Description
Ferrum ERCO Headphone DAC & Amp
The Ferrum ERCO Headphone DAC & Amp clears the path for high end audio. 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.
The unit has a unique output cable design: two wires delivering the power and two wires providing the feedback to ensure flat voltage at every moment. They 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.
ERCO comes with a carefully selected DC power adapter. To get the most out of ERCO you can connect it with HYPSOS using our proprietary Ferrum Power Link DC power cable. This FPL cable can be ordered separately.
View Owners Manual >>
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 HamerlaFounder and CEO HEM
Key Features
- ERCO fully balanced headphone DAC/AMP
- Proprietary IC power amp design
- Proprietary optimised-for-audio digital inputs
- Proprietary optimised 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
Proprietary Technology
Industry leading technology is applied. All digital ports are optimised for audio, MQA decoding and rendering is optimised for use with internal ARM chip.
Suited for high end personal audio
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 to perform to their max.
Truly Balanced
The signal path is truly balanced from 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 focussed 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.
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 (MQA, up to PCM 32-bit/384 kHz, DSD256, DoP128); S/PDIF coaxial (MQA, up to PCM 24-bit/192 kHz, DoP64); S/PDIF optical (MQA, up to PCM 24-bit/96 kHz guaranteed, should work up to PCM 24-bit/192 kHz and DoP64 – depends of user’s optical cable and transmitter)
- 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 (USB, OPTO and COAX inputs)
- 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
