Eversolo DMP-A8 Balanced Streamer/DAC Review

[Purité Audio]

it’s always the same, lack of technical knowledge and believing moronic you tube reviews.
Replacing the power supply and adding an external dac will not improve sound quality, a really poor dac might make it worse.
Keith

 

[Loftrocket]

Don't blame me, I'm not such pro.

 

[Salt]

Nobody is to blame, except the one who got a A6 for 450 and complains ...

 

[Loftrocket]

I've late that offer, only for 500€ one left. I'm still thinking.

 

[Salt]

?

 

[Loftrocket]

I didn't bought A6 for 450, it's already sold. Price was too good.

 

[staticV3]

I didn't bought A6 for 450, it's already sold. Price was too good.

The Hi-fi choice would be to buy a WiiM Mini for streaming to your i150 via Toslink, then spend what you would've on an A8, on a UMIK-1 and an additional SVS sub instead.

The i150 to cross over between mains and subs.
The UMIK-1 to measure your in-room response and design room correction filters.
The WiiM's Parametric EQ to apply room correction to the mains.
The SVS' DSP to improve sub integration and apply room correction to the subs.

 

[Loftrocket]

Guys, thanks for your help and time! Appreciate your advice.

 

[sbronf]

hi I have a question: does the a8 preamp work in the analog or digital domain? Thank you

 

[sbronf]

I connected it to the line in input of a Wiim Amp Pro and I was wondering if it was better to adjust the volume from the A8 or from the Wiim Amp Pro?

 

[staticV3]

hi I have a question: does the a8 preamp work in the analog or digital domain? Thank you

First picture on the product page

I connected it to the line in input of a Wiim Amp Pro and I was wondering if it was better to adjust the volume from the A8 or from the Wiim Amp Pro?

For highest fidelity, connect the A8 via Optical, fully bypassing the A8's DAC and analog preamp.

You can then use either the Eversolo, or the WiiM to adjust volume, whichever is more convenient.

 

[sbronf]

Ahah ok.
Why? Wiim amp has better dac than a8?

 

[staticV3]

Ahah ok.
Why? Wiim amp has better dac than a8?

WiiM Amp analog inputs always go through an ADC chip, then through the WiiM DAC anyway. You cannot bypass the WiiM DAC with an external DAC.

By connecting via Toslink or Coax SPDIF, you remove one D->A and one A->D conversion from the signal chain, preserving fidelity.

Below is the signal chain. The ones in brackets [ ] are redundant and serve no purpose other than reduce fidelity:

A8 Streamer-> [A8 DAC->A8 Preamp->WiiM ADC] ->WiiM DAC->WiiM Amp

 

[sbronf]

Truly? What's the point of reconverting an already analog signal into digital and then back into analog?

 

[staticV3]

Truly?

Truly.

What's the point of reconverting an already analog signal into digital and then back into analog?

The point is to preserve the WiiM's featureset like room correction, subwoofer integration, multiroom playback etc.

Many people would be pissed if those features stopped working when using the WiiM's Line input.

 

[sbronf]

Now I understand...thank you very much! but how do you know? is it written somewhere?

 

[staticV3]

Now I understand...thank you very much! but how do you know? is it written somewhere?

Yes, it is frequently confirmed by WiiM staff on the WiiM forum.

What also gives it away is that you can choose the sample rate used to digitize the Line input in the WiiM Home App.

There is no setting to bypass this, no direct analog input for the WiiM's Amplifier.

 

[sbronf]

Ok.
I did it because I think the A8's DAC is better than the Wiim Amp's. Do you think there are audible differences?

 

[staticV3]

I did it because I think the A8's DAC is better than the Wiim Amp's.

No matter how good the A8 DAC->A8 Preamp->WiiM ADC conversion is, it will still be worse than no conversion at all (A8->Toslink->WiiM)

Do you think there are audible differences?

If there is one, it will be in favor of A8->Toslink->WiiM, unless the tester prefers the extra noise and distortion introduced by the extra conversions.

 

[sbronf]

via optical, by adjusting the volume from the a8 obviously I don't use the analog preamplification, right?