EverSolo Z8 DAC & Amp Review

[Brent71]

Are you sure about the frequency (1411200 Hz)??? That would be a DSD32 in my book...
Anyway, rest assured the Z8 CAN play DSD up to 512. Maybe Foobar2000 algorithm of upsampling DSD is buggy?
P.S.
There is no meaning in upsampling a DSD... find a file online - there are sites that offer test/demo files, I myself downloaded a couple of them to test my Z8.
I also tried a DSD1024, just to be sure it cannot reproduce it...

That was a direct copy/paste from the error window that popped up in Foobar2000. I did get the Z8 to do DSD512 for a while, but it had clicks and glitches at times. Not sure what's going on since the DAC is plugged directly into a USB 3.0 port on my X399 Taichi MB, not through a USB hub. Maybe it's the cable.

 

[Nutul]

That was a direct copy/paste from the error window that popped up in Foobar2000. I did get the Z8 to do DSD512 for a while, but it had clicks and glitches at times. Not sure what's going on since the DAC is plugged directly into a USB 3.0 port on my X399 Taichi MB, not through a USB hub. Maybe it's the cable.

Use a USB2 port, it's more than enough. The DAC requests data when it sees fit, so no struggling.
I have played DSD up to 512 (but just to test purposes, my entire library is FLAC at 16/44.1 with rare exceptions at higher sample-rates / bit-depths, and never experienced a glitch... are you playing local files or from the LAN? See if you are on the 2.4GHz (the 5GHz is less crowded), or, at least, try to use a different channel if cannot move to the 5GHz; say, 11, or 13 instead of the default 5 or 6 (cannot remember, but anyway, anything other than the defaults the router offers is a better choice)

 

[Brent71]

Use a USB2 port, it's more than enough. The DAC requests data when it sees fit, so no struggling.
I have played DSD up to 512 (but just to test purposes, my entire library is FLAC at 16/44.1 with rare exceptions at higher sample-rates / bit-depths, and never experienced a glitch... are you playing local files or from the LAN? See if you are on the 2.4GHz (the 5GHz is less crowded), or, at least, try to use a different channel if cannot move to the 5GHz; say, 11, or 13 instead of the default 5 or 6 (cannot remember, but anyway, anything other than the defaults the router offers is a better choice)

Files are on HDDs in my PC tower. No LAN or wireless involved.

 

[Nutul]

Files are on HDDs in my PC tower. No LAN or wireless involved.

On a Windows PC, I suspect, then...
If possible, try a USB2 port first. I use a Raspberry Pi 4 playing local files to my Z8, through one of its USB2 ports, and never had an issue.

 

[Brent71]

On a Windows PC, I suspect, then...
If possible, try a USB2 port first. I use a Raspberry Pi 4 playing local files to my Z8, through one of its USB2 ports, and never had an issue.

AMD 2950x Threadripper with 128 GB of RAM running Win10 Pro.

 

[Nutul]

AMD 2950x Threadripper with 128 GB of RAM running Win10 Pro.

The machine is wonderful (even more than needed to just play audio, TBH)
Anyway, I was thinking just a couple of minutes ago... an UPSAMPLED DSD is not a DSD... depending on the algorithm, there might be some artifatcts (a DSD is not supposed to be upsampled, nor is easy upsampled as, for instance, a PCM file)
Try an original, high rate DSD, then you can start looking elsewhere if the glitches are still there.

Just my 2c, HTH
Cheers, Al.

 

[Brent71]

The machine is wonderful (even more than needed to just play audio, TBH)
Anyway, I was thinking just a couple of minutes ago... an UPSAMPLED DSD is not a DSD... depending on the algorithm, there might be some artifatcts (a DSD is not supposed to be upsampled, nor is easy upsampled as, for instance, a PCM file)
Try an original, high rate DSD, then you can start looking elsewhere if the glitches are still there.

Just my 2c, HTH
Cheers, Al.

I built this about 7 years ago when I was doing a lot of editing with Lightroom with a triple monitor setup, so I made sure it had plenty of horsepower. I started off with a 1920 CPU and 64 GB of RAM and 3 or 4 years ago went to the 2950x and another 64 GB of RAM. I'm down to 2-27" monitors now and might go to 30" since old age (54) is a bitch and I need reading glasses half the time.

I'm not sure what's going on, but I was just messing around seeing how far I could go with sampling rates. It does fine with DSD 256 and 768/32 PCM files. Right now I have Foobar2000 set to upsample everything to DSD 256, which is overkill, but I do like the sound of PCM upsampled to DSD. I'm not sure what it is exactly I like, but I assume it's the better impulse response of DSD, especially since my Dunlavy SC-Vs excel at that.

 

[kieko]

Just got this out of curiosity following the reviews here and at Goldensound, wasn't impressed by the sound but these are my measurements with Arta using the RME Adi-2 Pro, couldn't get anything better than this in jitter tests, I'm using a pure 12khz sine at 48:

Clocked by RME spdiof or toslink looks like this with minor differences

I played with the buffers, going to 44.1 (which should use a different clock), different usb ports for the usb test, and with the intona galvanic isolator and I get variations in the patterns but nothing substantial or any reduction in the huge widening under -120db

This is obviously all with ASIO, it's definitely the device, here's the control with the same setup, loopback of the ADI2:

ps. I also tried the usb-c connection, no change

 

[Janck O'Neill]

Hi everyone - I'm new here

I managed to find a used Z8 at a price I could afford, so I bought it. I’ve been following this thread for a long time and I think this is the perfect place for a technical question like this - I’d really appreciate some help.

I’ve been using a Hegel HD20 DAC for a few years. The HD20 is already well over a decade old. I connected the Hegel to my Windows PC using a long optical cable. I also have a 5-meter USB cable installed, but both the manufacturer and reviewers generally don’t recommend using USB on this DAC - the officially recommended input is coaxial 1. I can’t use shorter cables. Some time ago I saw a review of the SMSL PO100 and decided to try it. I connected the Hegel to the SMSL with a short coaxial cable, and the SMSL is connected to the PC with the long USB cable. Adding the SMSL gave surprisingly (!) good results.
Now I’ve bought the Z8, because I’ve liked it for a long time, and I thought that since it uses the same XMOS chip as the SMSL, I could just connect the Z8 directly via USB and it would be great - but unfortunately it isn’t. When connected directly over USB, the Z8 sounds similar to the Hegel without the SMSL, meaning… without getting into details, not great. Right now I once again have the SMSL connected to USB, and from there I run a short optical cable to the Z8 - and the result is similar to the Hegel setup: it sounds much better.
Why is this happening? What’s going on here?

 

[voodooless]

Why is this happening? What’s going on here?

Most likely it’s your biases playing mind games with you.

Long USB cables don’t degrade the digital signal in a way you describe: they either work, or they don’t. At best you get dropouts, or severe distortions.

 

[rozel]

USB generally better than Coaxial, certainly on the Z8 - a marvellous DAC

 

[Somafunk]

I’m using a £3 Amazon basics USB A to USB B cable from my iMac to my Eversolo Z8, sounds great to my ears.

 

[AdrianusG]

Hi everyone - I'm new here

I managed to find a used Z8 at a price I could afford, so I bought it. I’ve been following this thread for a long time and I think this is the perfect place for a technical question like this - I’d really appreciate some help.

I’ve been using a Hegel HD20 DAC for a few years. The HD20 is already well over a decade old. I connected the Hegel to my Windows PC using a long optical cable. I also have a 5-meter USB cable installed, but both the manufacturer and reviewers generally don’t recommend using USB on this DAC - the officially recommended input is coaxial 1. I can’t use shorter cables. Some time ago I saw a review of the SMSL PO100 and decided to try it. I connected the Hegel to the SMSL with a short coaxial cable, and the SMSL is connected to the PC with the long USB cable. Adding the SMSL gave surprisingly (!) good results.
Now I’ve bought the Z8, because I’ve liked it for a long time, and I thought that since it uses the same XMOS chip as the SMSL, I could just connect the Z8 directly via USB and it would be great - but unfortunately it isn’t. When connected directly over USB, the Z8 sounds similar to the Hegel without the SMSL, meaning… without getting into details, not great. Right now I once again have the SMSL connected to USB, and from there I run a short optical cable to the Z8 - and the result is similar to the Hegel setup: it sounds much better.
Why is this happening? What’s going on here?

Hi,

I have the Z8 as well,

setup: Laptop > Z8 By USB cable
CD player >Z8 by coax (using CD player as transport)
Mini-Disk recorder > Z8 with Optical cable
None of them gives me any problems soundwise!

I have the occasional hickup when playing files from my HD's , over USB > Z8,
but that has more to do with the Hard drives, and/or what other tasks the laptop is doing at the same time.

Like i said, none of the connections sound bad, in fact everything (so far) sounds great with this DAC, i have it almost 2 years.

 

[JeremyFife]

Hi everyone - I'm new here

I managed to find a used Z8 at a price I could afford, so I bought it. I’ve been following this thread for a long time and I think this is the perfect place for a technical question like this - I’d really appreciate some help.

I’ve been using a Hegel HD20 DAC for a few years. The HD20 is already well over a decade old. I connected the Hegel to my Windows PC using a long optical cable. I also have a 5-meter USB cable installed, but both the manufacturer and reviewers generally don’t recommend using USB on this DAC - the officially recommended input is coaxial 1. I can’t use shorter cables. Some time ago I saw a review of the SMSL PO100 and decided to try it. I connected the Hegel to the SMSL with a short coaxial cable, and the SMSL is connected to the PC with the long USB cable. Adding the SMSL gave surprisingly (!) good results.
Now I’ve bought the Z8, because I’ve liked it for a long time, and I thought that since it uses the same XMOS chip as the SMSL, I could just connect the Z8 directly via USB and it would be great - but unfortunately it isn’t. When connected directly over USB, the Z8 sounds similar to the Hegel without the SMSL, meaning… without getting into details, not great. Right now I once again have the SMSL connected to USB, and from there I run a short optical cable to the Z8 - and the result is similar to the Hegel setup: it sounds much better.
Why is this happening? What’s going on here?

Hi, and welcome
If you haven't already, it's worth looking around the site and reading some of the introductory articles and the recurring comments and themes that come up.
Consider what you are asking about: transfer of digital data (moving numbers around, not audio .. not until you get to DAC output). That doesn't have a sound. A USB => Optical adapter does not change the data, unless it's broken, so there is no impact. You get better ground isolation, but that only matters if you have ground noise, which is really obvious and you clearly don't.
The most likely, although unpalatable at first, explanation is expectation bias - we change something so we expect a difference so we hear a difference ... it's annoying, but true.

Connect your Z8 directly by USB and just listen to music for a week. After that time your brain will have adjusted and you'll be OK again.

It's worth thinking about what could, as you ask, be going on otherwise to make a difference. You will find that there are no credible explanations.

Welcome to ASR

 

[Janck O'Neill]

Most likely it’s your biases playing mind games with you.

Long USB cables don’t degrade the digital signal in a way you describe: they either work, or they don’t. At best you get dropouts, or severe distortions.

I don’t understand it either, which is why I decided to create an account on this forum and ask. The difference is not subtle - without the PO100 the sound feels a bit muffled, and the stereo image is worse.

I’m using a £3 Amazon basics USB A to USB B cable from my iMac to my Eversolo Z8, sounds great to my ears.

It’s not the cable quality that worries me, but its length. Five meters is supposedly the borderline length for USB -> DAC, so maybe the PO100, which is designed specifically for this purpose, compensates for some losses or interference. The cable is an old QED one.

Hi,

I have the Z8 as well,

setup: Laptop > Z8 By USB cable
CD player >Z8 by coax (using CD player as transport)
Mini-Disk recorder > Z8 with Optical cable
None of them gives me any problems soundwise!

I have the occasional hickup when playing files from my HD's , over USB > Z8,
but that has more to do with the Hard drives, and/or what other tasks the laptop is doing at the same time.

Like i said, none of the connections sound bad, in fact everything (so far) sounds great with this DAC, i have it almost 2 years.

I don’t really know what to say. If I could, I’d invite everyone over to do some testing together.

 

[JeremyFife]

OK, perhaps something really is going on. Can you record the output (direct from the z8, not a recording of the speaker output) with and without PO100? Share the recordings and more technical people here can take a look.

I'd still suggest just living with the Z8 and USB for a week and seeing if the issue goes away, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

 

[Janck O'Neill]

OK, perhaps something really is going on. Can you record the output (direct from the z8, not a recording of the speaker output) with and without PO100? Share the recordings and more technical people here can take a look.

I'd still suggest just living with the Z8 and USB for a week and seeing if the issue goes away, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Hello and thanks for the advice
I connected it directly via USB yesterday, and I will listen this way for about a week. Then I will hook it up through the PO100 again and see what the effect is. I was also planning to do another comparison with the Hegel, because I still haven’t decided whether I should keep the Z8 or the Hegel - I wanted to get properly used to the Z8 before making the final decision. The Hegel may be old, but it definitely has its strengths.
Unfortunately, I have no way to record it.

 

[Nutul]

Mini-Disk recorder > Z8 with Optical cable

what minidisk model have you got, for it to offer an optical out?

 

[AdrianusG]

what minidisk model have you got, for it to offer an optical out?

This one,

Sony MDS-JB730

Sony MDS-JB730 High end MiniDisc deck. Has same mechanism as MDS-JE520 (MDM-5D). ---------- Content adapted from: MiniDisc.org page, service manual Manuals [ Sony MDS-JB730 User Manual ENG FR] [ Sony MDS-JB730 Service manual] Repair Photos Submit your own! Edit...

www.minidisc.wiki

Bought somewhere 2000-2001, don't remember exactly when,
but it still works flawless with recording as well as playback.

 

[Somafunk]

It’s not the cable quality that worries me, but its length. Five meters is supposedly the borderline length for USB -> DAC, so maybe the PO100, which is designed specifically for this purpose, compensates for some losses or interference. The cable is an old QED one.

Ah ok, fwiw my Amazon basics cable is 3m and coiled up with a Velcro tie sitting on top of my Tacima power strip and XLR cables (on cable tidy racks under desk), I should really spend big in the Black Friday sales as I could get away with a 50cm cable as my Z8 sits below my iMac