Ferrum ERCO 2

Pros:

     Excellent Power

     Compact

     Great Sounding Guitars

     Excellent Highs Presentation

     Price/Performance

     Build Quality

Mediocre:

     Extremely Simplistic Controls

     No Screen

Bull:

     No 4-pin XLR Output

BLUF: The Erco is almost a perfect All-In-One (AIO) DAC/amp. Its lack of 4-pin XLR hurts it, but Ferrum is trying to give users a reason to buy the more expensive Oor and Wandla combos. The lack of a screen is noted, but not major since there is a bit rate light similar to a Chord product or most DAPs. The lack of any tuning options does hurt the ERCO 2 a bit as well.

Up for review today is the Ferrum ERCO 2 DAC/amp AIO. I got this from another user on Head-Fi and paid for it with my own money. It retails new for somewhere between $1,795 and $2,000 depending on where you buy it from. The ERCO 2 makes for a compelling budget alternative to the full-size Ferrum Wandla/Oor/Hypsos stack which retails for around $6k. As always, my opinions are my own and as honest as possible – feel free to disagree with me but understand that I don’t really care.

The Ferrum ERCO 2 is an update to the slightly older ERCO and comes with a single ESS Sabre ES9028PRO DAC, a slight step below the Wandla’s ES9038PRO DAC. There is no dual DAC chip here per channel, but according to all the sources I’ve seen, Ferrum managed to ensure that it doesn’t matter and you’re getting excellent quality no matter what – the whole system is fully balanced. The inputs are: USB-C (MQA, up to PCM 32-bit/768kHz, DSD512, DoP256); 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.) It’s interesting to still see a company supporting MQA since a lot of companies treat MQA like some sort of plague now, but Tidal still has a ton of MQA files, so I find it somewhat nice versus the “High” quality file alternative. Realistically, it won’t matter a whole lot, and you’ll either hate it or love it, but Ferrum ensures it only matters with an actual MQA file now vs the old version. The outputs are what I would expect: balanced XLR; and unbalanced RCA (both Red book level: 4V RMS bal./2V RMS unbalanced.) It also has a 4.4mm balanced headphone out along with a 6.35mm unbalanced headphone out – sadly, no 4-pin XLR here. It has more rear outputs than the Cayin iHA-8, which has none, and it drives my KEF LSX speakers perfectly well. The power output level on the ERCO 2 is surprisingly good for how small and light it is. The ERCO 2 puts out 300 mW into 300 Ω and 1.7 W into 50 Ω with unbalanced or 1.2 W into 300 Ω with 6.1 W into 50 Ω balanced. That’s a crazy amount of power for an AIO system, especially one that is only 4 lbs. There are much bigger, heavier systems that can’t do that kind of power including the SPL Phonitor XE, Questyle CMA Fifteen, TEAC 701, RME ADI-2/4 PRO SE, and the Violectric 590. Awesome.

Build Quality:

While this is an exceptionally well-built system, it is also extremely light, which means that anytime you push a headphone connector into the jack the ERCO 2 will slide back. Not the end of the world, but a little annoying. Also, the body is a nice textured black finish that doesn’t pick up fingerprints or dust easily, but it doesn’t look as excellent as the Cayin-8 stack. It just doesn’t exude the heavy-duty quality and heat dissipation that those do. There is also no screen or tuning like the RME ADI-2/4 PRO SE has, though the ERCO 2 puts out a lot more power. The corten “rusted” steel on the front is a cool touch that makes the ERCO 2 stand out from the RME, but it’s really not interesting enough to be a feature unless you just LOVE orange, which I don’t. It is kind of neat that the Ferrum logo is constantly lit up, whether the amp is being used or not. The switches on the front are pretty neat and make the ERCO 2 feel like some sort of old radio with switches to turn it on, select your output, and select your gain. A negative for me is having to turn the ERCO 2 from off to your input every single time – if you forget, it’s still on and eating power and producing heat. Why not have an input switch and a power switch, or an automatic power off like the iFi Phantom? The volume control is also very nice and easily beats the Burson Conductor 3XP’s terrible one, though it doesn’t have the clicky-ness of the Cayin-8, it does have infinite steps instead of specific ones.

You can also connect the ERCO 2 to the Hypsos power adapter, the Wandla, and the Oor amplifier which stack perfectly under or on top of the ERCO 2 depending on how you want your setup to look/work. Want a better DAC? Attach the Wandla and use the ERCO 2 as an amp. Want a better Amp with more power and a 4-pin XLR connector? Add the Oor amp to it. Want a consistent power supply? Add the Hypsos. It’s a neat ecosystem, but the ERCO 2 is really designed to do all of the above on its own for far cheaper than anything other than the Hypsos. The ERCO 2 can’t quite match the build quality of something like the Cayin-8 stack but equals the RME ADI series excepting the screen. Overall, the build quality for the ERCO 2 is a solid 4 (Above Average) as it easily beats stuff like the Burson Conductor 3XP and anything from Topping or SMSL, and even most Schiit products – as it should at this price.

Software:

Umm, there isn’t any software in this system that the user can interact with at all. Not a single tuning option or filter or anything. That said, the built-in software just works, which is what I want from a DAC more than anything else. The Burson Conductor 3XP pissed me off because it took me hours to get it to work with my PC – same with the Fiio K9, which I never got to work. I plugged the ERCO 2 in, selected it in Tidal as the source, selected Exclusive mode and MQA decode disable and hit play. That was it – and that’s all it ever should be. Now, the Cayin-8 was just as easy, and so was the Matrix X-sabre Pro MQA, Eversolo DMP-A8, so the bare minimum of capability that I expect from a DAC shouldn’t be considered excellent, but it kind of is. Compared to something like an Eversolo DAC-Z6/Z8 AIO though, the software on the ERCO 2 is lacking. So, the ERCO 2 get a 3 (average) here for working flawlessly, but it doesn’t get extra points for anything special.

Sound:

Sound quality is extremely subjective on systems like DAC/amps, with some people saying that all DACs are the same and others saying that there is a huge difference. I got the chance to compare the Cayin-8 stack (iHA-8/iDAC-8) to my Ferrum ERCO 2 before it headed out the door and below are my findings:

Interestingly, with the Cayin-8 on high gain and the ERCO 2 on high gain, they share approximately the same volume position with a comfortable listening level, around 1130 o’clock. I’m comparing them both in solid-state mode to make it a fair comparison using my Susvara, the most recent revision. I had to use a 4.4mm to 4-pin XLR adapter with the ERCO 2. These DAC/amp setups have two completely different DAC chips and layouts, one AKM and one ESS, since one is an AIO while the other is a stack, but surprisingly they sound somewhat similar. I am using the same test songs from Tidal using the same computer and USB connections.

I get more mid-bass from the ERCO 2, but more sub-bass from the Cayin-8 – something you can supposedly tune with filters. The mid-bass on the Cayin-8 is more forward than the ERCO 2. The vocals on my mids test songs are forward and extremely clear on the Cayin-8. The highs are more pronounced on the ERCO 2 and the vocals are slightly more distant. Female vocals are also more prominent on the Cayin-8 stack. Distorted guitars on the ERCO 2 sound sick and the high-hats in the background come across cleanly with some excellent vocal reproduction. Guitars are less pronounced on the Cayin-8 as are the high-hats. Using a song to specifically test for sibilance and highs, the Cayin-8 is pretty sharp on this song, which is pretty typical, and the cymbals are a little recessed in the background. The cymbals on the ERCO 2 are less recessed, and the sibilance is still there, but less sharp. It’s an overall better highs presentation on the ERCO 2 for my preference. The soundstage and imaging on the CAYIN-8 are excellent, putting the instruments exactly where they should be and providing a large soundstage without feeling distant. The ERCO 2 is pretty similar here with more pronounced guitars, but with a smaller soundstage – imaging remains on par. So, lows are about even between the two with the mids matching my preference on the Cayin-8s and the highs matching my preference on the ERCO 2 – the soundstage win easily goes to the Cayin-8s.

A quick note here, you can get very close to the performance of both systems from Schiit Audio using the Magnius/Midgard amp (which has RCA outputs) and the Modi Multibit or some variation thereof for only abound $500-$600. Topping also makes some decent systems for cheap. Will they be objectively as good? No. Will it matter? Up to you – diminishing returns. Is the ERCO 2 pretty awesome? Yes. It still easily earns a solid 4 (Above Average) for sound quality here.

Conclusion:

I picked up the Ferrum ERCO 2 because I honestly can’t afford the Ferrum Wandla/Oor stack that I want on my desk. Is that stack worth $2-3k more? No clue – I’ll let you know if I can ever get a hold of a stack without going bankrupt. What remains true though is that the ERCO 2 gets really close to that stack for far less money. It’s not quite as good as the Cayin-8 stack, but it’s also less annoying, lighter, and smaller for less money. I’m not sure you can get another AIO with the ERCO 2’s crazy power level, good sound, ease of use, versatility, and build quality around this price level. The Erco 2 earns an easy 4 (Above Average) for these reasons – it’s not the best of the best, but it gets close for less $ than a lot of competitors.

Bytes & Bull Overall Score: 4 (Above Average)