Description
Ferrum ERCO Fully Balanced Headphone DAC/AMP
Ferrum ERCO, a desktop high-end just became a thing…oh, and it’s pronounced ertso, not airco
“The name ERCO (not pronounced airco but ˈert͡so) 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.” -Marcin Hamerla, Founder and CEO of HEM
- ERCO fully balanced headphone DAC/AMP
- Proprietary IC power amp design
- Proprietary optimized-for-audio digital inputs
- Proprietary optimized MQA rendering and decoding for ARM chip
- Proprietary 4-pin Ferrum connector for HYPSOS
- Balanced 4,4mm jack and unbalanced 6,35mm jack headphone outputs
- Balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA line outputs
Like a top chef who uses his ingredients freshly grown from his own garden, we integrated parts of the awarded HYPSOS technology and lend some of OOR’s magic to lay the first bricks for ERCO. Then we proceeded to add our culminated 20 years’ worth of experience in making DA converters. And man, did we pull it off. We managed to get the best out of our two winners and put it in our new sibling, adding awesome DA conversion to the mix.
Clearing the path for high-end audio
The perfect mix of flagship Ferrum technology combined with high-grade in-house developed Digital to Analog conversion. Choose from three digital and one analog input.
Proprietary Technology
Industry-leading technology is applied. All digital ports are optimized for audio, MQA decoding, and rendering is optimized for use with an internal ARM chip.
Suited for high-end personal audio
Connect your favorite 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 to perform to their max.
Truly Balanced
The signal path is truly balanced from the early D/A stage and becomes truly balanced using the RCA inputs.
Discrete/IC hybrid design
Ultra-wideband ICs fine-tuned for audio use to achieve the best possible analog quality.
Enhanced transparency
The whole design remains focused on a balanced and very transparent sound signature, making listening fatigue something of the past.
Ease of use
Hassle-free operation. Only three knobs on the front panel to control the most important settings.
Ferrum Power Link
ERCO performs very, very good right out of the box. But ERCO is made to excel above and beyond when used together with HYPSOS. We use what we dubbed our Ferrum Power Link (FPL in short) to connect the two. HYPSOS then will perform to its maximum, unleashing unheard musicality from the combination with ERCO.
Features
- The same stylishly understated looks exactly like our flagship models. Just to camouflage our industry-leading technology which house inside ERCO.
- Fully balanced from A to Z, even right after the RCA inputs, and packed with industry-leading digital technology. The brightness of the logo on ERCO’s front can be dimmed.
- Combine ERCO with HYPSOS to unleash unheard-of musicality. Together they will excel above and beyond.
- Unique output cable design: two wires deliver the power and two wires provide 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.
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 center positive; proprietary FPL 4-pin DC connector (FPL)
- Analog 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: analog 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
