Earmen Sparrow Headphone Amplifier & DAC

EarMen Sparrow is a high-performance Pocket-friendly USB DAC + Preamp + Headphone Amp, compatible with Apple and Android mobile devices

Earmen Sparrow Key Features;

• Balanced 2.5mm output power up to 4.0 Vrms
• Plays all 32bit/384kHz formats: PCM, DoP, DSD64, DSD128 and MQA
• Supports playback from iPhones, Android smartphones, MacOS and Windows computers
• At its heart is the legendary SABRE®DAC audio converter with HyperStream®II modulation that provides the ultimate in sound quality and stable sound field.
• Sparrow delivers sound performance all the way to the headsets, with up to 4.0Vrms output voltage, ensuring plenty of headroom for demanding headsets.

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 the 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.

 Low-Noise Design

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

EarMen Sparrow supports

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 anMQA 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 trademark 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 lightweight, but robust aluminium enclosure, which protects the audio signals from interference. The aluminium structure is created via CNC milling.

If you are using your phone as your source of music, a 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 smartphones to professional audio equipment.

Specs: