DMP-A6 / Master Edition Gen 2 Owner's Thread

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Excited to share that my DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2 is scheduled to arrive this Thursday. I haven’t seen a dedicated thread for the Gen 2 yet, so I’m starting one here and invite any feedback, test requests, or performance discussions from those interested.

For context, my setup will have the DMP-A6 ME Gen 2 acting as my streamer, connected via balanced outputs to my Pioneer receiver/amp and KEF Meta speakers. I skipped the Gen 1 version because it lacked features like Trigger and HDMI ARC, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how Gen 2 meets these needs.

I’m by no means an audio engineer, but I’m open to trying out any guides or settings recommendations you might have—especially any beginner-friendly ones. If anyone has any tips, guides, or if you’re planning to perform any tests on the Gen 2, please share your thoughts.

Looking forward to discussing ways to optimize our experiences with the Gen 2 and exploring the full potential of this unit.

 

[Extreme_Boky]

Does it still use an SMPS together with a linear power supply, or is the whole unit now exclusively powered by a linear power supply?
Does the Bluetooth CODEC support include the LDAC and aptX HD?

 

[Jon L]

The question is which is better sounding, A6 Master Gen I with LHY linear PS vs A6 Master Gen II with included Eversolo linear PS?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Does it still use an SMPS together with a linear power supply, or is the whole unit now exclusively powered by a linear power supply?
Does the Bluetooth CODEC support include the LDAC and aptX HD?

I don’t have the specialized equipment or testing methods to distinguish whether the unit still uses an SMPS in conjunction with a linear supply or is now exclusively powered by a linear power supply. If anyone has a reliable method to test or verify this, I’d really appreciate your input. On the Bluetooth side, I can definitely test the codec support. I’ll check whether LDAC and aptX HD are supported and report back with my findings.

The question is which is better sounding, A6 Master Gen I with LHY linear PS vs A6 Master Gen II with included Eversolo linear PS?

I don’t have a Gen I unit to make a direct comparison. However, I would lean toward the idea that an integrated linear power supply—as seen in the Gen II—is designed to be cleaner and more efficient than using an external LHY linear power supply with the Gen I. That said, I’m still very curious to see if there’s an audible difference. I’ll document my impressions with the Gen II, and I’d love to hear if anyone else has experience or thoughts on this.

 

[Jon L]

LHY linear power supply is actually not external, as one removes the stock smps and place the LHY linear PS inside the Eversolo. A neat idea from third party, actually.

 

[Purité Audio]

There won’t and can’t be the slightest difference as the A6 has excellent regulation/filtration.
Keith

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

I just received my Master Edition Gen 2 (Silver Version) after an unexpected shipping delay—what a fantastic machine! The build quality is truly top-notch.

So far, I’ve tested both the HDMI and XLR outputs. In my experience, the HDMI output is cleaner, while the XLR output adds a bit of extra “color,” likely due to the DAC filters that currently can’t be disabled.

Overall, the DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2 delivers a much more detailed and cleaner sound compared to my Pioneer flagship LX805 AVR (with dual Sabre ES9026PRO DAC chips). It’s a solid upgrade for my KEF Meta series speakers, and I couldn’t be happier with the performance.

My next goal is to explore the built-in DAC filters and determine which settings work best for different tracks and albums (aside from the tough choice of LED ring color!).

Does anyone have a favorite “DAC filter” they use for particular genres of music?

 

[ExPerfectionist]

Have you taken a look at the filter readouts?

Eversolo DMP-A6 Streamer Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Eversolo DMP-A6 Streamer and balanced DAC. It was sent to me by the company. I don't have the price but see it on sale for US $850. The DMP-A6 design is absolutely gorgeous. A large, high contrast LCD allows it to show realistic visualizations...

www.audiosciencereview.com

They usually only affect anything over 18~20kHz, although Fast Hybrid (at least on the non-Master Ed) has a very slow and slight roll-off above 8K.

I just ordered a DMP-A6 yesterday, should be here next week. I'm excited to get it up and running. I'm upgrading from a WiiM Pro.

 

[rdytro]

I think the A6 ME Gen 2 in silver is by far their best looking looking DAC-streamer.

Is there any word on room correction being added? Or is that remaining exclusive to the A8 and A10?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

I think the A6 ME Gen 2 in silver is by far their best looking looking DAC-streamer.

Couldn't agree more.

Is there any word on room correction being added? Or is that remaining exclusive to the A8 and A10?

I’m perfectly content without room correction. My Pioneer AVR features the flagship Dirac Bass Control—which does enhance the low frequencies but, in my experience, tends to thin out the overall sound on most tracks.

In contrast, the native output of the A6 ME Gen 2 retains a full-bodied sound, especially in imaging. This is ironic because DLBC is supposed to to maximize ambience, but it appears to be better suited for multichannel soundtracks rather than our typical stereo music.

Given this, I suspect that the built-in room correction offered by the A8 and A10—not as advanced as Dirac—would likely produce a similar result. In other words, room correction isn’t the panacea that makes the A6 less appealing in my setup or most people's.

 

[anthonymoody]

Would someone please ELI5 the quote I see in many reviews along the lines that you can "download the Apple Music Android app and use it to stream Apple Music from this?" And, it's Airplay2 enabled as well, correct?

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

Would someone please ELI5 the quote I see in many reviews along the lines that you can "download the Apple Music Android app and use it to stream Apple Music from this?" And, it's Airplay2 enabled as well, correct?

Yes, I can confirm that it's possible to stream Apple Music using the native app installed on the DMP-A6 Gen 2

 

[anthonymoody]

Yes, I can confirm that it's possible to stream Apple Music using the native app installed on the DMP-A6 Gen 2

Thank you!

 

[ExPerfectionist]

The native app (red icon with Apple symbol) on the DMP-A6 is limited to 44.1kHz. The interface is developed for the horizontal screen layout, and A6 "now playing" screen has the full-screen options for album art, song / artist / album name, track progress. For spatial/Atmos tracks, I don't know if they are accessible, or if they auto-play instead of the standard track. There are no settings for streaming quality that I can find (opening the app provides a warning that it's limited to 44.1kHz), and no Spatial/Atmos auto-play setting, and no apparent way to toggle within a track's "now playing."

The downloadable app (music note symbol on red background) supports the hi-res/lossless files if you have the settings set to enable the higher resolution files enabled. The interface looks like a desktop app with small icons to tap. Music playing will appear on the right hand side of the screen in a "now playing" pop-up (similar to what comes up full-screen on mobile phones), and you won't be able to get full-screen "now playing" info. For spatial/Atmos tracks, I don't know if they are accessible or if they play in place of standard tracks. There are settings for streaming quality, but no Spatial/Atmos auto-play setting, and no apparent way to toggle within a track's "now playing." The interface is low-res, a bit blurry, and tapping on "About Lossless Audio" in the audio quality > wi-fi settings screen took me to a Google Chrome browser page. Note that in this Wi-Fi Streaming settings page, setting it to "Hi-Res Lossless" (ALAC up to 24/192) brings up an "external hardware suggested > to play content in Hi-Res Lossless at full resolution, you will need an external DAC" warning. That might be default because this app is ported from elsewhere, like iPad/Android browser interface? Because I was able to play a Hi-Res Lossless file (24b/192kHz ALAC) just fine.



*I have a standard edition A6, not the Master Edition. But I assume the above functionality is the same on both.


As a side note, Amazon Music works similarly in that the native app and the downloadable app have different functionality and displays.

Using the app version with the "Music" icon without the "Amazon" which looks like the Windows desktop app display (and can show lyrics) (looks like the native Apple app with the Apple symbol, not the music note), it shows Atmos tags in song lists, however it doesn't have a way to toggle between stereo and Atmos when playing a song. So the Atmos version, being downmixed, is currently the default track that plays. If you go into the settings within the app, you can set the Streaming quality settings to HD/Ultra HD, and turn Dolby Atmos autoplay on/off, so that would be where you can set the global setting within the app (even though you can't switch back and forth on a track on the fly like you can on the mobile phone app). The "now playing" info is not integrated into the A6 interface, but the app's own "now playing" goes fullscreen (unlike Apple) and supports X-Ray and Lyrics display.

The "Amazon Music" native app (icon is "Amazon Music") has a regular browsing interface, and "now playing" is integrated with the A6 so it has the full-screen options for album art, song / artist / album, track progress. You can listen to up to HiRes / Master tracks, but you have to set that option within the Account settings in the app.

 

[anthonymoody]

That's super helpful @ExPerfectionist , thank you. Also kind of a bummer that the better sounding app has the lower UI/UX from what you're describing.

 

[ExPerfectionist]

That's super helpful @ExPerfectionist , thank you. Also kind of a bummer that the better sounding app has the lower UI/UX from what you're describing.

Yes it's unfortunate. It may have to do with Apple being protective? Or Apple itself, and their app quality for Music. Perhaps there will be updates in the future from the Eversolo side that fix some of these issues.

 

[anthonymoody]

Yes it's unfortunate. It may have to do with Apple being protective? Or Apple itself, and their app quality for Music. Perhaps there will be updates in the future from the Eversolo side that fix some of these issues.

Agreed.