EverSolo DMP-A6

Audio Gear Talk
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I am no audio engineer, and I have never studied or learned engineering or any kind :slightly_smiling_face:. But some pros in audio forums use this term: https://gearspace.com/board/post-production-forum/1368482-dolby-atmos-bed-vs-object.html

Simple. There are so many distinctions. In music, we don’t have bullets shooting from left to right, or spaceships flying front to back.

To clarify, I am questioning if Atmos or 7.1 is needed for a device like A6 for current and/or potential owners (like me) in the context of music enjoyment via Roon, not asking how to get Atmos without Roon, so I appreciate your suggestion, but not what I was asking. Besides, I already have both ATV and FireTV, so I know how to get Atmos without Roon :+1:

Thanks for your opinion and I appreciate you trying to help, but I don’t agree with this approach of answering my own questions based on what I currently think or know I like. One of the purposes of forums like this is to encourage exchanges. Through that, we learning from others and perhaps even my own blind spots through others’ way of expression or needs. Sometimes, our eyes and ears are open to new ideas or new ways of appreciation. If we reduce every question to what we like, then there is no need for these forums, do we? :smirk:

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Never seen “object channels” used in any of Dolby’s own docs. In fact this is the first time I’ve seen it.

Those are human distinctions though (and why can’t you have bullets or other movie like sound effects with music?). Atmos doesn’t care what the sound effect (if it is even a sound effect) is. Obviously with music the “sound effects” are likely to be voices/singing, instruments, crowd cheering, etc.

But Roon doesn’t support Atmos so I’m not exactly sure how you expect people to answer that question? I guess for now the answer is it doesn’t matter or ask the question when Roon supports Atmos.

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For anyone in the UK this device is up for preorder on futeko.com for delivery this coming Thursday.

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Got mine friday and I love it.

Roon sees it immediately. Other services/protocols, also, no sweat. Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Airplay, podcasts. They all see the DMP-A6 and play to it with zero fuss.

Sound quality is excellent. I think the soundstage is wider than with the RPi setup, but might be confirmation bias. Very happy, in any event. Was worried I’d miss HQPlayer, but not so far. I’ll test/compare when I have the patience.

Interesting that it has a 32GB built-in MMC, and room for another snap-in M2 drive (up to 4TB), and the drive can be seen from my network. We gripe a bit about how Roon needs internet access, even to play our own files, but a person could have a mirror of their local library on the M2 drive, and never have to worry about whether you’ve got internet.

Copied a file to the thing, tested and works great using the Eversolo app.

Too soon to tell whether sound quality is better from local files played directly from the Eversolo vs via Roon, but again, when i have patience to test, i’ll test. Might be never.

The one negative, and it’s not really the Eversolo’s fault, but just a normal thing that happens when controlling volume digitally… I notice in the signal path that the DSP volume attenuation reduces sound quality from Lossless/Enhanced to “High Quality.” When using HQPlayer, that digital attenuation doesn’t result in a loss of quality.

(I have to do it digitally because my gear is in a closet, and i don’t have line of sight to adjust volume with a remote from my living room.)

That said, can I hear a difference? No, i don’t think so. (If i was listening critically, i’d probably just set the amplifier to the desired volume with the Roon volume set to max.)

Anyway, I highly recommend this little thing.

:metal:

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Hi, I just received the A6 and am trying to figure out the best way to attach it between Roon (which is on my PC) and my Topping DS90, playing through HQ Player. Roon, HQ Player and my audio files are all on the Windows 10 PC connected to my Denon AVR.

Currently, without the A6 in my signal path, I play my files from the PC (via USB to the Topping DAC) to Roon and use HQ Player to upsample to DSD 256. If I cannot do that with the A6, I will return it.

I am thinking of having the A6 connect to my PC via USB in, then using USB out to the Topping. I don’t know if Windows 10 will allow two DAC drivers at the same time. I am also a little confused about the HDMI for the A6 - I am guessing I could connect it to one of my AVR HDMI inputs, since it is just for HDMI audio. I already have the PC attached via HDMI for the video.

As an aside, with my current setup, maybe I don’t need a streamer at all.

If any of you are using a similar configuration and got it working to their satisfaction, please advise on how you got everything working. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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The Eversolo doesn’t support HQPlayer, but you should be able to use Roon to upsample to DSD256.

Whether the sound quality will be better than having HQP in the chain, you’ll have to decide.

I use HQP with a Raspberry Pi (and Pi2AES HAT) via RoPieee, and the Eversolo will replace that kit in my main system if I think it sounds better. So far I think it does, but I’m not gonna split hairs.

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Received this device today. Roon sees the Eversolo immediately. Playback is Airplay. For services other than Roon for example Apple Music the Eversolo will not play hi res tracks, they default to CD quality. What setting needs adjusting or what obvious thing am I missing? The device is attached to my network by Ethernet. I did not bother setting up Wi-Fi on initial set up.

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Avoid AirPlay if you want higher than CD quality. Reading through this thread, you may have to make sure you’re having the latest firmware for the DMP-A6, then it should be Roon Ready. Look into your Audio settings in Roon and you should see the DMP-A6 there in the category of Roon Ready devices – enable that and disable AirPlay (or leave it active for special occasions if needed but make sure to name it accordingly so you can distinguish the two zones from each other).

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I’m an idiot! I selected the Airplay option in the Audio settings in Roon. Schoolboy error. Feel free to point and laugh. This doesn’t explain why so far I am not able to play Apple Music hi res…
Ten minutes later it’s playing Big Love by Fleetwood Mac PCM 192 KHz from Apple. I changed nothing in settings. Colour me baffled.

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237

How did your instigate playback, via the inbuilt app interface ? As that’s the only way to get hires out of Apple Music on the eversolo, You can’t use phone app to play hires to it via airplay.

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Yes playback is via the inbuilt app interface.

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Get an IR extender fitted. I think you can get ones that work over Ethernet now.

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ooooh interesting. Down the rabbit hole i go

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Is it not possible to stream DSD via Roon to an external DAC? I have my Chord Hugo II attached and I believe have all the proper settings adjusted (DOP) and the output still says PCM? Any ideas what I might be doing incorrectly?

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I stream DSD to different endpoints all the time. DSD requires no DSP being active, so that might be something to investigate.

BTW, The Chord doesn’t play DSD, it only plays PCM. It can take DSD input but them immediately converts it to PCM before any D/A processing. So, I would let Roon do the conversion to PCM first.

If native DSD playback is a goal, imho, then Chords are not the right DACs unless you get a DAVE.

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I’m looking at the Chord Hugo’s specs and from my own experience’s - It has native playback support for DSD up to DSD 512?

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I have tried to get Roon to understand that my storage place is the M2 SSD in the Eversolo. No luck so far. How did you do that. Tried the players IP adress, no and any other way I can figure out. Anyone?

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Hi Thomas this Eversolo is a Roon endpoint.

You need a Roon core for Roon to function, that will need to be installed on a PC/Mac/Linux or NAS device. That points to your music library and sends it to the endpoint from there.

I hope this was helpful and sorry if you already know this, I could not tell from your post.

Darko has a simple getting started with Roon series on YouTube as does Hans so both worth a watch to see if Roon is for you.

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Thanks for the reply but I already know all this. My ROCK core is on a NUK. If I attach a harddrive to the Nuc itś there as it should. If i plug it in on the back of the Eversolo it’s also working. Why not when you put the library on the SSD? Does anyone know?

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I don’t believe you can unless it has a SMB share of its storage. If it does you need to add the full smb share path to Roon and treat it like a NAS. You will have to ask Eversolo what that is but if you can a lot to it from a computer desktop it’s using the same methods as that. But I have to ask why would you do this? Library updates won’t be automatic when you add new music. You’re also creating an extra network hop by putting music on the endpoint. As Roon will pull it to the core to process and send it you the Eversolo to playback which is just wasting resources.

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