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Interesting new Streamer - Eversolo DMP-A6

This is a very interesting piece of kit, but I am brutal with tech and in awe of many of the contributors on this thread, that have the wherewithal to jump thr the hoops with relative ease, in this regard.
Hence a couple of years back I went down the Innuos route, which is pretty much a plug and play device, with excellent customer support, together with the addition of the sense app which simplify and enhances the functionality further.
That said, the Eversolo at this price point is very interesting. I look forward to it getting more established in the marketplace and any bugs addressed.
 
Had a much better second experience with my A6 last night.

On Usability and Features
I wasn't fully aware of the cast ability, which means you aren't really reliant on the app since it's basically operating in a kind of 'remote desktop' way with the UI of the A6 itself. In this regard everything worked well. The iPhone app sucks otherwise, at least for my use-cases.

On Sound Quality
I think it's an improvement over the Node 2i but since I'm currently limited to streaming and haven't setup my library I can't use extremely well-kent albums in FLAC as a benchmark to make that call. I'm hoping that tonight, with more of my library stored locally on its 2TB SSD I will be able to do this, resplendent with glass of red wine and no distractions :)

On Setting up a Library
On the subject of that library, I started to transfer files from my old music NAS overbut this was super slow on account of my accidentally pulling on the CAT-6 cable leading to my wall switch when last setting up my system, causing it to fail to negotiate gigabit speeds, and transferring 1TB+ of FLACs over a 100Mbit connection is super slow. I got as far as AC/DC alphabetically before giving up. I've moved it to my office and connected it directly to another switch and it's now transferring at gigabit speeds (actually a bit less but that's due to the older NAS and the fact the NAS->A6 transfer goes through my Mac as an intermediary). ANyway, it's a slow process but I can leave it running in the background as I work today.
 
I always like the thought that I could get better SQ (if possible) from a streaming source - looks like I will be keeping my Auralic G1 Streaming Transport because I haven't had any issues with it - plus the G1 uses linear PSU's internally (but I understand that smps can be very well implemented).
 
cstanpfm said:
Anyone tried the coaxial input (from a CD transport)?
How is the sound quality when used this way?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
I will try connecting a USB drive and see how that fairs as a transport, but for CD playing duties I am bypassing the A6 for now (since I can connect my CDT to my DAC via I2S which is supposedly a better connection than coaxial, and not supported as input by the A6). I imagine the differences will be subtle over the same files streaming from its internal SSD or a lossless streaming service, but my experience hasn't been the best since my streaming has hitherto gone through the Node 2i and into my DAC compared to a dedicated transport via I2S into the DAC, with the CDT giving usually a bit better sound quality and realism.
 
Got my library running well now. Took a whileto transfer. Very pleased with the A6 now I discovered cast mode. Currently listening to an old Ken Dodd show from 1963 featuring the HJHM via BBC Sounds. Will attempt to connect and play from my USB Superdrive later and report back.

Sonically I am pretty confident it’s better than the Node 2i as a digital transport. Not tried its DAC yet.
 
Latest updates:
  • Apple Superdrive as a transport or rip drive doesn't seem to work for me. No idea if this is my fault or the fault of the A6;
  • Sonically it's a clear improvement over a Node 2i (with either being used as digital-only front-end) - not sure why this should really happen if I'm honest, but there you have it;
  • No problems with my medium-to-large FLAC collection when installed on the internal 2TB Lexar NM620 SSD:
    • Everything I have tried to play thus far has worked absolutely fine;
    • Access to albums is quick as you'd hope from a 3.5GB/s SSD thingy!;
    • If anyone is transferring their library across, do spend a bit of time trying different methods - my first attempt, via 10/100 network (see above) would still have been running, but moving the A6 into the same room as the router and my Mac brought back gigabit speeds. Even then, I found transfers via Finder (from NAS via Mac to A6) roughly twice as fast and more reliable than using my preferred Finder-replacement, PathFinder, which for some reason isn't so hot with network transfers;
  • The A6 doesn't get especially hot - a little warm, but nothing that would be any concern;
  • I've tried the USB output into my Venus II against the coax output. I can't say I noticed any significant difference, but my experiment wasn't by any means critical. Not sure whether there is a clear winner there, nor indeed if there should be one, but worth noting that the A6 only outputs 24/192 max via coax but can go higher with USB (not that this is anything other than a theoretical boast as far as my collection goes);
  • The app when used in 'Cast' mode works very well, though it would be nice if it worked in portrait as well as in landscape mode on my iphone (even though I know that'd make it quite small and fiddly);
  • I'm encouraged by how quickly they're adding features to the A6 via Zidoo. It's already had an update since it landed, and I expect more;
  • Despite some concerns here and elsewhere that this is maybe a bit of hype, I'm telling you - with £700ish of my own money behind it - that it's really as good as they say it is;
  • That being said, there's room for improvement - the cd drive integration thing is the biggest disappointment and I'm hoping it can be fixed in firmware or (at worst) a reliable and compatible alternative for ripping since even though it would be great to have the option of using a cd drive as a transport, more important is having an easy way to rip cds that doesn't involve doing it on my Mac and transferring across - convenience is king and all that.
Very pleased thus far. I'm going to try to add the Audible app to it, since I believe that's possible (and would be useful since I do buy audiobooks and wouldn't mind the option of listening to them through my system) and it would be interesting to see what else can be put onto it (Soundcloud maybe?), but really, for me, it's 90% there already.
 
Although I have found streaming easy using Qobuz, I have had a problem using the internal SSD due to it not showing up under files. I have ordered a M2 NVME converter case so hopefully will be able to transfer my music library using a pc and then the SSD will be recognised by the player. I purchased a Fanxiang SSD so anyone purchasing the EverSolo I would suggest you don't use this brand.
I have been able to play my library using an external SSD with no problems and I am happy with player as a whole. I'm happy if I can see an Artist list, go into that and then play an album. I don't have separate playlist as I tend to just play a full album from start to finish. I've never had different folders for my music and keep it simple. I have shown 3 photos below taken from my ipad (sorry about the quality, but you'll get the idea)
I have compared quickly the internal dac of the EverSolo and using the digital out to my Soekris. It didn't need golden ears to tell the Soekris was a smoother and easier listen for me. I'm sure many would use more of the features on this player than I do, but I'm not going there. I haven't compared directly to my Lumin U2 mini but sound quality wise I don't think there would be that much difference. I like the meters you can display on the front of the EverSolo, but miss pictures of the artists on my music library, so you pays your money as they say.
Artists


Albums of artist selected


Song playing
 
I've started testing the Master Edition version in my stereo setup today.

My first impressions are very positive:

- Build quality appears to be quite good;

- The UI is snappy and solid;

- It has worked flawlessly as a Roon Ready endpoint via WiFi even with DSD 256 files;

- Its own file streamer is able to read CUE files and SACD ISOs that are located in my ROCK server (my two main complaints regarding Roon).

In terms of sound quality feeding a Denafrips Pontus II DAC via USB it easily surpasses a Node 2i (via optical). Music sounds more articulate and detailed, with more "bite". The soundstage becomes more realistic.
 
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