Hemology. About HEM as parent company of Hypsos, they started in 1998 when now CEO Marcin Hamerla still designed for the medical and military industries and had completed several projects for the Polish government. Then Marcin was contacted by Michal Jurewicz to help him finish design work on his Mytek Digital 8x96DA and 8x96AD. Subsequently Marcin began to work full-time on Mytek firmware. By 2000 he launched HEM as an independent concern. Growth forced them to change Warsaw addresses once before 2018 would move them into yet bigger facilities on Al. Jerozolimskie 475 in Pruszków. It's here where John Darko built his own Brooklyn Bridge on video. We might perhaps say that new brand Ferrum and its first model Hypsos are the firm's 20th anniversary gift to themselves. Besides being contractors for Mytek, they also work with Clarus cables and Swiss firm Feniks, previously Eversound.
Team HEM.
"Apart from being responsible for the design and manufacture of audio electronics, HEM distribute several highly respected audio brands in Europe and the Far East and specialize in both online and direct-to-retail sales. HEM also maintain a direct end-user connection with a dedicated after-sales support department and help desk. Because of HEM’s in-house engineering and software programming division, fields of expertise include manufacturing of original electronic equipment (OEM) and original electronic designs (ODM)." More proper resourcefulness. As OEM ghost writers for other companies, with Ferrum HEM can now pursue their very own vision and celebrate Hypsos as its firstborn offspring. Hello baby!
New thicker Fram baffles.
"The Hypsos hybrid power system results in better timing, detail and soundstage three-dimensionality. Let's use the analogy of basic fight-or-flight response. The ability to decide in a split second whether you need to run or stay to fight is often based on the interpretation of sounds. For a grazing deer in a forest, it means locating the direction and distance of a snapping twig and the knowledge of what caused it. In that fraction of a second, lives can be saved so the need for ultimate timing, detail and three-dimensionality is present. This also is the effect of a good power supply on a DAC or streamer."
The lock symbol on this screen is rather suggestive. Does it mean that no matter what fluctuations the incoming mains voltage may undergo, Hypsos outputs rock-solid voltage/current values regardless like a PS Audio-type power regenerator? This connection to Colorado seemed further à propos when their power plants feature AC waveform shaping to offer users unusual sound tuning. Hypsos offers its sweet-spot alternate tuning. My questions were piling up. I moved them on to Magdalena Kedzierska, HEM's marketing manager.
Their analog designer Max Matuszak responsible for the analog part of Hypsos replied. "First we adjust the mains transformer setting according to the mains voltage to keep the rectifier voltage in its specified range. In our EU/US versions, we measure the voltage on the transformer output and depending on the range of input voltage, set it to be compatible with 230/240Vrms or 110/120Vrms. Our DC output voltage is almost continuously variable by changing the reference voltage of our discrete low drop-out regulator. This is better than multiple fixed output voltages because you can tune the output voltage inside a safe region. This may change the sound of the connected device whose power supply will act different. Hypsos uses two stages for regulating its output voltage. First we run a low-ripple switching power supply with input filter and double output filter. After the switching power supply comes the low drop-out regulator. These two stages offer high ripple rejection from 50Hz-10kHz so highly reject fluctuating mains power. Furthermore we use a double-stage IEC input filter for additional hum reduction on the mains. And we obviously can't sense the maximum allowable voltage for each device. Manufacturers commonly publish that information and Hypsos already contains a list of compatible devices whose information embeds in the Sweet Spot feature. When a safe supply voltage range isn't specified by a manufacturer, the allowable range in Sweet Spot mode is ±5% from the nominal supply voltage value."
