Eversolo DMP A6 or A8 ?

[RCHeliGuy]

Has anyone looked at the Eversolo DMP A6, A6 Master or the new A8 ?

They have an M.2 slot where I could put a 4Tb drive with all my high resolution music tracks so I could eliminate my current music server.
It can stream from Tidal, Spotify and pretty much anything else.
It has a DAC that can handle 24/768 kHz music
It has a balanced Pre-amp section.
You can even plug an external CD drive to rip music.

On top of that it has an Android and Apple Interface to drive it from your phone or tablet in addition to having a volume knob and a 6" display.

The A8 is about $2,000 and looks like a larger version of the A6 Master $1300 but also includes arc hdmi and many upgrades.
The A6 Master has a bunch of upgrades over the base A6.
The lowest cost A6 is $860.

Seems like a lot of good stuff in a single package. I don't have a TV that supports arc hdmi yet.

FYI, I tried the Emotiva DMC-3 DAC preamp and sent it back. I figured a "matching" Emotiva preamp should work better with my amp, but my Oppo 105D worked much better for me in quite a few surprising way. Enough so that I think I may have even had a bad unit, but with a 30 day return policy I just sent it back. It had one extremely irritating really stupid issue in that the volume control was abysmally slow and had me wanting a volume knob in the worst way. In the end that alone kept me from even bothering to debug or get a replacement. But overall it just didn't seem to work well with my amp and required way too much volume to get to decent listening levels.

https://www.eversolo.com/Product/index/model/DMP-A8/target/uXoirEESmeVKKmVViAFMcQ==.html
https://dreamediaav.com/products/eversolo-dmp-a8?variant=43472189751481&currency=USD

 

[RCHeliGuy]

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Despite a 15% restock fee if I don't like it, I ordered an A8.

The above review is frankly a bit out there. If I like it, I'll buy a 4Tb M.2 drive to put all my high res files on and use it as a music server, streamer, DAC, preamp.

I like the form factor, the UI and display, connectivity and features. Fingers crossed I'll like it.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Got the 4Tb M.2 drive and docking station, and I'm transferring my entire music library to it. Hopefully the A8 will arrive in the near future.

My computer is a dust bunny refuge.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Geeze, the hype parade on YouTube....

Mine arrives tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I like it.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I'm really enjoying this! Very happy with how it sounds.
And the feature list is just amazing. It not only takes an M.2 Drive internally, but you can plug in any external USB drive as well.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

This was an experiment for me. The DAC on this box is credited as feeling more analog and warmer than the ESS DAC I've been using.

Usually I consider that'll kind of talk about a DAC a bit off, but ML's are revealing speakers and there were some tracks that sounded harsh and were unplayable to my ears before that sound good with the new DAC.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

The experience I've had with the DMP-A8 so far.

It was very well packaged. The remote didn't come with the 2xAAA batteries it needed.

It has a strong 5Ghz network connection. The first thing I did was allow it to upgrade its software which involved a download and 2 reboots.

It indexed the 4Tb M.2 music drive I put in it very quickly. It said it recognized a new device and then let me add the library.
It also could immediately access any external USB drive I plugged in.

For phone connectivity, it shows a QR Code to download the software and another QR code to connect with the device.
It needed WiFi connected for this to work.
The Android software allows full control just like being on the front panel.

The volume adjustment defaults to .5dB per click, and is configurable.
It has a remote with volume control buttons, the phone app has volume control and it has a physical knob.
It triggers my amp properly when it turns on.

It plays tracks smoothly with no background noise even at very high volume.

I logged into my Spotify account with it and it worked from their perfectly well. I pointed the Spotify music area for saved tracks to the internal 4Tb drive.

I did some A/B between FLAC and Spotify tracks and Spotify is still are not streaming at a high enough bitrate that differences could not be heard, but Spotify sounded better than it did coming from my previous device.

The music software is very comparable to the JRiver Music server software I used to enjoy, and I'm finding navigation through my library easy already.

It also has file transfer capability, so I can plug in an external USB drive and move music to the internal drive.
It also has the ability to rip CD's which I haven't tried yet. It supports any USB CD player.

I'm running Balanced XLR cables to my amp at 4.2V and the volume and dynamics sound very good.

I'm actually surprised at how different the sound is coming from this device. Completely shocked is more accurate.

I connected my OPPO 105D analog output to it and played a BD through it there was a slight audio lag, so I adjusted the latency in the OPPO audio output setup to -50ms and then the mouth movements synced up well with the sound.

I am mostly surprised at how much harsher my OPPO 105D DAC sounds in comparison. There are some songs that sounded good below a certain volume, that have no limitations now and others that were unplayable that sound perfectly fine.

I was EXTREMELY curious when people said that this device sounded more analog or warmer than the ESS Saber DAC's, but they were absolutely correct. It's not a subtle thing either. Everything sounds better!

 

[Robert D]

What service you use for your songs is important too. I really like Tidal because they have just about everything I want in either MQA or FLAC.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

What service you use for your songs is important too. I really like Tidal because they have just about everything I want in either MQA or FLAC.

For the moment I'm using Spotify for most streaming. However, I've got about ~8,000 FLAC files at 16x44kHz to 24-96kHz.

I may try Tidal out. I've never had an MQA compatible device before.

I think I'll give it a go. My wife loves Spotify, but it looks like Tidal actually has more content, pays the artists better and of course has higher bit rates.

Just setup the Spotify to Very High which = 320 kbps compression and set it to save local files at Very High as well. Also turned off auto bandwidth adjustment to make sure it stays at 320kbps. That's a pretty acceptable bitrate and it becomes harder to tell the uncompressed files apart.

 

[Robert D]

For the moment I'm using Spotify for most streaming. However, I've got about ~8,000 FLAC files at 16x44kHz to 24-96kHz.

I may try Tidal out. I've never had an MQA compatible device before.

I think I'll give it a go. My wife loves Spotify, but it looks like Tidal actually has more content, pays the artists better and of course has higher bit rates.

Just setup the Spotify to Very High which = 320 kbps compression and set it to save local files at Very High as well. Also turned off auto bandwidth adjustment to make sure it stays at 320kbps. That's a pretty acceptable bitrate and it becomes harder to tell the uncompressed files apart.

Some of the MQA files are brilliant, some not. I usually play MQA 1st and then try FLAC. Usually the MQA sounds better to me, but not always.
Tidal is cool because at the end of the month it will give me the stats on what music I was listening to, and it creates a Playlist too. Some of the playlists introduced me to some great artists I wasn't even aware of. Tidal creates the list using different artists from the sane genre.

 

[Robert D]

Not long ago this came to my Lumin player. I can hear a noticeable improvement in sound quality with the Max files on Tidal. Seems as good or better than MQA.I don't know the difference between how they are created.

Just found this, it explains well what Max is.

 

[Fidji99]

Qobuz is the right answer, if you choose between Tidal and Spotify.
But lately I got completely sucked into Dolby Atmos music, so Apple music is my latest go to streaming service.

BTW - I think best algorithm for music recommendations is on Spotify. I usually listen to it in the car, then copy to Qobuz …. In the past I was just not able to convince tidal, that I am REALLY not interested to hear latest in hip hop and r&b. And man, have I tried hard - alternating DimmuBorgir and Bathory .

 

[Robert D]

Qobuz is the right answer, if you choose between Tidal and Spotify.
But lately I got completely sucked into Dolby Atmos music, so Apple music is my latest go to streaming service.

BTW - I think best algorithm for music recommendations is on Spotify. I usually listen to it in the car, then copy to Qobuz …. In the past I was just not able to convince tidal, that I am REALLY not interested to hear latest in hip hop and r&b. And man, have I tried hard - alternating DimmuBorgir and Bathory .

That's weird. I listen to mostly rock, jazz, blues, and heavy metal. I never got any hip hop recommendations in Tidal.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I am having to recreate playlists on my music server which I've done a few times now using different server software etc..

It does make me think that playlists created on streaming services may actually have more permanence, and allow you to replace whatever equipment you want on your end and then just log in and use your existing playlists.

I just realized something I find funny. I docked an iPod to my car when I first purchased it new 12 years ago AND I haven't updated the music on it in probably 10 years... I've also had XM all those 12 years, but whenever I buy a new car, there will be some changes

 

[Robert D]

I am having to recreate playlists on my music server which I've done a few times now using different server software etc..

It does make me think that playlists created on streaming services may actually have more permanence, and allow you to replace whatever equipment you want on your end and then just log in and use your existing playlists.

I just realized something I find funny. I docked an iPod to my car when I first purchased it new 12 years ago AND I haven't updated the music on it in probably 10 years... I've also had XM all those 12 years, but whenever I buy a new car, there will be some changes

I keep it simple in my car and just listen to music that I have on a thumb drive. I could also stream from Apple or Tidal, but prefer to use the drive.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Interesting that I can get an EQ sweep of my room and and correct for it, if I wanted to tweak anything. I'm running it straight through right now with no DSP manipulation. I also realize that EQ can cause issues too.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I may have lost a tiny bit of 3D spatial imaging...

Then again I have a Christmas tree in the corner of the room and my speakers are off centered which might have something to do with this.

 

[Robert D]

I may have lost a tiny bit of 3D spatial imaging...

Then again I have a Christmas tree in the corner of the room and my speakers are off centered which might have something to do with this.

Did you try adjusting the toe-in? Sometimes just a small change there makes a big difference. The tree in my family room affected mine a bit.

 

[sleepysurf]

The A8 has piqued my curiosity, as it could theoretically replace my Squeezebox Touch, Bel Canto DAC, and C-J preamp as a one-box solution! However, as a "Chi-Fi" product, long term reliability and support could be an issue. A key selling point, for me, would be Squeezebox compatibility, which the Eversolo team is reportedly already beta testing (by implementing Squeezelite software into their OS, as Wiim has likewise done). That would allow me to continue using LMS (Logitech Music Server) apps to control my 7 Squeezebox devices, as well as the A8.

RCHeliGuy, a couple questions...

• Prior to getting the A8, were you using a preamp into your Emotiva amp? If so, how does the A8 analog output compare?
• Does it have Home Theater Bypass capability (the manual doesn't say if the analog input can be programmed for no volume gain).