The Short Version
The EverSolo DAC-R8 takes a digital music signal and turns it into sound your amplifier can use. It also has a volume control good enough to run your system, and a headphone socket. What makes it unusual is the method it uses to do the converting.
What is a DAC and why do I need one?
Digital music is stored as numbers. A speaker needs a continuously varying electrical wave. A digital to analog converter, or DAC, is the component that turns one into the other. Everything that plays digital music has one somewhere, whether that is a phone, a CD player or a streamer. Buying a separate DAC means choosing a better one than whatever is built into your source.
What does R2R mean?
It is a way of building the converter. Most DACs today use a chip bought from a specialist manufacturer, using an approach called delta sigma. An R2R design instead uses a ladder of many precision resistors to construct the output voltage directly from the digits of each sample.
People who like R2R tend to describe the sound as fuller and more natural, especially through voices. It is a difference in flavour rather than a difference in quality, and the only way to know whether you prefer it is to listen. R2R is usually expensive to build, which is why seeing it at this price is notable.
The Three Sound Modes
What are NOS, OS and BEST?
They are three ways the R8 can do the conversion, chosen on the screen on the front.
NOS means non oversampling, which is the most direct version of the R2R approach. OS means oversampling, which processes the signal more before converting it. BEST is EverSolo’s own setting.
None is the correct one. They sound slightly different from each other, and the point of putting them on the front panel is that you can switch while listening and keep whichever you like on the music you play.
Using It as the Centre of a System
Can it replace my preamplifier?
Yes, and that is part of the intention. It has a volume control that works on the analog signal rather than on the digital one, which matters: a digital volume control quietly discards information as you turn it down, and an analog one does not. It also has ordinary analog inputs on both XLR and RCA, so other sources can plug into it.
Can I plug in a turntable?
Not straight in. A turntable needs a phono stage first, and the R8 does not have one built in. Add an external phono preamplifier and it connects to the analog inputs without any trouble.
What can I plug into it?
USB from a computer, I2S over an HDMI cable, AES/EBU, coaxial, optical, HDMI ARC from a television, and Bluetooth. The USB and I2S connections handle the highest resolutions, up to DSD512 and PCM at 768 kHz.
Does it stream on its own?
No, and this is the thing to be clear about before buying. The R8 has no Wi-Fi and no Ethernet. It does not have an app that plays music or connect to streaming services by itself. You need something in front of it, such as an EverSolo T8 or T10 transport, or a streamer you already own.
Headphones
How good is the headphone output?
It is a proper headphone amplifier with three gain settings for low, medium and high, putting out up to 7 Vrms, and it will drive headphones from 16 to 300 ohms. It is a single ended 6.35 mm jack, the usual large size.
If headphones are your main way of listening rather than an occasional thing, the EverSolo DAC Z10 has the more serious headphone section including a balanced output, and we would point you there instead.
Where It Fits With Other EverSolo Gear
With a T8 or T10
This is the obvious pairing. The R8 is built to the same proportions as the T8, so the two stack neatly as a pair. The transport collects the music from your network and passes it to the R8 as digital, and the R8 does everything after that. The T10 is the step up version of the same idea.
With a DMP-A8 Gen 2 and AMP-F8
If you already own a DMP-A8 Gen 2 feeding an AMP-F8 power amplifier, the R8 is not something you add on top. The A8 already has a DAC and a preamplifier inside it. The R8 is something you add to change how the system sounds.
The way it works is this: the A8 keeps doing the streaming and sends digital to the R8. The R8 does the conversion and holds the volume control. Then the R8 feeds the AMP-F8. You keep the EverSolo app and all the streaming you are used to, and you change the converter and volume control for the R2R kind. Whether that is worth doing depends on whether you prefer the sound, which is a listening decision.
With the C10 master clock
The R8 has a socket for an external clock, which is what the EverSolo C10 master clock provides. A clock is a refinement for later, once the rest of the system is settled, not something to buy at the same time.
Practical Questions
How do I control it?
Four ways. There is a 5.2 inch touchscreen on the front with VU meters on it, a rotary knob, a remote control in the box, and the EverSolo app.
Does it support MQA?
MQA is not listed in the published specification, so we are not going to tell you it does. If that matters to you, ask us before ordering and we will confirm with the distributor.
How big is it and what comes with it?
It is 315 mm wide, 230 mm deep and 75 mm tall with the feet on, and it weighs 4 kg. The box contains the remote control, a power cable, a trigger cable and the manual.
Come and Hear It
R2R is a flavour, and tastes differ. Come to the showroom in Timonium and listen to it next to a good conventional DAC on music you know well. That comparison answers the question faster than any specification can.