Eversolo DMP 8 audition going poorly...

@balooo2 I had both Tidal HiFi and Qobuz for a year and preferred Qobuz. Like I said, once I turned off all processing the sound livened up a lot.

i also tried the A8 as a streamer with my DAC and thought it sounded pretty good but not good enough to spend $2K on just a streamer.

This exercise was interesting.

I didn’t want to like the A8 because of the many negative reviews and the fact that it is ChFi but the hype made be curious. I do like it. Are there better options for $2K. Maybe.

@macg19:  Dull and lifeless compared to what?

Baloo2 - in my experience different streamers sound different with different streaming services. In example, Lumin U1 Mini and Bricasti built in network card sounded best with Roon streaming tidal. Qobuz sounded a bit rolled off and not engaging. With Aurender Qobuz sounds better than tidal. 
Highly depends on streamer, system composition and personal preference. 

Streaming - even at "CD quality"  just doesn't sound as good as local CD.   So if folks are expecting it to they will probably be disappointed.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cd+vs+streaming+sound+quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10sXCRD-nls

@mapman perhaps review my follow up posts