When China builds like Switzerland - Amazing Value with Matrix Audio TS-1 vs Eversolo DMP-A8 Review
- ducurguz
- Apr 30
- 15 min read
If you follow this channel, you will know that I did a report from the Shenzhen International Audio Show. And I had a few picks of my favourite gear. First was Sendy Audio Peacock, but in hindsight that was probably because it was synergised with the great Kylin DAC/AMP.
But the second one was none other than the Matrix Audio TS1 streamer. I loved how it looks, how it feels like a premium build, I liked the interface, I liked the really good headphone output, and I of course liked the sound. And here I am 8 months later and finally reviewing the unit.
The thing is, with the popularity of Eversolo devices, I thought that Matrix Audio was going to be more popular, as it provides very similar skill sets at a very similar price. But it seems not so, so I would gladly present to you this amazing DAC/AMP/Streamer. Just sit back and enjoy.
My experience from SIAS 2025:
Promise of exceptional All in One
There's a particular type of audiophile arrogance — refined, quiet, but very much present — that whispers to you every time you glance at a rack stuffed with separate components: more boxes means more serious. A standalone streamer. A dedicated DAC. A headphone amp. A preamp. A power conditioner. Maybe a network switch while you're at it. The ritual accumulation of hardware, each unit allegedly lifting the ceiling by some imperceptible but spiritually crucial margin. I know this religion well. I've practiced it.
So when Matrix Audio rolls into that same room with the TS-1 and says, "We put all of that into one box, and it still sounds sublime" — you'd be forgiven for raising an eyebrow. Or both. Because that promise has been made before, and it has broken hearts before.
Matrix Audio's core philosophy for the TS-1 is what they call "simplifying complexity" — the idea that a streamer, DAC, and headphone amplifier can coexist in a single, compact chassis without the compromises that phrase usually implies. Lofty claim. Let's find out whether they've earned it.
Let's get the numbers out of the way, because they matter and they're genuinely impressive:
DAC Chips: Dual AKM AK4493SEQ, operating in dual-parallel mono configuration.
Clocking: Two femtosecond-grade ultra-low phase noise clocks — one for the 44.1kHz family, one for the 48kHz family.
Architecture: Fully balanced, digital to analog
Headphone Outputs: 4.4mm balanced, 6.35mm single-ended
Line Outputs: XLR (balanced), RCA (single-ended)
Subwoofer Output: RCA, frequencies below 150Hz with synchronized volume
Digital Inputs: Optical, Coaxial, USB Audio, HDMI ARC, RCA Analog (via ADC)
Storage: NVMe M.2 SSD slot (PCIe 3.0/4.0/5.0 supported)
Networking: Gigabit Ethernet + Wi-Fi 6
Power Supply: Internal SMPS + dedicated DC input port for external linear PSU
Streaming: Roon Ready, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, AirPlay, DLNA, Internet Radio
Price: ~$2,199 USD / €1,999–2,699 EUR (market-dependent)
Build Quality — When China Builds Like Switzerland
Now, music streamers are one of those HiFi components where I think sound quality is not the most important aspect. Don’t get me wrong, it is supposed to sound great, but it will not influence the sound the same way an amp or speakers do. To me, on an equal stage to sonic quality are things like build quality, features, how good the software is, and how it removes any extra steps between me and the music.
The best streamer in the world would be useless to me if it came with a lot of baggage. I want a streamer that will last, features that are useful, and a user experience that removes all the unwanted steps. So I will take a few extra words here to explain my experience with Matrix Audio.
Let me say this plainly: the TS-1 is a beautifully built machine. The build quality is top-notch — Matrix has recently adopted a new design language, and the result looks very good. The chassis is machined aluminum, and it has that satisfying density in the hands — that slight heft that communicates “we did not cut corners here.” The ventilation grille on the top is precision-milled, functional and elegant simultaneously. It doesn't scream for attention. It earns it.
The aluminum chassis has the quality of a machined sculpture — the front full-surface touchscreen feels confident and restrained, while the Matrix logo sits at the center of a precision-milled ventilation grille on top.
The touchscreen on the front deserves its own moment. It's large, responsive, and genuinely pleasant to interact with. This is not a token display that exists just so the marketing team can claim "full-color touchscreen." It's an actual UI surface. You can navigate, adjust settings, see album art, toggle VU meters — it functions. Whether you find a large display to be a distraction or a delight is a matter of personal philosophy, but you can't say Matrix skimped on it.
Flip the unit over and you find the NVMe SSD slot — accessible via the underside, tool-free, and elegantly integrated. It's a detail that tells you something important about the engineering mindset here: they thought about how people actually use this device. A specially designed ultra-low-noise independent power supply ensures a quiet operating environment for the SSD, surpassing what an ordinary computer offers. That last bit matters. In computer audio, noise from storage media is a real, if often overstated, concern — the fact that Matrix isolated the SSD's power delivery says they understand the problem, even if the audibility of the solution is debatable.
Internally, the engineering story is equally considered. The analog and digital circuits are arranged on separate PCB layers — the digital section on the lower layer and the analog section on the upper layer — minimizing interference and facilitating efficient heat dissipation for the high-bias headphone amplifier. The analog PCB features a fully symmetrical left-right design. Separate layers for separate functions. That's not marketing language — that's proper RF engineering discipline applied to audio.
Features and Functionality — The Swiss Army Knife That Actually Cuts
Here is where the TS-1 starts to genuinely separate itself from the crowd, because the feature list is, frankly, remarkable.
Designed around the concept of an "all-scenario audio center," the TS-1 features five input interfaces: optical, coaxial, USB Audio, HDMI ARC, and RCA analog inputs. That HDMI ARC input is a masterstroke for anyone who wants their TV audio running through a proper DAC and headphone amp. Most streamers at this price point either skip it entirely or bolt it on as an afterthought. The TS-1 treats it as a first-class citizen.
The RCA analog input is an interesting one — the TS-1 features one RCA pair of analog inputs, which are digitised by an ADC internally before being fed through the DACs to the output. It's a very handy feature should you wish to use the TS-1 as your main hub. Now, the audiophile purists will wince at that — ADC-ing your analog signal back into digital before converting it again? It's philosophically uncomfortable. I understand the criticism. But for someone running a turntable through a phono stage who also wants to route everything through a single device, this is legitimately useful. Just don't expect it to be sonically transparent in the way a direct analog path would be.
The subwoofer output specifically handles audio frequencies below 150Hz with synchronized volume control of the line output, allowing easy connection of an active subwoofer to compensate for the limited low-frequency extension of small active speakers — opening up a genuine 2.1 desktop system possibility. Thoughtful.
The NVMe SSD slot is another feather in the cap. Drop in an SSD, and suddenly you have local storage for your ripped library, your hi-res downloads, your DSD albums — all accessible through the same interface as your streaming services. By connecting a USB CD drive and using the MA Remote App, you can convert CD albums into digital audio files and save them directly to the device's internal storage. That's a complete end-to-end music management system. Inside one box.
The DC input for an external linear power supply is a detail I genuinely respect. When an external power supply is connected, the system prioritizes it and disconnects the internal AC power, retaining only the ground connection — very cleverly done. It's an upgrade path baked into the product. Buy the TS-1, live with it, and if you find yourself wanting more, you don't need to replace the unit — you spend $300–800 on a quality linear PSU and potentially get another level of performance. That's an audiophile-friendly design decision.
The 12V trigger input and output round out the feature set nicely for anyone building a larger system.
Sound Quality
All the engineering pedigree in the world means nothing if the music doesn't move you. So, does it?
Yes. But not in the way I expected, and not without some nuance.
The TS-1 doesn't try to grab you with sheer detail and clarity; instead, it opts for removing what's called "digital glare" and comes across as unforced, natural, and spacious. This is the key insight about the TS-1's sonic character, and it's important to understand what "unforced" means in hi-fi terms — because it can be misread as "bland" or "soft," which it absolutely is not.
The TS-1 presents music as though it's exhaling. The soundstage is wide and has genuine depth — not the artificial front-to-back trickery some DACs employ to simulate imaging, but a real sense of instruments occupying distinct positions. Transients are clean and precise without being sharp. Tonal density is excellent — acoustic instruments have weight and texture, not just outline.
Rounder bass, more decisive transients, a more sculpted stage — compared with a standalone DAC considerably more expensive on its own than this all-in-one, the TS-1 didn't shy away. In some areas, it even surpassed.
Bass was present with attack, precision and details. All of this can be said in that manner. The same thing how it operates that it also colors the treble little bit, wit ha bit extended reach of highs. While it tries to be as celar as present, and neutral... this DAC still have some colorations left and right. It will expend a bit, to make sound a bit more musical rather than sterile.
The headphone amplifier section deserves special recognition here because many all-in-one streamers treat the headphone output as an afterthought — a 3.5mm jack bolted on for convenience. The TS-1's amplifier is nothing of the sort. The 4.4mm balanced output is where the TS-1 truly shines — with the right headphones, scale, detail, elasticity, and dynamics come alive. The high-bias design means the amp runs warm — intentionally so — contributing to its organic, non-fatiguing character.
One thing I want to specifically call out: the tonal balance leans very slightly warm. Not dark, not soft in any problematic way, but it has a richness to the lower midrange that makes voices feel present and intimate rather than distant and analytical. Whether this is a feature or a limitation depends entirely on what you're pairing it with.
What it is not is hyper-resolving in that "I can hear the engineer's coffee cup" way some DACs market themselves as being. If you want forensic dissection, there are sharper tools. Like ESS chips. What the TS-1 offers is musical coherence — a presentation that keeps the whole song rather than fetishizing individual details at the expense of everything else.
Concerns and Honest Doubts
No review should be a press release, so let me air the genuine reservations.
First, the analog input via ADC. I understand the logic. I respect the implementation. But I remain philosophically uncomfortable routing an analog signal through an ADC and back through a DAC, even a very good one. For vinyl users who care about the signal path, this is not your workaround — this is a compromise. A proper analog passthrough would have been preferable if technically feasible. It wasn't included, and I wish it had been.
Second, the SMPS power supply. The TS-1 is powered by a switching power supply, which is of very good quality. "Very good quality" switching supplies are absolutely a thing — modern SMPS design has gotten remarkably good — but the fact that an external LPS input exists tells you Matrix themselves know that the SMPS is a limiting factor at some level. It's good that the upgrade path exists. It's honest of them. But I'd have preferred a better internal solution at this price point.
For spec peepers, this might be an issues. But at this price level you would expect a flagship AKM, which is a bit missed opportunity. But it is not that TS-1 suffers greatly because of it. As awesome engineering, and implementation of DAC helps this machines sound almost identical to flagship DAC. But imagine all that but with flagship dac.
Third, the software. The MA Player ecosystem is genuinely improved and functional, but it still doesn't match AURALiC's Lightning DS for polish, search speed, and ecosystem integration. This is a taste and habit thing more than a dealbreaker, but if you're coming from the AURALiC world, you will notice the difference. There is also a concern that if you come from Android, you might want to expect a bit more features, customisations and visualisations. MA does not offer that much, it offers the best thing there is to remove all the extra steps between you and music. With great stability, and reliance. Many times when I have been using Andorid I had issues, from dropdowns, to not connections to etc. Here this problems are minimised. But if you want outmost features, customisations, equalisations you will miss Andorid greatly here.
Vs. Eversolo DMP-A8
Now, I think one of the most feared rivals to Matrix Audio is Eversolo. The boom of Eversolo and WiiM should be studied for generations of HiFi enthusiasts — companies out of nothing that now dominate over 50% of the streamer market. There are also some great alternatives like Auralic Altair G1.1, Audiolab 9000N, and Naim ND XS2. But I want to focus on the DMP-A8, as I think many people looking at that streamer might also look at Matrix Audio.
This comparison has been brewing in the audiophile community for a while now, and for good reason. On the surface, these two devices look like natural adversaries: both are all-in-one streamers, both house a DAC and volume control, both target the serious listener who wants fewer boxes without sacrificing meaningful performance. Both are Chinese-made. Both cost roughly $2,000, give or take depending on where you live. Both use AKM chips. Both have NVMe SSD slots.
And yet they are, in almost every philosophically meaningful way, completely different machines.
Firstly, price. The TS-1 is $200 more expensive than the Eversolo. While it is not a small difference, when you're already spending $2,000, adding another $200 might not be that much if the upgrade is worth it. And is it really? Well, hopefully I will explain it further.
Now regarding DAC chips and sound: the Eversolo DMP-A8 uses AKM's flagship two-chip separated solution. The AK4191EQ is not actually a DAC chip — it's AKM's top-tier delta-sigma modulator chip. Its companion, the AK4499EX, is the actual DAC chip.
The Matrix Audio TS-1 uses dual AK4493SEQ chips, with each channel equipped with its own chip, the dual DAC units operating in parallel. Each chip has a completely independent power supply. The AK4493SEQ is a solid, well-regarded chip from AKM's Verita lineup, but it is positioned below the AK4499EX.
So on paper, Eversolo uses a flagship DAC, so it should be better. Well, yes — probably — but not in the way you might think. It all depends on implementation. Matrix Audio uses a slightly lower-tier DAC but in an amazing dual-mono, fully balanced, separately isolated architecture with superior femtosecond clocking. They both sound amazing, and that is not a surprise.
Where things shift is power supply. The Eversolo has a meaningful advantage at the stock level: the analog sections are fed by a linear supply with a shielded toroidal transformer, while the digital portions have their own separate low-noise switching supply. The Matrix, by contrast, runs a high-quality SMPS internally and requires you to buy an external linear PSU to match this advantage.
Where I think Matrix gets points is build quality. It is actually a significantly smaller unit, but it feels sturdier and stronger. Internally, Matrix uses separate PCB layers for analog and digital circuits, with a fully symmetrical layout.
But what might be the biggest reason to go with Matrix Audio is software. Matrix uses its own OS called MA Player. While it is not as flashy as Eversolo’s and does not have an incredible amount of features, visualizations, or EQ options, it does something better — stability. It just works.
The trade-off is stability versus flexibility. Android-based systems, even well-tuned ones, can occasionally behave like Android — the odd reboot, unexpected behavior, or updates that change something you relied on. Matrix’s proprietary OS is more closed and less feature-rich, but also more predictable.
In terms of features, Eversolo goes wider: two SSD slots, XLR input, more digital inputs, I2S, USB-B, and more advanced Bluetooth codecs with LDAC.
But what the TS-1 has that Eversolo does not is a proper headphone output — and a really good one. If you are someone who wants an all-in-one box — streamer, DAC, and headphone amp — the TS-1 has you covered.
Regarding sound, this is where implementation matters. Matrix Audio can sound more transparent and, at times, even more detailed. That does not necessarily make it better sounding, as I think Eversolo is a bit more dynamic and resolves micro-details better, likely due to the superior DAC chip. It has a lusher sound, bigger and more commanding bass, and a velvety vocal presentation.
If I had to give a slight edge, I would give it to Eversolo for its dynamic and engaging presentation.
However, what is also striking is that Matrix Audio, when paired with an external linear power supply, becomes even more detailed and precise — potentially surpassing Eversolo.
Now to wrap this up. Which one is better? I still think the DMP-A8 is the most impressive streamer I have heard in this price range. Its versatility, features, price, sound quality, and build quality make it the best choice for the general audiophile population.
But the more I used Matrix Audio, the more I realized it might be more for me. While I miss the endless features and customization of Eversolo, it did occasionally let me down — connection drops, instability — things that Matrix simply did not have.
Sound quality on both is amazing, so it should not be the determining factor. It’s about what you prefer — transparency and precision, or dynamics and warmth.
What I like more about Matrix Audio is that it is a much smaller device, fits easily into a system, and feels like a more durable, better-engineered product. I would personally return to Matrix Audio more than to Eversolo. But I understand that versatility, Features, and a bit more warmer sound signature could be in favour of Eversolo.
And as an all-in-one, Matrix gives you more because it includes a high-quality headphone output.
Conclusion
In the end, does TS-1 simplify the complexity? As always in this audiophile world — yes for some, not for others. But it is an impressive all-rounder.
In many real-world setups, the TS-1 is simply the most complete, coherent, and beautifully realized solution in its price class.
It was not a mistake when I first heard it — how impressed I was. Its small yet sturdy build fits perfectly into a system. It sounds neutral, with a lot of clarity and resolution. Great for neutral or warmer setups. Great sound, excellent engineering, and very stable software. Just a complete package.
The TS-1 is an excellent streaming DAC/preamp for the money, with premium build quality and features.
My final score is 8.5/10.
Thank you for watching my review. If you enjoyed it, consider joining memberships, as I will always try to release this kind of video sooner. I will also add special videos just for members. Or simply like and subscribe — all of that is a great help, and I really appreciate it.
Keep daydreaming, and see you in the next video.
You can see more information here:
Pros
Premium build quality with a compact, machined aluminum chassis that feels extremely sturdy and high-end.
Excellent industrial design with a large, responsive touchscreen and elegant new Matrix Audio styling.
Very strong all-in-one implementation combining streamer, DAC, preamp, and headphone amplifier in one compact unit.
Impressive feature set including HDMI ARC, USB Audio, optical, coaxial, analog RCA input, subwoofer output, and 12V triggers.
Built-in NVMe SSD slot for local music storage and CD ripping functionality.
Stable and reliable proprietary MA Player operating system with minimal connection issues.
Roon Ready with support for Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, AirPlay, DLNA, and Internet radio.
High-quality headphone amplifier section with powerful and musical 4.4mm balanced output.
Natural, spacious, and musical sound signature with reduced “digital glare.”
Wide and deep soundstage with excellent tonal density and realistic instrument placement.
Slightly warm tonal balance that gives vocals and instruments a rich, organic presentation.
Smooth yet detailed treble that avoids harshness or fatigue.
Strong bass performance with precision, attack, and good texture.
Excellent engineering inside with separated analog/digital PCB layers and fully balanced architecture.
External linear power supply support provides an upgrade path for future improvements.
Compact footprint compared to competitors like the Eversolo DMP-A8.
Feels more durable and refined than many similarly priced competitors.
Great synergy with neutral or warmer sounding systems and headphones.
Considered one of the most complete and coherent solutions in its price range.
High-quality headphone output gives it extra value over some competing streamers.
Cons
Analog RCA input is converted through ADC back into digital, which may bother analog purists and vinyl enthusiasts.
Internal SMPS power supply is good but not ideal at this price point; reviewer wished for a built-in linear power supply.
Requires an external linear PSU purchase to reach its full sonic potential.
Uses AK4493SEQ DAC chips instead of AKM’s flagship DAC implementation, which may disappoint spec-focused buyers.
MA Player software lacks the customization, EQ options, visualizations, and flexibility of Android-based systems.
Software ecosystem is not as polished or feature-rich as AURALiC Lightning DS.
Not as feature-packed as competitors like the Eversolo DMP-A8.
Missing extras such as dual SSD slots, XLR input, I2S, USB-B, and advanced Bluetooth codec support found on rivals.
Sound is not hyper-analytical or ultra-resolving for listeners seeking maximum micro-detail retrieval.
Slight warmth and coloration may not appeal to people wanting absolute neutrality.
Eversolo DMP-A8 is considered slightly more dynamic and engaging sounding overall.
External PSU upgrade adds additional cost on top of an already expensive product.
Some users coming from Android ecosystems may find the interface too minimal or restrictive.
Price is slightly higher than direct competitors while offering fewer software features.
The touchscreen and UI, while good, may still not justify the premium for users who only care about pure sound quality.
More Images:
Comments