Eversolo DMP A-6 formidable as a streamer - as a DAC a looser

Hi Folks,

Last week I received my Eversolo DMP-A6. Highly hyped in many reviews, my expectations were high. As a streamer, the Eversolo is fantastic and does not disappoint me. But as a DAC, the device is a disaster and the praises are absolutely not understandable. My simple little Fiio K10 does the job better. The DAC in the Eversolo is no comparison at all to my RME ADI-2 DAC FS. There are worlds in between. Resolution, detail, stage, transients, mids, bass punch, harmony - all flat and tired with the Eversolo. An explosion of emotions with the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. I will use the Eversolo DMP-A6 as a streamer only. As a DAC, it is not state of the art.

My Chain: Eversolo DMP A-6 == SPDIF to RME ADI-2 DAC FS == RCA out == Aktive Speakers Dali

or

RME ADI-2 DAC FS == Phone out 6,3 mm == Hifiman Edition XS

or

RME ADI-2 DAC FS == XLR out == Headphone Amp. SMSL SP 200 == Hifiman Edition XS fully balanced.

Regards,

Mister L

 

I don’t agree about the performance of the DAC, I really like it, but I am quite excited about trying the A6 as a streamer only over USB to my Aqua La Scala.

 

I am 100% with you on this. The DAC part of is mediocre at best. It fails to bring warmth to violins, guitars, acoustic bass, vocals are thin for both female and male. I hope Eversolo corrects it in their software sooner than later.

 

Hi I can’t understand how you can say that the Dac is bad it’s neutral at the most and forward it’s worth the price and som more (ok very one to its own taste) and depends what sort of speakers you have

 

Don’t agree @Rolf Quander and @Mister L
@Mister L - to describe the two DACs as «disaster» and «explosion of emotions» is, well, interesting.
@Rolf Quander - I see where you are coming from, but to ask the DMP-A6 to sound warm and fuller would be to ask it to not reproduce the signal truthfully. I too like a warmer and more forgiving sound, but that is my personal taste, not a transparent sound.

I’ve heard the RME in my own system, and I believe that it has the same type of sound as the DMP-A6.

Regards, RoDa

Edit: I have the Master Edition DMP-A6. Don’t know how big the difference is from the standard. My bad.

 

The DAC is transparent, full stop.

 

What nonsense. The DAC is measurably transparent. If you can hear a difference from your current DAC, it’s because your current kit is adding colouration and/or noise/distortion that your ears have become used to.

 

I have the RME ADI2 FS and the Eversolo DMP-A6, and with my ears the DMP-A6 is definitely better as a DAC, so different people have different systems and hear things differently, nothing new there. The RME DAC is very good and holding it's own after many years, I like it a lot, but the DMP-A6 to my ears is just a bit more refined. My RME DAC is the original AK chip version, but I have upgraded the power supply to an MCRU supply.

 

I don't like the title of the post as it is suggests a value. Having (strong) personal preferences is never a problem. We all have them.
So you can say "don't like the DAC at all" but not as it is put down here.

But hey it is your post and you may put down here pretty much all as you like.

 

People just don’t use “in my humble opinion” anymore when they know they’re not stating facts. I don’t think they were just in a hury as they can just simply type “IMHO” or “IMO”.

Putting “looser” (at least spell it right) in the title is suspicious, I hope they’re not working for a competitor lol.

 

Well, wasn't it nice of the folks at Eversolo to include not just 1, or 2, or 3, but 4 digital output methods, so nearly everyone, no matter what kind of connection (damned them to hell for not including digital XLR ), can use a super-duper external DAC instead of the built in one that sounds like mud duds.

 

@Mister L,

Please buy and test drive the nearly 3x more expensive $2600 Rose streamer and let us know what you think. At present, its the only other streamer I'm interested in.

Thanks. Bonzo.

 

Being a big Led Zeppelin fan, I would have preferred the pronunciation spelling of LOOZER. Can't go wrong with that.

Edit: Unfortunately this forum deletes smiley faces when you make a post, so sarcasm may not translate well. My reply to you had a wink, a smile, and a laughing face after it.

 

@Rolf Quander and @Mister L
Have you considered that the A6 is more capable than your other DAC's and that its performance exposes issues further downstream that the others might not excite?

 

DMP A6 measures very good and transparent actually, just a notch below state of the art DACs.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/eversolo-dmp-a6-streamer-review.44198/

Sometimes people are used to distortion and/or coloration on their systems.

Even if you use A6 with an external DAC, you cannot beat its value for the price.

 

I myself have a Z8 dac, and in terms of hardware it is really nice, and in terms of sound, I really have nothing to complain about, really nice and firm bass, and the midrange is also really nice and well resolved, and the treble is also really soft and without unpleasant sharpness

But there is a big problem, and that is that Eversolo does not supply the correct Windows driver (Thesycon) with it, nor can it be downloaded from their website, this means that DSD512 cannot be played and that latency cannot be set , which actually has a fairly large impact on the sound quality...

 

See my post on the Z6 / Z8 driver-related thread...
http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/eversolo-z6-z8-native-dsd-support.95814/

 

Not many places where this comparison is described so I'm bumping this thread as I believe it could be of use to potential owners.

I spent some time yesterday to A/B both as atm I have them both at home. I've been using the ADI2 for about a year now and just got the A6 ME this weekend.
I tested with several different songs going back and forth many times and adjusting the volume of both devices to be the same so that won't mess up with the impression.

Conclusion: The ADI2 is happily going away for me. Not that I don't like it as a device as I haven't had any issues with it but I prefer as little devices as possible and of course I want to cover the cost of the A6ME a bit.

Details:
The findings were the same for all the content I played (streaming from Tidal) so I am fairly confident about it.

The vocals on A6 are more clear and defined, it is fairly easy to hear that on the ADI2 these are a bit "rounded" like and edge which has been cut and then the edge was a little polished with some sandpaper, while on the A6 these are clean and more distinct. You may like the ADI2 version but I personally prefer the A6 as it gives this sense of super cleanliness.

I specifically compared piano notes and the difference was quite substantial. On the A6 these were extremely clean and distinct where on the ADI2 - "rounded" and coming as if under a thin cloth.

The lows were a little more defined as well with a little more punch and body on the A6 but not so much different as the other two points above.

I've read this from other reviewers for the A6 about this almost holographic sound image that they observed and while I'm not quite sure what they describe, I think I also heard something which I could describe in the same way and I liked it.

I'll be doing some additional tests this week and will try and post an update if something new comes up.

 

How did you level match, I presume the comparison was sighted?
Keith

 

I used a DB meter and adjusted the level on the ADI2 until the same song produces the same levels on the meter. The A6 is on the fixed level so the ADI2 was set to -2.5 on its scale to match.
Sighted yes but going back and forth many times on the same song and the same passage to be sure that I hear the same thing and its not just my desire to justify the new device.
Then repeating the same on other type of song listening for different details.

Will do this several other times and will update if things change.