I personally love the looks of the Sparrow. Sparrow Design, Build Quality, Lay-out & packaging In this article we look at the (for now) last unit of the line-up: The Sparrow! We already reviewed the EarMen TR-Amp and Donald DAC, and you can find the reviews here and here.

The Sparrow – A USB DAC/AMP dongle and DragonFly Cobalt competitor.The TR-Amp – A portable DAC/AMP solution.The Donald DAC – A USB-DAC only with an RCA output to hook up to your dedicated amplifier.EarMen is registered in the US but all of their products are built and assembled in Europe to ensure the highest standards in production quality.ĮarMen is all about delivering the best possible value for money and their new product line-up consists out of 3 models: Their amps have won multiple of our awards, and models like the Euterpe, HA2-SE and Nirvana get praised all over the world.Ī while ago Auris Audio decided to enter the portable market and to do so they came up with new brand name: EarMen. In fact, if you’ve been following Headfonia you will know that we’re quite the Auris tube amp fans here. If EarMen doesn’t ring a bell yet, then the Serbian “Auris Audio” just might. Today we have the EarMen Sparrow review, a USB-dongle sized DAC/AMP which is selling for $199 USD or €219. Actually way more than I was initially expecting and as such I have to put this on our list of recommended DAC/Amps to buy. What’s not to like?įor the $249 USD / €279 Euro price it is selling for, you get a lot in return. You get a detailed and energetic sound, combined with a musical delivery. It was quite fun to review a DAC/Amp unit again after all this time and the TR-Amp pleasantly surprised me with its transparency and dynamics. Lieven reviewed it a few months ago, here is an excerpt: Moreover, at the rear of the device, you’ll find an RCA port, made to feed a power amp (line-out) or an integrated amplifier (pre-out). It embeds a Sabre 9038Q2M chip which is able to decode PCM streams up to 32bit – 384kHz and DSD up to DSD256.Įven better, the DAC can drive multiple headphones at the same time, with two available outputs (6.35mm + 3.5mm). It’s a bit bulky, but at the same time pretty quirky, as iFi’s product, for example. So I’ll let you put Donald and Tr-Amp in the same sentence, so you get the idea. If the name may seem a bit weird at first, you have to remember that EarMen also released a DAC before that one, the Donald DAC. A small catalog at the moment, but as they say, quality over quantity! EarMen TR-AMP The EarMen SeriesĪs usual, we are gonna take a quick tour of EarMen’s range. This allowed EarMen to kickstart pretty fast, with two great DAC/AMP – the Tr-Amp and Sparrow – all designed and produced in Europe (!).Īnd if the Sparrow intends to overcome the Dragonfly Cobalt, the new Eagle is supposed to tackle the Dragonfly Red, for cheaper.

In fact, behind the Chicago based company lies Auris, a brand known for their high-end amps, acclaimed by listeners and reviewers. A ballsy motto, for a relatively unknown brand, but if you dig deeper, there is more than meet the eyes.

About EarMenįounded in 2020, EarMen aims to offer Portable High-Performance Audio Devices for All. It is selling for $119 USD.ĭisclaimer: EarMen sent us the Eagle free of charge, in exchange for our honest opinion. Today, we are reviewing the last DAC from EarMen, the Eagle.

Earman eagle