Ferrum ERCO - vollsymmetrischer High-End DAC

Delivery time 1-2 weeks

Test products at home - free of charge and for up to one week

Ferrum ERCO, desktop high-end just became a thing...oh, and it's pronounced "ertso", not "airco".

Like a top chef using fresh, home-grown ingredients, we incorporated bits of the award-winning HYPSOS technology and contributed some of OOR's magic to lay the first bricks for ERCO. Then we incorporated our 20 years of experience in building DA converters. And man, did we do it. We've managed to get the best of our two winners and packed it into our new sibling, which offers fantastic DA conversion.

"The name ERCO (not airco, but pronounced ˈert͡so) is Esperanto for ore. We chose the name after its creator Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, who lived near our office in Warsaw. Zamenhof already started in his childhood with the development of Esperanto, while he was still at school, and strove for peace in the world where one language should bring people together. We want to achieve the same through pure and honest music reproduction. Ultimately, it brings peace to the mind. "

Marcin Hamerla, Founder and CEO HEM

Reviews

"The ERCO convinces me as a headphone amplifier, in combination with a HYPSOS it leaves nothing to be desired as a converter in its price range and a good deal beyond that and with the company's own power supply unit it has completely inspired me as a preamplifier: an affordable gateway drug into the world of high end!"

HIFI STATEMENT | netmagazine - Ferrum Erco

Highlights

Freedom for high-end audio
Perfect mixture of Ferrum flagship technology and high-quality, self-developed digital-to-analog conversion. You can choose between three digital inputs and one analog input.

Proprietary technology
Industry-leading technology is used. All digital connections are optimized for audio, MQA decoding and rendering are optimized for use with the internal ARM chip.

Suitable for high-end audio
Close Connect your favorite headphones to the balanced 1/4" TRS or unbalanced 1/4" headphone outputs, or connect the powered speakers on your desk to the XLR or RCA outputs for full performance.
Really symmetrical
The signal path is really symmetrical from the early D/A stage and becomes really symmetrical via the RCA inputs.

Discrete/IC hybrid structure
Ultra wideband ICs optimized for the audio domain to achieve the best possible analog quality.

Increased transparency
The overall design is balanced to and very transparent sound signature, so that listening fatigue is a thing of the past.

Easy to use
Easy operation. Only three buttons on the front to control the most important settings.

Ferrum Power Link
ERCO performs very, very well right out of the box. But ERCO is designed in such a way that it can do even more in combination with HYPSOS. We use what is known as the Ferrum Power Link (FPL for short) to connect the two. HYPSOS then achieves its maximum performance and, in combination with ERCO, unleashes an unprecedented musicality.

Specifications

• Headphone output gain: balanced -5.8 dB, +6 dB, +17.8 dB; single ended -11.8dB, 0dB, +11.8dB
• Operation: fully balanced, proprietary IC power amp
• Power inputs: 55/2.5 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/96kHz, DoP64); Coaxial (up to 24-bit/192kHz, DoP64)
• DAC chip: ESS Saber 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 / 12.288MHz
• MQA: decoder and renderer
• DAC resolution: PCM up to 384k@32bit; DSD up to 256 (11.2MHz / 12.2MHz)
• Headphone jack outputs: balanced 4.4 mm (TRRRS); unbalanced 6.35mm (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; 1.7W into 50Ω
• Output power balanced: 1.2 W into 300 Ω; 6.1W into 50Ω
• THD on balanced output: < 0.00018% / -115 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00018% / -115dB, 100mW into 16Ω
• THD on unbalanced output: < 0.00032% / -110 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00057% / -105dB, 100mW into 16Ω
• 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