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D&A Alpha PRO DAC & Headphone Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 2.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 13 8.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 81 51.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 58 37.2%

  • Total voters
    156

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the DIGI & AESTH (D&A) balanced DAC, headphone amplifier and pre-amp. It was sent to me by shenzhenaudio.com. I don't see a product listing for it so don't know the cost. [edit: price is USD $699]
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR review.jpg

It is refreshing to see unique design and looks. The labels are a bit hard to read but they are easy to memorize. The white LEDs can be programmed to "breath," or stay solid on or off. Both balanced and unbalanced outputs are provided for headphone. Core decoder IC is ESS9039MSPRO. Headphone amplifier is discrete. Volume control is implemented using NJU72315 IC. This is done so it can handle analog input which is a rather unique feature of this product:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR back panel review.jpg

Note that the analog input is only routed to the headphone output, not the XLR and RCA in the back. No remote is provided so this is strictly a desktop product.

If you are not familiar with my DAC measurements, please watch this tutorial first:

D&A Alpha PRO DAC Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard by adjusting the volume down to 4 volts and XLR output:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Measurement.png

Wow, I did not expect such excellent performance! The Alpha Pro comfortably ranks in our top tier of all DACs tested:
Best stereo headphone amplifier high-end review 2025.png

Best stereo headphone amplifier high-end review zoomed 2025.png


Performance improves if we let the output max out:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out THD vs Level Measur...png

Pleasantly, RCA output is quite good as well:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier RCA Out Measurement.png


Noise level is quite low and basically state of the art:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Dynamic Range Measu...png


D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier RCA Out Dynamic Range Measu...png


Linearity is perfect:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Linearity Measurement.png

Jitter is excellent:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Jitter Measurement.png


As is Multitone:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Mulitone Measurement.png

And IMD with no hint of "ESS IMD Hump:"
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out IMD Distortion Meas...png


The stereophile 50 Hz tone into 600 ohm is the same:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out 50 Hz stereophile M...png


Only one filter is available which is fine by me:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Filter Measurement.png

D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out Frequency Response ...png


Other than slight tilt up at higher frequencies, wideband distortion and noise is superb:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier XLR Out distortion vs frequ...png


There is not a fault to be found here.

D&A Alpha Pro Headphone Amplifier Measurements
I was surprised to see an odd rise in distortion especially in one channel:

D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier HP Out Power 300 Ohm Measur...png


It does go away though, ending with lots of power and very low noise and distortion. Balanced output nicely shows quadruple power. Lower gains don't impact the measurements and only provide lower output levels. You can see that with 32 ohm load:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier HP Out Power 33 Ohm Measure...png

This is incredible amount of power which few headphone amplifiers are able to provide.

D&A Alpha PRO Line In Measurements
The analog input is passed directly through without digitization as seen in frequency response:
D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier Preamplifie Line In Frequen...png

Output distortion+noise (SINAD) depended somewhat on combination of gain and volume controls. But this is fairly representative:

D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier Preamplifie Line In Measure...png


Certainly good enough for the turntable and such.

D&A DIGI & AESTH Alpha Pro Balanced Stereo DAC Headphone Amplifier Preamplifie Line In IMD dis...png


D&A Alpha PRO Headphone Listening Tests
I focused my testing using my everyday Dan Clark E3 headphones. In medium and certainly high gain, the Alpha PRO had no trouble brining the E3s to submission, producing superb bass and dynamics. Clarity was as good as you could possibly want. Subjectively performance was without fault.

Note that changing volume control would cause soft glitches as you turned the knob.

Conclusions
Nice to see a new brand come to market with some differentiation while providing state of the art performance in some departments such as the DAC and power output. The decision to use discrete transistors for the output is likely behind both the power output and lack of fineness at lower output levels. So I would say the right target is headphones that somewhat to very difficult to drive units. Inclusions of line input answers one of my wishes. Alas, I can't use it in my home system due to lack of remote control.

Subject to price not being too high, I am going to recommend the D&A Alpha Pro.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:
Since many ratings are price/value based it is a shame that not even an approximate price was given to you, might even give the impression of "let's see how expensively we can sell it".
 
Since many ratings are price/value based it is a shame that not even an approximate price was given to you, might even give the impression of "let's see how expensively we can sell it".
Given the situation we are in relative to tariffs any USD price would be random anyway.
 
Given the situation we are in relative to tariffs any USD price would be random anyway.
But the world does not only consists of USA. Some MSRP for at least in China (or for EU, UK or AU) would be a good indication to see whether we are talking about 200 or 500+ and give some indicator of the value for money.
 
impressive but it's really nothing we haven't seen in the last 2 years. With the design and that level of functionality, I think it will be in the range of $650 to $799 but why would one to buy this but not others? I said it before, the number war has reached a plateau, now companies will need to add more meaningful and/or unique features to make us spend the hard earned money, especially at these days. Personally, I think from $600 onward, a DAC and DAC/AMP MUST have EQ built in to justified its price now, and a remote control of course.
 
impressive but it's really nothing we haven't seen in the last 2 years. With the design and that level of functionality, I think it will be in the range of $650 to $799 but why would one to buy this but not others?
Analog input and looks differentiate it.
 
But the world does not only consists of USA. Some MSRP for at least in China (or for EU, UK or AU) would be a good indication to see whether we are talking about 200 or 500+ and give some indicator of the value for money.
You are critiquing my reviews which usually has USD pricing. I didn't realize the product was not announced until I started typing up the review. Since it was the weekend, there was no way to get that info. We are just getting ahead of the train a bit. That's all. No need to read something else into it.
 
You are critiquing my reviews which usually has USD pricing. I didn't realize the product was not announced until I started typing up the review. Since it was the weekend, there was no way to get that info. We are just getting ahead of the train a bit. That's all. No need to read something else into it.
More critiquing the company that sends a product for review while seemingly not giving a price which leaves a sour aftertaste due to the mentioned reasons. A product without a determined price testing sounds also like some R&D or marketing work which should not be done for free from a reviewer.
 
More critiquing the company that sends a product for review while seemingly not giving a price which leaves a sour aftertaste due to the mentioned reasons.
It is not the company that sent it to me. It is the online store that did.
 
A product without a determined price testing sounds also like some R&D or marketing work which should not be done for free from a reviewer.
What? You are complaining that you are getting an early scoop on a product?
 
It is not the company that sent it to me. It is the online store that did.
What? You are complaining that you are getting an early scoop on a product?
So its an early scoop but its provided not by the making company but an online store which does not even have a price?
Hmmm... ;)
 
So its an early scoop but its provided not by the making company but an online store which does not even have a price?
Hmmm... ;)
I don't know why you keep chasing this. The company is new and small so they are relying on the much larger seller to get it to reviewers. These sellers are doing a ton of review seeding so there is nothing unusual here. It is also possible they are the exclusive seller for it. Unlike western companies, Asian ones are not so strict on release announcements/dates/confidentiality.
 
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