The player is overdriving the amplifier

Hello p.Pawlicki, sorry to hear about your problem or problems, I very briefly glanced or took a very quick look overall in it’s entirety, at this point from what I can gather, it may seem or perhaps be advisable to take the unit in question of this particular problem in view, and perhaps have the entire unit checked out and evaluate just to give the benefit of the doubt as to where this problem may be originating and causing you much dissatisfaction with distortion and overall excessive gain output levels in which appear to be causing you a basic problem on a hole or in its entirety, At this particular point in time, unless I overlooked something or perhaps was not giving it my undivided attention. This would most likely seem the best Choice to pursue at this present time. Especially since you had followed all directives and information that were given to yourself and as far as rectifying this problem, I believe in my own personal opinion this may be your best choice at this time , Just like everything else, the answer or answers are absolutely there sometime the problem being is actually locating them, myself included I never actually encountered , This type of problem in particular, unless a user has journeyed into the settings and increased the Eversolo’s gain output in DB had been increased quite substantially so to speak naturally in your particular case I would assume I may be just guessing I don’t know , however I wish you the best of luck now or in the foreseeable future,

Please have an enjoyable week. Again, best of luck

 

Hi Al, I know naturally I always state the following. It is always a pleasure whenever I see or come across your post,
But however, in this particular situation, as you have stated, I certainly agree with yourself. I have never heard anyone or physically encountered
in regards to any Eversolo unit that there was excessive or too much gain, , but I do not want to start addressing that issue again I believe
You would absolutely know what I’m speaking of, that was a very good and excellent idea with a good quick fix of resistive loading
I do not know what you professionally think and evaluation that I am really, not a fan of certain types of resistive loading after the fact
Not unless this is being used or done intentionally with a high grade passive gold point or Hattor fully passive units of professional quality
Certainly in specific situations and absolutely depending on the rest of your audio devices. This indeed may work out quite well, but that was an excellent
Very fast and easy solution that you had mentioned, being as descriptive as possible it would seem to appear to myself. At least there is
or most certainly seems to be some type of your regularity or problem perhaps within the unit itself, seems somewhat rare, but I believe it’s
Safe to say it sounds like this distorted high output gain problem absolutely just may be possible, as always. thank you for post and thoughts,

I remain respectfully yours. Please have a nice week. Enjoy the music

 

Hi just a thought naturally I am unaware if you have or have access to another AMPLIFIER, in determination,
of perhaps there may be the Same association in regards to your above posted problem, ?

 

IMHO it would have sufficed if your amp offered input gain adjustment.
Output level adjustment is just the same, in the end. It is just theoretically less-clean as an approach. But it leads to the very same result.
No need to refactor. TBH, any, ANY power amp SHOULD have an input gain adjustment. But that's me...

Moreover, if you deal with 32bit float samples, then the lowering of output level is DEFINITELY lossless; no worries.

 

Nutul, I fully and absolutely understand and totally as here to what you are addressing however I have approximately Now as of this date, 4 , entirely different amplifiers only not integrated just amplifiers, both tubes and solid state not one of them have or incorporate an input gain level as another fact also have no adjustment for output gain level whatever goes in goes in as amplified and then comes out according to specification now , keep in mind I do not know what this particular gentleman is using in his audio system other than audio lab with a model number with supposedly input gain adjustment. , all I was simply recommending is if he had access to another AMPLIFIER, I am not in question of what type of AMPLIFIER I don’t care if it’s solid state single end, triode , ultra linear Ss, or whatever he may have access to or be able to use, now at that given point if he can borrow one or perhaps has another AMPLIFIER not in use, let’s try something,

Let’s take the Eversolo and hook it up to a completely different AMPLIFIER and now let us see from this point forward if you are still encountering the same problem as such., speaking in my part of the world I have came across a few amplifiers that did incorporate adjustable input and output gain, however, on very rare occasion. also I would not exactly consider an amplifier that incorporates input gain level adjustability to an amplifier that uses our incorporates only output gain or volume level. There is an absolute association, but again it is not as easily summed up as such they are both incorporated for different reasons I’m sure you’re aware I’m not being condescending but the way your audio sources were amplifiers are available overseas in this particular area if this is common, that is wonderful, but it is very rarely seen and High End Audio here however, I am not saying it doesn’t exist. I’m just saying, therefore, in a very few and far in between. I must admit I am not fully aware or abreast of this particular gentleman situation but from what I can gather,

I believe it is not the AMPLIFIER although I could be absolutely wrong as I am not there in person to evaluate all we are basically doing here is just making radio contact for lack a better terminology. There’s a world of difference when something is actually in front of you to what you’re speaking on.in comparison to actual view in actually being present, however, in actuality, I’m most certainly an absolutely would have been delighted if some of these High End Audio manufacturers indeed incorporate at least level gain input adjustments, as this particular feature absolutely would have been very useful, countless times,

But I must say I have never heard too many complaints from most High End Audio users in my own personal area but yes, no problems. All is well. However, I have noted a few individuals adding this feature on themselves at a later date., Through use of a few High End Audio manufactures Of precision attenuator controls, but again on very rare occasion, SORRY I forgot the McIntosh & old Accuphase P-300 they both have L & R output Controls or gain output knobs , using on Sub’s only, that I rarely activate or use subs but they can be extremely useful and valuable. I do absolutely agree with most of your above statement. sorry about that !

but enjoy the music everyone please have a wonderful week

 

A few facts. The Audiolab amplifier in question has a line in sensitivity of 100mV according to the manufacturer's specification. IOW the input signal level to the line input would have to be at least 100mV to drive the Audiolab amplifier to full power with its volume control wound up to maximum. No overload level is stated.

The odB reference output of the DMP-A6 from the unbalanced RCA outputs is 2.6V RMS (2600mV) according to eversolo's specifications.
Let's do the calculation. That's approximately 28.3dB more drive level than is actually needed to drive the amplifier to full power with its volume control all the way up.
Now it's entirely possible that this may be overloading the pre-amplifier stage of the Audiolab amplifier, so no matter what @P.Pawlicki has the volume control set to on the Audiolab it could have a distorted sound.
The fact it's common to both channels gives me the impression it's not likely to be a fault in the Audiolab amplifier, rather it would appear its line input is possibly getting overloaded.

As has been suggested by others, one technique to lower the output level would be to set the DMP-A6 output to variable rather than fixed and lower the setting to say -10dB or even as much as -15dB to see if this improves things.
The other point which seems to be a bit unclear (at least to me) is this problem evident when playing files (say stored elsewhere like from an internal SSD [if fitted], external drive attached to the OTG USB port or via the network say from a NAS) other than from the TIDAL app which seems to be the main source of complaint?

I would try this out on my DMP-A6 but I'm not a TIDAL user.

 

Believe me, the Audiolab 9000A can handle high input levels. The problem is the same if I connect it directly to the digital connection with the player (OPT, USB), so it's not an output signal level issue. I wouldn't blame the amplifier, because for testing, I connected another (amateur) amplifier to the RCA audio port—the same thing.
As you rightly mentioned, the distortion only occurs with the built-in player from the streaming section (CD, InternetRadio, TIDAL).
The DAC's signal level indicators are practically at maximum (up to the -1 dB cutoff). This happens during every stream. I feel like they're constantly at this level, without moving into the lower reaches.


Spotify playback is from the APP section, and everything is fine there; the sound is very clear. Therefore, I think it's worth repairing and keeping this player. Also, an external TV source connected to the player's optical IN, an XLR amplifier – and everything is fine there too. The sound is clear.

 

I don't want to post any videos here to avoid copyright infringement, but you'll have to take my word for it. Music from TIDAL, CDs, and local FLAC files sounds terribly distorted and overdriven. I don't have the equalizer turned on, because when I do, it gets even worse. I can adjust the amplifier's analog input sensitivity from -6 to 0 dB, but why bother when the optical output is the same?

 

Hi P.Pawlicki, I can absolutely understand within my personal opinion as you have gave or giving a very detailed And extremely accurate description in regards to what exactly is transpiring here, at this particular time I strongly believe and suggest that the Eversolo unit is absolutely in need of some type of service or perhaps replacement in order to rectify this particular problem I definitely do not believe it is the fault of your amplifier,

unfortunately all types of problems and Dysfunctions can be present, in the very best equipment from time to time, although somewhat rare it certainly does occur occasionally , there are many numerous mishaps that could have occurred either at the factory or perhaps during transit, the list of culprits would be far too lengthy to even imagine, I am sincerely sorry to hear that. I know you are very anxious to get your audio system up and running and functioning properly,

however, unfortunately again in my personal opinion, I do absolutely without question believe that unit needs to be totally checked out or perhaps replaced, as I am unaware how long you have had the Eversolo in your possession , in my honest opinion, it definitely appears to me again from an electrical standing point of view. There is a malfunction somewhere within the unit

*Please note this is my personal opinion. I may be wrong, but I don’t think so from your most accurate assessment and description, I myself have waited Weeks/ Months for a simple replacement part, speaking on the past , I am not insinuating. This is the case, but it happens.,

please have an enjoyable day

 

Hi @P.Pawlicki Thanks for clarifying the situation with your player as it appears it has developed an internal fault as the problem exists on more than one output and is the same for all playback sources (streaming, CD and flac files).
I assume your DMP-A6 is a recent acquisition? So unless it was purchased over 2 years ago it should still be covered by the EU 2 year warranty. I would therefore suggest getting it repaired. I don't know who does the warranty work for eversolo in Poland but reach out to eversolo support for a local servicing centre location.