[corgifall]

I'm currently listening to dirty rat by Orbital and Sleaford mods and I can hear punchy and fast bass, not bloated or exaggerated in any way. I'm really impressed by this dac!

Glad to hear that! The DAC only side of the DAC-Z8 was impressive enough to swap my main review DAC after two years to this going forward.

The last part of my review I need to write out is the amp section so I’ll see how that sounds tonight(slacking). I’m posting my review on Friday.

 

[Moonglum]

Glad to hear that! The DAC only side of the DAC-Z8 was impressive enough to swap my main review DAC after two years to this going forward.

The last part of my review I need to write out is the amp section so I’ll see how that sounds tonight(slacking). I’m posting my review on Friday.

Headphone amp section is supposed to be the weak point of the Z8 I think, but be interested to know what you find

 

[corgifall]

I spent around 2 hours doing intense A/B with an external amp and then another 3-4 hours just listening to the build in headphone amp. I would call it a decent $100-$150 sounding amp. I think it makes a great starting point if someone wants to add an external amp later on. I do think it benefits and scales well with a better headphone amp. I’ll have the specific impressions for it in my review tomorrow but I do like that has a memory for saved volume levels. It was nice that once I unplugged the headphone, the volume shot back up to max for a “DAC only” use.

 

[antdroid]

I bought the Z6 a bit impulsively this week. I love the look of this thing. The screen is really great to look at, and remote and app functions well. If this thing had some sort of PEQ or cross-feed feature, RME, better watch out!

The headphone amp section is pretty decent too. I nearly crank out the max volume on high gain to get my Susvara to loud-ish listening levels, but for most normal headphones and in-ears, it shouldn't be a problem getting it loud. Its a neutral sound, and surprisingly not bright.

I'll probably write more when I have a chance to use it more.

 

[corgifall]

Review is up for those interested!!!

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/eversolo-dac-z8.26430/reviews#review-30592

 

[Moonglum]

Review is up for those interested!!!

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/eversolo-dac-z8.26430/reviews#review-30592

Nice review. I’m still forming my opinions about the Z8. At the moment I’m finding it a surprisingly big change from my previous DAC, a Mytek Liberty. The Liberty was a very lively DAC with a full bodied engaging delivery. So far I’m finding the Z8 more refined and neutral- that requires a readjustment of my ears but I also need to decide if very neutral is actually something I want - I know to followers of ASR neutral is seen as ideal, but I tend towards preferring an engaging delivery even if that means the graphs don’t look as good. All that being said, I haven’t had a chance to listen at the levels I like to or to directly a v b against my Liberty yet - I have plans to do that next week. My experience is primarily also with speakers rather than cans so far.

 

[antdroid]

Nice review. I’m still forming my opinions about the Z8. At the moment I’m finding it a surprisingly big change from my previous DAC, a Mytek Liberty. The Liberty was a very lively DAC with a full bodied engaging delivery. So far I’m finding the Z8 more refined and neutral- that requires a readjustment of my ears but I also need to decide if very neutral is actually something I want - I know to followers of ASR neutral is seen as ideal, but I tend towards preferring an engaging delivery even if that means the graphs don’t look as good. All that being said, I haven’t had a chance to listen at the levels I like to or to directly a v b against my Liberty yet - I have plans to do that next week. My experience is primarily also with speakers rather than cans so far.

I imagine Z6 is similar sounding to Z8, but yea my normal DAC is a Holo Spring 3 KTE, and its a totally different sound than the Eversolo. But my DAP also uses ES9038PRO and so I still listen to D/S DACs often too. I'm also testing out the SMSL DO300 which uses the newer ES9039 PRO DAC chip and I actually quite like it. No fancy screen or headphone output though.

 

[Moonglum]

I imagine Z6 is similar sounding to Z8, but yea my normal DAC is a Holo Spring 3 KTE, and its a totally different sound than the Eversolo. But my DAP also uses ES9038PRO and so I still listen to D/S DACs often too. I'm also testing out the SMSL DO300 which uses the newer ES9039 PRO DAC chip and I actually quite like it. No fancy screen or headphone output though.

The Holo is supposedly an amazing DAC - how would you describe the sound signature vs the Z8? Also DO300 vs Z8 ?

 

[antdroid]

The Holo is supposedly an amazing DAC - how would you describe the sound signature vs the Z8? Also DO300 vs Z8 ?

I only have the Z6 - not Z8. I haven't compared apples to apples yet just because of how my setup is configured currently, but the DO300 or Z6 vs Holo is quite audibly different to me. The Holo is warmer, and more intimate, yet also more deep in soundstage. The way string instruments resonate is much different as well. It has a different sound that I can't totally describe in words, but it does not sound as digital as the DO300 or Z6.

At some point, I will have to unplug my Holo and compare the Z6 vs DO300 though. Right now the Z6 is being used as an All-in-One unit, and not plugged into my Bakoon headphone amp.

 

[Samarithan]

I received my Z8 with firmware 52. Very frequent micro cuts with coaxial and bluetooth. I downgraded to 47. Everything is back to normal. Weird.
Otherwise, superb dac for the eyes and ears!

 

[corgifall]

I upgraded to 52 yesterday and I had no issues with Bluetooth, optical and usb. I don’t use coaxial so I haven’t attempted that at all. No issues on my side.

 

[Moonglum]

My unit is proving pretty stable - I have had one brief drop-out over USB and no dropouts over coaxial. I do have one weird issue playing MQA albums via Tidal via my Innuos server (USB), where the first half a second of each track is cut.

 

[moonfishing]

I imagine Z6 is similar sounding to Z8, but yea my normal DAC is a Holo Spring 3 KTE, and its a totally different sound than the Eversolo. But my DAP also uses ES9038PRO and so I still listen to D/S DACs often too. I'm also testing out the SMSL DO300 which uses the newer ES9039 PRO DAC chip and I actually quite like it. No fancy screen or headphone output though.

Congrats on the Holo Spring 3, very jealous
Did you buy the Z6 just out of curiosity?

 

[Moonglum]

Congrats on the Holo Spring 3, very jealous
Did you buy the Z6 just out of curiosity?

Z6 uses different ESS chip, different op amps and different PSU and reviews where they have had both z6 and z8 indicate z8 sounds better

 

[antdroid]

Congrats on the Holo Spring 3, very jealous
Did you buy the Z6 just out of curiosity?

I bought the Z6 to try out for curiosity. I did want something better than my small SMSL stack at work, so I did bring in the Z6 to the office this week and have been using it there.

The Spring 3 is my primary DAC at home, along with the newer SMSL DO300 ES9039 PRO dac.

Z6 uses different ESS chip, different op amps and different PSU and reviews where they have had both z6 and z6 indicate z8 sounds better

Yea I wouldnt be surprised. I quite like the ES9038 Pro DAC chip implementation in my DX240 DAP and so I wouldnt be surprised the Z8 is an upgrade over the Z6. It does also cost more. If it came in a silver, I may have gotten it instead.