[chargedcapacitor]

Anyone compare this to Pro iCan Signature using an LCD5?

I actually think iCAN Signature and oor+h are very close... so much so that I can't really tell much difference. I have been comparing oor+h with iCAN signature in Tube mode. That shows oor+h is on the warm side which is also a tribute to a SS only stack.

At the end of the day, I will be keeping my iCAN Signature. As a side note, I tried iCAN signature with Gustard X26 Pro and had an immediate jump in SQ (as compared to RME ADI-2 DAC FS, SMSL SU9). Very noticeable.

Below is one of my posts from the OOR thread

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ferrum-oor-headphone-amplifier-with-a-soul.958541/post-16706954

This seems to be one of the only direct A/B comparison between the two, and not just people making claims from memory.

 

[cplus44]

For "normal output" "output voltage" "output power" "output current" do you guys mess with that or just leave it on default? would like to know if its worth doing anything with that before i get my unit...

 

[krude]

For "normal output" "output voltage" "output power" "output current" do you guys mess with that or just leave it on default? would like to know if its worth doing anything with that before i get my unit...

You can change output volatage on Hypsos. It changes to FR and the reaction of the Oor. I found it intriguing at first, but settled on the nominal standard 24v, which is the intended handcrafted tuning.

 

[LarsMan]

For "normal output" "output voltage" "output power" "output current" do you guys mess with that or just leave it on default? would like to know if its worth doing anything with that before i get my unit...

I tried that 'sweet spot' thing they talk about, where you can fine-tune the voltage you select up or down a limited amount in either direction; you can't adjust it so much it will do damage if you're in that mode. I tried it with a few variations from 24.0, but I couldn't really tell any difference....

 

[Arkitecc]

I figured I’d go ahead and post some thoughts on the Ferrum stack now that I’ve spent a few days listening quite heavily to it. If anything changes as I go further out into the future I’ll be sure add an addendum to my thoughts here, but over the last several days I’ve been able to pinpoint what I noticed as the main improvements (at least on the Final D8000 OG) coming from the A90 + D90 Stack into the OOR + HYPSOS + Benchmark DAC3B.

I won’t claim to know which aspects of the improvements I noticed belong to what part of the stack, I’m mostly going to be talking on a purely experiential level.

I’ll keep it short and sweet because that’s what I feel like the differences I noticed deserve.

Bass: I noticed an immediate increase in the quality of the bass coming from the A90 + D90 Stack to the Ferrum stack + Benchmark DAC3B. Bass has a more physical presence, extension appears to have increased, I can hear the bass extending further out than I was previously, and I feel the slam is carrying more punch with it. Overall I would say the body of the bass has increased, the stack I believe is presenting bass with more warmth or at least unlocking more of the warmth that the D8000 OG is able to provide. I love love love this about the new stack. It has really upped my enjoyment of a range of albums. Particularly Dreamland by Glass Animals, Vicious Delicious by Infected Mushroom and the Refraction Point EP by SIXIS

Detail Retrieval / Reverb Quality / Decay: I feel like the new stack has allowed me to hear more detail in the tracks I’ve listened to, the best example of this that I can paint is that on the track Singularity by BTS as the vocals reverb outward, I can hear not only the reverb extending further out than I could previously, but I can hear a secondary vocal echo in the background after the reverb has extended that was not immediately noticeable to me before on the A90 + D90 stack.

Instrument Layering / Separation: Another area I noticed pretty immediately compared to the A90 + D90 stack. Each of the composing elements of a track have gained greater presence and a higher level of intelligibility compared to my previous stack. Each of these elements now more clearly occupy their own space in the mix. I didn’t previously perceive this as a problem with my previous stack, but going into the new stack has enhanced this aspect enough for me to perceive a welcomed difference in quality.

Bite / Digital Sheen: There were times while I was listening to the A90 + D90 stack that I was wondering if I was really getting a true representation of the tracks. I didn’t always have this experience, and I could never be 100 percent sure that I was actually experiencing what I thought I might have been experiencing. However, moving into the new stack I feel like I’m more confident now than I was before that I’ve moved beyond a certain bite, or glare, or sheen that was subtly enveloping my music previously.

I feel like sometimes this bite served to add a little extra flavor (in an enjoyable way) to the treble range (Particularly with the Refraction Point EP by SIXIS, an album I know intimately) on the A90 + D90 compared to the new stack, but as I am more of a bass and mids appreciator than I am a treble appreciator I am willing to accept this trade-off. Particularly with how lovely the bass is on the new stack.

I think that about wraps up my overall experience so far with the new stack. I haven’t experimented enough yet with the HYPSOS to be able to tell if I’m able to hear an intelligible difference based on voltage output changes, so if I end up playing with that more I’ll be sure to share my thoughts on that at a later date.

 

[dematted]

Not sure if it had to do with the dac which it was hooked up to, (and obviously take all this with a grain of salt because meet conditions etc.) but I was genuinely unimpressed by the OOR + Hypsos combo at Canjam. I listened to it with a couple different things: my Mini (Custom headphone made by a start-up), a Utopia, and a few other ETA's (The startup in question). Overall, it sounded very reminiscent of two much cheaper amps: the JDS Atom, and Magni Heresy. In short, it sounded like a cheap op-amp implementation. Now, I'm not sure if that's how the amp is actually designed, but the sound overall was, despite being pretty clear and for the most part timbrally correct, very dull and unengaging. Transients lacked edge and slam, microdynamics were almost completely absent, and the music sounded, though not "off", as if it really lacked (to use a term Ferrum likes) "Soul". This is probably attributable to the fact that the amp just didn't seem to dig very deep, and smeared over the finer gradations of music (what many refer to as "texture" or "plankton"). I think it tries to get away from some of the characteristic problems with SS by having what is definitely a warm tonal bent, but this just ends up masking over some detail in the treble, I think. It also sounds pretty "Slow": not in a "rounded transients" sort of way, but more in the sense that individual notes were not particularly visceral or immediate sounding.

Overall, I'd expect this amp to cost somewhere from 300-500, not $3000 with the Hypsos power supply. The iFi amps, by contrast, (even the cheaper ones, like the Diablo and Gryphon) had much more character and engagement. Maybe it does better with planars, which I did not try it with. Or maybe this unit was a dud, or maybe the dac it was hooked up to just wasn't great. Or maybe my ears just don't jive with it for whatever reason. Anyways, a big disappointment for me, as an SS on the level of, say, an ECP DSHA-3F at an accessible price which can be easily purchased would be a great thing. But to my ears, it didn't come anywhere close to the 3F. No solid state amp I've heard does.

 

[dudeX]

Not sure if it had to do with the dac which it was hooked up to, (and obviously take all this with a grain of salt because meet conditions etc.) but I was genuinely unimpressed by the OOR + Hypsos combo at Canjam. I listened to it with a couple different things: my Mini (Custom headphone made by a start-up), a Utopia, and a few other ETA's (The startup in question). Overall, it sounded very reminiscent of two much cheaper amps: the JDS Atom, and Magni Heresy. In short, it sounded like a cheap op-amp implementation. Now, I'm not sure if that's how the amp is actually designed, but the sound overall was, despite being pretty clear and for the most part timbrally correct, very dull and unengaging. Transients lacked edge and slam, microdynamics were almost completely absent, and the music sounded, though not "off", as if it really lacked (to use a term Ferrum likes) "Soul". This is probably attributable to the fact that the amp just didn't seem to dig very deep, and smeared over the finer gradations of music (what many refer to as "texture" or "plankton"). I think it tries to get away from some of the characteristic problems with SS by having what is definitely a warm tonal bent, but this just ends up masking over some detail in the treble, I think. It also sounds pretty "Slow": not in a "rounded transients" sort of way, but more in the sense that individual notes were not particularly visceral or immediate sounding.

Overall, I'd expect this amp to cost somewhere from 300-500, not $3000 with the Hypsos power supply. The iFi amps, by contrast, (even the cheaper ones, like the Diablo and Gryphon) had much more character and engagement. Maybe it does better with planars, which I did not try it with. Or maybe this unit was a dud, or maybe the dac it was hooked up to just wasn't great. Or maybe my ears just don't jive with it for whatever reason. Anyways, a big disappointment for me, as an SS on the level of, say, an ECP DSHA-3F at an accessible price which can be easily purchased would be a great thing. But to my ears, it didn't come anywhere close to the 3F. No solid state amp I've heard does.

I think there was something suspect with the setup because I tried the Utopia with the OOR/Hypsos combo, connected to an Mscaler/TT2 and I thought that the Utopia was just a wall of very loud instruments there was no balance. This was the OOR on the right side of the table. The middle one and the Erco sounded fine for the headphones there. The Clear MG sounded really good for that one song I tried. The Utopia is Andrew "Resolve"'s favorite, and it is a TOTL headphone, so I suspect the set up must have been tampered with because it was so unimpressive.

 

[krude]

Not sure if it had to do with the dac which it was hooked up to, (and obviously take all this with a grain of salt because meet conditions etc.) but I was genuinely unimpressed by the OOR + Hypsos combo at Canjam. I listened to it with a couple different things: my Mini (Custom headphone made by a start-up), a Utopia, and a few other ETA's (The startup in question). Overall, it sounded very reminiscent of two much cheaper amps: the JDS Atom, and Magni Heresy. In short, it sounded like a cheap op-amp implementation. Now, I'm not sure if that's how the amp is actually designed, but the sound overall was, despite being pretty clear and for the most part timbrally correct, very dull and unengaging. Transients lacked edge and slam, microdynamics were almost completely absent, and the music sounded, though not "off", as if it really lacked (to use a term Ferrum likes) "Soul". This is probably attributable to the fact that the amp just didn't seem to dig very deep, and smeared over the finer gradations of music (what many refer to as "texture" or "plankton"). I think it tries to get away from some of the characteristic problems with SS by having what is definitely a warm tonal bent, but this just ends up masking over some detail in the treble, I think. It also sounds pretty "Slow": not in a "rounded transients" sort of way, but more in the sense that individual notes were not particularly visceral or immediate sounding.

Overall, I'd expect this amp to cost somewhere from 300-500, not $3000 with the Hypsos power supply. The iFi amps, by contrast, (even the cheaper ones, like the Diablo and Gryphon) had much more character and engagement. Maybe it does better with planars, which I did not try it with. Or maybe this unit was a dud, or maybe the dac it was hooked up to just wasn't great. Or maybe my ears just don't jive with it for whatever reason. Anyways, a big disappointment for me, as an SS on the level of, say, an ECP DSHA-3F at an accessible price which can be easily purchased would be a great thing. But to my ears, it didn't come anywhere close to the 3F. No solid state amp I've heard does.

Wow that's unfortunate. It is a dark sounding amp comparatively, but if it sounded worse than Micro iDSD to you then something wasn't right with the setup I would think.

 

[Roasty]

is anyone using the OOR with Focal Stellia? any comments on this pairing?

I'm looking for an amp for office use, primarily with closed headphones and/or my 64audii A12T.

debating if I should go with the Erco or Oor. but seems Erco would be the more convenient option with the dac; saves me from having to get another dac/component.

 

[Sajid Amit]

The OOR HYPSOS is so damn good with the Susvara and the Utopia, chances are it will be competing for your attention with your higher-priced amps. I dare say that with a PL EVO 400 Pre, which we both have, the Ferrum Stack can trade blows with any head amp in terms of absolute performance, and surpass most in terms of synergy, with the Susvara AND the Utopia, lol.

 

[DAPpower]

I have demoed the Ferrum Stack and compared it with my Gustard X26 Pro and Burson GT with upgraded op amps and I would say that I would prefer my setup over the Ferrum Stack in terms of sheer clarity and dynamics (they're sort of close but the GT has a slight edge over it) but I had to spend way more money than the Ferrum Stack itself with the upgrades and it just shows you the level of value for performance you get with the Ferrum Stack, amazing.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

The OOR HYPSOS is so damn good with the Susvara and the Utopia, chances are it will be competing for your attention with your higher-priced amps. I dare say that with a PL EVO 400 Pre, which we both have, the Ferrum Stack can trade blows with any head amp in terms of absolute performance, and surpass most in terms of synergy, with the Susvara AND the Utopia, lol.

I bought the Ferrum Orr + Hypsos stack at CanJam NYC. Amazingly, I bought it to pair with Utopia and Susvara. I first learned of the Ferrum at CanJam Socal and was blown away at how well it made the Utopia sound. This weekend I brought my Susvara to hear it and immediately bought it after I heard it.

 

[dudeX]

Those who have tried Utopia with Oor, did you set the OOR to low gain? At CanJam NYC, what I heard was every instrument at about equal volume level so it had a harsh wall of sound noise to it.
I checked the sensitivity yesterday and it's rated at 104 db/w so I am thinking that if I had lowered the gain on the OOR I would have had an experience that was comparable to the Clear MG.

 

[MatW]

I almost never get out of low gain. I use the OOR mainly with my closed backs, which are easy to drive. Same with Utopia, yes.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

The OOR HYPSOS is so damn good with the Susvara and the Utopia, chances are it will be competing for your attention with your higher-priced amps. I dare say that with a PL EVO 400 Pre, which we both have, the Ferrum Stack can trade blows with any head amp in terms of absolute performance, and surpass most in terms of synergy, with the Susvara AND the Utopia, lol.

Wow. I loved the Primaluna EVO 400 integrated amp. Pairing that with my ZMF Verite Closed was the single best I have ever heard it. I thought it was too much amp for the VC, so I got the Ampsandsound Rockwell instead. I just saw last night your reviews on the Ferrum Orr and using the EVO 400 as preamp. That sounds very interesting. How does using it as preamp rather than integrated amp change the sound? I actually love tube amp sound more than solid state, so that may be a difference.