D&A Alpha Pro Review

In this review, I’m taking the D&A Alpha Pro desktop DAC/AMP for a spin. The unit costs $699 USD.

Disclaimer: Neither D&A nor Shenzhen Audio is related to Headfonia. They sent me the Alpha Pro to be featured and reviewed on Headfonia.com.

D&A

The audio brand D&A was founded in 2024, but it only appeared to the wider public in 2025. Not much is known about the company other than that its enigmatic name stands for “DIGI&AESTH”. It’s said in their PR copy that they specialize in high-end audio equipment, particularly in digital-to-analog converters.

As the second half of the brand name implies, D&A pays special attention to the appearance of its equipment, and its core philosophy is “Future Design,” which “harmoniously fuses modernist aesthetics with vintage elements”. This is evident in their first product, which stands out from the usual anodized aluminum bunch I’m used to seeing from Topping and SMSL.

D&A Alpha Pro

On paper, the D&A Alpha Pro doesn’t stand out much from the usual measurement-centric designs I’m used to seeing from the usual Chinese audio electronics brands we know and love. After actually seeing the unit in the marketing materials, I was surprised that D&A have actually made the Alpha Pro stand out in terms of looks.

The Alpha Pro also does a couple of interesting things under the hood. While the DAC itself is an ES9039MS Pro single-chip affair with quite well-performing, if a little pedestrian, OPA1612 outputs, the clocking system has been improved. D&A claim that a second PLL circuit is used to clean up the inputs of any jitter. Galvanic isolation is absent, but it’s not often we get it at this price point.

When it comes to powering the thing, D&A have gone with the trusted dual SMPSU modules, which provide working voltages that then get regulated down to what’s needed by the digital and analog circuits. The cherry on the power supply cake is the fact that there’s at least one discrete linear supply, which is usually reserved for much higher-tier units.

Judging by the absence of a remote and display, the Alpha Pro is meant for desktops. It can be used as a standalone all-in-one or even a dedicated DAC and analog pre-amp. The DAC volume control is left alone in favor of analog attenuation. A NJU73215 chip uses a precision resistor array to turn the volume down and is controlled by a real potentiometer for that buttery knob-feel.

The D&A Alpha Pro is sold by Shenzhen Audio and Apos for $699 USD.

Features

• DAC – ES9039MS Pro, OPA1612 outputs
• Amplifier – discrete class-AB, 4-channel balanced
• Volume control – NJU72315 chip-based
• Inputs: Bluetooth 5.1, USB-C, Toslink, SPDIF, RCA
• Outputs: 4-pin XLR, 4.4mm, 3.5mm SE, RCA, and XLR for line-out
• Bluetooth codecs: aptX Adaptive, aptX, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC, SBC
• PCM data rate: up to 32-bit 768 kHz
• DSD data rate: up to Native DSD512
• SNR: XLR -133dBA (nearly immeasurable), RCA – 128dB, HP out – 125dB.
• THD+N: XLR -0.00006% (nearly immeasurable), RCA – 0.00007%, HP out – 0.0001%
• Max output power: 4W@16ohms, 6W@32ohms, 1.4W@150ohms, 700mW@300ohms, 350mW@600ohms
• Line-out voltage: XLR – 5.2Vrms, RCA – 2.5Vrms
• Output impedance: near 0Ω headphone-out; 100Ω line-out
• Power draw: <50W
• Dimensions: 225 x 199 x 55mm
• Weight: 1.76kg

Design, Build & Haptics

Even before turning the Alpha Pro on, the first thing that came to mind was that I’ve seen this design language somewhere before. Raw aluminium, glass, bright LEDs – that’s right, the Nothing Phone! I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but the inspiration seems quite clear to me.

Upon turning the Alpha Pro on, it lights up like a Christmas tree with LEDs galore. There’s the usual like indicator lights for power, gain level, output, and input. The volume knob also has a ring LED around it which indicates the current volume level. It also has an opaque white plastic line that shows the volume position without the lights on.

It’s helpful because the volume control uses a potentiometer instead of an encoder.

The LED scheme has three modes that can be toggled by short-pressing the power button. First, there’s the grumpy old man mode, which only keeps the bare minimum lit – indicators and the volume knob, once you turn it. I’ll admit that it’s the one I kept to for most of my listening.

Pressing the power button toggles a “breathing” LED mode where they gradually change their brightness. It’s a fun gimmick, but I could really tell the lower brightness has quite noticeable PWM flicker. The next mode has the most potential as it makes the bar LEDs light up like VU meters depending on how loud the signal is.

Sadly, it doesn’t work too well as the input is too sensitive, so they stay at max for most of the time.

The last LED mode is just everything on with no flickering. At first, it wowed me, and I thought that some gamers might appreciate it, but with time, it proved to be too distracting. There’s no way to change LED brightness, so they’re at full blast all the time. If you’re one of the people who put tape on the indicator LEDs, this is not a product for you.

In everyday use, the Alpha Pro is quite neat as it doesn’t rely on a display to show the relevant info. Sure, it’s more limited as you can’t toggle through a dozen output filter options, but I always prefer buttons to endless menus. One thing, you need to memorize the indicator positions because the LEDs are so bright, it’s quite hard to make out the label that’s next to them, even during the day.

All of the buttons are nice to use and have a reassuring click once pressed. The volume control is a pleasant surprise in the age of encoders. It uses a proper potentiometer to change the volume, which in turn controls a dedicated chip-based attenuator. All of the connectors are good quality, even if the XLRs are made by Zwee instead of Neutrik.

As always, I have to complain that the SPDIF input is using RCA instead of BNC

The part on sound continues on the second page. Use the jumps below to go there.