FERRUM ERCO FULLY BALANCED HEADPHONE DAC/AMP LAUNCHED

Ferrum is a Polish brand made by HEM, the brand has so far released their HYPSOS power supply and OOR headphone amp.

They have now launched the Ferrum ERCO balanced headphone amp and DAC.

Ferrum Erco Headphone Amp and DAC

First off, if you are trying to work out how to say it, it’s pronounced “ertso”, not “airco”. Marcin Hamerla, Founder and CEO of HEM told us: “The name is Esperanto for ore. We took to Esperanto for the name inspired by its creator Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, who used to live around the corner from our offices near Warsaw. Zamenhof started developing Esperanto in his childhood while still in school, pursuing peace around the world where one language would bring together humankind. We want to do the same through pure and honest music reproduction. In the end, it brings peace to the mind”.

FERRUM ERCO HEADPHONE AMP AND DAC

With the Ferrum ERCO Headphone Amp and DAC the user has the choice of three digital and one analogue input. All digital ports are optimised for audio, MQA decoding and rendering is optimised for use with the internal ARM chip.

Ferrum Erco Headphone Amp and DAC rear panel

You can connect your favourite headphones to the balanced 4,4mm jack or unbalanced 6,35mm headphone jack outputs or powered loudspeakers on your desktop to the XLR or RCA outputs.

TRULY BALANCED

The signal path is truly balanced from the early D/A stage and becomes truly balanced using the RCA inputs. The Ferrum ERCO is a Discrete/IC hybrid design that is easy to use with only three knobs on the front panel to control the most important settings.

Top view of the Ferrum Erco Headphone Amp and DAC

FERRUM POWER LINK

Ferrum ERCO performs right out of the box, but the HEM team suggest that the best results are achieved when used together with the Ferrum HYPSOS power supply, which we reviewed here, using the  Ferrum Power Link (FPL in short) to connect the two. The FPL features two wires delivering the power and two wires providing the feedback to ensure flat voltage.

The Ferrum Erco with Hypsos and Meze Liric Headphones

FERRUM ERCO SPECIFICATIONS

Headphone output gain: balanced -5.8 dB, +6 dB, +17.8 dB; single ended -11.8 dB, 0 dB, +11.8 dB

Operation: fully balanced, proprietary IC power amp

Power inputs: 5.5/2.5 mm DC connector centre positive; proprietary FPL 4-pin DC connector (FPL)

Analogue inputs: RCA (Consumer level; Pro option with future software update)

Digital inputs: USB-C (all formats); S/PDIF optical (up to 24-bit/192 kHz, DoP64); Coaxial (up to 24-bit/96 kHz, DoP64)

DAC chip: ESS Sabre ES9028PRO

PCM sample rates: 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 / 176.4 / 192 / 352.8 / 384 kHz

DSD sample rates: 2.8224 / 3.072 / 5.6448 / 6.144 / 11.2896 / 12.288 MHz

MQA: decoder and renderer

DAC resolution: PCM up to 384k@32bit; DSD up to 256 (11.2 MHz / 12.2 MHz)

Headphone jack outputs: balanced 4.4 mm (TRRRS); unbalanced 6.35 mm (TRS)

Line outputs: balanced XLR; unbalanced RCA (both Consumer level; Pro with future software update)

Volume control: analogue with bypass option (bypass for line outputs only)

Frequency response: 10 Hz – 30 kHz (+/- 0.05 dB) 10 Hz – >200 kHz (+/- 1 dB)

Output power unbalanced: 300 mW into 300 Ω; 1,7 W into 50 Ω

Output power balanced: 1.2 W into 300 Ω; 6.1 W into 50 Ω

THD on balanced output: < 0.00018% / -115 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00018% / -115 dB, 100 mW into 16 Ω

THD on unbalanced output: < 0.00032% / -110 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00057% / -105 dB, 100 mW into 16 Ω

Dynamic range analog: 130 dB (A-weighted)

Dynamic range digital: 120 dB (A-weighted)

Input impedance: 47 kΩ

Output impedance unbalanced: 22 Ω on pre-amp

Output impedance balanced: 44 Ω on pre-amp

Output impedance Headphones: < 0.3 Ω

Power consumption: idle <15 W

Power adapter: 100-240V AC to 22-30V DC

Dimensions (W x D x H): 21.7 cm x 20.6 cm x 5 cm / 8.6” x 8.1” x 2.0”

Weight: 1.8 kg / 3.97 LBS

Front view of the Ferrum Erco Headphone Amp and DAC

FERRUM ERCO PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

2,395 EUR/USD available now

HiFi Pig Says: For those who don’t know about Polish HiFi brands, they are really worth investigating, there are some real gems available.

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