Eversolo DMP-A10

Shenzhen Zidoo Technology Company Ltd started out in 2014. It quickly became quite well-regarded where ARM multi-core processors are concerned, and started its consumer electronics journey with 2106’s X95 4K UHD Blu-ray player. More products followed, all with a strong video emphasis - even if the product in question was fundamentally audio-focused.

Zidoo saw the error of this approach quite quickly, but rather than just separate ‘audio’ from ‘video’ under the same umbrella, it established the ‘Eversolo’ brand. And much like the ‘WiiM’ brand that has been making waves in the world of audio streaming as a subsidiary of Linkplay Technology, the ‘Eversolo’ brand has wasted no time in putting the frighteners on the more established purveyors of network streamers - especially those that include DAC and preamp capabilities in their products too.

Acclaim for its more affordable streaming preamp DACs is all very well, of course, but now Eversolo has set its sights away from the mainstream and into the realms of the high end. This DMP-A10 is the result - and as statements of intent go, it’s unequivocal.

£3599 buys a networked audio streamer with digital-to-analogue conversion and preamp abilities too - but that’s far from the whole story. The DMP-A10 is specified like there’s no tomorrow, and as a result is ready to deal with every realistic eventuality in the most thorough way imaginable.

As far as ‘the basics’ go, it’s difficult to identify any meaningful shortcomings. On its rear panel, the DMP-A10 features an ‘on/off’ switch above its kettle-lead mains connection and a 12v trigger pass-through. There are both LAN and SPF Fiber [sic] sockets for connection to your local network. Digital inputs consist of a couple of SPDIF sockets and a pair of digital optical inputs, along with an HDMI ARC socket and a USB-B connection, while analogue inputs run to two pairs of line-level unbalanced RCA sockets and a single pair of balanced XLRs. There are also a couple of USB-A 3.0 OTG slots to allow the DMP-A10 to host keyboards, flash drives and what-have-you. Digital outputs are SPDIF, digital optical and USB-A, while analogue outputs consist of a pair of unbalanced RCAs, a pair of balanced XLRs and two pre-outs for subwoofers. Further connectivity, of a type at least, is provided by the ability to plug in one or two SSD cards (of up to 4TB each) into the covered recess on the bottom of the cabinet in order to massively expand the available local storage.

Wireless connectivity is also available, naturally, via Bluetooth 5.0 (with just SBC and AAC codec compatibility, which actually seems fair enough) and dual-band wi-fi.   

Incoming digital information is dealt with by an ES9039 PRO DAC chipset with Hyperstream IV architecture that supports resolutions up to 32bit/768kHz and DSD512. Giddily high resolutions such as this can be facilitated by using the USB-B input, as pretty much every other digital input tops out at ‘only’ 24bit/192kHz and DSD64. Analogue information, meanwhile, can remain in its native state or be breathed on by the Eversolo’s high-spec analogue-to-digital conversion circuitry in order to be output as an SPDIF signal at 24bit/192kHz resolution.  

At every turn, in fact, Eversolo seems to have gone out of its way to ensure the DMP-A10 is, if anything, overspecified. Dual power supplies provide stable, low-noise power for the analogue and digital circuits. It’s used its EOS (Eversolo Original Sampling-rate) audio engine to guarantee the original sample rate of content from music apps and streaming services - and it also supports direct output from third-party apps such as Apple Music for lossless playback. It’s sourced critical components including capacitors and op-amps from brands as credible as WIMA, Texas Instruments and muRata. Silver-plated single-crystal copper wiring is used for the audio terminals, and a high-speed electrical isolation system minimises noise and interference to audio circuits. The DMP-A10 is Roon Ready, and UPnP- and DLNA-compliant. 

And there’s more, from bespoke temperature control technology for the clocking system to the iCoupler technology that ensures USB signals are transmitted with minimal jitter and maximum signal accuracy. But I think by now the broad point has been made. The Eversolo DMP-A10 is a painstakingly specified device that’s amply prepared for any eventuality. 

Sound quality

For the purposes of my test the Eversolo is wirelessly connected to my local network, via one of its pairs of unbalanced RCA analogue inputs to a Clearaudio Concept turntable preamplified by a Chord Huei, and via one of its digital optical inputs to a Rega Apollo compact disc player. Then it is connected via its balanced XLR outputs to a Cambridge Audio Edge W stereo power amplifier, which in turn is connected to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature loudspeakers on their dedicated stands.

And the headline news is: this is an extremely sympathetic and high-achieving network audio streamer, and preamplifier, and DAC. No matter if it’s asked to deal with a preamplified analogue signal from a record player, doing D-to-A conversion duties for a CD player, or streaming music from a local network or via the Presto or TIDAL apps, the Eversolo DMP-A10 is a balanced, insightful and engaging listen that strikes a brilliant balance between ‘insight’ and ‘entertainment’.

It’s also a brilliantly neutral device. It’s far from uncommon for source equipment to impose its own idea of ‘good sound’ onto the music it’s sending to an amplifier, but the DMP-A10 is not one of those devices. Its tonality is not aligned to a particular presentation, and its frequency response is evenhanded too - which means that, to all intents and purposes, the Eversolo gets out of the way of the music it’s dealing with and lets it express itself on its own terms. No matter if it’s vinyl, compact disc, a hi-res stream from some network-attached storage or a compressed MP3 file being delivered via Bluetooth, what goes in is what comes out with minimal interference. 

Which usually means the DMP-A10 is a straightforward pleasure to listen to. It retains and reveals an absolute stack of detail from those recordings that include it in the first place, and it’s able to put this torrent of information into convincing context - no matter how complex or element-heavy a piece of music, the Eversolo understands its priorities and accepts them. When the music demands it, it can hit with implacable force through the bottom of the frequency range - and it can control low-frequency activity to such an extent that rhythmic expression sounds unforced and naturalistic.  It’s similarly adept through the midrange, where its powers of resolution mean that voices are delivered with all the minutiae of their character and technique intact. And it’s the same story at the top of the frequency range, where treble sounds have the substance necessary to balance out their bite and shine.

The soundstage the DMP-A10 creates is open, properly defined and simplicity itself to follow. The Eversolo places just as much importance on spaces and absences as it does on discrete occurrences, and the result is convincing stereo focus and a stage with more than enough elbow-room for every element of a recording to do its thing without becoming crowded or marginalised. It has more than enough dynamic headroom to put significant distance between the quietest and loudest, most intense moments in a recording and is deft enough to make the dynamic variations in a solo instrument absolutely plain.

As a preamplifier, it’s beyond reproach - not only because it does such sterling work with the audio information that’s coming in, but because it’s responsive where input selection is concerned, and has such fine degrees of volume control that it’s easy to get the perfect output level every time. And as a DAC it’s a splendid device too - my Rega Apollo is no slouch where digital-to-analogue conversion is concerned, but it’s not as transparent or revealing as the Eversolo.    

Living with

If ‘kitrack presence’ is important, you won’t go far wrong here. The DMP-A10 is a piece of precision engineering, from its CNC-machined chassis with integrated heat-sinks to its elaborately shaped volume control. ‘Businesslike’ only begins to cover it where the standard of construction and finish are concerned.

Control of the DMP-A10 is available in a number of different, equally well-implemented, ways. There’s a slender, heavy remote control handset that’s made from alloy, features a smattering of buttons that offer control of the headline functions, and feels good in the hand. 

There’s also a control app (‘Eversolo Control’, naturally) that’s free for iOS and Android. It’s not without its foibles - a ‘back’ button would be nice, for instance, in order to retrace steps rather than have to go all the way back home and start again - but it’s logical enough in its layout and it offers an absolute stack of functions, adjustment possibilities and other niceties. Good luck finding a worthwhile music streaming service or internet radio provider that it isn’t compatible with - Amazon Music, Apple Music, Qobuz, TIDAL, TuneIn, Radio Paradise, SoundCloud, Calm Radio, IDAGIO and plenty more besides are all available.

There are also a couple of big, bright and endlessly adjustable displays on the fascia of the device itself. The main display is a touch-screen that operates very much like a superior smartphone - it’s simple to navigate, allows granular control of every aspect of the DMP-A10’s performance, and (among other gratifying things) will display your choice of one of seven virtual VU meters if you so desire. The little display in the centre of the volume control can display output volume in a number of different colours, or incorporate a little spinning representation of the ‘now playing’ album artwork along with an indication of ‘time remaining’. Or it can just be a clock - although obviously you get a choice of dials and numerals. 

The app also incorporates a room correction routine. Connect the EM-01 mic (outrageously, it’s a £68 cost option rather than the freebie sweetener it really should be), use the app to initiate the routine, and it takes less than 30 seconds for the DMP-A10 to assess its environment and adjust its output accordingly.  

Conclusion

No area of the market is off-limits for Eversolo. No rival brand is too revered to be a legitimate target. And there’s nothing about the DMP-A10 network streamer/preamp/DAC that suggests the company won’t be around for the long haul, competing and competing hard in whatever area of the market it decides it wants to compete in. 

Listening notes

‍David Bowie Song for Bob Dylan‍

Bob wrote Song to Woody, David wrote Song for Bob Dylan - and each is just as heartfelt and just as awe-struck as the other. The Eversolo does fine work in teasing out the details, arranging the soundstage and giving full expression to Bowie’s Dylan impersonation… 

Aretha Franklin How I Got Over‍

So complete and so direct is the DMP-A10’s midrange resolution that this recording might conceivably be enough to turn an agnostic into a believer. Aretha may have been the Queen of secular soul, but it’s no coincidence that the Amazing Grace album from which this is taken is her biggest-ever seller. 

Kiasmos Looped‍

A music streamer needs to be deft and punchy in equal measure if the slow burn of Looped is going to be fully expressed. Of course the DMP-A10 delivers the microwave-like cooking-without-discernible-heat of the recording in the most unequivocal manner. 

The Eversolo is bound to appeal to fans of high-quality audio, to inveterate system fiddlers and finessers, to those that admire robust build quality and those for whom extensive functionality is not enough functionality. It’s good for those of us who enjoy a VU meter, too. Whichever of these categories you fall into, though - and the chances are you’re in more than one of them - you’ll need a wider system that can do the DMP-A10 some justice and you’ll need pretty deep pockets too.