Eversolo DMP-A8 Balanced Streamer/DAC Review

[Robocop]

Adding the DSP mini flex would be a suggestion. You can run 2 subs and 2 mains set crossover freq and carry out REW settings. This is what I have and it works excellently. I do have an A8 but could see it would not do all the Flex can do. The A8 is one hell of a machine, easily worth the cost, no regrets here.

 

[johny_2000]

I hate Monday morning regret but that's kind of what I'm feeling at the moment.

Return is not an option?

 

[Purité Audio]

I just bought an A8. But if to get full use of dsp you need to add another component, such as the Flex, and thus bypass the A8's dsp, I wonder if the extra cost of the A8 can be justified over an A6 and a separate pre-amp like the Kara. Remove the dsp and obviate the need for an analog input and there seems to be nothing to recommend the A8 over the A6.

I hate Monday morning regret but that's kind of what I'm feeling at the moment.

The EQ and DSP features of the A-8 work perfectly you just can’t use it to integrate a sub, the A-6 also has eq.
Keith

 

[Jefrpol]

Return is not an option?

I could. I probably won't.

The EQ and DSP features of the A-8 work perfectly you just can’t use it to integrate a sub, the A-6 also has eq.

It works but it feels less than ideal.

 

[pvanosta]

I'm looking at the DMP-A8 to potentially replace my first-gen Auralic Altair. I run a large library on a NAS via ethernet (180,000 tracks). My question :
Does anyone have any user experience with the built-in app, regarding managing and navigating a large library (searching by genre, artist, date added, etc...)?

 

[Purité Audio]

Have a look on the Zidoo forum, I use my A-8 with Roon so not much use I am afraid.
Keith

 

[pvanosta]

Have a look on the Zidoo forum, I use my A-8 with Roon so not much use I am afraid.
Keith

Thanks for the tip, I have also asked on the Zidoo forum. In the meantime: where do you run Roonserver? On the DMP-A8 or somewhere else?

 

[BDWoody]

Thanks for the tip, I have also asked on the Zidoo forum. In the meantime: where do you run Roonserver? On the DMP-A8 or somewhere else?

Just jumping in without being asked, but i believe the Roon server has to run on some kind of 'real' computer. I run mine on a Synology NAS with an SSD for the library that is always on anyway, so it's always available whenever I want to stream to whatever devices I've got scattered around.

 

[pvanosta]

Thanks BD

Just jumping in without being asked, but i believe the Roon server has to run on some kind of 'real' computer. I run mine on a Synology NAS with an SSD for the library that is always on anyway, so it's always available whenever I want to stream to whatever devices I've got scattered around.

Thanks BDWoody. What is the processing power/memory on your Synology (what model do you have)?

 

[BDWoody]

Thanks BD

Thanks BDWoody. What is the processing power/memory on your Synology (what model do you have)?

I have the DS920+.

Here is a summary of the requirements:

"Which NAS devices are supported?
Most QNAP, Synology, and ASUSTOR devices with a 64-bit x86 CPU, like Intel or AMD, and at least 2GB RAM are supported. We strongly recommend 4GB of RAM and an SSD for the Roon databases. Your music files can be on spinning disks, but ideally the Roon database should be on an SSD. This one optimization can provide the single biggest improvement to Roon’s performance and user experience."
https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/roon-server-on-nas#:~:text=Which NAS devices,and user experience.

This site was great to help get it set up.

Roon on NAS

roononnas.org

 

[Doc_Octopus]

Thanks for the tip, I have also asked on the Zidoo forum. In the meantime: where do you run Roonserver? On the DMP-A8 or somewhere else?

Ideal is Roon Nucleus or Intel NUC with Roon Rock installed. A Synology NAS is a viable alternative, but not ideal.

 

[pvanosta]

Ideal is Roon Nucleus or Intel NUC with Roon Rock installed. A Synology NAS is a viable alternative, but not ideal.

Thanks. I was curious as to which of those options the other user with the DMP-A8 was using.

 

[Jefrpol]

Ideal is Roon Nucleus or Intel NUC with Roon Rock installed. A Synology NAS is a viable alternative, but not ideal.

Why is this ideal?

 

[rococoxxx]

Ideal is Roon Nucleus or Intel NUC with Roon Rock installed. A Synology NAS is a viable alternative, but not ideal.

DS920+ with Roon is perfect. Never had any issues.

 

[Doc_Octopus]

Why is this ideal?

In the Roon community you will find all the answers. It is a question of power, for functions such as multi-room, the use of the integrated DSP, very large music libraries or the reproduction of DSD files at very high resolution, the demand for resources is very high.

 

[BDWoody]

In the Roon community you will find all the answers. It is a question of power, for functions such as multi-room, the use of the integrated DSP, very large music libraries or the reproduction of DSD files at very high resolution, the demand for resources is very high.

I've never had an issue even when I tried pretty hard to choke it, but I'm sure there are those who might be able to make use of a separate computer.

Hard to beat the convenience of just using the NAS, and for me there have been zero hiccups fwiw.

 

[Jefrpol]

In the Roon community you will find all the answers. It is a question of power, for functions such as multi-room, the use of the integrated DSP, very large music libraries or the reproduction of DSD files at very high resolution, the demand for resources is very high.

I only just started to use Roon. I switched to it from JRiver after I set-up my A8. (I'm not fully convinced it's worth the money to be honest, but that's a different post.) At any rate, the server is set-up on the computer I use to store my file. I have around 161k audio files totaling just about 5 terabytes. I back-up onto external drives. (One-to-one harddrive to external drive). It's only been a few weeks but I have yet to find anything I'd want to do with Roon that I can't. I had thought, after all these years to switch to a nas for automated back-up however.

 

[Coltr@ne]

There is a hidden Gain control setting in the DSP that lowers the volume (-8dB) in my case according to source used even though DSP is not active. Quite annoying but you can remove this gain adjustment.

can you please specify which control you are referring to? thanks

 

[rococoxxx]

can you please specify which control you are referring to? thanks

Settings - ReplayGain source mode. Switch this to Off.

 

[Coltr@ne]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Eversolo DMP-A8 balanced DAC, Streamer, HDMI ARC, and Analog/digital Preamplifier with DSP support. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $1,980.
View attachment 381739
The DMP-A8 is stylish and functional in every sense of the words. Running Android with a high-speed processor, navigation is smooth and very rich. I am assuming the same CPU is used for DSP implementation of equalization, delay and compression as it works for all inputs (output must be analog however). The usual App is provided for the control but I was disappointed that a hard remote was not. Back panel shows the very rich connectivity:

View attachment 381741

Really, I can't think of a thing that is missing there. The DMP-A8 can easily be the heart of a modern system with support for legacy analog inputs as well.

Volume control provides excellent channel matching courtesy of stepped relay control.

Beauty extends to the insides:
View attachment 381744

There are many features available such as per input volume preset.

The unit was sent to me many months ago but I wanted to review it when Roon was implemented and it is now.

If you are not familiar with measurements that are about to follow, please watch my tutorial:

Eversolo DMP-A8 Digital Measurements
I streamed my reference test signal over Ethernet from Roon, capturing balanced output:
View attachment 381743

This is within shouting distance of state of the art stand-alone DACs:
View attachment 381746
View attachment 381747

Surprisingly, there is no hit to using RCA output:
View attachment 381749

There is a slight difference in dynamic range however:
View attachment 381750

Performance gets a bit better if you crank up the volume to max:
View attachment 381751

Multitone performance is superb:
View attachment 381752

As is linearity:
View attachment 381753

Jitter is nearly so and is input independent:
View attachment 381754

IMD vs level shows a slight rise in noise in mid-level but it is inconsequential:
View attachment 381755
Looking at the spectrum (not shown), noise floor moved up just a hair at -37 dB.
Driving an unrealistically low impedance of 600 Ohm doesn't bother the A8 at all:
View attachment 381756

Nor does it care what frequency you throw at it:
View attachment 381758

The DAC in use is AKM and we have the usual set of filters available:
View attachment 381759
View attachment 381760

Eversolo DMP-A8 Analog Preamplifier Measurements
I stayed with XLR input and output to keep the measurement set manageable. I selected volume control at 0 dB (it allows excursion well above that):
View attachment 381761
Wow! I was not expecting this. This is amazing performance. I thought it is digitizing the input but it is not (which sadly means DSP is not available for it either).

Across every measurement, performance is superb:
View attachment 381762
View attachment 381763

Reducing level to just 50 mv still provides excellent dynamic range:
View attachment 381764

That good noise performance translates into IMD vs level as well:
View attachment 381766

Making sure nothing bad happens when volume is reduced, here it is at -10 dB:
View attachment 381765

Crosstalk is superb:
View attachment 381768

And no frequency dependency:
View attachment 381769

Conclusions
In just about every area you look at, the DMP-A8 brings class leading performance combined with functionality that is not available elsewhere. All is put together in an elegant packaging with extensibility and openness of the Android OS. Critical features such as equalization and compression are provided. The only misses are lack of included hard remote and absence of DSP on analog input. The latter does translate into better performance than any digitizing analog preamp.

It is with my absolute pleasure to recommend the Eversolo DMP-A8 streamer and DAC. It is expensive but just doesn't get better than this folks.

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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/

Good morning amir.
I can't understand some measurements on this device.
In the SINAD test you write "maximum performance at 0db/4.4v".
Then in the preamp part test you write "I stayed with XLR input and output to keep the measurement set manageable. I selected volume control at 0 dB (it allows excursion well above that):
I would like to understand, but listening in streaming with this device, the maximum output reaches 4.4 volts, or can you also use the +10dB of the preamp gain?
Because I have this device but using it with the internal streaming features or its own files, it doesn't go beyond 0dB.
Sorry for the stupid question.
Thanks
Stefano