Joined in 2023 
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ESS flagship ES9038Pro DAC is known as the industry benchmark, with relatively lower total harmonic distortion level, extremely low noise and distortion. Let's enjoy the authentic high-fidelity music experience. USB-C DAC Input: Compatible with Windows (7, 10), Mac, Android and IOS, Up to stereo DSD512, PCM 768KHz 32Bit, MQA Even without listening to the damn thing, every cell in my body felt excited for what’s to come. So far, I can’t say a single bad word about the SU-10, as everything’s up there if not higher versus its direct competition. Let’s go deep and learn everything there is to know about the newest SU-10 DAC of SMSL.
THD+N@A-wt: 0.00015%@1kHz(-116dB@1kHz), THD+N@No-wt: 0.00018%@1kHz(-115dB@1kHz), Noise @No-wt: <2uVrms, SNR@No-wt: 124dB@1kHz Because I couldn’t help myself, I started off using the Z8 as a headphone amp, driving Audeze LCD2C and Sennheiser HD660S headphones (which it did with absolute ease). Both of these headphones have a slightly dark tone but I noticed the Z8 brought out a bit more light from them than the Audio-gd tends to. This seemed to be due to a slightly more extended treble region giving more air and clarity. Edges of notes had slightly better focus and detail, making images stand out a bit clearer individually. It was very easy to perceive depth and layering within a recording too. This is likely at least partly due to the Z8’s seemingly very low noise floor – this thing is quiet – something which also benefits the use of in-ear monitors (IEMs) which can be sensitive to noise. Suffice it to say, I spent a great deal of time going through my headphone and IEM collection and enjoying every last one.
Power switch and volume knob
When I removed the Chord Ultima 3 Preamp and let it play as a DAC and Preamp combo powering a Chord Ultima 5 power amplifier, then it no longer felt as impressive, especially in terms of dynamics and sheer scale. It felt shier by a few notches and my loudspeakers felt smaller sounding and it wasn’t filling the room with sounds to excess. What was tight, fast and impactful, became shier and less impressive on the technical level. I’m pretty sure there’s a small impedance mismatch between it and Ultima 5 or maybe that’s the way it sounds without a preamp. XLR Audio Characteristics: Oput level(Vrms): 4.1Vrms@0dBFS, THD+N@A-wt: 0.000062%@1kHz（-124dB@1kHz, Overall, the sound from the Z8 is crisp and clear, sharp, and excellent. Resolution seems to be broadly equivalent to the A6 and it is a nice experience, there’s no issue here at all in terms of soundstage or clarity. You could very happily build your digital experience around this DAC, as I have done around my iFi Pro iDSD at several multiples the price and with support from iFi Audio. The E70V also impressed me recently but I do find the bass is punchier on the Z8. Both do good mids and vocals well but I do find the vocals a little more artificial sounding on the E70V. Treble is sharper and can be uncomfortable sounding when you run both side by side. I think the E70V is a little more clinical sounding and the Z8 is a little more neutral sounding without being boring. E70V and Z8 have close to the same sound detail retrieval but the Z8 just adds something special to the overall sound. I find the Z8 is better for longer sessions due to a better controlled sound signature as well. Different digital filter modes are available in the DAC setting to meet different listening demands and preferences. There are 7 PCM filters and 4 DSD filters for you to choose.
The DAC-Z8’s headphone amplifieralso performs very well and is capable of providing comfortable powerto accompany headphones with impedance from 16 to 300Ω without difficulty. This one also has a two-step gain controlto accommodate both demanding headphones and more sensitive earphones. Control app Could the DAC-Z8 pull off a double here? Interestingly, the DAC-Z8 is not a straight cut and paste from the A6 as it features a single ESS Sabre DAC, based on its Flagship, 8-channel DAC version. Nevertheless, as we know it is not just the chip but the way it is powered and managed, in the A6, it was exceptional, what can the Z8 do next to it? Design In the end, you can make it smoother or tubey sounding, or you can go with the cleanest and most detailed sound possible. It’s up to you to decide which tuning works best for you. A Qualcomm Bluetooth receiver is also on board that supports all the nicest codecs available as SBC, AAC, AptX, AptX-HD and LDAC. Its antenna works as a wireless booster and its operating distance should be around ~10 to 15 meters, depending on how many walls are in between it and the sender. The only wish I have is for larger volume control display. It shows such when adjusting the volume but then you are left with the small font. You can replace the VU meters with "audio info" but that doesn't include the volume level.I’m finding the bass to be clear and controlled, in staple references like Benson Boone’s GHOST TOWN (Qobuz FLAC 24-bit, 44.1kHz) or Coldplay’s Everglow (Qobuz FLAC 24-bit, 192kHz). There’s no indication of bloated output or anything of note. The DAC-Z8 is a compact audio decoder that delivers exceptional sound quality to any system. With the third generation XMOS 316 audio processor and the ESS flagship ES9038 Pro DAC chips on board, the DAC-Z8 supports formats up to DSD512, PCM 768kHz@32Bit, and MQA full decoding. Presented in a stunning aviation aluminium alloy chassis, the DAC-Z8 boasts a high-performance preamp, strong headphone driving force, as well as versatile connections and conversion formats that make it the perfect partner for high-end headphones and HiFi speaker systems. Key Features The EverSolo DAC-Z8 offers no less than 7 PCM filters and 4 DSD filters. These allow you to adapt the sound reproduction of the device according to your listening preferences and your audio system Headphone Amplifier These impressions were done with the DAC-Z8 connected to the SMSL SP400 headphone amp via XLR. While I’m treating this a DAC first over DAC/amp combo, I will mention the amp section later on.This is what the DAC-Z8 sounds like with the current headphone/IEM inventory I have on hand. Things like headphone pairings or different headphone amps will produce different results and impressions versus what my ears hear on my specific gear.
Nonetheless, you can easily use it as DAC and preamp combo with powered loudspeakers or with a power amp directly, until you can get a dedicated preamp down the road. For the absolute best results, use it as a DAC only unit in a fixed volume position, where it gave everything and approached close to an end-game DAC sound wise. EverSolo is a company that may be new to many members of the audio community, and may soon be something of a household name given the performance and design of their current products. Other companies now have a serious competitor to watch out for! Firmware UpdatingSpeaking of firmware! The process to update is fairly easy, the only real issue I personally ran into was a USB drive to update the Z8 with. You have to use an exFAT formatted device which I had none on hand due to all my portable storage being too big to allow exFAT(outside of portable SSDs and I wasn’t formatting those). I happened to find an old 8gb SD card on a determined hunt for an old storage device so, I used that and an SDcard reader to update and it worked just fine. The DAC-Z8's analog audio circuit is a fully balanced differential amplification circuit design. XLR, RCA and headphone output are all processed by a balanced differential amplifier circuit. The noise has been eliminated by resolving the crosstalk of the shared loop and improving channel separation.The high-fidelity preamp circuit supports refined volume adjustment, no additional preamp is needed, so you can connect directly to your hi-fi amp.
Design
Output to headphones is perfectly acceptable and is as good as you could want at this price level. I’m likely to stay with the Mojo 2 in general use but compared to the Node X, that I also have here, the performance is comparable (they’re not quite the same product but the point is, the Z8 is a decent option for headphones, though not the last word). Thoughts And, while we loved the predecessors, this pair of updated speakers proves significantly more capable.
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