Ferrum Hypsos hybrid PS, variable 5-30V DC / 6A

Hi ,guys

Quick review!

I have the hypsos on my system powering the jcat usb xe thru dxp 3A double regulor,9 v from the hypsos then down to 5 v thru dxp 3A.

Replacing keces p8 12 v mono.

Big big big imlrovements in every way .

Jaw dropping dynamics,tonality of instruments ,resolution..

I think i will buy it...

I thought I'd share my experience with with the Hypsos which I've had for over 6 months and for much of that time it's been sitting in a cupboard and I'll explain why.

From a functional perspective it is brilliant but from an SQ perspective it has been easily bested by my Uptone JS-2 and other linear power supplies when powering streamers & DACs (I have a few). Compared to the traditional LPS's, yes it is quicker/snappier but in my setup bass extension and presence was lacking and the high mids/treble were accentuated and had a "glassy" effect, this also contributed to a wider soundstage and a perceived sense of more detail, but in hindsight it was just adding something that wasn't in the original recording. I will add that I also tried a raft of different settings including varying the voltage and having 4T sensing & spread spectrum settings on & off.

For some years now I have been very happy with my speaker setup after purging it of all switching power supplies and replacing them with linear power. I plug all my components into the same power strip except for the integrated amp which goes straight to the wall. When I used the Hypsos previously it was plugged into the power strip along with my DAC & Streamer.

Yesterday I had an idea - I firstly tried the Hypsos again powering my good old Auralic Aries to confirm what I had previously heard with it. I then plugged it into a different power outlet on the other side of the room and the difference was far from subtle. The bass was back where it should be, the soundstage shrunk a little without the added "hash" and it now had all the attributes of the JS-2 but faster/punchier and I guess this is where an SMPS will best an LPS. In comparison, the JS-2 is a little sluggish.

Regardless of the marketing, the Hypsos is a switch mode power supply - albeit a very functional one. I can only assume from my experience that switch mode power supplies affect one or all of my other components when plugged into the same power source?

Anyway, I've managed to come up with an aesthetic solution to power the Hypsos from the different outlet and it's staying in place powering my streamer. 

Thanks for sharing @wanta911. Great you tried an other connection, I will try here as well.

• I allready did change the AC cable (Oyaide plug & Furutech cable) to obvious improvement in clarity and bass. 
• Do you use the standard fuse? Will/did you try an SR Orange fuse as mentioned above? I will try one. 
• I noticed the firmware has been updated to V1.6.0 https://ferrum.audio/support/ I am still on v1.2.0. (Not sure if necessary, can not find release details)
• Will be building a DC cable soon (waiting for the last part to arrive).

BTW nothing wrong with a GOOD smps. You gain speed and exitement that a LPS can not deliver (exept for the best @ 3-4+ x $$$). Besides budget I think it is also a question of taste/type of music and the system sound. For example Antipodes uses SMPS in all streamers to great results. 

On 10/8/2021 at 3:54 PM, edwardsean said:

Honestly, I really think the cable upgrade is worth it, but only if you're going to spend the money on a premium cable. I think some of the builders like Audiosensibility, Zenwave, etc. might take the custom job if you send the connector to them.

Hi @edwardsean, did you purchase a DC cable that you still like? Please share if you did.

Did you try with a better AC cable?

Ok. Just got my Hypsos. Improvement over Uptone LPS 1. I read the review about using a SR orange fuse, but did not read anything about the effects of different ac cables?

On 2/16/2022 at 3:31 PM, sakso136 said:

I have the hypsos on my system powering the jcat usb xe thru dxp 3A double regulor,9 v from the hypsos then down to 5 v thru dxp 3A.

 

Why do you need any regulator in-between the Hypsos and jcat usb, when you can set 5V out on your Hypsos and plug it directly to the jcat?

On 9/30/2022 at 9:12 AM, di-fi said:

Hi @edwardsean, did you purchase a DC cable that you still like? Please share if you did.

Did you try with a better AC cable?

On 9/30/2022 at 9:04 AM, di-fi said:

Thanks for sharing @wanta911. Great you tried an other connection, I will try here as well.

 

• I allready did change the AC cable (Oyaide plug & Furutech cable) to obvious improvement in clarity and bass. 
• Do you use the standard fuse? Will/did you try an SR Orange fuse as mentioned above? I will try one. 
• I noticed the firmware has been updated to V1.6.0 https://ferrum.audio/support/ I am still on v1.2.0. (Not sure if necessary, can not find release details)
• Will be building a DC cable soon (waiting for the last part to arrive).

 

 

BTW nothing wrong with a GOOD smps. You gain speed and exitement that a LPS can not deliver (exept for the best @ 3-4+ x $$$). Besides budget I think it is also a question of taste/type of music and the system sound. For example Antipodes uses SMPS in all streamers to great results. 

 

 

Confused about fuse direction. Drawing shows top to bottom flow, Hypsos says bottom to top?

16 hours ago, Mikerdaniels said:

Confused about fuse direction. Drawing shows top to bottom flow, Hypsos says bottom to top?

SR fuses (are known to) sound better in one way regardless of the direction. So a second fuse of the same model could sound better in the opposite direction.
A fuse might need some time to settle. In doubt keep it in any position for a week and then change it. If it sounds thin or off (not as deep, wide or dynamic) you had it in the right direction before. If you do not hear a difference your system is not resolving enough or try again after a month.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-grade-fuses.419939/page-33
 

6 hours ago, di-fi said:

SR fuses (are known to) sound better in one way regardless of the direction. So a second fuse of the same model could sound better in the opposite direction.
A fuse might need some time to settle. In doubt keep it in any position for a week and then change it. If it sounds thin or off (not as deep, wide or dynamic) you had it in the right direction before. If you do not hear a difference your system is not resolving enough or try again after a month.

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-grade-fuses.419939/page-33
 

 

The drawing shows a fuse next to the IEC input, which is AC. 

How then can it have a “direction” ?

17 hours ago, krass said:

 

 

The drawing shows a fuse next to the IEC input, which is AC. 

How then can it have a “direction” ?

 

Thanks for the info. I’m confused, Ferrum told me direction is bottom to top?!?

Those who upgraded the fuse in Hypsos - what power rating did you choose? Did you stick to 2A or go slightly higher for 2.5A or even 3.15A?

On 9/10/2022 at 7:17 PM, wanta911 said:

Compared to the traditional LPS's, yes it is quicker/snappier but in my setup bass extension and presence was lacking and the high mids/treble were accentuated and had a "glassy" effect, this also contributed to a wider soundstage and a perceived sense of more detail, but in hindsight it was just adding something that wasn't in the original recording. I will add that I also tried a raft of different settings including varying the voltage and having 4T sensing & spread spectrum settings on & off.

 

Yesterday I had an idea - I firstly tried the Hypsos again powering my good old Auralic Aries to confirm what I had previously heard with it. I then plugged it into a different power outlet on the other side of the room and the difference was far from subtle. The bass was back where it should be, the soundstage shrunk a little without the added "hash" and it now had all the attributes of the JS-2 but faster/punchier and I guess this is where an SMPS will best an LPS. In comparison, the JS-2 is a little sluggish.

 

Regardless of the marketing, the Hypsos is a switch mode power supply - albeit a very functional one. I can only assume from my experience that switch mode power supplies affect one or all of my other components when plugged into the same power source?

 

This is very interesting.

Every SMPS I've used  (off the shelf and after market) injects a splashy treble. Is that what you mean by "glassy" effect?

And is the other outlet on the other side of the room running on a different circuit?

This is why I am always hesitant to use SMPS (though I would love to try the Grimm or Antipodes).

1 hour ago, skyline said:

This is why I am always hesitant to use SMPS

It is incorrect to categorize the Ferrum Hypsos as being or containing an SMPS (switch mode power supply). It is not and does not.

What it does utilize are DC-DC converters--in one of its regulation stages.  Yes, DC-DC converters are devices that run at a high switching frequency, but the similarity to an SMPS ends there. To elaborate:

An SMPS plugs into the mains, it chops up the mains voltage into high frequency pulses, feeds that through a transformer, then on the other side rectifies the high frequency pulses coming from the transformer, filters it into fairly clean DC, measures the DC and sends a feedback signal through another transformer or optical coupler to the front end to modify the pulse width so the DC output voltage is correct.

These have low level high frequency noise on the output AND input, but also have both high impedance and low impedance leakage current from the AC line to the DC output. This is what causes a lot of the issues with SMPS, NOT the high frequency noise on the output.

A DC/DC converter does NOT connect to the AC mains, its input is DC from some other power supply. Their purpose is to convert one DC voltage to another (either up or down). Their big advantage over a linear regulator is that the POWER is constant, not the current. With a linear regulator the current going in is the same as coming out. With a switching DC/DC converter the current going in depends on the power on the output.

Say for example you have 10V coming in and you want 1 volt coming out. If your load takes 1 amp, a linear regulator will need 10V at one amp on the input, that means 9 watts of power are dissipated in the regulator (ie a BIG heat sink). With a DC/DC converter the power on the output is 1 watt (1V x 1A = 1W). So on the input it takes 1W / 10V = 0.1A. Now in reality the converters are not 100% efficient, maybe say 85%, so the power needed by the input will be a little higher, in this case 1.15W, so the input current is 0.15A. This means the DC/DC converter is dissipating 0.15W instead of 9W, 60 times lower!

The DC/DC converter DOES have high frequency output noise, but it is usually at a much higher frequency than an SMPS. SMPS usually run at 40KHz to 70KH, DC/DC converters usually run at 500KHz to 1MHz. This is a big difference. At 60KHz a filter is fairly large and costs some money. The same amount of attenuation at 1MHz takes very small very inexpensive components. The result is that IF you use a filter on the output, you can get a huge attenuation for very small board space and cost when using a DC/DC converter. Of course you DO have to spring for the filter, very cost constrained devices usually don't.

The DC/DC converter does NOT create any extra leakage since it is not connected to the mains. Whatever leakage exists from the power supply is still there, the DC/DC converter does not attenuate it, but it doesn't increase it either.

With a DC/DC converter you can always add a linear regulator after the converter, good ones can decrease the high frequency noise from the converter by 80-100dB. So a combination of the filter AND a linear regulator reduces the high frequency output to much less than the inherent noise of the regulator, it is essentially gone. So if properly implemented a DC/DC converter does not have any down side and it drastically reduces the amount of heat that has to be dissipated.

All that said, very low cost devices are not going to go to any of those measures, they are going to use a cheap DC/DC converter and and feed the output directly to the chips.

Antipodes Audio speaks of the necessity for a "fast" power supply for digital circuits.

Having done their factory LPS to hybrid LPS/SMPS power supply  upgrade to my server and player, there was a distinct sound quality improvement. I now only wish I spend half the money and replaced the LPS in the Antipodes with the Hypsos myself.

My second data point for buying the Hypsos was John Swenson's forum on DIY DC Cables where he explains that rapidly changing load current in digital circuits changes the voltage via inductance in the DC cable.

My Audio GD DAC uses a power regenerator to feed three smaller transformers dedicated to Left, Right and Digital.

I connected the Hypsos to the 5V input of the digital section of my Audio GD R8HE DAC and heard similar improvements that I got from the Antipodes upgrade.

After engaging the 4TST voltage sensing feature, Anne Sophie Mutter's violin opened up whereas prior to the Hypsos, the harmonics, especially in the upper register, sounded bottlenecked.

Heavy rock music even sounds more spacial, better defined and natural.

On 9/10/2022 at 7:17 PM, wanta911 said:

Regardless of the marketing, the Hypsos is a switch mode power supply - albeit a very functional one. I can only assume from my experience that switch mode power supplies affect one or all of my other components when plugged into the same power source?

 

Anyway, I've managed to come up with an aesthetic solution to power the Hypsos from the different outlet and it's staying in place powering my streamer. 

I had the same problem with an Antipodes S60, which is a hybrid SMPS design.

You can't have plugged into the same outlet as other components, it will inject noise into the line.

Only way to use it is with a power conditioner that isolates each outlet.

On 9/30/2021 at 2:13 AM, edwardsean said:

Ferrum Hypsos Review—Insane in the tympanic membrane.

 

I really don’t know why this unit is not getting more play on audiophile forum sites. It debuted to quite a warm reception among reviewers even garnering an EISA award, but I don’t hear much about it on forum sites. It really is a shame that Jay at Audiobacon wasn’t sent a unit for his PS battle royale review. So, I thought I’d provide a detailed end-user experience. 

 

I just got my Hypsos fully settled into my system. I was thinking of moving to a Grimm MU1, but that meant giving up my current chain: PGGB>Optical>Phoenix>Sablon2020>SRC-DX>dual HFC-CT2 (feeding BNC DAVE+SJ DC3), which I quite like. So, I thought I would see what I would gain by improving the power supply on my optimized NUC (Apacer, etc.) + Euphony server. 

 

I was using a one of a kind Farad Super 3, which I optimized with Mattijs. It also had the Furutech IEC, SR Orange fuse, and a Zenwave silver cable. I loved this little unit, and it performed considerably better than stock Super3s esp. in high end detail and clarity. I am quite sure that my customized Super3+cable addressed some of Jay’s issue with what he tested using the standard copper cable. Still, I understand his assessment, and it never did quite satisfy in the resolution/precision category. 

 

The Hypsos intrigued me because I do believe its hybrid switch mode/linear approach is a game changer. Unless I miss my guess, I think we will start seeing more of this type of power supply. It is always gratifying to find a product that does exactly what it advertises: It combines the smooth fullness of a linear supply with the accuracy of a switch mode supply. It gave me the greater resolution and clarity I was looking for without giving up any of the richness I prized in the Farad (after tuning). What I didn’t expect was also a greatly expanded soundstage and a good step up in dynamic punch. 

 

It was clear to me, out of the box, that this supply was in a different class, but set to the same 19V as my Super3, it was missing some of that analog density. Here is where the unit’s flexibility goes beyond mere marketing hype. I started to use the “sweet spot tuning,” raising up the voltage. It’s also great to have the display telling you exactly what is going on in terms of volts, amps, and watts. I kept moving up until I wound up at 24.1V. Voila! Once dialed in the sound was big, thick, rich, and powerful while retaining clarity. North of 24.2V the sound  gets richer still but starts to exact a noticeable cost in transparency.

 

The thing is, i would never have gone up this high in voltage without having the option of variability, and this is incredibly rare in audiophile supplies. It totally makes sense to me that the cleanest design uses components at preset values for a fixed voltage, so I don’t know how Ferrum accomplished this. I discussed the possibilities/tradeoffs of higher voltage for a Plixir supply with James Oh. This supply was given stellar marks in Jay’s roundup. I’m sure it’s excellent, but James seemed convinced that 19V was best. He may very well be right for his supplies of course. I was sad that I didn’t get a chance to audition the Plixir, but he understandably offers no trial period. The Hypsos, at least here in North America, has a generous, no risk, demo policy. In the end, the Hypsos just seemed to offer so much more. If I’m allowed to speculate from all the information I could gather, the Hypsos should equal or surpass the Plixir’s resolution/staging while also providing the dimensional molding that Jay thought the Plixir lacked. 

 

Rounding out the flexibility is the Hypsos’ proprietary sensing technology which does improve transients and dynamics, subtle, but worth engaging. It also has a spread feature that distributes noise across the spectrum. The sound is smoother but I thought it also seemed to introduce a slight veil, so I disabled it. These tuning features alone have been completely unique in my experience of audio power supplies. 

 

Lastly, came the aftermarket upgrades. At this point, I was already sold on the Hypsos. I found out my demo unit was practically pristine and so it ended up never leaving my system. However, we are all here because we are never satisfied. So, in went an SR Orange fuse and a week of burn in. Definitely worth the cost. All the usual improvements with this fuse emerged in the Hypsos: better resolution, imaging, layering, but instead of a colder sound, it produces an almost tube-like magic quality.

 

Now came the harder part. I’m a big believer in cable upgrades but no simple swap was possible. I was told by the distributor, Vana (great folks by the way), that the cable is proprietary made for their sensing technology. I found out that this does not mean any embedded circuitry in the cable but takes advantage of a four conductor design. So, that’s fine, but the connector they use is not easy to source. It is not any of the popular 4 pole connectors used in other supplies. I managed to track it down (Weipu SF1210/P4) and I don’t think you can get it anywhere except from China. So eBay is an option, but surprisingly, Amazon has a supplier (O’ AZ what can’t you get?). The only hiccup is, even with expedited shipping, you are looking at around a 2 week lead time. Completely worth it. I have a Mundorf 4 conductor cable all set to be soldered, but for me, no one does DC umbilicals better than Zenwave’s twisted geometry of 8 lighter gauge Neotech solid silver cores. 

 

TL;DR; All this together, summed up, the performance is… insane in the tympanic membrane. I’ve always known that power supplies are the beating hearts of an audio system as the D/A conversion is the brain. Even so, I simply did not expect this much transformation by moving from my already capable modded Farad. This is a very special unit at an incredibly reasonable price. I think it finally answered the switch mode vs. linear  debate. Which is better? According to Ferrum, both. 

 

Please post your experiences if you have a Ferrum, negative or positive, this is product is worthy of greater discussion. 

 

 

 

Thank for the important review, I actually start contacting https://zenwaveaudio.com about the potential cable with P4 to 2.1mm for me RME ADI-2 DAC, how much does the cable improve compared with their stock DC cable in your system ?

On 2/14/2023 at 8:37 PM, di-fi said:

SR fuses (are known to) sound better in one way regardless of the direction. So a second fuse of the same model could sound better in the opposite direction.
A fuse might need some time to settle. In doubt keep it in any position for a week and then change it. If it sounds thin or off (not as deep, wide or dynamic) you had it in the right direction before. If you do not hear a difference your system is not resolving enough or try again after a month.

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-grade-fuses.419939/page-33
 

 

Seriously?  A fixed resistance wire from an element designed to melt at a particular current rating is directional?  
 

I remember majority and minority carriers from college, but that was with solid state devices. 
 

A fuse is a resistive device, and no orientation could possibly make any difference whatsoever. 
 

Dude, come on.  Don’t spend money on fuses, save for your retirement.