D&A Alpha PRO DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[audiobasha]

The weirdness is around just a few milliwatts. This is why I said it is good for medium to poor sensitivity headphones to avoid that.

Thank Amir! Could this be an issue for a headphone that’s 101 dB/mW and 55 ohms? I’m trying to decide between this and the Eversolo DAC Z8 for a desktop headphone-only all-in-one unit.

 

[D&A Tech]

I quite like it, I think I'm I gonna get one... It remind me those futuristic anime cartoons of the 80s/90s

Thank you for your support. We look forward to hearing more about your listening experience and impressions of the product.

 

[D&A Tech]

It is refreshing to see front panel with a knob and real buttons which makes unit much more pleasurable and ergonomic to use. My biggest gripe about these kind of units is that they often try to reinvent the wheel with user interface by moving controls to a single knob or to touch surfaces which is even worse.

Thank you for your support. We share the same idea. What we try to do is create a unique design without losing convenience, fusing modernist aesthetics with nostalgic elements.

 

[xanalog]

How is it different from any other well-performing device? And why the bold exterior if you are going to close your eyes in the first place?
Why do you think this one is not like them?

Hi, @Unplugged,
Not only is it worth looking at the engineering that has gone into the board-design, and its components...

...but it's also worth reading what they have tried to achieve, which the PCB photo does not tell.
When I first read about this device, the details and the specifications sounded quite bloated and fishy.
Those views were put to rest when @amirm did his review.

OT: Has anyone looked into the details of the two "MeanWell IRM-20-12" power-bricks on upper-left of photo?

 

[unpluggged]

What we try to do is create a unique design without losing convenience, fusing modernist aesthetics with nostalgic elements.

What's so unique about it? Just another light grey enclosure with plastic faceplate full of annoying and useless lights that many manufacturers from your place are trying to hype up claiming it's cool and "nostalgic". If you want to evoke nostalgia about the 70's and 80's, you should use the same materials, same quality, and same innovative engineering as they did back then. Otherwise it's no more than just a gimmick aimed at zoomers who think that compact cassettes are cool.

Not only is it worth looking at the engineering that has gone into the board-design, and its components...

What's so special about it? How it's different from any one of the myriads of similar devices from Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Shanghai?

...but it's also worth reading what they have tried to achieve, which the PCB photo does not tell.

No, it's not. Posting links to AliExpress is a nice try, but not enough to convince anyone here. And thank god, that AliExpress link is not available in my country.

 

[AtticReclus3]

Thank you for reviewing this, literally all the "youtube" reviewers I watch or at least 9/12 of them had this in the background and whenever that happens with a product I'm always very very sketchy about it, now that its reviewed here and its good.. seal of decent approval confirmed haha.

Thanks Amir!

 

[D&A Tech]

“D&A Alpha PRO” Firmware Update Notice

Since its launch, Alpha PRO has been well received by everyone and we have received some valuable feedback.
The Luminous Light Array is one of the highlights of Alpha PRO.
In order to provide users with a better experience, we have updated our lighting display firmware .

Specific updates are as follows:

1. The brightness of the lights in constant-on mode is now adjustable in three levels;
2. Other bug fixes and improvements to the user experience.

Thank you for your support of D&A!
Download Link

View attachment 5158413

 

[AtticReclus3]

“D&A Alpha PRO” Firmware Update Notice

Since its launch, Alpha PRO has been well received by everyone and we have received some valuable feedback.
The Luminous Light Array is one of the highlights of Alpha PRO.
In order to provide users with a better experience, we have updated our lighting display firmware .

Specific updates are as follows:

1. The brightness of the lights in constant-on mode is now adjustable in three levels;
2. Other bug fixes and improvements to the user experience.

Thank you for your support of D&A!
Download Link

View attachment 5158413

If only you had EQ software like the new DX5 ii, and its 200 dollars less. Please consider.

 

[guigui]

If only you had EQ software like the new DX5 ii, and its 200 dollars less. Please consider.

I hope Topping sends @amirm one soon so we can have a clear comparison between them.

 

[guigui]

I'm curious about the opinion of people who rated it "fine". What do you think is not great about it?

 

[EJ3]

I'm curious about the opinion of people who rated it "fine". What do you think is not great about it?

Line in to phones only. Boooooooooooo.
I don't use headphones unless I am trying not to disturb others (rare in my own stand alone home).
Yeah, I know, it's a headphone amp and not an ADC. Which is exactly why I wouldn't buy it.
Although I could get a good ADC (as I have many analog sources) & sent it's output to this.
Some may not like it's look (I am good with that, though I would prefer it in a dark color).

 

[bumblebee657]

I'm curious about the opinion of people who rated it "fine". What do you think is not great about it?

I really hate the design and wouldn't put something like that in my living room. That alone makes it not "great" to me.

 

[Somafunk]

I'm curious about the opinion of people who rated it "fine". What do you think is not great about it?

Lack of remote, lack of eq, lack of screen to display VU meters

 

[AtticReclus3]

I hope Topping sends @amirm one soon so we can have a clear comparison between them.

I'm surprised there's not a line of people offering up their first purchase(of any new product for the matter) to have him review it before they get their hands on it. That's at least the best one I know for most of the youtube reviewers, "Such and such sent this over for review for the channel" happens super often.

 

[Lightspeed]

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.

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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/

How does the headphone amp in the Alpha Pro compare to the Luxsin X9? Which one did you prefer?

 

[kandamrgam]

would be interesting to see 50 mV reading of this one.

 

[teleblaze]

Lack of EQ is a deal breaker for me

 

[kandamrgam]

Hi, @Unplugged,
Not only is it worth looking at the engineering that has gone into the board-design, and its components...
View attachment 455321
...but it's also worth reading what they have tried to achieve, which the PCB photo does not tell.
When I first read about this device, the details and the specifications sounded quite bloated and fishy.
Those views were put to rest when @amirm did his review.

OT: Has anyone looked into the details of the two "MeanWell IRM-20-12" power-bricks on upper-left of photo?

I cannot see the physical separation of digital and analog domains they talk about here. Looks like everything is on the same board?

 

[Billy Budapest]

there used to be an A&R Cambridge,

It still exists. It’s now called Arcam. A(&)RCAMbridge.