The new Eversolo DMP-A10 arrived just before Christmas, retail price is £3500 which is approximately twice that of the DMP-A8.
I thought a brief comparison might be interesting :-
Physically the A10 is larger and heavier, it has 'faux' heatsinks which will when the Eversolo AMP-F10 is released will match to form a stacking set.
The A10 is a 'statement' piece, apart from the larger weightier chassis it has a larger touch screen , the volume control is illuminated ( and rotates i so desired) and there are multiple graphic options to choose from, the A10 also adds some extra VU meter options.
There is no manual available for the A-10 as yet, and as far as I am aware the unit has not been independently measured.
It is worth stating that the DMP-A6 and DMP-A8 have both been measured by Amir at ASR and they are both truly excellent performers, both audibly transparent, which simply means that their sound quality cannot be improved upon at any price, despite what you may read elsewhere.
Apart from 'pride of ownership' what does the A10 offer over and above the A8:-
In terms of connectivity:-
Power/IEC remains the same.
A10 adds one more 'trigger' output
A8 1x Gigabit LAN / A10 Gigabit LAN, 2x USB 3.0 and SFP optical fibre.
Digital 'ins' are the same, although the A10 offers Earc and ARC switchable from the Eversolo APP, and the USB input is now 'isolated' ( see below).
Digital 'outs' more or less the same A10 loses one USB port but its sole USB output is now 'isolated' I take this to mean galvanically isolated but until the manual is published ...
Analogue 'in' the A10 gains a pair of coax/rca inputs.
Analogue 'out' is where we find a significant difference, the A10 adds SubL and SubR both on coax/RCA.
The marketing suggests that two subwoofers can be added and independently configured ( frequency/ slope/gain/delay) and in the A10s app you can indeed add subwoofers but I haven't yet discovered how to configure each independently rather than the same set of parameters for both subwoofers.
Obviously it would be much more useful to configure each subwoofer independently.
Both A8 and A10 offer automatic room correction, delivered to the A8 in the last firmware revision, which may be of some value, although I would still suggest that measurement with REW ( room eq wizard) and implementing just the minimal amount of filters within the lower bass region ( minimum phase) will ofer the maximum benefit in terms of EQ.
Correcting in the non-minimal phase region can lead to unexpected results!
I will update this article when Eversolo publish the units manual and after I have had a chance to compare both units in actual use.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in purchasing 'pride of ownership' components but it is important to remember that paying more does not guarantee a commensurate increase in sound quality despite what manufactures and retailers might have you believe.
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