Ferrum Audio Oor + Hypsos Impressions and tidbits

Try turning 4T Sensing and Spread Spectrum both OFF on the Hypsos. They are on by default. I find that I prefer the sound with them off - particularly the peaks of sharp/high amplitude piano notes.

 

The Ferrum brothers are at home


Actually I've had them for a couple of weeks now but my desktop DAC is currently broken so I couldn't give as much listening as I wanted with the Ferrums. Anyway, I plugged my QLS QA390 in DAC only mode for the last few days.

First impressions are that I lose a bit of the tube magic on the VC, and that rather unique depth that I had with the Eddie Current Studio B amp. But it's not as marked as I expected, or should I say feared. The Ferrum makes a very good companion to the VC, much better than the transistors based amps I had been able to test so far.
I also tried with iems and it goes very well, not the slightest hum with U12T fart. I am waiting for a pair of Solentis OG and I'm looking forward to testing these highly sensible iems with the Oor.

I will try to gather a more complete feedback once I have a proper DAC to use.

 

Everytime I hear Oor I think of Orr who is a character in the novel Catch-22. Incidentally, the character has some characteristics in common with the Ferrum units. People assume Orr is simple minded when actually he is very intelligent and manages to execute an elaborate plan. Oor+Hypsos also seems very minimal but actually it is very sophisticated.

 

I also finally have a chance to try this amp at our local brick and mortar audio store. DAC used was the Hugo TT2 which is fairly neutral and let you easily judge the character of the amp. I'm mostly into orthos now so I tested it mainly with the Diana TC, HE6 SE and LCD-5 but we also had dynamics like ZMF headphones, Focal Utopia and old classic HD800S.



My English is not very good so I'll summarize in bullet points...

• First impression for a USD 3000 amp the build quality is a bit lacking refinement. The volume knob is a bit loose and not sure it shows in the photo, the HYPSOS and amp units have different colour white LEDs. The quality of finishing is also so-so.
  
• The footprint is very small and compact.
  
• In terms of sound it reminds me of a super refined THX-789 but without the sterility and flatness. I think this amp is tuned for people who like that kind of neutral sound.
  
• There seems to be a "sweet" filter applied to the low treble / upper mid area. I think this can help with headphones that are a bit aggressive in this area like Diana TC and LCD-5. I like this a lot actually.
  
• Also because of the above this amp is definitely in the polite sounding group.
  
• Biggest weakness is staging. It's lacking in airiness and depth. Actually it kinds of remind me of the Jotunheim 2 in this regard although not as bad...
  
• Biggest strength is the amount of drive and control for any headphone load combined with lack of noise and black background.
  
• The OOR seems to have better synergy with orthos, like the UltraSonic Oblivion. I think if you have dynamics only there are plenty of other cheaper options like the GS-X Mini. It didn't play that well with any dynamic that we had at hand...
• For comparisons with other SS amps, there were Burson Soloist 3X GT and GS-X Mini.
  
  • vs Burson GT: not as detailed or controlled, the GT has a greyish background compared to the OOR. However the GT is a lot more 3-dimensional sounding and there is slight warmth to its sound that I really like. Also the Burson has a more solid build quality and a bit cheaper as well.
    
  • vs GS-X Mini: I thought the HeadAmp is a better all-rounder since it does equally well with planars and dynamics but its power output is lower than the Burson GT and OOR. It can't drive super hard orthos like the Sus or AB1266 and is almost running out of juice with the HE-6 SE and Diana TC. As usual with Kevin Gilmore amps, it's all about dynamics and timbre, especially in the midrange. The OOR is noticeably more detailed but more polite.

Overall I think the OOR and HYPSOS is quite a solid package that seems to do better with orthos than dynamics.

 

Thanks for the impressions. Do you recall your experience with the Jot 2 to compare it to the OOR? I think most people here are more familiar with the Jot 2.

 

That's disappointing, we also saw a loose knob issue with the pricey McIntosh MHA200. It's like come on, man. Weak build quality is like a limp handshake.

 

You sir are a winner

 

Thank you so much for the impressions everyone! I've been considering pickiing up an Oor + HYSOS for powering my planars (since my GS-X Mini is a little lacking), so this has been tremendously helpful.

 

I have been using the Ferrum OOR and HYPSOS for months now, and while I wouldn't call it the best of anything, I've realized that it does most things competently enough, in a small enough package and at a relatively sane price that it warrants being a keeper in my collection.

I've had too much fun with tubes lately that it may have skewed my opinion on the Ferrum, thinking I should just go with an all tube setup. However, the Ferrums are just so versatile at a lot of things that it's hard to not keep them. Consider this

- drives Susvara satisfyingly in a small package, without the need for a huge chassis amp
- the ability to tweak voltage settings through HYPSOS makes it a chameleon for multiple headphones/speakers tuning
- no hiss even with most IEMs
- can be used as a capable preamp for active speakers (the HYPSOS settings work here as well)

Sonically, there are other amps that may do some things better, and the Ferrum can be accused of being too neutral, but I don't find it having any sins of commission. There's a bit of a upper mids to treble smoothing effect here, but I feel like it matches well with most flagship headphones that can be hot up top.

 

My original Hypsos had too much transformer hum that I could not tame with a CMX-2 (yes, we do have DC offset in this house). I got a replacement with much lower hum after a couple of months with the Oor fed by the default SMPS. There's a difference, oh yes there's a difference (HQPlayer >DSD256> May KTE > Serene > Oor > Caldera). Edges, overtones are quicker, better defined; dynamics more visceral. I had pretty much stopped listening to the Oor > Caldera combo except when I didn't want to wait for Stellaris > Verité to warm up, but now I'm back to two convincing if different setups as I had before. Listening recommendation: Jacob Young, Matt Eilersten, Audun Kleive on Eventually, our on ECM via Qobuz.

 

Yes, Oor is in bypass mode. No, SMPS is not "nearly as good" in my listening, in the sense that the lesser definition and dynamics relative Hypsos were easy to notice.

 

It's an edge case and because of that it seems that there's very little information about it so I'll post my findings here:

I wrote to Ferrum asking about using the Oor to drive the LCD-R. They wrote me back saying that the amp should be fine with it but that they had no idea whether it would sound good, given that it's a voltage driven amp, not current driven and that I should keep an eye out for temperatures just in case.

So I got my thermal camera out, and very carefully started experimenting. The amp does warm up a few degrees (3-5°C) inside and about 1-2°C on the warmest part of the enclosure (compared to driving the LCD-4z) after long-ish sessions so it seems to be fine.

What I've found is quite interesting: it sounds very good compared to the Jot-a. It's not that the Jot-a sounds bad but in comparison it sounds compressed and strident in the upper mids. The Oor is less bassy but sounds tighter and more spacious.

So yeah, after I've had it for a few months I'll post impressions of the LCD-R, but I thought I'd leave my experience with the Oor here driving such an uncommon load in case it's useful for anyone else.

edit: Oor is in bypass mode and I don't have a Hypsos.