The basic platform that underpins most Zidoo devices is more than up to the job of being a streamer so it should not be too much of a surprise to find that the Eversolo is similar to the Alpha players in terms of its core architecture. The platform is built around an ARM Cortex A55 processor and uses a customised Android 11 interface as the basic operating system. This is capable of reading content over a network or from an internal hard drive bay that supports drives up to two terabytes. No drive is supplied as standard in this instance.
Decoding is also recognisably related to what has gone before but, at the price that the Eversolo enters the market, it feels impressive. The DMP-A6 uses a pair of ES9038Q2M DACs which means that its fully balanced section is able to run with each channel being able to sum the negative and positive signal which is reasonably unusual at the price. Unbalanced RCA connections are also available and everything is powered by a low noise switching power supply that has been engineered with choke filters for additional noise rejection.
Of course, if you want to use the DMP-A6 as a transport, it’s perfectly capable of doing that too. It can output over optical, coaxial, USB and HDMI connections and the last is the most technically interesting of the options. Like the Neo Alpha, the DMP-A6 is one of a tiny number of devices that can output a ripped multichannel SACD to a relevant decoder. This is the niche - I genuinely don’t know how many people have an interest in doing it but, so long as you can get the files in the first place, this is a device that offers the scope to keep playing them after all the mechs are in landfill.
The rest of the file support on offer is no less comprehensive. The format handling is the same, which isn’t terribly surprising as the 768kHz PCM and DSD512 maximums remain comfortably in excess of anything in the mainstream. The DMP-A6 can also handle MQA, oddities like DSF files and generally ensure that there shouldn’t be anything in even the most sprawling of collections that it won’t simply playback uncomplainingly.
Where the Eversolo really moves on from anything I saw in the Zidoo players is how this harnessed. Let’s start at the basics. The business of streaming from a network library is much improved. The way that the DMP-A6 renders the information and the browsing experience that results is significantly better than before. There’s a quick and dirty method where it renders based on the UPnP information available from the library or a more time consuming approach where it builds its own library that looks and feels rather slicker. This will require you to understand how your music is stored and arranged but that won’t take too long to work out.
The real step forward is with streaming service support though. Spotify Connect has been joined by Tidal Connect and native support for Qobuz, Tidal and Hi-Res Audio. Additionally, via the modified Android platform, the Eversolo can install and run Amazon Music, Apple Music and Deezer. At a stroke, the Eversolo eliminates what was realistically the biggest limitation of the Zidoo audio players which was that they felt somewhat limited outside of Roon (which the Eversolo also supports perfectly happily). Now, you have a device that has no need of any additional software to strut its stuff.
This feeling is enhanced by the Eversolo app which is vastly more capable than the Zidoo branded examples. The reasons for this are twofold. The first is that the app genuinely does do more than before but does it in a way that is more logical and confidence inspiring than was previously the case. Once you have scanned your library, the browsing experience really is good; able to keep anything from similarly priced rivals honest once you’ve let it render and stabilise. The second is that the focus the Eversolo has on being an audio only device means that it has been forced to be more focused. Nothing had been left accessible only via on screen menus or otherwise away from where you expect to find it. A really excellent feature is the ability to cast the front display to your mobile device which makes adjusting menus vastly more simple. If it can be tweaked to be available in landscape (portrait only is a pain when your iPad has a keyboard attached) it would be absolutely perfect. It is worth noting that some of these refinements will make their way to the Zidoo products in due course too.
It's not perfect though. The Eversolo is dependent on TuneIn Radio for internet radio and this has limitations, especially when it is called upon to access BBC content. AirPlay can be used to send the BBC Sounds App to the DMP-A6 but there’s no Cast for Android users (although there is aptX Bluetooth as a quasi-acceptable substitute). The absence of the simple but useful Bluetooth remote handsets that the Zidoo players come with is also a slight annoyance. It’s not that the Eversolo can’t be used without it but it reduces the convenience factor slightly.
All this comes encased in a very handsome and attractive chassis. At a point where many recent streamers I’ve looked at have no display or very small ones, the Eversolo’s big, bright touchscreen is a confidence inspiring thing and it sets off casework that is solid and beautifully finished. £759 is not a trivial sum of money but the Eversolo does feel very substantial for the asking price.
