HI-Fi Game Changers for 2024?

[Jasonovich]

as I said it an unpopular opinion and I’m sure it is a fine product and is very slick in use. And if you’re Apple Music user its pretty much the only game in town.

It’s just a product id very wary over and my concerns are echoed quite loudly by others on other sites.

But I find it hard to recommend streamers over tablet and phones any how. Or even a raspberry pie if you fancy the diy route.

Actually I did think about the Raspberry. I was going to install AIDA64 software and use it as fan and temperature monitoring device on my PC.

 

[daveh75]

.Let's hope more companies start using Linux based streaming apps. Because it's open source software, licensing is not really an issue.

That's not true!

There's been far to many instances of enterprises using abusing Linux entirely for commercial gain, not contributing anything back, and blatantly ignoring it's licensing requirements.

 

[Jasonovich]

I was referring to your guess of £1500 for the new model. (Nobody sane would buy from Aliexpress with liability for customs, VAT and returning abroad for warranty. But that’s for another thread)

EverSolo DMP-A8 Streaming DAC

The DMP-A8 is a brand new audio product created by Eversolo, and it is capable of almost everything, combining Music Streamer, DAP, DAC, and Preamp.

www.iglooaudio.co.uk

I understand people's concern, you can always purchase the DMP-A6 from UK retailers for about £759.00, a little more or thereabouts.
Aliexpress is a buying portal just like eBay, you get better protection from the latter but it really depends on the brand and who's selling you the product.
When I had a mains surge and I lost my Topping E30, I had excellent customer service support from Topping.
Always let the buyer beware. I think I have been shopping on Aliexpress 10 or maybe 12 years without problems, I guess you could call it luck.
I can recall a few strange incidents on eBay and Amazon but I always had a refund or replacement.

 

[Jasonovich]

It might be worth emailing Eversolo and asking about a possible Master Edition and if they could make a matching, full width Class D amp to go with the streamer. They might consider both options if they get loads of emails from many potential customers, namely WHF forum members. You never know.

I was on the Zidoo website forum, please don't take any credence what I am saying, this is all speculation and rumours but someone alluded that the EverSolo DMP-A10 Master Edition will have integrated class D amp. I don't know if the person has a connection or just shooting his mouth off.
Hmmmm people say anything.
Might be worth asking EverSolo directly.

 

[SteveH72]

We’re seeing and will continue to see a resurgence in the used market, and a commensurate rise in prices. People selling expensive gear for financial reasons will turn to highly regarded older kit and realise that excellent audio performance is easily achievable on a much smaller budget, if you don’t mind the box count.

 

[podknocker]

I was on the Zidoo website forum, please don't take any credence what I am saying, this is all speculation and rumours but someone alluded that the EverSolo DMP-A10 Master Edition will have integrated class D amp. I don't know if the person has a connection or just shooting his mouth off.
Hmmmm people say anything.
Might be worth asking EverSolo directly.

I agree, you have to be careful with a lot of stuff out there. There is a lot of nonsense and speculation. It's just about my perfect system, if it happens. A 200WPC Class D amp with all the features of the DMP-A8 would be marvellous. I still wouldn't mind if they made a full width amp, to match this streamer.

 

[matthewpianist]

We’re seeing and will continue to see a resurgence in the used market, and a commensurate rise in prices. People selling expensive gear for financial reasons will turn to highly regarded older kit and realise that excellent audio performance is easily achievable on a much smaller budget, if you don’t mind the box count.

I would certainly be looking toward the used market if I was interested in making changes (I'm not).

A friend (who used to be a big presence here) swears by buying used kit and has assembled superb systems for far less than they would have cost new.

 

[twinkletoes]

That's nothing to do with android, and entirely down to the manufacturers.

Though personally I think streamers costing hundreds of pounds are a joke anyway, no matter how overly hyped by some!

Its licenced software with a custom api but the base updates for what ever candy pudding it might be at the time are google. So once google says thats it ,thats it. the unit will to continue to work but the apps will slowly start to disappear eg Apple Music, tidal and so on, as and when the developers of those apps say they want to stop support they function for a short time and then will stop. This, the manufacture can not control.

In theory the manufacture could still supply updates for bug fixes but this is unlikely in my experience.

Its like me trying to install photoshop 2024 on OSX snow leopard its just never going to happen but the OS functions fine in a vacuum and works as intended.

 

[jjbomber]

It might be worth emailing Eversolo and asking about a possible Master Edition and if they could make a matching, full width Class D amp to go with the streamer. They might consider both options if they get loads of emails from many potential customers, namely WHF forum members. You never know.

HiFi Rose RS520 is class AD at 250W per channel.

Advanced All-In-One Network Streamer RS520

Beyond Audio, HiFi ROSE

eng.hifirose.com

 

[podknocker]

HiFi Rose RS520 is class AD at 250W per channel.

Advanced All-In-One Network Streamer RS520

Beyond Audio, HiFi ROSE

eng.hifirose.com

At £3399 it should be! Holy cow! I think if I was spending this money next time, I'd be looking at discounted NAD M33 amps, now the M66 and M23 combo seems to be the preferred (much more expensive) option.

 

[nopiano]

I was on the Zidoo website forum, please don't take any credence what I am saying, this is all speculation and rumours but someone alluded that the EverSolo DMP-A10 Master Edition will have integrated class D amp. I don't know if the person has a connection or just shooting his mouth off.
Hmmmm people say anything.
Might be worth asking EverSolo directly.

The dealer Audio Emotion has just posted pictures on Facebook as their DMP-A8 has arrived.

 

[podknocker]

I was thinking about a possible Master Edition of the DMP-A8 and how great that would be, but how could they improve the standard one?

It's got top drawer chips and looks incredible inside and out.

A possible Master Edition, as mentioned above, would likely be a Class D amp/streamer and would be £2999 easy.

 

[matthewpianist]

At £3399 it should be! Holy cow! I think if I was spending this money next time, I'd be looking at discounted NAD M33 amps, now the M66 and M23 combo seems to be the preferred (much more expensive) option.

At that level I'd jump straight in with a M33 and a pair of GoldenEar BRXs.

 

[podknocker]

If I ever upgrade, it will be a Class D streaming amp and I know I won't buy anything with stuff I don't need, such as Dirac correction, phono stage, CD player etc. I'm happy with the kit I have for the time being, but it's nice to know what's on the horizon, if your finances ever change. Some incredible kit out these days and it's a great time to be into HIFI, if funds allow of course. I would need to buy something with an appreciable increase in sound quality and feature count. I hope the internal SSD feature takes off. Not seen M.2 in any other devices. I'm sure these SSDs will find their way into TVs and Sky boxes at some point, for recording stuff. I'm not sure what's out now, or soon to be released, which could be considered a game changer. The market's not been stirred up for a while and it would be great to see something incredibly different, with a unique selling point.

 

[jjbomber]

I was thinking about a possible Master Edition of the DMP-A8 and how great that would be, but how could they improve the standard one?

Usual suspects; better power supply, better clock?

 

[Jasonovich]

At £3399 it should be! Holy cow! I think if I was spending this money next time, I'd be looking at discounted NAD M33 amps, now the M66 and M23 combo seems to be the preferred (much more expensive) option.

They've reduced the price of Hegel H190 from £3K to £2.4K (pounds! ) This is an all in one solution.
Manchester based dealership.

Hegel H190v Integrated Amplifier

Whether you are a vinyl aficionado or a streaming enthusiast, the Hegel H190v is the perfect companion, delivering performance beyond expectations.

www.strictlystereo.com

View: https://youtu.be/iq_Z4YUsGGo

 

[podknocker]

Still £2.4k for the 'baby' Hegel. I've read loads about Hegel and they do get great reviews. They have a smooth, but detailed sound, which does appeal to me, but I do like a clean, precisely etched sound, with a nice 'bite' and I do sometimes get tired of the slightly soft sound of my Class A/B Omnia.

 

[Jasonovich]

Still £2.4k for the 'baby' Hegel. I've read loads about Hegel and they do get great reviews. They have a smooth, but detailed sound, which does appeal to me, but I do like a clean, precisely etched sound, with a nice 'bite' and I do sometimes get tired of the slightly soft sound of my Class A/B Omnia.

Yeah that's a fair point

I am familiar now with the sound of the D class aka Fosi and Adam A7V, well actually the amp on the tweeter is AB the low end is D but work well together. I do like the clean 'light' and open sound of class D.

 

[daveh75]

Usual suspects; better power supply, better clock?

Personally i'd rather a company built their products properly in the first place... rather than try and extract more money out of people for special editions

 

[daveh75]

Its licenced software with a custom api but the base updates for what ever candy pudding it might be at the time are google. So once google says thats it ,thats it. the unit will to continue to work but the apps will slowly start to disappear eg Apple Music, tidal and so on, as and when the developers of those apps say they want to stop support they function for a short time and then will stop. This, the manufacture can not control.

In theory the manufacture could still supply updates for bug fixes but this is unlikely in my experience.

Its like me trying to install photoshop 2024 on OSX snow leopard its just never going to happen but the OS functions fine in a vacuum and works as intended.

There's nothing stopping the manufacturers upgrading to newer versions though, hardware allowing.

 

[podknocker]

Personally i'd rather a company built their products properly in the first place... rather than try and extract more money out of people for special editions

I agree, but there will always be people wanting 'polished' versions of their favourite kit. I remember a modded Oppo Blu Ray player many years ago and this thing retailed for nearly £4k. I'm not sure if better clocks and PSUs actually make much of a difference, when you have a decent spec already. Gilding the Lily springs to mind with many of the Special Edition models.

 

[Jasonovich]

Further to my opening thread, I did a bit of snooping on other forums and I got useful links to the DMP-A8 specs and DSP software - see below:

http://music.eversolo.com/dmp/instruction/EVERSOLO-DMP-A8-User-Manual-v1.0.pdf

See also links to the DSP and DSP-FIR manuals:
http://music.eversolo.com/dmp/instruction/DSP.pdf
http://music.eversolo.com/dmp/instruction/DSP_FIR.pdf

 

[Jasonovich]

HiFi Rose RS520 is class AD at 250W per channel.

Advanced All-In-One Network Streamer RS520

Beyond Audio, HiFi ROSE

eng.hifirose.com

Nice.

 

[Gray]

Without a shadow of a doubt, the new Eversolo DMP-A8 (with dual top of the range AKM chipset) due to launch January 2024 is going ruffle some feathers in the DAC/Streamer market.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YvT2D34iDno

 

[Oxfordian]

We’re seeing and will continue to see a resurgence in the used market, and a commensurate rise in prices. People selling expensive gear for financial reasons will turn to highly regarded older kit and realise that excellent audio performance is easily achievable on a much smaller budget, if you don’t mind the box count.

This applies to other stuff as well, being a keen photographer I am constantly checking second hand sites for gear (especially lenses) that sold for an exorbitant value when new but now that a Mk2 version has arrived the old gear is seen as obsolete by many and they upgrade, so far this year I have picked up over £4k of lenses for less than £1k, irrespective of your hobby there is some really good gear out there secondhand if you know where to look (and have a bit of luck).