Anyone using Ferrum Wandla DAC?

@stuartk 

FWIW, a importer told me not to bother with the Golden Sound Edition. No clear sonic advantage, he said. The original edition sounds fine to me. The filters are great on this.

DACs can be tough. I have a new post up about where I might go from the Wandla. I keep looking at Bricasti, but there's many others, too many.

@jaybe 

And others say otherwise. Which one(s) I might agree with or disagree with, re: any piece of gear, I have no way of knowing until I actually hear the gear for myself. This is why I don't buy anything I can't demo at home and return for a refund, if necessary. 

Yes; there are many other DACs !  

I've owned a Wandla with Hypsos power for over a year now. End game for me.

Are there better sounding DACs out there? No doubt. But this is so good (and has so much flexibility) I can't justify spending more for diminishing returns after already dropping nearly $5K on this kit. That's a lot. A lot for a DAC (with external power supply, yes). I need to refresh my perspective sometimes...

I don't at all knock those who spend more, good on 'em. 

As for DAC experience, I've had two R2R's that I really liked at first for their tube like fluidity and lack of digititis. One night however, I went to put on Siegfried from the 1997 Solti Ring set CD box and I was shocked at the lack of sparkle and life from my (generally well regarded) MHDT Orchid, which had replaced an Eastern Electric MiniMax. I actually kept the MIniMax because it sounds so very good in my second system, but I quickly sold off the MHDT.

Back to the Ferrum: it has brought my CD collection to a level I never thought possible. It gives my system deep and wide soundstage, a bit of analog warmth, bass clarity and top end extension restoring the life that I was missing with the R2R's. It has no glaring faults and the filter flexibility is fun and helpful, as are the voltage options on the Hypsos. 

I suspect you can get as good of sound for ~$5K (including the Hypsos), but truly hard to imagine seriously exceeding it in the general price range.

Enjoy the music and the Christmas season fellow audiophiles.

Correction... ~$4K not ~$5K.

See, I am enjoying it so much I inadvertently inflated the price. I suppose in the last year the combo has gotten closer to $5K though.