My first impressions of the A6 are very positive. I mainly use it as a streamer feeding my R2R DAC. The setup was super easy, intuitive and it is a joy to use the unit. The menu is logical, operation is quick and smooth. Quite a relief after the glitchy Zen Stream.
When it comes to sound, as a streamer only it is a step up from the Zen Stream, but the Zen Stream's sound is still very good for the money. The A6 sounds more neutral, more reference. The soundstage is bigger, airier and the resolution is higher with better detail retrieval. The Zen Stream in comparison is still very nice, but somehow a little warmer and thicker, less detailed.
I only tried the internal DAC of the A6 briefly, but it is surprisingly capable. Again, very clean sounding with good space and details, I think it is easily on the level of RME ADI-2, although perhaps sounds a bit more neutral than the German DAC. Switching to my Pegasus with upgrade fuse the R2R technology still gives me a more natural and lifelike sound with better textures and more depth, but I am positively surprised at the DAC performance of the A6. Most people should be happy with using the internal DAC.
It is a bit of a shame that the A6 currently is not supporting digital in/digital out to external DAC, hopefully that will come with a future firmware upgrade. Right now I use USB out to my external DAC, but I would like to connect a computer with USB-C to the A6. I will probably try RCA interconnect cables to my amplifier from the A6 as my external DAC is connected with balanced XLR. Changing sources would take a couple of switches, but I would not need to unplug any cables.
Did you matched against Zen Stream with stock PSU ? With latest firmware upgrades I actually see no issues with Zen stream so still curious if it’s worth the chase of Eversolo.
In back of my mind i might even ditch digital as primary source and get back to vinyls
Did you matched against Zen Stream with stock PSU ? With latest firmware upgrades I actually see no issues with Zen stream so still curious if it’s worth the chase of Eversolo.
In back of my mind i might even ditch digital as primary source and get back to vinyls
I used an iFi Zen Stream with an upgraded iPowerX 15V supply which improved the sound quality. I now have the DMP-6 streamer and would rate it above that Zen Stream combo as regards overall sound quality. The Zen Stream has now been put away in its box. Like yourself, I think the Zen firmware updates were quite good and I never had any of the issues noted by others, but the user interface on the DMP-6 is in a different league really.
Did you matched against Zen Stream with stock PSU ? With latest firmware upgrades I actually see no issues with Zen stream so still curious if it’s worth the chase of Eversolo.
In back of my mind i might even ditch digital as primary source and get back to vinyls
I used the standard iFi iPower with the Zen Stream. As @JjB067 said above, the user experience/convenience is in a completely different league with the A6.
While the ZS sounds great, the A6 sounds more neutral, more spacious, more detailed in comparison.
I have been experiencing something interesting recently. Intermittently. Sometimes when the player moves to the next track (whatever the app may be), it is playing but no sound comes out from my amp into my HP. I have experienced this regardless of whether it uses the internal DAC or an external DAC. The only thing to do is to reboot and it seems OK again.
I used the standard iFi iPower with the Zen Stream. As @JjB067 said above, the user experience/convenience is in a completely different league with the A6.
While the ZS sounds great, the A6 sounds more neutral, more spacious, more detailed in comparison.
John Darko has just released a YouTube video reviewing the Eversolo DMP-A6, quite positive overall but he really just majors on the overall sound using the internal DAC in comparison to the new Blusound Node X and a new Fio streamer/headphone amplifier. There will also be a written review by one of his colleagues concentrating on the pure streamer side up quite soon on his website.
John Darko has just released a YouTube video reviewing the Eversolo DMP-A6, quite positive overall but he really just majors on the overall sound using the internal DAC in comparison to the new Blusound Node X and a new Fio streamer/headphone amplifier. There will also be a written review by one of his colleagues concentrating on the pure streamer side up quite soon on his website.
The DAC inside the basic A6 is a good delta/sigma DAC, but not outstanding. IMO the clarity and quality of the streamer is the outstanding part in the A6 which makes the EverSolo worthwhile in itself.
John Darko has just released a YouTube video reviewing the Eversolo DMP-A6, quite positive overall but he really just majors on the overall sound using the internal DAC in comparison to the new Blusound Node X and a new Fio streamer/headphone amplifier. There will also be a written review by one of his colleagues concentrating on the pure streamer side up quite soon on his website.
I agree with his review mostly. I prefer the A6, but that's because it's features and how I would use it. He complains about not being able to use Roon on the internal SSD. Who needs Roon? You need a computer and you need to pay. I don't want to turn on my noisy PC (oh wait, it already died screaming). If you want to listen to music I really like the silence and just tap the streamer and it works. Im not quite sure what he meant with Roon but he is sponsored by Roon so erm yeah. I never got that.
The Fiio is nice too but more intended for a desktop next to your pc with a HP.
Caveat.
That is: if your system is revealing enough. If there's nothing else in the chain holding it back. Always focus on the weakest link. I recently own a pair of Magnepans and while they sound great they also lose a lot of fine detail in the crossover. With my own speakers I hear every nuance in dacs and vinyl. So roughly speaking you shouldn't spend more that 15% of the price of your system on the dac. Common sense etc.
I agree with his review mostly. I prefer the A6, but that's because it's features and how I would use it. He complains about not being able to use Roon on the internal SSD. Who needs Roon? You need a computer and you need to pay. I don't want to turn on my noisy PC (oh wait, it already died screaming). If you want to listen to music I really like the silence and just tap the streamer and it works. Im not quite sure what he meant with Roon but he is sponsored by Roon so erm yeah. I never got that.
The Fiio is nice too but more intended for a desktop next to your pc with a HP.
Indeed it is interesting that he wants to have the Roon Core installed on the internal SSD of the DMP A6. Well, I am happy as is since my Roon Core (currently residing in a Mac Mini) will be a constant and Roon is but one of the music services I use. I am happy as it is with Apple Music, KK Box, QQ Music, Tidal, Spotify etc which can be played directly from the DMP A6.
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