Bluesound Icon or Eversolo A6

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the What HiFi community: the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.
I've been playing around with the Eversolo, and to my ears it sounds better/much more natural with the 'Eversolo Original sampling-rate audio engine' switched off. Also, it sounds nicer using the digital out into the Arcam A5 than with the analogue connection.
Isn’t that a bit of a ‘fail’ if a streamer like Eversolo is improved by bypassing its internal DAC?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Al ears
Isn’t that a bit of a ‘fail’ if a streamer like Eversolo is improved by bypassing its internal DAC?
I suppose that bit is a matter of taste and system matching, but the audio engine they make such a thing about is a bit of a fail. It's like a loudness switch on a 70s amp. Silly gimmick IMO.

TBH, I don't think the A6gen2 is worth the (considerable) extra over a WiiM Ultra.
 
  • Like
Reactions: manicm and nopiano
I've been playing around with the Eversolo, and to my ears it sounds better/much more natural with the 'Eversolo Original sampling-rate audio engine' switched off. Also, it sounds nicer using the digital out into the Arcam A5 than with the analogue connection.

That's interesting, because if you disable EOS you may compromise bit-perfect playback? As it's then giving the Android OS control?
 
So what do the other platforms do?

To recap: the OSs in streamers like Eversolo and Fiio are Android based - this enables native app playback such as Apple Music. And both bypass Android's audio processing to enable full maximum resolution provided by the music service and bit perfect resolution.

Eversolo uses their 'EOS engine'. And Fiio likewise will have their own acronyms, but in plain English both bypass the Android OS for audio.

So if Eversolo is allowing the toggling of EOS, then the selected streaming service is left to Android's mercy for downsampling high-res audio etc.
 
To recap: the OSs in streamers like Eversolo and Fiio are Android based - this enables native app playback such as Apple Music. And both bypass Android's audio processing to enable full maximum resolution provided by the music service and bit perfect resolution.

Eversolo uses their 'EOS engine'. And Fiio likewise will have their own acronyms, but in plain English both bypass the Android OS for audio.

So if Eversolo is allowing the toggling of EOS, then the selected streaming service is left to Android's mercy for downsampling high-res audio etc.

Interesting, thanks. Ultimately though, all that matters to me is how it sounds to me, and whether or not I'm getting bit perfect resolution is irrelevant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: manicm
Yeah - I "upgraded" from a WiiM Mini to a Node ICON a few months ago and found no discernible impact in the change of platform. They both just work either in the app themselves or as "Connect" options from a streaming service.
 
I must admit, I'm still unsure whether the Eversolo is actually worth the extra over the WiiM Ultra, other than for the superior display (and the Presto Music integration, of course, but that will come to WiiM).
 
Last edited:
They were all franchises. The one I worked for, Willo Ltd., had two stores, in Preston and Bolton. The MD was one of the best people I've ever worked for.

Unfortunately, Sony screwed the franchisees over in the end, by supplying big box stores at lower prices.
Sounds like the way they treat the place I work, an independent retailer, Sony trade prices are awful compared to the big name stores. When my kids were at primary school I ordered them each a Sony MP3 player, while the Sony rep was in and our boss was putting a big trade show order on. The trade price ended up being more than Amazon were selling them for and I had to wait weeks for them to come in, when I could have got them next day from Amazon. Wish I'd checked Amazon price first.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nopiano
They only appeared in the U.K. just before Christmas, so my personal guess would be customer returns. Demo stock usually has to sit on demo for 12 months minimum. Stock has been and still is scarce at the moment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jasonovich
They only appeared in the U.K. just before Christmas, so my personal guess would be customer returns. Demo stock usually has to sit on demo for 12 months minimum. Stock has been and still is scarce at the moment.
Surely they would have to state that if it were the case?
If they are they're second-hand.
Ex demo to me means exactly that, they have never left a shop.
And, you have to prove your allegations......
Can you?
 
They only appeared in the U.K. just before Christmas, so my personal guess would be customer returns. Demo stock usually has to sit on demo for 12 months minimum. Stock has been and still is scarce at the moment.
Really useful incite.

Got me curious; If demo stock need to sit for 12 months minimum, and these appear to be Customer had change of Mind, to avoid stigmatising their chances of re-sell, do they reference it as an Open Box item?

People tend to think, customer has returned, there must be something wrong with it, so how do they relabel it?
Technically as commented above, should be labelled as second hand but that would depreciate the value greatly.
I suspect most reputable dealers would veer towards transparency than risk ruining their reputation, which takes years to build but only seconds to destroy.
 
Ex demo to me means exactly that, they have never left a shop.

Some shops let you take their demo stock home for a couple of days, I've certainly had speakers over a long weekend from T-Audio a couple of times and they'd then sell those as ex-demo as they're the ones they'd normally keep in the shop.

Maybe they're just using a "lose defiintion" with the wording, I guess you could call open box return as ex-demo if they've been taken home for a couple of days and returned as it's no different to as described above and would be newer than something that was true demo goods, sitting in a shop for a year as well as being used for home demos for a few days at a time.

Certainly seems to be a grey area and not me arguing one side or the other just throwing it up for discussion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jasonovich
Really useful incite.

Got me curious; If demo stock need to sit for 12 months minimum, and these appear to be Customer had change of Mind, to avoid stigmatising their chances of re-sell, do they reference it as an Open Box item?

People tend to think, customer has returned, there must be something wrong with it, so how do they relabel it?
Technically as commented above, should be labelled as second hand but that would depreciate the value greatly.
I suspect most reputable dealers would veer towards transparency than risk ruining their reputation, which takes years to build but only seconds to destroy.
There will be an exact and correct way to describe anything being sold, although that isn't always the case. If a customer buys something, returns it after a couple of days use, how do you label it? Open box? Used? Technically both, but those two are quite different in my eyes. To me, 'open box' is something that has never been plugged in.
 
There will be an exact and correct way to describe anything being sold, although that isn't always the case. If a customer buys something, returns it after a couple of days use, how do you label it? Open box? Used? Technically both, but those two are quite different in my eyes. To me, 'open box' is something that has never been plugged in.
Yes makes sense 🙂
 

TRENDING THREADS