REVIEW

Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is gritty and nuanced with the DMP-A6 allowing you to hear all the subtle details in the recording without sounding too clinical. It has good scale and the placement of instruments is accurate and never does it sound like there is a lack of dynamics. I decided to see how it handled something a little different and put on Electric Callboy – Hurrikan. The first half of the song is punchy German tekno transitioning into heavy metalcore halfway through. The DMP-A6 shows how it has an excellent grip on the sound, easily separating the kicks in the second half of the song and delivering the track with the energy it deserves.

I may have been spoiled by the iFi Audio Neo Stream I reviewed before the DMP-A6, and the Neo Stream still has the upper hand in audio quality in terms of timbre and insight (as it should for the price). The Eversolo has that slightly dry and more linear sound that won’t work in every system, and I’ve found myself (subjectively) leaning more towards a natural sound that just makes you get lost in your favourite tracks.

When listening to Gabrielle Aplin’s Home, for example, her vocals are stunningly detailed and it is a beautiful song. However, this is a song that needs to be portrayed with emotion and I found the DMP-A6 to be a little too clean to sound utterly convincing. Though the vocal harmonies are not lost and it’s easy to hear all the layers in the recording. There is a great sense of air and separation going on, however, the harmonics from the piano are a little muted.

The great thing about the DMP-A6 though is that you can simply run it into an external DAC if you wish and you have a lovely streaming front end with the back end of your choosing, and I cannot take points away from the Eversolo for being neutral in its presentation.

You can also easily run your CD player or other digital transport into the DMP-A6 and take advantage of the exceptionally clean internal DAC and pre-amp circuits. It works very well as a digital hub for streaming and DAC duties and is excellent as part of a headphone system running it into an external headphone amplifier.

The flexibility of the Eversolo DMP-A6 is truly impressive and there are so many ways it can be incorporated into a system that it’s hard to find somewhere it won’t work well.

Conclusion

The DMP-A6 is simply superb value for money! Taking into account all the features, build quality, and sound it will be the perfect digital front-end for many people’s systems. The sound is neutral, flat, and clean, and it doesn’t lack dynamics or punch.

There is also no harshness to the sound. This makes it fit into most systems with ease, but it may not be to everyone’s taste and if this is the case you can always run it into the DAC of your choice.

There are a few bugs that some people have reported, such as slow loading of album artwork when playing from an SSD and the app crashing from time to time. This is still quite new to the market and there are still frequent firmware updates which will bring fixes to these issues in time but, personally, running it mostly as a Roon endpoint I didn’t experience any issues.

Eversolo has made an excellent streamer with well-implemented ESS DAC chips and an excellent pre-amp stage. The design of the streamer, and the layout of the menus are excellent and it really is a very impressive device for the money.

At A Glance

Build Quality:

It may be another black box, but the display looks incredible and it is very well put together

Sound Quality:

Clean, crisp, and detailed sound with a slightly forward presentation. It’s not overly analytical but is neutral sounding overall

Value For Money:

For what you get, the DMP-A6 is extremely good value for money

We Loved:

Lovely layout with an excellent screen and neutral sound signature

Flexibility and functionality are superb

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Some minor bugs to smooth out with future firmware

Not for those who want a slightly more forgiving and natural-sounding device

Elevator Pitch Review: If you want a clean-sounding digital front end for your system, the DMP-A6 is hard not to recommend. It’s a budget-friendly yet featured-packed streamer with an incredibly controlled and detailed sound signature.

Price: £759