Ferrum Audio ERCO Fully-Balanced Headphone Amp / DAC

With the Ferrum Audio ERCO (pronounced ertso, not airco) desktop high-end just became a thing!

ERCO is 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. Industry leading technology is applied. All digital ports are optimised for audio, MQA decoding and rendering is optimised for use with internal ARM chip.

Connect your favourite headphones to the balanced 4.4 mm jack or unbalanced 6.35 mm headphone jack outputs or powered loudspeakers on your desktop to the XLR or RCA outputs to perform to their max. The signal path is truly balanced from early D/A stage and becomes truly balanced using the RCA inputs.

The whole design remains focussed on a balanced and very transparent sound signature, making listening fatigue something of the past. Ultra-wide band ICs fine tuned for audio use to achieve the best possible analog quality. Hassle free operation. Only three knobs on the front panel to control the most important settings.

ERCO performs very, very good right out of the box. But ERCO is made to excel above and beyond when used together with HYPSOS. The Ferrum Power Link (FPL in short) is used to connect the two. HYPSOS then will perform to its maximum, unleashing unheard musicality from the combination with ERCO.

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.

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)
• 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 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 Unbalanced Output: < 0.00032% / -110 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00057% / -105 dB, 100 mW into 16 Ω
• THD Balanced Output: < 0.00018% / -115 dB, 1 mW into 16 Ω; < 0.00018% / -115 dB, 100 mW into 16 Ω
• Dynamic Range: Analog 130 dB (A-weighted); 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: 100-240 VAC to 22-30 VDC
• Dimensions (W x D x H): 21.7 x 20.6 x 5 cm
• Weight: 1.8 kg

More Information

• ERCO, by Ferrum Audio