Eversolo DMP-A8 Balanced Streamer/DAC Review

[CT Man]

Was a joke, sarcasm: by convention we put the smiley on phrases that could suggest the opposite of the author's intention. Totally agree with you, in fact I purchased the Ultra in pre-order

Sorry, missed seeing your wink.

 

[OldTimer]

The moment you get into streaming, you are signing up to have an OS. Here, it is advertised. But in others when it is not Android, it is not. Those OS platforms could very well be attacked and in many instances come with no update to the OS.

Device vulnerability can also be secured at the router firewall if there are no more security update from the manufacturer.

 

[Jefrpol]

I've been following this thread with much interest. I've been trying to narrow down my options before making a purchase to replace my now no-longer function dac/pre-amp. I had posted a thread with the following:

There aren't many features I need but I do want xlr ins-and-outs for the preamp, would prefer to have the dac and preamp as separate units and to keep the total pre-tax cost under $2k or so. After considering a number of options I've somewhat narrowed it down to either a Schiit Kara/Eversolo A6 combo (I only need two digital inputs for a dac and two xlr inputs on the preamp side) or an Eversolo A8. I had considered the Topping Pre90 but I have general concerns about Topping reliability specific concerns with reported remote control issues. Other than the additional digital inputs, is there any real advantage (space is not an issue) to the A8 over the Kara/A6 combo? Is there something else I should be looking at?

My question remains, what if any benefit is there to the A8 over an A6/Kara combo.

 

[Jasperous]

I have to say this again in this review thread: a $300 laptop running your choice of OS plus a $150 DAC of decent quality can do the same as this product but has a much better and more versatile "viewscreen". Why people are adverse to a "computer" as part of their audio system but would buy this sort of component for much more that is, essentially, just a computer with a really small screen really mystifies me!

Because men (and other folks) of a certain age are afraid to learn new skills and tinker with an OS

 

[Jasperous]

The lack of a subwoofer output on a product at this price point is a complete failure for my wallet. The Wiim product line is much better value. And if you add another 1K USD you can go for an amazing pair of active speakers

 

[charlielaub]

Because men (and other folks) of a certain age are afraid to learn new skills and tinker with an OS

If you will just be passing stereo audio to a DAC from software the OS is used straight up, no changes at all. It's only if you need to also have input switching and are doing DSP that something more than "I can use a mouse" is needed. In the example system I described the OS is WIN11 unaltered. It couldn't be simpler. A mobile phone is more complicated than that

 

[muslhed]

Thanks for the review! Great figures but no room correction (ouch, that breaks the value proposition for me in this kind of device), BT with just SBC/AAC.

I have the A8 and you can use REW to create left and right FIR filters and upload them to the Eversolo unit and load them in the DSP part. Easy peasy free room correction if you already have a DSP mic.

 

[muslhed]

What to say: excellent rating without reservations!

I confess that it makes me want to go to my music room take photos of the Dac and preamp, put them up for sale to finance the purchase of this A8.

A8 wich, as we see from Amirm's tests, contains the best available today in a single device.

Great job Eversolo! they have not succumbed to the useless trend of repetitive and mile-long price lists: a few well-built products, with excellent performance and with a concrete focus on what is really needed. Always with overall affordable prices.

This A8 in particular costs the equivalent of purchasing an excellent DAC and an equally excellent preamp

Thanks Amirm as always for the time dedicated and for the tests performed.

That's exactly what I did. I had a Parasound JC2 BP and the Eversolo DMP A6. I sold them both and bought a new A8. The preamp in the A8 surprisingly outperforms the Parasound in sound quality by a large margin. It doesn't have as much gain as the Parasound though.

 

[dsd4life]

Presumably the only economy would be in the casework, the electronics would have to multiply the cost by the increase in number of channels and maybe smaller production batches increasing production costs again anyway.
I don't see why a 7 channel system with identical performance should be expected to be much less than 7/2 times more than this, ie about $7k

They do the Marantz AV10

 

[pseudoid]

I know the Billie Eilish songs use high-pass filters.

Not all HPF are created equal: What are the -3dB and -6dB frequencies?
Her 2nd song ("Lunch"), in her latest album (2024) sure sounds like it is reaching well into the sub-bass range.

 

[Francois II]

Wiim pro (or ultra) and rme adi2 dac is more versatile and cheaper.
The eversolo would need extensive room correction or eq options.

I believe eversolo will implement this feature in the near future

 

[AdrianusG]

While I find his blind tests fun exercises, I must say I'm a bit skeptical about what we will actually hear in such a test.

1. Isn't the quality of the A/D converter in his RME ADI-2 Pro FS set the “limit” and “color” the recordings of the signal coming out of the 3 DACs, and by that introduce some “sameness”?

2. Aren’t the different DACs in all the different systems used to listen to the recordings of the 3 DACs set the “limit” and “color” the sound in their ways, and therefore possibly reduce any differences and introduce “sameness” even further?

Maybe I should visit my local HiFi store and see if I can borrow a Linn Klimax DSM with the Organik DAC for a week, make recordings of my favorite albums with the excellent A/D converter in my Prism Sound Titan, and with that make my Linn Akurate DSM with the Katalyst DAC sound like the Linn Klimax DSM.

I think you have to be a pretty "well known" customer before a HiFi store will lend you equipment like that.

 

[goat76]

Not all HPF are created equal: What are the -3dB and -6dB frequencies?
Her 2nd song ("Lunch"), in her latest album (2024) sure sounds like it is reaching well into the sub-bass range.

Not according to @staticV3 who measured Billie Eilish's whole discography. The only track reaching the sub-bass region is the song "Bittersuite" which is the ninth song in the same album as “Lunch”.

 

[Miguelón]

Not according to @staticV3 who measured Billie Eilish's whole discography. The only track reaching the sub-bass region is the song "Bittersuite" which is the ninth song in the same album as “Lunch”.

Why he measured she’s whole discography? Can be considered “sonic harassment”?

 

[evalrat]

So you want it to be a NAS as well?

Yes, I would. Given the price of 4TB of internal storage it would be an enormous waste to use it only as internal buffer. NAS hardware that supports SSD storage is expensive too. And it would remove yet another device from my LAN. So I think that would make a great proposition. Even if Eversolo would have to use a more powerful processor.

 

[Ismapics]

Nah, it's cold, harsh and bright! ;-)

Again, opinions without data are useless. The product has not been out and you have an opinion, sure.....

 

[Salt]

Why he measured she’s whole discography?

Because He can.

 

[Miguelón]

Because He can.

Ok, I thought was another ASR mystery, I’m learning a lot of technical stuff here but even more about human obsessions. Of course I include mines

 

[AudioSceptic]

Yes, I would. Given the price of 4TB of internal storage it would be an enormous waste to use it only as internal buffer. NAS hardware that supports SSD storage is expensive too. And it would remove yet another device from my LAN. So I think that would make a great proposition. Even if Eversolo would have to use a more powerful processor.

I think the idea is to make it into an all-in-one-player, like a CD player with a near-infinite stack of CDs inside. You can use SATA SSDs in a NAS designed for HDDs. OK, you don't the full performance, but it's still much faster than HDDs and how much speed do you need anyway?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Again, opinions without data are useless. The product has not been out and you have an opinion, sure.....

You didn't notice the ;-) ?