Both are desktop DAC/amps, $2050 against $2499. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The Questyle CMA Fifteen reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Ferrum ERCO on 566.
| Specification | Ferrum ERCO | Questyle CMA Fifteen |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 1.1 W | 1.5 W |
| Power into 150Ω | 580 mW | 344 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 300 mW | 188 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 150 mW | 94 mW |
| Output impedance | 0.3 Ω | not published |
| Output noise | not published | not published |
| Price | $2050 | $2499 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 566 | 567 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
| Load | Ferrum ERCO | Questyle CMA Fifteen |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | Derived | Published |
| 150 Ω | Derived | Derived |
| 300 Ω | Published | Published |
| 600 Ω | Derived | Derived |
Both makers publish a power rating, which is less common than the table above makes it look: of the 280 sources here, 209 publish a figure at at least one load and only 2 publish one at all four. Ferrum ERCO publishes at 300 Ω; Questyle CMA Fifteen at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω. Every other row is worked out from those — between two published loads, or beyond them holding voltage constant, which understates rather than flatters.
So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 32 Ω only the Questyle CMA Fifteen figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.
What each of these labels means, and why a derived figure is still worth printing, is set out in how this data was built.
1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the Questyle CMA Fifteen but not on the Ferrum ERCO — Symphonium Titan.
566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
The counts above say how many models the two treat differently. This says by how much. The same 8 headphones appear on every page of this kind, ordered from the easiest to drive to the hardest, so a row can be read across pages as well as across columns. Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.
The widest gap on the list is the HiFiMAN Susvara: Ferrum ERCO has +15 dB of headroom there against +12 dB. 2 dB is about 1.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for Ferrum ERCO and Questyle CMA Fifteen because neither maker publishes no output noise figure. That is a gap in the specification, not a quiet amplifier, and it is left blank here rather than filled with a plausible number.
| Headphone | Impedance | Needs | Ferrum ERCO headroom | Questyle CMA Fifteen headroom | Ferrum ERCO hiss | Questyle CMA Fifteen hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +39 dB | +40 dB | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +19 dB | +20 dB | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +32 dB | +29 dB | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +28 dB | +25 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +20 dB | +22 dB | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +21 dB | +19 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +17 dB | +15 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | +15 dB | +12 dB | not published | not published |
The Questyle CMA Fifteen costs $449 more than the Ferrum ERCO. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 1 more model driven to 100 dB.
Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.
Everything in this paragraph counts only figures the two makers published. An advantage on an axis one of them leaves blank cannot be counted, and is not counted — how often that happens is its own page.
Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: Ferrum ERCO and Questyle CMA Fifteen. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.