The Sound
Contents
We found the Eversolo to be quite a transparent player. The player does a good job of letting us hear what the source material is doing. When we switch, for example, from Hania Rani to Beth Gibbons and The National, we can flawlessly hear the completely different recording choices. Not only in sound, but also in sound stage, flow and detail.
Settings
Now of course for this test we played around with the settings a bit. Think of the equalizer, room correction and dac filters…. However, we must honestly say that we don’t really find the equalizer and room correction useful. Yes: it works. But no: it doesn’t add a whole lot in our case. Especially the room correction is just not good enough (yet), considering the quality of the Eversolo A10.
The dac-filters are a useful option though, because it subtly influences the character of the player and can put just that little dot on the ‘i’. We think Minimum Phase, slow roll-off sounds best. It gives a bit more high extension and rhythm than the linear phase options. It is mostly taste, so play with it.
Music
Finally, of course, we started listening to music and left all the tweak options for what they are. No DSPs, no equalizers and no room correction. Everything directly through the player and the dac…. This is how the Eversolo DMP-A10 sounds best, in our opinion.
In all cases, we hear – as mentioned earlier – a transparent presentation of the music. With more than enough space, flow and control. The Eversolo DMP-A10 has a bit of a soft character. The mids and highs are quite sweet, if we can call it that. Our own Sonnet Pasithea is a bit more open in the mids and highs. More direct perhaps. The Eversolo is a bit sweeter.
This becomes very clear with piano music where the “attack” is important. It’s not that things disappear; the presentation and accents are just different. And perhaps you like the sweeter character. Again, a matter of taste!
With pop and rock music, it’s a little harder to recognize, but once you hear it, it’s noticeable. However, the differences are subtle and frankly quite small. In an A/B test, of course we hear things that are different (space, focus, tonal differences), but the differences are small. And we really have to concentrate during listening.
And if we look at the price difference, the Eversolo DMP-A10 does incredibly well. For less than 4000 Euro (3779 Euro) you get a very complete and pleasant sounding player!
Nice to hear. I’ve been considering this for Room 2 if it ever comes out in silver.
An interesting shootout/comparison (video idea?) would be to put this up against the new Blusound Icon, Wiim Ultra, and their own A8 Gen 2. With and without their internal dacs. 😉