Eversolo DMP-A6 Streamer Review

[Brian Hall]

Since Linkplay (parent of Wiim) has ex-Google staff and connections with Google/Alphabet - it's unlikely that Zidoo/Eversolo can have this kind of access to get "Chromcast Built-In" capability - in fact "Chromecast Built-In" seems to be pretty rare amongst audio-only products...

I compared the Chromecast to Wiim vs. Bluetooth to DMP-A6. I can't hear any advantage to one over the other so I guess it isn't really needed.

The DMP-A6 is a great product as well as the Wiim Pro Plus. I'm interested in seeing where the Wiim Ultra fits in. I don't see any point to the DMP-A8.

 

[Purité Audio]

The A-8 is quite useful if you also have analogue sources.
Keith

 

[Akary]

I wanted to access the NAS of my Fritz box router via SMB but it always gives me a username or password error. Reading on an eversolo support page, I read that there is a problem with passwords with special characters. Is this problem always present or has it been corrected? or will it be fixed with the next updates?

 

[Nutul]

I wanted to access the NAS of my Fritz box router via SMB but it always gives me a username or password error. Reading on an eversolo support page, I read that there is a problem with passwords with special characters. Is this problem always present or has it been corrected? or will it be fixed with the next updates?

Reading this I assume your password has a special character... wouldn't it be easier to just change your password to one without such characters?
After all your SMB share is not exposed to all the World, right?

 

[Akary]

Reading this I assume your password has a special character... wouldn't it be easier to just change your password to one without such characters?
After all your SMB share is not exposed to all the World, right?

before changing the password and putting it on the various PCs I wanted to make sure that this was the problem, do I always have to enable smb v1?

 

[tprevett]

Is anybody able to get the new Sonos apk installed?

 

[Nutul]

before changing the password and putting it on the various PCs I wanted to make sure that this was the problem, do I always have to enable smb v1?

AFAIK, SMB v2+ should be supported by the A6/A8...

 

[Redwine]

The A-8 is quite useful if you also have analogue sources.
Keith

Keith,

still puzzling, you earlier mentioned the various comparisons you did between A6, A6 and A8.
Did I get it right, you could not detect any difference in sound using them as pre (eg. using the build in dac as well), or was it only if used purely as a digital streamer?

 

[Salt]

before changing the password and putting it on the various PCs I wanted to make sure that this was the problem, do I always have to enable smb v1?

Some SMB pairing make trouble with SMB2+, as my QNAP does with a wireless speaker.
Test connecting SMB1, and if successful return to SMB2+. If SMB1 don't work it's a Problem with user/PW and should be identifiable in the NAS logs.

 

[Purité Audio]

Keith,

still puzzling, you earlier mentioned the various comparisons you did between A6, A6 and A8.
Did I get it right, you could not detect any difference in sound using them as pre (eg. using the build in dac as well), or was it only if used purely as a digital streamer?

I compared them, usb in to both from my Roon ‘Nucleus’ ( intel NUC) then analogue out of both to two pairs of identical active loudspeakers I had to measure with a milli volt meter because the A-8 has slightly lower output than the A-8.
I did use the A-8 with a turntable ( analogue only path) and it sounded great.
Keith

 

[Akary]

Has anyone put an m2 SSD inside? From the manual it seems that an m2 SSD with heatsink does not fit but only an SSD without anything has a heatsink inside?

 

[mlilliman]

You just need to get a (standard?) M2 SSD, which is a few mm thick. Basically not anything with a protruding heatsink attached.

 

[mlilliman]

Received my A6 yesterday! Setup in no time and connected via balanced xlr to a hypex nc252mp based amp. I practically have zero noise and distortion in my hifi now haha (that is audible, at least).

How does it sound? Honestly, not great. Resolution was incredible, but it also sounded a bit thin. I realise that I prefer - or have become accustomed to - a bit of bloom in the upper mid bass, and a dip around 2-4 kHz to make things less fatiguing. What’s great about the A6, is that I was able to do this via EQ and fine tune with some of my favourite tracks.

There’s definitely a balance to be had between well measuring equipment sounding “clean” (the adjective friends would use to describe my system), and a move towards “enjoyable”, which for me, isn’t a flat frequency response.

Weirdly, I feel that I overcame a mental hurdle in using EQ on my “audiophile” system, to produce the sound i like.

 

[Purité Audio]

The A-6 is audibly transparent but if you are used to equipment that isn’t… what were you using before?
Keith

 

[mlilliman]

The A-6 is audibly transparent but if you are used to equipment that isn’t… what were you using before?
Keith

I was using an ifi zen stream for the streaming part, and a Hegel H95. Loved the tonality of the Hegel DAC and amp with a pair of wharfedale floorstanders but when I switched to Buchardt S400 mk2’s, the Hegel struggled a bit (they wouldn’t go loud comfortably). As has been measured, the Hegel isn’t great with 4 ohm nominal load.

I’ve always had class AB amplification, and prefer a balance more towards a warm or “rolled off” sound. By “rolled off”, I don’t mean above 16khz as such, more a dip/recession on the attack region of vocals and instruments (2-6 kHz).

 

[mlilliman]

To follow-up, I think it’s likely that a lot of people in the hobby or with a love of music, to spend an almost futile amount of time changing gear to find the right synergy and sound signature they like. Thankfully, I haven’t gone to the lengths of trying to fine tuning with speaker cables and interconnects, but that said I have alternatives and did get lured into trying QED vs Van Damme, silver plated vs oxygen free copper (lol), etc, etc. This resource didn’t exist at the time and I simply didn’t know better.

If EQ can be implemented without signal degradation, then I think it’s such a god send. Looking forward to playing with it some more.

 

[spizz]

There will be a new firmware in May. Except with some new streaming services, I'm sure it will bring Gapless playback of CDs

Any reason as to the large gap in firmware releases since February? I would of thought expanding the engineering team would of sped things up?

 

[rjacko01]

Any reason as to the large gap in firmware releases since February? I would of thought expanding the engineering team would of sped things up?

I think you are quite right, take on another 5 or 6 highly qualified engineers devoted solely to adding new features to an already stellar product, sit back and watch the company implode

 

[Nutul]

I would of thought expanding the engineering team would of sped things up?

At the very beginning there might be a slow-down, as the new members need training to get familiar with the project; and this takes some time of the current members.
Then yes, generally, things get faster.

 

[mirror88]

Any reason as to the large gap in firmware releases since February? I would of thought expanding the engineering team would of sped things up?

In fact, we have massively expanded our R&D team. This time the firmware has some streaming service certifications that took a little long. But I think it will be fine within this month
We are planning some interesting new features. For example, each channel has separately ten-band PEQ, as well as REW-compatible PEQ file import and export functions（It depends on the processing power of the CPU）.
More stepped digital volume functions based on Eversolo’s own algorithm
Finally, and not impossible, is a room correction developed by Eversolo himself! But this is not a promised feature.