Eversolo DMP-A8

Pros:

     Excellent Interface

     Excellent Sound Quality, Space, and Detail

     The App Rocks

Mediocre:

     Size and Weight

Bull:

     No Volume Normalization Setting In Tidal

Up for review today is the Eversolo DMP-A8 Swiss-Army Knife Streamer/DAP/DAC/Pre-Amp system. I got mine from Headphones.com with my own money and I am not sponsored or compensated in any way for this review – MSRP is a little under $2k. It comes with just about everything except for a headphone amp, though some lower-end models from Eversolo do include headphone output ports. Eversolo is a relatively new entry to the audio market and their Z8 DAC has already received quite a bit of praise. The DMP-A8 (A8) is designed to be the central brains of a home theatre system, not a headphone all-in-one, though it does get pretty close. The A8 is powered by Android with an XMOS 3rd generation 16-bit processor and includes a touchscreen and a remote to control it like a DAP, but includes a custom audio engine to bypass the Android SRC sampling-rate limitations. What does that mean? It means that the A8 supports audio output at the original sampling rate, no matter the source. It also has a custom User Interface that makes it really easy to use, and it’s a far step above a usual DAP, even ones costing over $3k, which typically still rely on Android 10-12 interfaces, or custom interfaces that punish users for streaming through bad interfaces (*cough* A&K.)

The A8 uses a pair of top-tier AKM chips, the AK4499EX and the AK4191EQ to control the sound being output (AKM is quite famous for its sound and is just getting started producing once more after a factory fire put them out of business for a few years.) The list of things that the A8 can do is extremely long, but it can input from most sources including Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Amazon Music, Apple Music, a PC, a TV, etc. through its 3 antennas, and a multitude of ports on the back. It can also output to an array of sources including RCA and XLR-3 along with digital output sources like USB (2x), I2S (IIS), optical, and coaxial. It can also play your hi-res music library from a dedicated internal M.2 NVMe SSD slot supporting up to a 4TB drive or from a USB drive.

On top of all of that, it also uses a dual power supply with linear and digital low-noise interference systems in place. The A8 has dual Femto clocks, Bluetooth, wi-fi, MQA, DSP, DSD 512, and PCM 768/32-bit support. On top of all of that, it also has a fully balanced pre-amp for use with XLR and it has an R2R ladder volume control system for low noise and distortion (and also sweet clicky noises.) Additionally, it supports network protocols if that’s your thing with NFS, SMB v1/v2/v3, and UPnP protocols. If you’re a CD lover, the A8 has you covered since it allows you to connect a CD player and will even intelligently rip CDs for you to the internal storage.

Build Quality:

They put a ton of money into the internals and software development meaning that the build quality has to suffer right? Wrong. This thing is built like a tank, and that’s one of my complaints about this system. It’s extremely large and built more for an entertainment system than a desktop (which I bought it for.) The XLR-3 outputs also don’t line up well with my ifi iCAN Phantom amp, so I had to buy new cables to be able to stack the Phantom on top of it. It’s also heavy, so don’t buy it for a cheap table or stand that can’t handle 20 lbs total weight without wobbling. It is a monolith like something out of 2001 Space Odyssey and I could see monkeys dancing around it without too much imagination. The volume control feels excellent, though some people have complained about the analog R2R clicking – I love it. The touchscreen is responsive and doesn’t pick up fingerprints easily. It’s a brilliant piece of engineering, but it is gigantic and heavy, so keep that in mind, and make sure your cables can all line up with whatever your system looks like. Also, the remote is nice, but doesn’t add anything the touchscreen and app don’t add.

Software:

The A8 easily has one of the best software designs I’ve used. When you boot it up, which takes around 10-15 seconds, it goes to the home screen which has a music button, a streaming button, a files button, a source button, and a settings button. It also has information along the top and a back/ play/ next/ home/ back menu along the right side. The Music button takes you to the built-in music player while the Streaming button lets you select from the different streaming apps. The Files button obviously lets you scroll through a file manager while the Source button allows you to select the input source. This is actually one of my complaints – to get audio input from my computer, I have to select the USB-B input from the Source menu, but when I hit the Streaming button and go to Tidal, there will be no sound until I go back to Sources and switch to the Internal Player source – something that should be automatic once I hit play on Tidal using the Streaming menu. It’s a minor quibble, but one that annoys me.

The internal player works extremely well and Tidal plays better from the internal player than from my PC with a better internet connection over wi-fi. The Tidal app automatically selects the MAX quality level, but it doesn’t have the normal volume normalization option that most of the Tidal interfaces have. Maybe I missed it, but I couldn’t find it anywhere so some songs are extremely loud while others are much quieter. It’s obnoxious and the first thing I’d fix with the system. I don’t have that issue when I use the Tidal app from my PC to the A8 for what it’s worth.

The internal file explorer is easy to use and the internal music player does a good job of quickly selecting files and playing them at MAX quality. I had no issues with the SSD working without any issues and it found my .wav files without any issues. Oh, and there’s an app that actually doesn’t suck. In fact, it’s easily one of the best apps I’ve ever encountered for an audio system – I prefer using it over Tidal’s native app on my phone. It’s the best way to use the A8 if you’re not sitting close enough to use the touch screen and it’s easily one of the cleanest, best laid-out, and well-built apps I’ve ever used – Awesome. It’s even better than the touchscreen, though it takes more effort to use since the touchscreen is right in front of me on my desk. I cannot stress enough how easy the app is to use and to control everything though.

Sound:

Sound quality is far more subjective than build quality and software quality. From what I’ve seen though, the sound quality is similar to the $2.2k Chord Qutest and better than the $2.3k Matrix X-Sabre Pro MQA. The sound is full-bodied, detailed, clean, and clear with excellent reproduction and a life-like feel when pushed through the ifi Phantom. These two systems combined make for an amazingly versatile system that can play just about any type of music through just about any type of headphones and most speakers as well. I have the phantom pushing out sound from its RCA outputs to my KEF LSX speakers and the sound quality is very good, though not as good as quite a few of the headphones I have on my Headphone Wall. That’s the LSX’s fault though, not the A8’s.

Conclusion:

So, is the A8 worth it? Yes, most definitely yes, as long as you have the space for it. The value proposition is extremely high when you consider that the Chord Qutest and the Matrix X-sabre Pro MQA are only DACs and cost more new – let’s not even mention the $3k X-Sabre 3. They are both, however, quite a bit smaller. The Matrix is 1/3rd-1/4th the size of the A8 and the Qutest is easily 1/8th-1/10th the size. Eversolo also makes the smaller/cheaper Z series with ESS chips and no streaming if all you need is a DAC. There is also a DMP-A6 if you want the smaller/more portable/cheaper/ESS version of the A8. BUT, if you want one of the absolute best DAC/streamer combos out there, you have the space for it, and you can afford it by selling a kidney, the Eversolo DMP-A8 is definitely worth it! Just remember that you’ll need a headphone amp as well and the Phantom pairs extremely well with the A8.

Bytes & Bull Overall Score: 5