D&A Alpha PRO DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[unpluggged]

Beauty does not come for free.

True beauty is on the inside

 

[amirm]

True beauty is on the inside

Doesn't hurt to have some on the outside too....

 

[xanalog]

Doesn't hurt to have some on the outside too....

LoL, you'd probably love the outside, if it was festooned with a proper VUmeter!

 

[Joramun]

It would be great if we can compare these review units to actual retail units and see if the quality and standards are the same.

For all we know they can make these review units near perfect and then the mass produced retail units aren't at the same quality to maximise profit.

Also, what would be a direct competitor to this unit?

 

[xanalog]

Also, what would be a direct competitor to this unit?

ADC end of the audio spectrum needs a revolution but I'd be willing to settle for some good competition.
In the hopes that the current DAC manufacturers finally realize the need for 'quality' analog inputs, as many of us have been asking begging for.

I am hoping that the recent years' flood of quality DACs - at reasonable prices - has fully saturated the market (and my house) that *they* realize the ADC-equipped hardware promises *them* a viable new revenue source.

[*they*/*them*: SMSL/Topping/FOSI << are you reading this?]

 

[mmmargherita]

Proves aesthetics are at least a bit important. But holy heck, what a time we live in. Audiophiles are palpably butthurt by the advent of cheap true-to-source hifi gear and it's a beautiful thing

 

[ejr]

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]
View attachment 450526
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:
View attachment 450532
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:
View attachment 450533
Wow, I did not expect such excellent performance! The Alpha Pro comfortably ranks in our top tier of all DACs tested:
View attachment 450534
View attachment 450535

Performance improves if we let the output max out:
View attachment 450536
Pleasantly, RCA output is quite good as well:
View attachment 450537

Noise level is quite low and basically state of the art:
View attachment 450538

View attachment 450539

Linearity is perfect:
View attachment 450540
Jitter is excellent:
View attachment 450541

As is Multitone:
View attachment 450542
And IMD with no hint of "ESS IMD Hump:"
View attachment 450543

The stereophile 50 Hz tone into 600 ohm is the same:
View attachment 450544

Only one filter is available which is fine by me:
View attachment 450545
View attachment 450546

Other than slight tilt up at higher frequencies, wideband distortion and noise is superb:
View attachment 450547

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:

View attachment 450548

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:
View attachment 450549
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:View attachment 450550
Output distortion+noise (SINAD) depended somewhat on combination of gain and volume controls. But this is fairly representative:

View attachment 450551

Certainly good enough for the turntable and such.

View attachment 450552

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.

------------
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/

This is a bit off-topic, but it's something I have been meaning to ask for a while and didn't quite know where to post it: In your ranking of DACS, I noticed that one of the highest on your list is the Loxjie D40. Is that the original D40, or the D40 Pro? And I wondered if the D40 Pro is identical sonically to the D60. It seems like the D40 Pro and the D60 are basically the same DAC with slightly different displays. I have a D40 (not the Pro version) and a D60 and the latter does sound better and have more filter choices.

 

[DavidM1]

This is a bit off-topic, but it's something I have been meaning to ask for a while and didn't quite know where to post it: In your ranking of DACS, I noticed that one of the highest on your list is the Loxjie D40. Is that the original D40, or the D40 Pro? And I wondered if the D40 Pro is identical sonically to the D60. It seems like the D40 Pro and the D60 are basically the same DAC with slightly different displays. I have a D40 (not the Pro version) and a D60 and the latter does sound better and have more filter choices.

Do a search on the original post. Each of the rankings came from testing.

 

[sq225917]

It is what is, were i wanting beautiful control surfaces with weighted knobs and mechanical switches id expect a premium price like the T+A gear has.

 

[dasdoing]

when the back is more beautiful than the front lol

 

[xanalog]

when the back is more beautiful than the front lol

Ever end-up at a website - showcasing/selling/advertising audio hardware - that forgets to show-off those posterior assets?

 

[amirm]

For all we know they can make these review units near perfect and then the mass produced retail units aren't at the same quality to maximise profit.

Well, we have decent evidence that this was NOT done. To wit, they could have picked a unit with more matching channels in the amplifier and lower distortion.

Such hand picking beyond a 1 or 2 dB in SINAD is very difficult if not impossible since the performance is a function of the overall design, not some vague mechanical part or something.

Also, in the past, members have sent units in for verification and we have never found a discrepancy. I am open at any time to do such tests if someone wants to send in their unit.

 

[Dave-Oh]

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.

High on my list is sub outs on each side with selectable high and low pass filters. That's vital functionality for people trying to take a desk top system to the next level & and relieve those poor, cute little desktop speakers of bass duties. Technically speaking it's child's play for these companies to implement

 

[delta76]

the price is getting ridiculous. we have plenty of DAC/HP amp at state-of-the-art performance. Slap on a nice case with thoughtful design and you can charge 20-30$ more, and we are still under 300$ for an "endgame" (to most) device.

instead we are getting same same (but different) ones for 700+, or even 1000+

 

[amirm]

US prices are crapshoots right now given the tariff situation. Who knows how much of it they are eating vs passing on to us. So I would not focus a ton on that.

 

[Audionaut]

the price is getting ridiculous. we have plenty of DAC/HP amp at state-of-the-art performance. Slap on a nice case with thoughtful design and you can charge 20-30$ more, and we are still under 300$ for an "endgame"

Chip, implementation, quality of the peripheral electronics and components on the board, housing, processing, functions, development costs, quality control, work steps and distribution.

You should not limit yourself to a few pieces of data, but evaluate the product within its cohort.

This device is relatively inexpensive.

 

[SorenTyson]

when the back is more beautiful than the front lol

Back to the T&A reference

 

[dasdoing]

Ever end-up at a website - showcasing/selling/advertising audio hardware - that forgets to show-off those posterior assets?

Back to the T&A reference

no clue what T&A is, the only reference I can think of is Tinder lol

 

[Joramun]

no clue what T&A is, the only reference I can think of is Tinder lol

ATM is another

 

[AdrianusG]

no clue what T&A is, the only reference I can think of is Tin

Technik und Anwendung, High End German audio, with built quality 2die4, ....but prices far above my budget, anyways, i don't know how they measure tbh.