[Miroslav EarMen]

EarMen Sparrow


High-performance Pocket-friendly USB DAC + Preamp + Headphone Amp, compatible with Apple® and Android™ mobile devices​

High End Partnership
In cooperation with Auris Audio, well known European High End company, EarMen designs a Sparrow, High quality DAC and amp, with impressive characteristics. Designed to process digital sound of up to High-Resolution Audio quality into analog for greater detail, clarity, and precision, Sparrow delivers audio close to the original studio recording.


Designed and Built in Europe
Sparrow’s great characteristics are available by using the best components and materials. The vast majority of the total production cost of Earmen - chassis, boards, transformers, assembly, etc - stays local. Our chassis are made minutes from our facility. Our PCBs are done in HCP. Yes, some components are made in China, but there's some give and take at this price point.


Featuring Audiophile SABRE DAC
Sparrow is powered by ES9281PRO, the flagship of the ESS line, which can provide best-in-class audio performance at 124 dB DNR and -112 Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise (THD+N). The ES9281PRO is the first USB product that offers an integrated hardware MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) renderer that makes MQA playback easy and cost-efficient. The encoding process folds extra information into the signal that can be recovered later. The ES9281PRO automatically detects the MQA stream and engage the rendering. The entire process requires no additional design work.


Noise Cancelation
Using a Super LOW ESR tantal capacitors, high grade components in power-supply design and 4 layer golden plated PCB technology from PC and smart phone industry, Sparrow reduces the noise to minimum. This will improve super fine details especially in Hi-Res files where you can feel and hear the difference.


EarMen Sparrow supportings
With Sparrow, listeners can enjoy more than 40 million tracks in lossless 16-bit CD resolution and over 2 million hi-res files.

• Sparrow supports Tidal Masters (MQA) playback from iPhones and Android smartphones. As MQA Renderer, Sparrow can connect to an MQA Core signal and complete the unfolding process of an MQA file
• Sparrow supports Qobuz high-res playback from iPhones, Android smartphones, and MacOS and Windows computers. Qobuz streams and downloads music in bit-perfect FLAC, the most widely used format for mastering and archiving, at resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz.

MQA rendering
This product includes MQA Renderer technology, which can connect to an MQA Core signal and complete the final unfold of an MQA file. This product will include ‘stream lock’ but is not able to decode an MQA stream or authenticate it. MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is an award-winning British technology that delivers the sound of the original master recording. The master MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download. Visit mqa.co.uk for more information
MQA is a registered trade mark of MQA Limited.© 2018


Gold plated PCB
Sparrow’s PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is 4 layer gold-plated, which is unmatched in terms of quality and performance. Gold plated PCB guarantees the minimal loss of sound quality. Earmen manufacture this through CNC drilling and pattern plating.


Size and Design
Sparrow is housed in a light-weight, but robust aluminum enclosure, which protects audio signal from the interference. The aluminium structure is created via CNC milling. If you are using your phone as your source of music, small and lightweight device is key. From a design perspective, smooth rounded edges enable it to feel more like an integral part of the cable without catching or snagging on anything.


Easy to use
Built-in adaptive drive, there is no need to manually install the driver. The connection can be used directly, easily adapting smartphone to professional audio equipment.

Input​	USB C Female​
Output​	3.5 mm​
​	2.5 mm Balanced​
​	​	​
Led indicator​	White​	Connected​
​	Green​	PCM​
​	Magenta​	MQA​
​	Cyan​	DSD​
​	Red​	Not Connected​
​
Power​	2.5 mm Balanced​	3.5 mm​
​	2.0 Vrms into 32 Ohm​	1.4 Vrms into 32 Ohm​
​	4.0 Vrms into 600 Ohm​	2.0 Vrms into 600 Ohm​
​	​	​
Audio formats​
​	DSD​	64 / 128 DoP
​	DXD​	384/352.5 kHz
​	PCM​	Up to 384 kHz
​	MQA Rendering​	Up to 384 kHz
​	​	​
Dimension L x W x H​	42 x 22 x 8 mm​	1.65” x 0.86” x 0.31”​

 

[CL14715]

I'd be interested in comparing this against the Lotoo S1 and BTR 5.

 

[MachinistNL]

I'd be interested in comparing this against the Lotoo S1 and BTR 5.

I have owned the Earmen Sparrow and still own the BTR5. I loved the Sparrow sound and size wise, didn’t drain my iPhone 11 battery, works with certain lightning/usb-C cables, even had a leather cover made. BUT! The Sparrow was picking up signals from data, just like cellphones used to do. First I thought it were the cables, but they never gave me that problem before using the BTR5. If it didn’t have that issue, I would have kept it and used it instead of the BTR5. Hope this is of any help.

 

[CL14715]

I have owned the Earmen Sparrow and still own the BTR5. I loved the Sparrow sound and size wise, didn’t drain my iPhone 11 battery, works with certain lightning/usb-C cables, even had a leather cover made. BUT! The Sparrow was picking up signals from data, just like cellphones used to do. First I thought it were the cables, but they never gave me that problem before using the BTR5. If it didn’t have that issue, I would have kept it and used it instead of the BTR5. Hope this is of any help.

Yes very. Thank you. I’d be interested in publishing a shootout review. If there’s noise in the feed that would pose an issue.

 

[MachinistNL]

Yes very. Thank you. I’d be interested in publishing a shootout review. If there’s noise in the feed that would pose an issue.

It would pick up sound/disturbance occasionally, sometimes twice in a row, while walking or just sitting at home. Not sure if it’s from WiFi or phone signals. Regardless of price, this is a major flaw for my liking.

 

[voja]

It would pick up sound/disturbance occasionally, sometimes twice in a row, while walking or just sitting at home. Not sure if it’s from WiFi or phone signals. Regardless of price, this is a major flaw for my liking.

Interestingly enough, I still haven't encountered this with my Sparrow. I had both my Macbook and phone right next to it. I am still wondering how you experienced that.
I personally never walk with a portable amp in my pocket, so I can't say if that makes a difference. But having the Sparrow lying on my bed next to my phone and laptop - no noise.

 

[MachinistNL]

Interestingly enough, I still haven't encountered this with my Sparrow. I had both my Macbook and phone right next to it. I am still wondering how you experienced that.
I personally never walk with a portable amp in my pocket, so I can't say if that makes a difference. But having the Sparrow lying on my bed next to my phone and laptop - no noise.

That’s interesting either way, any info (good or bad) should be valuable for Earmen developers.
I use an iPhone 11, tried it with both camera USB adapter and a Meenova usb c to lightning, walking around through my city in the Netherlands. For what it’s worth.

 

[Jmop]

We need more iOS dac/amps but with it’s own volume control and battery. Especially having it depend on the iDevice for volume control is just terrible. I’d rather a bigger dac/amp with those features than all these matchbox cars.

 

[MachinistNL]

We need more iOS dac/amps but with it’s own volume control and battery. Especially having it depend on the iDevice for volume control is just terrible. I’d rather a bigger dac/amp with those features than all these matchbox cars.

So you mean the Earmen TR-Amp or Fiio BTR5?

 

[Jmop]

So you mean the Earmen TR-Amp or Fiio BTR5?

I haven’t come across many good options but wasn’t aware of the TR. Seems fairly well regarded, though not completely optimal for iems which is what I’m most looking for.

 

[voja]

I haven’t come across many good options but wasn’t aware of the TR. Seems fairly well regarded, though not completely optimal for iems which is what I’m most looking for.

While TR-Amp could be used for some IEM's, it isn't what it was made for. It was aimed to be used with full-sized headphones. Noise is something that you could hear on TR-Amp if you pair it with IEM's

On the other hand, Sparrow is made for IEM's and earphones specifically. Sparrow also has the 2.5mm output, which you will find in many IEM's.

To put it on paper:
TR-Amp uses the Sabre ES9028Q2M chip which has -
-120 dB THD + N
>114 dB SNR

While Sparrow uses Sabre ES9281Pro flagship chip, which has -
-112 dB THD + N
>122 dB SNR

As you can see, you will have much lower noise on the Sparrow, which is something you want for IEM's - especially highly sensitive ones. Each device has its own role: TR-Amp has the power to drive full-sized cans, but you will hear noise with some IEM's, and you don't have a balanced output. Sparrow, on the other hand has the 2.5mm output and will not suffer from noise, but its drawback is that it doesn't have the power to drive full-sized planar cans (it does a very good job at driving dynamic driver headphones). It's just about knowing what you are looking for.

 

[Jmop]

While TR-Amp could be used for some IEM's, it isn't what it was made for. It was aimed to be used with full-sized headphones. Noise is something that you could hear on TR-Amp if you pair it with IEM's

On the other hand, Sparrow is made for IEM's and earphones specifically. Sparrow also has the 2.5mm output, which you will find in many IEM's.

To put it on paper:
TR-Amp uses the Sabre ES9028Q2M chip which has -
-120 dB THD + N
>114 dB SNR

While Sparrow uses Sabre ES9281Pro flagship chip, which has -
-112 dB THD + N
>122 dB SNR

As you can see, you will have much lower noise on the Sparrow, which is something you want for IEM's - especially highly sensitive ones. Each device has its own role: TR-Amp has the power to drive full-sized cans, but you will hear noise with some IEM's, and you don't have a balanced output. Sparrow, on the other hand has the 2.5mm output and will not suffer from noise, but its drawback is that it doesn't have the power to drive full-sized planar cans (it does a very good job at driving dynamic driver headphones). It's just about knowing what you are looking for.

That circles back to my first point of the Sparrow along with many other small dac/amps not having their own volume control, which makes the low noise fairly redundant since the fine tuning of the volume will be drastically limited (a necessity for iems).

 

[Ichos]

I suggest that owners of Sparrow should upgrade the firmware.
https://earmen-shop.com/products/sparrow
(scroll to the end of page)
There used to be some clicking that is now gone.

I have reviewed the Sparrow and Eagle for hxosplus printed magazine.

I found the Sparrow (balanced out) to be far superior from the Dragonfly Cobalt and BTR 5.
This is now my benchmark portable dac / amp without battery and I use it as my reference.

It a 5 rating device with a reference audiophile sound.

PS - from the balanced out it may be loud too soon with sensitive iems.

 

[MachinistNL]

I suggest that owners of Sparrow should upgrade the firmware.
https://earmen-shop.com/products/sparrow
(scroll to the end of page)
There used to be some clicking that is now gone.

I have reviewed the Sparrow and Eagle for hxosplus printed magazine.

I found the Sparrow (balanced out) to be far superior from the Dragonfly Cobalt and BTR 5.
This is now my benchmark portable dac / amp without battery and I use it as my reference.

It a 5 rating device with a reference audiophile sound.

PS - from the balanced out it may be loud too soon with sensitive iems.

I agree with you regarding the sound, and also did the firmware update. But STILL it was picking up data sound or phone signals all around the place randomly when on a stroll or even at home connected in various ways to an iPhone 11.

 

[Ichos]

I haven't noticed such thing neither with Sparrow or Eagle....
That is with Android Xiaomi phone.