New Eversolo DMP-A10

Funny..I just went through 2 weeks of trying to decide if I should go for an A8 or an A10. I decided that I didn't need what the A10 was offering (I know.."need" is a four letter word) but seriously, I absolutely loved the A8 compared to my internal McIntosh DA2 DAC..the instrument separation is otherworldly..it's that good. I felt the A10 improvements didn't necessarily equate to better sound..just more I/O and visual options. 

I see it has no I2S output. Is I2S all that it's cracked up to be? Shouldn't a newly released player have this option?

It looks impressive although the website is a bit irritating. Two questions: I thought the A8 was supposed to sound better due to using an AKM dac but the A10 uses an ESS Pro. Any thought on that change? Second question: Has anyone bought an Eversolo product via Amazon and returned it? How was that process?

Now would seem to be the time to buy, if you're in the US, before new Chinese tariffs kick in.

@jjtarnow The A8 already sounds excellent, so there's nothing wrong with sticking to that one. I think the room correction in the A10 might be a big deal for some people and totally unwelcome for other people, so that really depends. Build quality appears to be a big step up but again the A8 is still very nice already. I guess at this point we just don't know how much all the little upgrades and tweaks in the A10 add up to as far as sound quality. 

@koestner I think Eversolo probably expects you to mainly be using the internal DAC on the A10. But I agree, it's a little weird to see that missing. They do supposedly improve the USB output with better isolation so maybe they just think that's good enough? My experience is that I2S is the best choice for some DACs but not in all cases, and they don't all work together anyway (there is no standard) so it's kind of unpredictable. 

@exley_99 Agree on the website, it's annoying. The A6 used a more entry level ESS DAC solution. The A8 uses the top model from AKM. The A10 is back to ESS but using the newly released top model. Any of them have potential to sound great or not, it's all in the implementation. But I can see why Eversolo felt the need to switch, just to differentiate the A10 from A8 in that area. Would have to hear it to decide how it really sounds though.

I would think if you are a prime member it would be a painless return. And I am not sure the tariff thing was anything more than a campaign promise that won't really materialize (as is the case with most campaign talking points from most politicians throughout history). But we'll see. 

Thanks for the info, V-fi.

Eversolo A6 and A8 don’t recognize McIntosh USB DACs since June.  Several FW and still not resolved.  Anyone spending $3700 on an Eversolo will be disappointed with the level of suppprt for the money.  
 

Aurender or Innuos if you want support commensurate with price. 

Oh that's interesting. I was not aware of that. Seems like it should have been an easy fix with firmware updates so not sure how the ball got dropped so badly there. Especially since McIntosh is not some fringe tiny brand with few users. I've used about a dozen DACs with my A8 and no problems but the McIntosh problem is still cause for concern. 

Other DACs too. Some resolved , some not.  I thought it was a great box until that issue    Interim fix is to not use USB and use Coax but that not really a fix. Their suggestion was to roll back firmware and turn off updates.  Good fix ……

I got skewered on their forum by people who have units without bugs , but if you search their forum and others you’ll find many different issues each firmware there’s something wrong or not resolved.  
 

I wonder if the A10 is built with Android 11,  like the A6/8. that was end of life Jan 2024 , no more updates or security patches.  I don’t know how that affects things down the road but  $3700 seems like a lot for a company that was the “budget” leader.   Not budget anymore.   I’m a regular guy, that’s a lot of $$$    Definitely do your homework at this price point.  Aurender A1000 is a much better value.  
 

No I2S is a major ommision in preamp DAC at this price point and the non-standard IS2 is a non argument when other DACs make that an irrelevance with various pinout choices easily selected to suit partnering. Apart from that personal showstopper it appears a lot of value for money and I'm sure will be a hit with audiophiles looking for another step up.

I swore off Eversolo products after my A6 would not recognize my high end Samsung SSD card.  Their customer service actually wanted me to send them the SSD  card so they could test it in China.  I did not.  The app was a bit buggy too, but better than Cambridge or Bluesound.

Summit HiFi offered to credit me the purchase price of the A6 towards an A8.  I had a separate DAC so the A8 really did not work for me.  I ended up selling the A6 to a friend that knew the SSD feature did not work.  I ended up with an Innuos Pulse plus Phoenix USB replacing the A6.  In the end I am glad the Eversolo customer service was so terrible.  I ended up with an outstanding streamer with an easy to use app (Sense).

The A10 looks interesting, but not in my system.

Thanks for the interesting stories. I guess it's yet another situation in life where we think everything is great until some issue comes up, and then we get to find out how good/bad the company is when it comes to service and support.

Unfortunately for streaming devices it seems most aren't great. My journey has involved issues of some type from Cambridge, Matrix, Innuos, Bluesound, and Aurender (although the latter was quite a while ago). Finally satisfied with Eversolo in my headphone system and Auralic in the big rig. I've seen lots of people have trouble with Auralic streaming gear, even if I have not (yet). I guess the same goes for Eversolo now as well. 

I purchased and returned both the A6 and A8 to Amazon using UPS.  My issues were with the Eversolo’s staying connected to my system.  I loved everything about them but I would be streaming a song and suddenly would get a message on the app that it had lost the connection.  The music would suddenly stop or sometimes it would continue to play but I was unable to reconnect to control the unit.  I contacted Eversolo and they said they were aware of the issue and to reboot the unit.  Rebooted several times and it kept happening.  I rarely had the issue with my Bluesound Node and have had a good experience with the Innuos Zen Mk3 that’s my current streamer.  Fortunately I was able to return the units since the issues occurred during the return windows.  

Remember, when buying a streamer you are buying a package. Hardware and support. The best hardware is junk without good software to control it

The frustrating part is it’s not my A6, it’s my Dad’s. I told him to buy a Bluesound , Innuos , or Aurender. He bought into the hype. Several morons on their forum thought I was an idiot for not letting summit swap it .... that would only leave Amir with another bad unit and me with no resolve. It’s not "broken" , their engineers apparently don’t understand the importance of updates being cumulative and including all device profiles from previous updates.

It cost me $100 for a work around, a Coax . If he had a large DSD 128 or higher collection he would be out of luck with no USB.

Their support is go to some site not even affiliated with them , McBluna.net and find older versions of FW to roll back FW. This contradicted their initial response which was rolling back firmware is "dangerous" They blamed ancillary devices and cables. Their firmware caused no USB out immediately after reboot.

I completely ripped them on their forum and targeted Instagram ads and someone supposedly from Eversolo finally reached out. Too late, would never buy or recommend an Eversolo product. Decent box , terrible support. Real POS outfit.

@exley_99 

I tried using that Chinese tariff argument on my wife to justify a new round of equipment upgrades but she was unimpressed 

With all the comments on poor support, I'm giving it a hard pass, Chinese tariffs or not.

I had A8 for 6 months or so. Overall it was ok as streamer. dAC was very digital sounding and thin.. my advise is stay clear from Chinese attractive affairs. The software was pretty good..

I settled with Aurender which is great in both hardware and software. App is not at par with eversolo but it is stable. Sounds quality is no match

I asked Eversolo if they can remotely access the device to correct the problem like Aurender and Innuos can....  no response.     They suck.   

Absolute worst customer service in my 40 years in this hobby. 

I just connected a LAiV Harmony DAC via I2S to my A8 and I’ve never had a system that sounded so good. I often forget I’m listening to digital because I’m so lost in the music and realism. I’m even listening to types of music I wouldn’t normally listen to because the instruments sound amazing.