Today we will review the Eversolo DMP-A8 streaming DAC . It is their current flagship streamer, selling for $1,980 USD.
Disclaimer: Eversolo supplied the DMP-A8 at no cost for this review and our honest opinion. Eversolo and Headfonia are in no way related to each other.
Eversolo
Eversolo is a Chinese company that produces a range of different high-fidelity products. They make streamers, digital to analog converters, DAC dongles for phones and a power amplifier. So quite a wide range of products.
I am always very curious when people speak about streamers, that just gets my attention. Having tinkered with Raspberry Pi’s and Intel Nucs to build myself Roon ROCK servers and Roon endpoints over the last couple of years.
The only thing Eversolo has on their website’s About Us section is:
Eversolo Audio Technology Co. Ltd (Eversolo Audio) is invested by Zidoo Technology Co. Ltd. The core founding team members have engaged in the development and management among HiFi industry for many years. The R&D team covers audio decoding, analog audio, acoustic tuning, amplifiers, system integration, user experience and so on. The main business includes audio playback devices, HiFi DAC and amplifiers etc.
Eversolo is the registered trademark of Eversolo Audio. Late last year we reviewed their DMP-A6 streamer, and it left us so convinced, that it won that year’s Best Streamer award.
Today we will give the A6’s big sibling a full review treatment – the DMP-A8!
DMP-A8
The DMP-A8 is Eversolo’s flagship streaming DAC at the time of writing.
In my DPM-A6 review I wrote that its spec sheet reads like the Who is Who of streaming specs. And of course Eversolo hasn’t changed that in the A8. The DMP-A8 supports all the important streaming services (Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz, Amazon, Deezer, Soundcloud,…) as well as full blown Roon Ready support. That last part is the most important feature in my books when it comes to streaming.
Of course the DMP-A8 also supports protocols like UPnP and DLNA, as well as Airplay. So it will easily find your network attached storage (NAS). It can also serve as a NAS or DLNA endpoint as well. Meaning, that you could for example use Foobar and stream to the DMP-A8 over the network.
The DMP-A8 comes with 64GB of internal memory as well as 4GB DDR4 RAM. You can easily add more storage to it with an external HDD or an internal M2 SSD. Just like we have seen on the DMP-A6, and still one of the biggest benefits. You can install SSD’s up to 4TB.
Let’s take a quick look at the DMP’s technical information. It uses a combination of two AKM DAC chips – the AK4499EX and the AK4191EQ. The A8 supports PCM files up to 32/768 and DSD up to DSD512. Though there hardly is any DSD files (I know of) in the wild in that rate, it’s still remarkable to support such high files.
The DMP-A8 has a multitude of digital in- and outputs. On the back of the unit you will find USB inputs for harddrives and to be used as DAC. The Eversolo two coaxial and two optical inputs, as well as Bluetooth input. Then there’s also an HDMI ARC input, which can be used with TV’s that support the same output. This again is a sign of how future proof the DMP-A8 is. Though my TV doesn’t have that output, I am still excited to see DACs feature it as I am sure, we will need it in the not-so-distant future.
Of course the DMP-A8 also has network input. Ethernet and WiFi are both found on the unit. I did connect my DMP with Ethernet to the web. The last inputs on the back are analogue RCA and XLR, so you can use the DMP-A8 as a pre-amplifier as well.
When we look at outputs, the most obvious ones are RCA and XLR analogue outputs, but there are a couple of digital outputs as well, meaning you could use the Eversolo as a digital transport as well.
The DMP-A8 has USB, Coaxial, optical and HDMI I²S output. The Eversolo supports Spotify and Tidal Connect, which is a big plus for me. I’m personally using Tidal Connect most of the times, but my fiancée is a Spotify head, though she admits Tidal sounds better.
Something that really caught my eye on the Eversolo, or better yet, in the Eversolo, is its resistor ladder amplification stage. Nowadays we often see R2R DAC setups, but Eversolo opted to use it as their amp stage, which is very nice! This all is just a very brief overview of what the DMP-A8 packs, and I suggest, that you check out the detailed product info on their website.
The Eversolo DMP-A8 can be bought for $1,980 USD/EUR from your local HiFi dealer.
The review continues on page two! Click here or use the jumps below
Page 1: Intro, Eversolo, Eversolo DMP-A8
Page 2: Package & Build Quality, Usability, Sound
Page 3: Comparisons, Conclusion, Summary
