone controls and balance controls and equalizers from the signal path meant purer sound. And honestly, in so many cases, that was true. I know, I know, DSP is already well-done in everything from surround-sound receivers to guitar amp modelers, but the WANDLA Golden Sound Edition Gen 2 DAC happens to be a superb and very cool implementation of DSP. I had so much fun with it.
Maybe there’s a market for a standalone “tube seasoning box.”
Postscript: this experience inspired me to do some tube rolling in my system, to try to get more of that flavor I liked with the WANDLA’s tube emulation. It worked. I hear added sweetness and dimensionality and realism. Is it more “accurate?” More colored? I don’t know. My system sounds better than ever, so I’m good with that. Hearing the WANDLA was quite an ear-opener.
0 comments